Art of South & Southeast Asia

Art of South & Southeast Asia

Theme: “Hinduism and Buddhism”

Hinduism and Buddhism are the religions that dramatically affected the art forms that Indian artists produced.

South Asia

• India
• Pakistan
• Bangladesh
• Sri Lanka
• Nepal
• Bhutan

Southeast Asia

• Cambodia
• Laos
• Myanmar
• Thailand
• Vietnam
• Malaysia
• Singapore
• Philippines

Concurrent Dates

563-483 BCE The Buddha

499-479 BCE The Persian Wars

326 CE Alexander the Great Reaches the Indus River

325 CE Council of Nicea

476 CE Rome falls

1337 CE The Hundred Year’s War begins

Contextual History

In 1800 – 1200 B.C. the Aryans arrived from the north. Then, Hinduism began. There was no founder and no set of tenets. As a polytheistic faith, there are hundreds, even thousands, of gods. This is a complex religion with practices, schools and beliefs. It is a life devoted to prayer, devotion and good deeds.

In the 6^th century BCE, Siddhartha Gautama founded Buddhism. This became the dominant religion of Southeast Asia. Buddha is not a god but an example of leading an ascetic life. Buddhists believe a life of suffering ends when rebirth ends and the soul achieves nirvana.

Common symbols include the lion (as Buddha was royalty), the wheel (law) and lotus (purity)

Target Concepts

• Religions rooted in the East seek an end or escape from the karmic cycle or reincarnation.
• Buddhism begins in India but spreads throughout the East.
• Artistic and architectural styles were influenced by Buddhism.
• Abstraction is frequently the answer when a culture wishes to depict the supernatural
• Iconography coveys messages in Eastern Art
• Eastern Art has its own styles that differs from Western Art.

An Influence of Artistic Styles

• Military conquest
• the Silk Road
• Colonialism
• Trade in Buddhist Art

 

HINDUISM

Artistic Innovations: Hinduism

• Architecture, sculpture, and painting are utilized together.
• Temples built to deities and are meant to house the gods
  • Exterior walls: covered with sculpted images and decorative carvings; motifs like foliage, women, and embracing couples à growth, abundance, and prosperity.
• Secular structures (palaces, mansions).
  • Often made of brick and wood
  • decorated with terracotta and wood sculptures
    • heat and humidity meant these do not survive
    • After Islam arrives, monuments made of stone
  • Manuscript painting: vibrant watercolors
  • Many rulers commissioned art; enhance community’s religious life as well as their own reputations

Examples in Hindu Art

Hinduism

• Shiva
• Vishnu
• Devi
• Avatar

Lakshmana Temple
India, 10th century CE Plinth
Tantric Hinduism

Shiva as Lord of Dance (Nataraja)
India, 11th century CE bronze
Mandorla or Nimbus

The temple of Angkor Wat
Cambodia, 15th century CE stone masonry, sandstone

• Churning of the Ocean of Milk
• Jayavarman VII as Buddha

Basics of Hinduism

One of the oldest religions, today there are approximately 900 million followers. Almost 95 percent of Hindu followers live in India.

Concepts include:

• Embraces many ideas and considered a way of life
• Most worship a single deity, while recognizing other gods and goddesses
• Believe in the law of cause and effect (karma)
• Believe all living creatures have a soul
• Believe the soul is part of the supreme soul
• Believe in a single continuous cycle of life through death and reincarnation known as samsara
• Thoughts and actions determine this life and the next
• Moksha ends this cycle of reincarnation and bring salvation
• All animals especially cows are considered sacred
• Most Hindus do not eat beef or pork. Many are vegetarians.

The Vedas

The Vedas is a collection of sacred texts, including versus and hymns, written in Sanskrit.

 

(8) 200. Lakshmana Temple

Under the Hindu Ruler Yashovarman. Indian. (Chandella Dynasty) 930-950 CE. Indian

Learning Objective: Hindu temple

Themes:

Place of worship
Sexuality
Deities
Male-female relationships
Architecture
Rulers
Power
Religion

Lakshmana Temple in Khajuraho, India, is built from sandstone and stands 85 feet high.  It is one of the ancient Hindu shrines of India. Located inside the native of Khajurao, in central India, they are famous for their incredibly beautiful erotic sculptures, displaying several sex positions in the most sensual form. One of the finest specimens of temple architecture, the Lakshmana Temple is made in a Nagara style architecture of northern India.

Despite many foreign invasions, the temple has survived the wrath of time. The well-carved columns, plinth, walls, sanctum, and halls are worth noticing. They are living proof of semantic Indian art and expert craftsmanship of Indian artists.

Males and females locked in sexual positions portray the deep knowledge that ancient Indian sages had regarding lovemaking as a concept of attaining spiritual bliss. Moreover, artists have sculpted human figures with accurate anatomy, denoting the system of research prevalent among the guilds. Owing to the temple being extant, the architecture and stone masonry are exceptional.

In the past, Indian art is an embodiment of abstract and manifest. The manifest forms through temple architecture represent life and its eventual surrender to the higher consciousness by refining the senses.

Content

Lakshmana Temple is a part of a bigger complex with many other shrines in Khajurao, a native village in central India. When it was built in the 10th century AD, more than 80 temples were constructed. These were destroyed by Sultanate rulers, post-12-13th centuries. Presently, less than 25 temples are extant, remembering the ancient artistic legacy.

Built on the raised platform, plinth or jagati, the central shrine of Lakshmana Temple is surrounded by four smaller shrines, constructed in the same style. This pattern is known as Panchayantana in Indian doctrines. Notably, this structure reminds us of four minarets surrounding the famous mausoleum, Taj Mahal by Shah Jahan. The function served is quite contradictory in the case of this Hindu temple. As it is a Nagara-style temple, it comprises the main space called garbha griha or sanctum, which houses the god-statue of Lord Vaikunth Vishnu. It is a small, windowless, and no-contact, sacred space, where most priests are allowed to perform routine rituals.

