The art and architecture of India - Buddhist, Hindu, Jain (Art Ebook)

THE RELIGIONS OF INDIA 57
appears only as a temporal manifestation of a
universal and eternal Buddha.
One of the concepts of Mahayana Buddhism
that finds its inevitable reflexion in the iconography
of that art is the trikdya, or Three Bodies
of Buddha. This triune division of the Buddha
nature is, in a philosophical sense, analogous to
the Christian trinity.
In this triune nature we
have the dharmakdya or 'law body', that is, the
Law or Word of Buddha (the logos or silent, indwelling
force or spirit of the cosmos, invisible
and descriptive of the Buddha in his transcendent
or universal aspect) ; the sarnbhogakdya or
'body of bliss', which is the aspect of the trinity
manifested only to the Bodhisattvas as a kind
of transfiguration ; and the third body, the nirmdnakdya
or 'noumenal body', that mortal
shape in which the Buddha periodically manifested
himself in the world of men. 12
A further step in the development of this theistic
religion is the creation of the entirely mythical
Buddhas of the Four Directions and the
Centre of the World. Probably the earliest of
these divinities was Amitabha, the Buddha ofthe
West, whose Paradise is described in sutras at
least as early as the second century a.d. Yet
other Buddhas presiding over 'Buddha fields' or
ksetras were added in the following centuries
until, in the final development of Mahayana
Buddhism in the eighth century, we have the
complete mandala or magic diagram of the cosmos,
with a universal Buddha of the zenith having
his seat at the very centre of the cosmic
machine, surrounded by four mythical Buddhas
located at the four cardinal points of the compass.
This concept of five Buddhas may go back
to earlier beliefs and numerologies, such as the
Five Elements, the Five Senses, or as names to
express the classic correlation of the human
microcosm to the universe. This concept of the
mythical Dhyani Buddhas is only an adaptation
of the Vedic and Brahmanic concepts ofBrahma
at the centre of a constellation ofregent divinities
governing the four directions. In the final and
esoteric phase of Mahayana Buddhism known
as Vajrayana, it is the mythical Buddha Vairocana,
the Great Illuminator, who is fixed like
a sun in the centre, and around him, like planets
in the sky, are set the four mythical Buddhas
associated with the four directions.
The central concept of Vajrayana Buddhism
is the worship of Adi-Buddha, a self-created,
primordial being who, when all was perfect void,
produced the three worlds by his meditation.
From Adi-Buddha's meditation were produced
the Five Dhyani Buddhas. According to this
doctrine, the individual soul is an emanation of
the mystic substance of Adi-Buddha, and will
return to him when the cycle of transmigration
is
done. The attainment of the Buddha nature
and the possibility of reunion with Adi-Buddha
at the end of life are now promised the worshipper
through recourse to a great many expedients,
such as reliance on the priestly recitation of
magical spells invoking the names of the Buddhist
deities, or the accumulation of merit
through the consecration of stupas and icons, or
meditation on mandalas or magic diagrams of
the cosmic system. As will be seen, the promise
of spiritual reward merely through the dedication
of stupas and images had at least a quantitative
effect on the development of Buddhist art.
In explanation of these later developments it
must be said that, throughout the centuries of its
development, Buddhism had always been influenced
by Hinduism, and, as we have seen,
many of the original assumptions and tenets of
the doctrine were taken over from the Vedic
Hindu tradition. This is not the place to describe
the various aspects of later Buddhist philosophy
that have their origin in Brahmanical
ideas. Suffice it to say that in later centuries
Hinduism, which had continued to exist as a
religion parallel to Buddhism, came to exert
a stronger and stronger influence on the whole
structure of the Mahayana Church and its iconography.
In the end, Buddhism in India, instead
of being a synthesis of the highest concepts