Reflections of the Buddha - The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts

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tradition that referenced the sacred text (sūtra) known as the “Discourse on Characteristics,” or the Lakkhana Sutta in Pāli. This text enumerates the thirty-two characteristics of great men like the Buddha, including legs like an antelope’s, a penis that is covered by a sheath, a frame that is divinely straight, and shoulders with no furrow between them. The sculptors heightened these attributes by carving a transparent drapery comprised of ringed folds in relief that systematically cascade down and across the body. Most artists created works anonymously yet each showed great originality and craftsmanship. They culled ideas from outsiders — itinerant artists as well as travelling Buddhist clerics and lay practitioners who brought their own statues, sūtras, and other religious objects with them. These items influenced the practices, iconography, and styles of the local workshop. As depictions of Buddhas and bodhisattvas moved from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and India to other parts of Asia, styles were adapted to suit the tastes of the local cultures. For instance, the artist of the Chinese Standing Buddha Śākyamuni (no. 9) did not directly incorporate the Indian Gupta style sometime around 600, but what is apparent is his more mediated acceptance of it. This is seen in the rounded shoulders, the hint of the leg underneath the robe’s cascading pleats, and the nudity of his chest. An intermingling of styles may also be seen between Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara in the Form of Khasarpana Lokeśvara (no. 17), from either Bihar or Bengal during the Pāla period (750 – 1150) in India, and Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara (no. 14), from Nepal during the Transitional period (c. 879 – 1200). Both works depict bodhisattvas as Brahman princes with smooth and rounded bodies, which are decorated elaborately with necklaces, armbands, diadems, earrings, and sacred threads that wrap around the figures’ left shoulders, then down and around their right thighs. Both have stacked braided hair and sheer dhotis that cling to their bodies. The thin-waist torsos have similar belly clefts that protrude just over their belts, their hips move to one side, and their fleshy palms and animated fingers hold (or once held, in the case of the Nepalese work) lotus stems. The resemblances between the works attest to the flow of artists, mystics, monks, and lay practitioners who travelled back and forth between eastern India and the Nepal’s Kathmandu Valley for centuries. 5 Other instances of cultural exchange in the exhibition may be seen between the Nepalese Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara (no. 14) and the Mongolian Standing Bodhisattva Maitreya (no. 16). During the seventeenth century, the renowned Mongolian monk Zanabazar (1635 – 1723), the son of a prominent family of the Khalkha Mongols, learned to make works of art inspired by Nepalese sculptures while training to be a Buddhist monk in Tibet. He returned to Mongolia with a convoy of clerics and artisans and built monasteries and workshops where sculptures like Standing Bodhisattva Maitreya were cast for monastic altars. In this way, early Nepalese 9 traditions of making and rendering Buddhist figures made their way into Mongolia. 6 Incised inscriptions and symbols on Buddhist sculptures provide hints to understanding why and when sculptures were made. Yet trying to fully grasp the institutional and ritual contexts of a Buddhist image that is now part of a museum collection may be problematic given the difficulty of determining a function on the basis of appearance alone, and given the high probability that a single object had multiple purposes. Indeed, inscriptions carved on the bases of Buddhist sculptures convey that patrons sought a wide range of benefits through such commissions, both worldly and otherworldly. Among worldly benefits were good health and wealth, success in a military campaign, longevity, and the happiness and welfare of all people. Otherworldly benefits included the acquisition of karmic merit for the donors and their families, guilds, or other community groups. Karma is the universal law of cause and effect: Actions in this life will determine the form in which an individual will be reborn in the next life. Such commissions thus would advance patrons on the path toward Nirvāna. A desire to accrue karmic merit was likely one of the factors behind the making of Seated Bodhisattva Tārā in her “Green Manifestation” (no. 15). Tārā, one of the most beloved deities of Vajrayāna Buddhists, has the ability to save beings from the eight dangers (pride, delusions, hatred, envy, fanatical views, avarice, lust, and doubts). 7 Of Tārā’s twenty-one forms, her green manifestation is considered her most active. Inscribed on the base of this sculpture, near Tārā’s right foot, is the following inscription: 大明永樂年施 (Da Ming Yonglenian shi), which may be translated: “Donated [during the] Yongle reign [of the] Great Ming [dynasty].” 8 This indicates that the sculpture was likely produced in an imperial workshop of the Chinese Yongle Emperor, a Vajrayāna practitioner who reigned from 1402 to 1424. The term shi 施 (“donated”) suggests that it was produced specifically as a gift, possibly for a Buddhist temple as far away as Tibet. 9 On the underside of the sculpture Seated Bodhisattva Tārā is a removable plate incised with an image of crossed vajras — ritual implements with curved prongs at each end symbolizing the thunderbolt/diamond path of Vajrayāna Buddhists (fig. 1, page 10). The vajra denotes the indestructible, immutable, and brilliant nature of Buddhist reality. Normally, the crossed-vajra symbol protects the sacred objects inside. The practice of inserting objects is often associated with the consecration of a Buddhist object as an icon: Inserted objects were thought in some cases to enhance the power of “the unseen Sacred and to increase its degree of presence in the image.” 10 Some included objects have also been associated with talismans, which possess the magic to protect, heal, and bring good fortune. Since Seated Bodhisattva Tārā is too small to serve as an icon, today it may be categorized as a Vajrayāna talismanic sculpture made in China to be donated for karmic merit sometime between 1402 and 1424.
