Encyclopedia of Buddhism Volume One A -L Robert E. Buswell

S OUTHEAST A SIA, BUDDHIST A RT IN
unique image types, including stone wheels of the law
(dharmacakra) that were raised on pillars, as well as
depictions of the Buddha riding on the back of a
winged figure, which are as yet unexplained. Dozens
of Mon sites, such as Nakhon Pathom and Ku Bua,
have been identified, but no complete architectural remains
survive. From archaeological evidence we know
it was brick architecture, and it included at Nakhon
Pathom the Chula Phatom Chedi (stupas are referred
to in Southeast Asia as chedi), which was decorated
with stucco and terra-cotta jataka reliefs dating to
around the eighth century.
The Khmer lived in Cambodia, as well as in the
northeastern parts of Thailand and in the Delta area
of Vietnam. They, unlike the Pyu and Mon, were predominantly
Hindus until the twelfth century, although
Buddhism was present as well. The Khmer founded the
famous Angkor dynasty in 802 C.E., which ruled not
only Cambodia but much of the mainland for almost
five hundred years. The pre-Angkorian period, however,
produced some of the most remarkable Hindu
and Buddhist sculpture ever made. The Buddhist images
were primarily of the Buddha and two bodhisattvas,
Avalokiteśvara and MAITREYA. The stone
sculptures, dating to the seventh and eighth centuries,
tend to be cut out into three dimensions, so that the
arms, held by stone supports, extend into space. The
three-dimensional quality of Khmer sculpture continued
for centuries, in part reflecting the use of these images
at the center of small shrines, where they were
meant to be seen from all sides. The inscriptions and
the art indicate that Buddhism was of much lesser importance
than Hinduism during the ninth to twelfth
centuries. The Khmer king Jayavarman VII (r. 1181–ca.
1220) made a radical shift from royal support of Hinduism
to Buddhism in the twelfth century.
Under Jayavarman VII, the Khmer ruled more of
mainland Southeast Asia than ever before, from coastal
Vietnam up to the Thai-Burmese border. Jayavarman
built monuments with inexhaustible energy. He constructed
the BAYON, a temple that was rebuilt perhaps
three times during his reign, in his royal city of Angkor
Thom. Each of the kings of Angkor constructed a temple
mountain in the form of a stepped pyramid, upon
which they set an image of a Hindu god, usually Śiva,
thus establishing the king’s personal relationship with
the deity. The Bayon is Jayavarman’s temple mountain,
and the deity he placed at its center was neither Śiva
nor VISN U, but the Buddha seated in meditation on the
coils of a seven-headed snake (naga). The king also built
two enormous temples dedicated to his parents, one for
his mother in the guise of the goddess Prajñaparamita
and one to his father as Lokeśvara (a form of
Avalokiteśvara). Indeed, these three deities (the Buddha
on the snake, Prajñaparamita, and Avalokiteśvara)
were represented repeatedly in art as a triad, and were
central to Buddhism under Jayavarman.
The Bayon has a circle of shrines that surrounds the
central 140-foot tower in which the Buddha on the
snake was housed. Placed in these shrines were images
of local and regional deities brought to the capital from
locations throughout the empire. These deities were
placed in subordination to Jayavarman’s Buddha. The
temple has fifty-four towers that are crowned by enormous
faces. These faces, numbering some two hundred,
are arranged so that they look axially. The city
itself, Angkor Thom, is surrounded by a wall about two
miles square with five gates, each gate topped by four
directional faces. Although scholars have tried to interpret
these faces, no theory has been completely convincing.
One possibility is that the faces are those of
the bodhisattva Lokeśvara, who as Lord of the World
sees everywhere with a look of KARUN A (COMPASSION).
That Jayavarman felt such compassion for all living
things is stated in his inscriptions and seen in his building
of 102 hospitals throughout the kingdom. In addition,
the Bayon has extensive sculptural reliefs in
surrounding galleries. These reliefs, however, do not
depict stories from Buddhist texts but are mostly
scenes of battles that Jayavarman undertook against
the Cham, as well as interesting genre scenes, such as
cockfights and markets. The reliefs also show that both
Śiva and Visnu were under worship.
Of the hundreds of other monuments Jayavarman
built, the Neak Pean (coiled serpents) is notable. It
consists of a square pond, 230 feet on each side, faced
with stone steps and a circular stone island with a
shrine in the center. Two carved snakes entwine the
base of the island. There are four smaller directional
ponds surrounding the central pond; these are connected
with channels so that water could flow out of
the central pond into the four side ponds. The water
flowed through the stone heads of a human (east), lion
(south), horse (west), and elephant (north). This symbolism
apparently indicates that the pond was considered
a duplicate of the Himalayan lake Anavatapta
from which the four celestial rivers of India flow. The
central shrine has three false doors carved with images
of Avalokiteśvara, to whom the shrine was dedicated.
A three-dimensional stone horse to which human figures
cling is placed in the water; this is an image of
Avalokiteśvara in his form as the horse Balaha, who
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