Vishnu is one of the main gods of the Hindu pantheon, which symbolizes preservation and protection. The cult of Vishnu in India is known as Vaishnavite. Mentioned in the Vedas, he is a Vedic god and thus had a large following throughout the continent of India since the ancient past. Most importantly, Vishnu is the god who regularly incarnates on the earth whenever there arises a great force of evil.

Vishnu appeared on the earth through ten reincarnations which consist of popular gods like Rama, Krishna, Parshurama, among six others. In addition, Vishnu also appears in a variety of other divine forms, among which Vaikunth Vishnu is also a significant one. The god with three heads and four hands, is a powerful emblem of taking charge of the preservation of life and beings. The three heads represent three combined incarnations viz. Narsimha, Varaha and Saumya.

Facing east, the garbha griha is enclosed in a tall spire structure called vimana. Tapering at the top, the vimana symbolizes refinement of human senses to achieve supreme bliss and union with God. The sanctum connects to an alley called antarala, which is a connecting bridge to the sacred space with a secular one.

But how?

The sacred space of garbha griha opens to a hall with many decorative columns, in hypostyle format, which is called mandapa.

There are categories to mandapa, which comprise ardhamandapa and sabhamandapa, concerning the performed activities. These activities include religious duties, chanting, singing hymns in the praise of gods and goddesses, among others. Mandapa is a secular space, where every layman is allowed to visit and pray.

The interior of the Lakshmana Temple is made with corbeled arch, a style of overlapping masonry, which is pressured on the ground for stability. This is known as Ashlar masonry with stones fitted using rivets instead of mortar or nails. Artists have used horror vacui, defining the profuse decoration on the outside walls. Significantly, the southern walls of the temple show intimate sexual poses of a male-female union.

The temple sculpture in ancient India followed the aesthetics of rasa (acquiring relish) and Taalmana (proportion) to create evocative artworks. Hence, the figures are curvy, tall, slender, and extremely rhythmic. Moreover, they are lyrical, moving the gaze subtly and effectively. Artists were able to achieve this remarkable feat of precision because of sandstone, which is soft and workable.

Apart from erotic couples called mithuna, there are high reliefs of over 600 gods from Hindu pantheons. The short capitals show the form of lions, while before a devotee circumambulates the temple, the statue of Lord Ganesha assures of the correct revolving path. Significantly, in India, Lord Ganesha is worshipped by all creeds before initiating a new chapter of life. The human figurines are adorned with many accessories denoting royalness.

The interior of the Lakshmana Temple is equally decorated with the narration of the lives of gods. Incarnations of Vishnu, Krishna Leela (tale), among many other narrative panels enliven the temple with the traditional culture of India. Based on Indian aesthetic theories, the placement of sculptures allots figures of speech (alamkara) quality. Hence, they suggest an abstract philosophy over describing it through inscriptions. The aesthetics of suggestions in Indian aesthetic theory is called dhvani. Through love-making scenes on the temple, the importance of sex as a means to higher consciousness is emphasized by the ruling dynasty of Chandella.

Function

Primarily, the Lakshmana Temple serves as the worshipping place of Lord Vishnu. The Hindu temples are deemed as a residing space for the god among the common masses. Visiting the temple, the devotee circumambulates the shrine to activate the divine energy and pay symbolic reverence and dedication. Most importantly, they should circumambulate in a clockwise direction.

The Chandella kingdom followed the Vaishnaivite cult and to address social legitimacy, they built many temples. It also showed their piety. With respect to political agenda, they would often borrow the model of deity from the neighboring kingdom to maintain the cordial relation. In the case of the Lakshmana Temple, king Yashovarman had followed the same method. However, it is stated that the present idol in the temple is not an original one.

Rulers are depicted in tantric sex poses, which were seen as a kind of offering to the deities. The theme of the building is preservation (this is what Vishnu embodies): whether it be sexual prolonging or preservation of human life (through reproduction).

The ancient Indian temples are solid proof of profound study, which are documented in the doctrines called shastras. From the studies in the science of construction to the study of making love is practically demonstrated and celebrated in these documents.

With respect to the Lakshmana Temple, the legacy of architecture and art is combined with tantric philosophy, which presents a spiritual significance to sex. According to Tantrism, the union of the male and female body develops proximity with god.

Tradition

Shilpashashtra and Kamasutra are ancient Indian texts on the art of sculpting and lovemaking, respectively. The main architect of the temple is known as Sutradhar or a Vishwakarma, a person who designs and directs the construction. Indian traditional doctrines are also replete with information to plan the building, as well as instructions to create a sculpture concerning the essential aesthetics. These structures of information have proven to be textbooks to the generation of artists in making high-relief or free-standing sculptures. Majorly, the narratives have been borrowed from ancient texts like Vedas, Puranas, and epics.

Presenting a Vaikunth Vishnu idol in the sanctum, the Chandela kings propagated Vaisnavism. However, they also promoted Jainism and had also supported the construction of Jain temples.

Patron

Yashvoraman, a Chandella king, in 930 AD, augmented the construction of the Lakshmana Temple, which eventually was completed during his son’s rule. A guild of artists was employed to finish the massive plan of the temple. Concerning the ruler’s desire to stand it out from the rest, a few changes were observed.

In the case of the Lakshmana Temple, the notion of sculpting erotic poses on the junctures was novel and performed for the first time. It is an example of using one of the figures of speech (alamkara) called slesha or pun. The temple was and is open to the visitors to seek the blessings of the preserver deity, Vishnu. It is one of the world heritage sites of India.