figure 1 Detail of Seated Bodhisattva Tārā in her “Green Manifestation” (Duoluo pusa), 1403 – 1424, China figure 2 Prince Shōtoku at Age Two: The sculpture and a selection of the dedicatory objects discovered within 10
Page 1 and 2:
Reflections of the B uddha The Puli
Page 4:
Standing Prince Shōtoku at Age Two
Page 7:
Published for Reflections of the Bu
Page 10 and 11:
Foreword & Acknowledgements Reflect
Page 12 and 13:
Left Hand of a Colossal Buddha Amit
Page 14 and 15:
Womb World Mandala (Taizōkai manda
Page 16 and 17:
Living Things: Buddhist Art in a Bu
Page 18 and 19:
tradition that referenced the sacre
Page 20 and 21:
Another work in the exhibition, Sta
Page 22 and 23:
View of the Main Gallery These heav
Page 24 and 25: La Línea del Destino (Line of Dest
Page 26 and 27: the production of further economic
Page 30 and 31: Sea of Buddha, 1995, Hiroshi Sugimo
Page 32: Head of Buddha Śākyamuni, 4th cen
Page 35: center (and facing page) Bodhisattv
Page 38 and 39: Four Mandalas (dkyil-‘khor), 18th
Page 41 and 42: 32 Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara in t
Page 43 and 44: 34 Acala Candamaharosana (Budong Mi
Page 45: 36 Detail of “The Universal Gatew
Page 49 and 50: Gallery Guide & Checklist Entrance
Page 51 and 52: Cube Gallery Vajrayāna Buddhism Th
Page 53 and 54: Lower Gallery The Buddha’s Light
Page 55 and 56: Lower Hallway Other Works on View N
Page 58: Reflections of the Buddha
Page 62 and 63: Reflections of the Buddha September
Page 65 and 66: VIII Head of a Celestial Attendant,
Page 67 and 68: Bob introduced them to the rewards
Page 69 and 70: Standing Buddha Amitābha (Amida Ny
Page 71 and 72: 1 Afghanistan P a k i s t a n 2 I n
Page 73: such quintessential virtues as comp
Page 77 and 78: in nature is also in one’s mind .
Page 79 and 80: circles and squares — in his arch
Page 81 and 82: in exhalation). The extended interv
Page 83: 18 A Scene from the Life of the Bud
Page 87 and 88: The Monk Ananda (Anantuo), 9th cent
Page 90 and 91: foreground The Monk Ananda (Anantuo
Page 93 and 94: 28 Four-circle Hevajra Mandala (Kye
Page 95: 30 Details of Standing Bodhisattva
Page 98 and 99: Seated Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara
Page 100 and 101: Enlarged photograph of Buddhist Tri
Page 103: 38 Guardian King of the North (Vai
Page 106 and 107: Main Gallery Buddha Śākyamuni Aft
Page 108 and 109: Cube Gallery Lower Main Gallery 15.
Page 110 and 111: Lower Gallery 23. Buddhist Triad: B
Page 112: A Note on Diacritics and Punctuatio
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Reflections of the Buddha - The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts

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