Setting

Lakshmana temple was constructed between 930 – 1050 CE. Yashovarman of the Chandella dynasty built many temples in Khajurao with an exemplary amount of exterior as well as interior decoration. Thus, it initiated the nomenclature of Chandela art and architecture with specific significance. Moreover, Khajurao was the capital of the kingdom that boasts many cultural sites.

During the 10th century AD, the history of India had witnessed many falls and the rise of successful empires. Thus, the heritage was becoming predominant had followed a set of established rules. Many other kingdoms prevailed with final successive rules of Pala kingdom in the east and Chola kingdom in the south, among others, who proved great patronage to art and architecture.

 

(8) 202 Shiva as Lord of Dance (Nataraja)/ Indian (Chola Dynasty), Tamil Nadu.

Chola Dynasty. 11^th century CE.

Shiva as Lord of Dance or the famous Natraja sculpture epitomizes the manifestation of divine and cosmic energy. It is an absolute artistic representation of the golden age of sculpture in India and made from bronze.

Focus

The viewer must train the eye to look beyond the mere dancing pose and try and grasp the deeper meanings of symbolic gestures and forms. Although Lord Shiva is shown in an effeminate dancing pose, it is a symbiotic form of male and female energy. With one leg lifted, knee bent, and a hand crossing over the chest, the lyrical composition brings attention to the cosmic rhythm of the universe.

Etymologically, in Nataraja, nat means dance, and raja denotes the king. Narteswar and Natesa are two other names attributed to this sculpture.

As one of the Hindu pantheon’s top three gods, Lord Shiva is mentioned as a destroyer of the world, wherein he serves as an agent to initiate the process of new creation. That is why he is one of the most revered gods in India. Presenting primordial rhythm and sound, Natraja or Shiva as Lord of Dance amplifies two critical events of universal life: birth and death. As he performs the dance called Tandava, he is annihilating the present world with utmost calm composure.

As the most popular Indian sculpture, an emblem of worship and religiosity, Natraja symbolizes fearlessness, the defeat of evil, peace, wisdom, and immense knowledge. A cultural motif, different regions and timelines have depicted the Natraja in various styles, each showing a different number of hands of Shiva.

The Visual Elements

Each motif or the form in the Natraja is a symbol of attaining higher consciousness in the face of much worldly adversity.

The arch surrounding the Shiva shows flames that originate from the mouth of the creature called Makara, a mythical sea creature, at the base. Thus, the encircling nimbus represents a cosmic circle of fire. This denotes the never-ending cycle of creation and destruction—a cogent Hindu belief. This nimbus or halo is known as the Prabha mandala. Interestingly, the earlier Natraja idols had an arch while later transformed into a fully circular halo. As he is ecstatically dancing, the flying locks of Shiva fan around, touching the nimbus.

The headdress consists of a skull, and a flower named Datura metel, denoting death as the ultimate truth and fragrance of life, respectively. Mounted with a crescent moon and the goddess Ganga, it indicates a peaceful state of mind despite the impending termination of life that everyone is destined to.

According to Hindu mythology, the river Ganga was brought to earth from heaven by Shiva, to save the world from drought. It is a symbol of attaining higher consciousness in the face of much worldly adversity.

Shiva has four hands, which either carry some symbolic object or depict a hand pose called mudra.

 

• Upper right hand holds a drum, called Damaru,which continues beating over time. Like a ticking clock, it symbolizes the primordial sound of regular and many creations and annihilations.
• The lower right-hand palm is raised, known as abhaya mudra, signifying fearlessness towards evil. The same hand has a cobra wrapped around the wrist, designating fear, danger, and turmoil. Yet, the lord is unperturbed.
• The upper left-hand holds agni (fire), an important element for the act of creation as well as destruction.
• Crossing his chest, the lower left-hand hides the heart of the Shiva. It is known as tirodhaana, meaning concealment. The same hand points to the left foot.

 

Shiva possesses three eyes. Inclusive of the third eye on the forehead, is an inner eye that opens a vast pool of inherent knowledge and wisdom. Adorned with accessories like a bracelet and necklace, the loincloth also blows with the vigorous movement of dance, touching the halo. Shiva stands one-footed on the dwarf demon names Apasmara Purusha, which exemplifies ignorance and illusion.

Most importantly, throughout all of this, Shiva continues to remain patient and peaceful, projecting the idea of control or sayyam in the act. Hence, the sculpture is an eye opener in the chaotic world, where we tend to forget the higher purpose of life, while following a dogmatic routine.

Why this was Created

Natraja is a cult statue dedicated to Lord Shiva, a prominent Hindu god. One of the oldest religions of India, Hinduism had been a pivotal belief in addressing the meanings of icons used in art forms. The doctrine Shilpashastra is the most important in ancient Indian literature that compulsively dominates the form, style, and composition of early Indian sculpture.

Natraja condenses the ancient iconography of India, embodying the divine. It was created to anesthetize the laws of the universe into a narrative that can relate as well as connect to the common mass. It emulates the dancing form from the doctrine called Natyashastra, a book of theatre. Thus, it was a cult statue throughout the sub-religions of India.

The sculpture of Shiva was first made in a dancing pose for temples during the 5th and 6th century CE as relief sculptures. The free-standing sculpture began to be made in the 10th century and preferably in bronze.

Around the 11th century, Nataraja statues were carried in processional parades, comprising priests and devotees. As a concept of commemoration, the Natraja idols would be covered with red and green cloth, surrounded by candles and flowers. The presence of the god in the statue, or deifying the idol, comes into being when a devotee worships it with immense faith.

Indian art was based on the fundamental principles of art and aimed at evoking the inherent emotion (bhava) of the art piece into the audience called rasa. The experience of expected rasa in the viewers is the marker of the successful artwork. Hence, developing an enormous reverence to the holy process of annihilation, which will inevitably become the ground of creation, Natraja follows this indoctrinated philosophy of art sincerely.

Tradition

Composed in a balanced format, this bronze sculpture is from the Chola dynasty of the 10th century. The Chola artist employed the lost wax process or Cire perdue technique of casting. Hence, Natraja is also created with the same process. The cire perdue entails a long process of forming a wax model to prepare a core around it and pouring the molten metal either to produce a hollow or a solid cast.

During the Chola period, bronze casting was in vogue, which is proved by a range of artifacts of a variety of Indian gods available in diverse collections. Significantly, these sculptures project stone temple carvings’ style along with the iconographical features, which purports a commendable merger of technique and aesthetics. With the instruction from Shilpashastra, the talman or the proportion for the divine figures was preordained. The doctrine also commands how limbs should be styled, underlining Hindu ideology.

Patron

The Chola dynasty served as a patron to Natraja or Shiva as Lord of Dance. Proliferating in trade and development, the Chola regions observed notable advancement in bronze casting. Moreover, the expanse of the empire extended until Sri Lanka in the south and other southeast Asian countries. Hence, they had enormous access to vast copper reserves, which multiplied the production of bronze sculptures.

 

(8) 199. Angkor, the temple of Angkor Wat, and the city of Angkor Thom, Cambodia –

Angkor Dynasty, Hindu – c. 800-1400 CE

Learning Objective: Hindu/Buddhist temple

Themes:

Architecture
Place of worship
Appropriation
Deities
Politics
Power
Rulers
Propaganda
Water
Funerary
Good vs evil
Religion

Angkor Wat, in Siem Reap, Cambodia is the largest religious monument in the world. It was built for the patron King Suryavarman II (1113–1145/50 C.E.) and dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu, one of the three principal gods in the Hindu pantheon, along with Shiva and Brahma. Vishnu is known as the protector.

It is believed that Angkor Wat was also to house the king after death and used as a mausoleum.

The name Angkor Wat comes from the Khmer language, the official language of Cambodia. It means City Temple.

Siem Reap was once the capital of the Khmer empire, then known as Angkor. From the 800s to the 1300s it was a prosperous hydraulic facility that collected monsoon waters from the rainy season, in huge basins. This elevated flooding, and protected plantations during drought.

Merchants and traders of gold and spices brought Hinduism and later Buddhism. Business opportunities caused people to stay in the region

Since Angkor itself was the technical source of the life-giving agricultural water controlled by the king, it was regarded by the Khmer with religious reverence. Its temples and palaces were an expression of that and at the same time an essential part of its supernatural mechanism.

Royal intercession by numerous ceremonies, some of which re-enacted the primal marriage of Hindu divinity and native earth spirit on the pattern of ancient folk cult, ensured the continuing gift of the waters of heaven.

The king, an earthly image of his god, was the intermediary who ensured that his kingdom would continue to receive divine benevolence in the form of water in controlled quantities.

Courtiers played roles both religious and administrative for the king, who believed that after his death he would be united with his patron deity. Dedicatory statues were often set up in his chief temple to commemorate his divinization.

The Khmer kings were tied to the city, even as they changed religions. The city was transformed using both Hindi and Mahayana Buddhist architecture and artistic style layers beneath the surface of the temple.

Content

A large moat and a high wall surround Angkor Wat on all sides, which are longer than one kilometer.

Inside the temple develops on three levels:

• a new enclosure, formed of galleries, pierced with monumental porches on all four sides and provided with corner towers
• a second floor repeating the same arrangement
• a central tower composed of five towers-sanctuaries staggered and interconnected by cruciform galleries

The temple mountain was a Southeast Asian invention in architecture. It represented a union between the gods and the reigning king. The capital, a square measuring 4 kilometers on each side was lined with a double rise of land. Here two axial avenues crossed ending in a natural hill in the center.

The five stone towers symbolized the five mountain ranges of Mt. Meru, the mythical home of Hindu and Buddhist gods. It was also considered an axis-mundi or a world axis that connects heaven and earth.

In his city, the king could intercede and re-enact the marriage of the Hindu divinity and the earth spirit to ensure the continuing gift of waters from the heaven.

Inspiration

The temples continued to multiple, with each sovereign trying to outdo the next.  The small temple of Banteay Srei, built in 967, is located 20 kilometers north-east of Angkor. It is surrounded by a low-rise enclosure that is pierced by entrance pavilions and bordered by a moat. With three towers consisting of pink sandstone, this is the first temple to use relief sculptures to illustrate Indian legends. This is a prelude to classical Khumer style. Note the reliefs of devatas (gods of Hindu epics such as Ramayana and the Mahabharata) and the tympanums depicting Hindu myths, such as the rain of Indra.

Rich in Decoration

At Angkor Wat over a thousand dancing apsaras (female spirit of the clouds and waters in Hindu and Buddhist culture) unfold on the walls of the different courts and on the pilasters. Dressed in a bell skirt from which are two large pieces of cloth at the waist, they are lavishly adorned with bracelets, armbands, necklaces and earrings, and extravagant hairstyles.

A Closer Look at Bas-Relief Sculptures

The greatest achievement of the Angkor Wat sculptors has been reached in the tens of meters long bas-reliefs of the galleries of the second such as the Churning of the Sea of Milk or Heavens and Hells.

Heavens and Hells

• marked contrast between elected and damned
• dramatic groupings

Churning of the Sea of Milk

• move from a low precise relief to a light background relief.
• composition is willingly monotonous
• opposing alignments of gods and demons, which pull on the Naga (serpent king) as if they play a tug-of-war game, the Churning of the Sea of Milk.

The Myth

The Churning of the Milk is a Hindu myth about the eternal struggle between the forces of good and evil, as well as light and darkness. Due to this struggle twelve precious things are lost in the ocean.

The god Vishnu thought to use the holy mountain Mt. Mandara as a churning stick, surrounded by the serpent king (naga). This was tugged between the demons and the gods. They pulled with all their might! The churning stick stirred the waters of the milky sea for 1000 years— before recovering the amrita, the elixir of eternal life. The foam from the churning produces apsaras, who appear on both sides of Vishnu. Once the elixir was released, the supreme god of the Vedes, Indra descended to catch it and to save the world from the demons.

The Rise of Jayavarman VII

After the death of Suryavarman II, the Champa (the people of nowadays Vietnam) occupied the Khmer kingdom for four years (1145 to 1149).

Jayavarman VII achieved the following:

• liberated his country and restored order.
• conquered Champa (Vietnam), Laos, Thailand and Burma achieving the maximum extent of the Khmer kingdom
• enthroned in 1181
• reorganized the Khmer country
• built a road network linking the provinces to the capital and lined them with lodgings for travelers
• built hospitals
• changed his religion switching from the defeated Vishnu to Buddhism (Mahāyāna).
• raised temples dedicated to the worship of his parents
• 1186, that of Ta Prohm, in Angkor itself, dedicated to his mother deified under the aspect of a female counterpart bodhisattva.
• 1191, the temple of Preah Khan of Angkor, in memory of his father in the aspect of Bodhisattva “Lord of the World”.

A Work in Progress

Simultaneously, Jayavarman VII had to restore Angkor Thom the capital itself, destroyed and pillaged by the Chams. It used to be centered on the Baphuon, which was more than a hundred years old.  Jayavarman VII recentered it on a new temple-mountain, the Bayon and surrounded it by a moat and a high wall of stone. The new city, Angkor Thom, was – like the previous ones – enclosed in a vast quadrilateral, each side of which was oriented in relation to a cardinal point. Four triumphal ways (north-south and east-west) cut it into quarters.

The Buddhist cosmology inspired the symbolism and dispositions of the great foundations (Angkor Thom, Preah Khan, etc.). The architecture (plans and elevations of the temples, construction processes) and sculpture (iconography, aesthetics, adjustments) of the style of the center of its new capital, Bàyon break with four centuries of stylistic evolution and mark its end.

The Plan

Construction was not random. By combining Brahmanic notions and Buddhist ideas the architectural purpose was the glorification of the king, his deification, and his identification with the empire. Jayavarman VII, converted to Buddhism, found satisfactory solutions present the capital as the center of the world of the gods, where the king lived as equal of the gods and the protector of the world.

• moats were oceans that encircled the world, enclosing the mountain ranges that border it
• doors, surmounted by towers adorned with the deified face repeated four times, facing each cardinal point
• gave access to roads lined on both sides of a hundred and eight giants of stone holding a colossal naga
• theme of churning of the ocean, myth of creation, and that of the rainbow unites heaven and earth.
• In the center, the Bayon, symbolic temple-mountain with a circular interior and radiant reminiscent of the Buddhist stupas, provided 50 faces, with the “smile of Angkor”, which one finds the echo in the countless statuary of this time.

Angkor Wat as a Mandala

A mandala or circle in Sanskirt, is a spiritual geometric configuration of temples in Buddhism. This allows for harmony with the universe by aligning with the planets, sunrise, and sunset. Angkor’s central axis through the temple’s main tower, aligns with the morning sun of the Spring Equinox.

Destruction, Change and Abandonment

In 1234, Jayavaram VIII, who succeeded two Buddhist Kings, destroyed Angkor and all effigies of Buddha. He was an iconoclast operating at a very large scale. In total tens of thousands of Buddha images were defaced.

At the end of the 13th century, the definitive adoption of Theravāda Buddhism led to a radical change in architectural traditions and ended all major construction programs. Advocating a simpler way of life, the Theravada Buddhism made Angkor Wat the Buddhist center of the kingdom.

Around 1431 a new Thai attack destroyed the hydraulic system on which the economy of the kingdom was based. Shortly after, the royal court abandoned Angkor.

Angkor Wat and Petra: Cultural Interactions and its Influence on Art and Culture

Angkor Wat and Petra’s stories are linked to their intricate water management systems consisting of canals and artificial water basins. Their engineering feats not only provided their inhabitants with a constant water source but tied their destiny to the ancient world trade routes.

In both cities, the merchants-navigators and caravans of the vast-reaching trading routes brought along their ideas. Think Hinduism and later Buddhism. They also brought traditions like Hellenistic architecture and the Greco-Roman model of interconnected public spaces.  This transformed the local cultures.

Angkor Thom, capital of the Ancient Cambodian Khmer Empire was an important center along the gold and spices trade networks of East and Southeast Asia. Petra the capital of the Nabatean Kingdom controlled the Incense Routes providing Arabian myrrh, frankincense and perfume to the Mediterranean cities and Dead Sea bitum for the ships.

Ancient Petra (400 BCE-100CE) and Angkor Thom urbanism ideas could not be more different.

The advent Angkor Wat (800-1400 CE) was announced by the Khmer royal tradition of building temple-mountains to their ancestors. The temple mountain was a Southeast Asian architectural invention to illustrate the union between the gods and the reigning king.

The Khmer capital was a gigantic square symbolizing the whole universe. Two axial avenues crossed it, ending in a natural hill at the center.  In the beginning of the 12th century, King Suryavarman II (1113-1145/50 C.E.) built the temple of Angkor Wat. He became the first king of the Angkor dynasty.

The original name of the temple was lost. Angkor Wat means City Temple. The temple was dedicated to Vishnu, the Protector, one of the three main Hindu gods, Vishnu, Shiva, and Brahma.  The galleries of its three ascending levels and the moat symbolized the oceans that surround Mt. Meru, the home of Hindu gods. The last level is a central tower composed of five towers-sanctuaries arranged in staggered rows symbolizing the five mountain ranges of Mt. Meru itself.

Angkor’s central axis given by temple’s main tower also aligns to the morning sun of the Spring Equinox. This axis-mundi is a cosmic axis connecting heaven and earth.

The effort demanded by the construction of Angkor Wat weakened the kingdom. It was briefly occupied by the Champa people of Vietnam.

Jayavarman VII liberated his country and changed his religion switching from the defeated Vishnu to Buddhism (Mahayana). The Buddhist cosmology inspired new constructions such as Preah Khan and Bayon.

Angkor Wat survived as its plan allowed for its re-interpretation as a mandala or circle in Sanskrit. This is a spiritual geometric configuration that teaches believers the Four Noble Truths and the organization of the universe.  Its architects used the Hindu architecture for a Buddhist temple by replacing the typical Buddhist stupa, with the Mt. Meru. The believers circumambulated in the galleries around the staggered Mt. Meru. Raising level by level the believers understood the concept of eternal rebirth samsara and of enlightenment.

Nevertheless, the architecture of Angkor Wat remained accompanied by a mostly Hindu bas-relief decoration including over a thousand dancing apsaras (female spirit of the clouds and waters in Hindu and Buddhist culture) the allegories of Hindu deliverance from demons such as the Churning of the Sea of Milk in which the Devas (gods) fight the asura (demons) to reclaim order and power.

Petra’s urbanism is far away from any geometrical planning. Dictated by the natural fragmented rocky environment of its surrounding sandstone cliffs, it did not allow the development of the traditional Greco-Roman grid patterns and resulted in a low-density urban network. In the early 1st century, during the reign of King Aretas IV, Petra’s cosmopolitan population peaked at almost 25,000 people and the heart of the city of Petra covered the bottom of the valley.

The city borrowed the Greco-Roman concept of public space with a monumental Roman-style theater carved directly into the sandstone bedrock, the two levels administrative/religious center of the “Great Temple”, and a colonnade street with portico. Its main axis followed the topography of Wadi Musa spring torrent.

After Trajan’s victory in 106 CE, the Roman conquerors built a colonnaded street on Petra’s main axis connecting all its key centers.  A Roman triple-arched gate marked the access to Petra’s old sacred quarter featuring Qasr el Bin, an ashlar-masonry square shrine and the colonnaded Winged Lions Temple. Both temples were dedicated to Nabatean Arabian idols.

Like Angkor Wat, in Petra the civil Hellenistic tradition was used for a different religious purpose. The Eastern cult of the dead created the unique rock-cut mausoleums of Petra. The result was so atypical that for a long time Petra was refused the status of a proper city and it was simply considered a necropolis.

The mausoleums line is at the entrance to the valley and crowns the cliffs surrounding the valley. The monumental Al-Khazneh, The Treasury— with its broken pediment and deeply carved tholos topped by a stone urn, Corinthian columns and reliefs of winged Victories, bare breasted Amazons and Castor and Polux— illustrates a flamboyant Alexandrian Hellenistic style. It draws a stark contrast with the Street of Facades and its smaller Eastern aniconic mausoleums with flat Mesopotamian roofs.

A row of rock-cut monumental columned tombs, The Royal tombs crowns the heights of the city itself. Their facades carved in the sandstone exhibit syncretic architectural elements: multi-storied Mesopotamian facades, Egyptian monumentality and Hellenistic colonnades and pediments. The Palace Tomb is the largest, the Corinthian Tomb has floral decorative elements, and the Silk Tomb has a wavy moiré rock façade.

Other monuments carved into the towering cliffs, such as Ad-Deir, or the Monastery were initially considered tombs. Ad-Deir Hellenistic architecture elements strikingly resembles ones of the Al-Khazneh, The Treasury showing the continuous experimentation of Petra’s architects with different cultural elements.  However, its austere decorations featuring circle-patterns is a legacy of the Nabataean non-figurative artistic tradition. Crosses etched onto the walls show that the Byzantines re-used it later as a church.

At Petra the recycling of monuments and integration of new ideas in the Nabatean did not stop with Nabataean Ptolemaic and Roman rulers. In the Byzantine period, mausoleums were converted into churches, and the spolia of damaging earthquakes served to construct new Christian Byzantine monuments.

At Angkor Wat and Petra art waned when their multicultural societies were threatened by the raise of religious intolerance.  The religious sites of Angkor Thom and Petra faced a methodical Hindu and respectively Muslim iconoclasm. This destroyed in Angkor all the effigies of the Buddha and in Petra all the human and animal faces.

BUDDHISM

Artistic Innovations: Buddhism

• Architecture, sculpture, and painting are utilized together.
• Stupas (B) devised around cosmic lines
• Uniformity to how Buddha is depicted, regardless of time

 

Examples of Buddhist Art

Cycles

Reincarnation, karma

Buddhism and the Buddha

Great Stupa at Sanchi India
4 century BCE 50 feet tall
King Ashoka, Circumambulation, torana, Yakshi

Seated Buddha
Gandhara style Pakistan, 2 century CE stone 2 feet
Urna, ushnisha

The Life and Death of the Buddha
Pakistan, 2nd century CE, schist 2 feet by 9 inches
Bondi Tree, Sarnath

The Silk Road

Colossal Buddha of Bamiyan
Afghanistan, 2nd century CE 180 feet tall

Seated Buddha preaching the first sermon
India, 5th century CE, tan sandstone, 5 feet high
Mathura Style

Longmen Caves
China 5th – 12th century CE, limestone

Jowo Rinpoche
Tibet, 7th century CE, gilt metals with semiprecious stones, pearls, and paint

Daibutsuden (Kondo) of the Todai-ji complex
Japan 8 century CE, rebuilt 18 century CE, wood, bronze, and ceramic tiles
Curtain walls, modular, mortise and tenon

• The Great Buddha of Todai-ji Gate
• Nio Guardian Statue of Todai-ji

Borobudur Temple Indonesia
9th century CE volcanic stone masonry
Mandala

Ryoan-ji Gardens
Japan, 15th century CE
Zen Buddhism

 

Buddhism and Monasteries

What is a Monastery?

A monastery is a community for men, as monks, or woman as nuns. The word monk is from the Greek word monos which means to be alone.  Here, they form a new society for themselves, which is devoted to religious practices, including prayer and rituals.

Before monasteries were built both Buddhist and Christian monks had to rely solely on the kindness of others. The wandered the country, without a place to call home, practicing self-denial, in pursuit of religious goals. People gave them not only food, but shelter in bad weather.

The Function

Once monasteries were built, monks had  a community to live in with like minded others.

In Buddhism and Christianity monks or nuns pray on behalf of the people and the monastery is the spiritual focus of the town.

In Christianity, the monks pray for the salvation of the souls of the living.

The Basics of Buddhism

It is different in Buddhism because there is no concept of a soul.  There is instead a cycle of rebirth called samsara. This is thought to be a repetitive state. But, when someone finally reaches moksha, this is when release from samsara occurs. This ends attachment to both the material world and the ego. In this state nirvana or liberation is reached. This is the final state in which there is oneness with everything.

The prayers and meditations are thought to help the community, as the common person would not possess the proper skills. Although they could turn to the monastery for instruction as well.  The people of the community can improve their karma, by giving donations of food and other useful items to the monastery.

Dharma

There are Four Noble Truths, also known as Dharma or the law.

• Life is suffering (suffering = rebirth)
• The cause of suffering is desire.
• The cause of desire must be overcome.
• When desire is overcome, there is no more suffering (suffering = rebirth)

It is understood that moksha is extremely difficult to achieve. Buddha’s teachings focus on Enlightenment to assist.

The Middle Way:  Following the middle path between extreme asceticism and extreme indulgence

Buddha taught the Noble Eightfold Path involving ethical conduct (sila), concentration (samadhi), and wisdom (prajna).

 

1. Right view: understanding where one is heading before beginning (wisdom)
2. Right intention: committing to following the path (wisdom)
3. Right speech: what is said to not harm others (ethical conduct)
4. Right action: what is done to not harm others (ethical conduct)
5. Right livelihood: daily living that does not cause harm to others (ethical conduct)
6. Right effort: focusing energy to the task at hand (concentration)
7. Right mindfulness: awareness of not harming oneself or others (concentration)
8. Right concentration: a dedication to practice such as meditation (concentration)

 

Types of Buddhism

To the first of his followers, and the tradition associated with Theravada Buddhism and figures like the great Emperor Ashoka, the Buddha was a man, not a God. He was a teacher, not a savior. To this day the Theravada tradition prevails in parts of India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Cambodia, and Thailand.

To those who, a few hundred years later, formed the Mahayana School, Buddha was a savior and often a god—a god concerned with man’s sorrows above all else. The Mahayana form of Buddhism is in Tibet, Mongolia, Vietnam, Korea, China, and Japan. The historical Buddha is Siddhartha Gautama.

Vajrayana is a branch of Mahayana Buddhism, with many rituals which define it as different. It is practiced mostly in Tibet, Mongolia and in parts of China.

Similarities: Buddha was the founder, and they all follow the Middle Way, the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path.

Basic Differences: attainment of Nirvana. Only monks can obtain Nirvana in Theravada, as is traditional Buddhism. In the Mahayana form of Buddhism followers believe that everyone can.

Hinduism vs. Buddhism

Buddhism arose from Hinduism. Both believe in reincarnation, karma, and working toward a good life to ultimately achieve enlightenment.

Hinduism has a caste system, while Buddhism does not. It does not have the rituals, priest or gods and goddesses that the Hindus do.

An Inspiration for Architecture

Three types of architecture were inspired by Buddhist communal and monastic spaces.

• Stupa
• Vihara
• Chaitya

The stupa came first. It is considered a sepulchral monument or a place for burial or receptacle for relics. Typical items would include objects or items the person wore. After monasteries started to be built, these items were removed from the stupa and they were left to simply become symbols of Buddhism.

The original stupa was important. It was built by the first Buddhist ruler of India, named Ashoka.

Between 120 BCE and 200 C.E. over 1000 viharas (a monastery with residence hall for the monks), and chaityas (a stupa monument hall), were established along ancient and prosperous trade routes. The monasteries required large living areas.

Ashoka: the first King to embrace Buddhism

Sites special to King Ashoka (304–232 B.C.E.), the first king (of northern India) to embrace Buddhism, were also integral to the building of monasteries.

The complex at Sanchi, where the original Great Stupa (Mahastupa) of Sanchi was created as a reliquary for the Buddha’s ashes after his death, became the largest of many stupas that were created later when a monastery was built at the site.

Ashoka added one of his famous pillars at this location—pillars that not only proclaimed his acceptance of Buddhism, but also served as instructional objects on Buddhist ideology.

Ashokan pillar at the monastic center at Vaishali.

Buddhist Monasteries in India

In India, by the 1st century, many monasteries were founded as learning centers on sites already associated with Buddha and Buddhism.

• Lumbini where the Buddha was born,
• Bodh Gaya where he achieved enlightenment and the knowledge of the dharma (the Four Noble Truths),
• Sarnath (Deer Park) where he preached his first sermon sharing the dharma
• Kushingara where he died.

Buddhist Cave Temples

Located in hilly, isolated regions, Buddhist cave temples were used for monks practicing their religion. In India where Buddhism was founded, there are more than 1300 of these cave temples. These were mainly built between the second century BC and the seventh century AD.

Each cave has a specific architecture:

• Chaitya (worship hall)
• Vihara (monastery)
• Decorative with sculptures and murals pertaining to Buddhist religion

The chaitya has a church-like structure. It has a long hall, with a horseshoe sounded hall at the end. Here there are mound shrines or stupas. These are enshrined for worship.

Chaitya at Karle near Lonavala, Maharashtra, first century B.C.E.

The stupa is at the end of the nave (the main central aisle) On either side of the columns are side aisles to help people walk through the space—around to the stupa, and back out.

This is similar to the architecture of Early Christianity where the side aisles at the Early Christian Church in Rome, Santa Sabina, which help the flow of people who come to worship at the altar at the end of the nave).

Monks lived in vihara caves. The architecture of these spaces is rectangular with a flat roof. There is a long hall in the center with sleeping quarters and mortuary temples along the sides. The name vihara translates into a secluded place to walk, in reference to a dwelling with an open courtyard.

Rock Cut Caves

The rock-cut caves were established in the 3rd century B.C.E. in the western Deccan Plateau, the southern portion of India.

The earliest rock-cut caves include:

• Bhaja Caves
• Karle Caves
• Ajanta Caves.

Profitable relationship existed between the monks and wealthy traders. The Bhaja caves were located on a major trade route from the Arabian Sea eastward toward the Deccan region linking north and south India. Merchants, wealthy from the trade between the Roman Empire and southeast Asia, often sponsored architectural additions including pillars, arches, reliefs and façades to the caves. Buddhist monks, serving as missionaries, often accompanied traders throughout India, up into Nepal and Tibet, spreading the dharma as they travelled.

During Hinayana (lesser vehicle) the memory of historical Buddha and his teachings were recent, so there were no images of Buddha. Eventually, the rock-cut monasteries became quite complex. They consisted of several stories with inner courtyards and veranda.

In the later Mahayana (greater vehicle) phase, there was a need for physical reminders of the Buddha and his teachings. Images of the Buddha drawn from the jataka stories—the life stories of the Buddha—, or of the Buddha performing his Enlightenment and his first sermon (when he shared the Four Noble Truths with the laity) proliferated in both paintings and reliefs. A stupa was still placed in the central hall, but now an image of the Buddha was carved into it, underscoring that Buddha is the stupa.

Early Caves in Northern India: Bhaja, Ajanta

At Bhaja there are no representations of the Buddha other than the stupa since Bhaja was an active monastery during the earliest phase of Buddhism, Hinayana (lesser vehicle), when no images of the Buddha were created. In Hinayana, the memory of the historical Buddha and his teachings were still a very real part of the practice. The Buddha himself did not encourage worship of him (something images would encourage), but desired that the practitioner focus on the dharma (the law, the Four Noble Truths).

The main chaitya hall (which contained a memorial stupa, empty of relics) at Bhaja contains a solid stone stupa in the nave flanked by two side aisles. It is the earliest example of this type of rock-cut cave and closely resembles the wooden structures that preceded it. The columns slope inwards, which would have been necessary in the early wooden structures in the north of India to support the outward thrust from the top of the vault. In similar stone caves, sometimes the columns are placed in stone pots, which mimic the stone pots the wooden columns were positioned in, to thwart termites. This is an example of a practical architectural practice being adopted as the standard.

At Ajanta, the earliest phase of construction also belongs to the Hinayana (lesser vehicle) phase of Buddhism (in which no human image of the Buddha was created). The caves are very similar to those at Bhaja. During the second phase of construction, Buddhism was in the Mahayana (greater vehicle) phase and images of the Buddha, predominantly drawn from the jataka stories—the life stories of the Buddha—were painted throughout.

In Mahayana, which was more distant in time from the life of the Buddha, there was a need for physical reminders of the Buddha and his teachings. Thus images of the Buddha performing his Enlightenment and his first sermon (when he shared the Four Noble Truths with the laity) proliferated. The paintings at Ajanta provide some of the earliest and finest examples of Buddhist painting from the period. The images also provide documentation of contemporary events and social custom under Gupta reign (320-550 C.E.).

 Buddhism Iconisn-Aniconism

The “aniconic mode” of representation is found in the Indian cultural sphere as well as in China, but it produced distinct modes of expression according to the different historical settings. Early Indian Buddhism developed various aniconic types within the scope of narrative pictures that never show the Buddha in human form. Instead, his presence was indicated by means of symbols or by emblematic representations as well as by his “non-image.”

In contrast, the Chinese aniconic phase refrained from any pictorial representation whatsoever and only carved the words of the Buddha in Chinese calligraphy. The restriction to words on the Chinese side has the advantage that it provides written texts that can be analyzed, although the texts themselves never fail to suggest the limitations of language in the same way that suggest the inadequateness of images, as we shall see. Early Indian Buddhism, it seems, knew other ways to avoid the limitations of language: without leaving the confines of the pictorial, it found impressive ways to give form to the invisible.

The icon (corporeal body) of the Buddha in India and China: Gandhara style

After the 1st century C.E., with the development of Mahayana Buddhism we begin to see many images of the Buddha in human or anthropomorphic form. These new, iconic images of the Buddha were particularly popular in the region of Gandhara (in present-day Pakistan) and in Māthura, south of New Delhi. They were depictions of the Buddha’s enlightenment, i.e. bodhisattvas. Many of the concept’s characteristic of Mahayana Buddhism appear to have developed in Gandhara.

These anthropomorphic images usher in a new phase of Buddhist art in which artists convey meaning through the depiction of special bodily marks (lakshanas) and hand gestures (mudras) of the Buddha.

In this anthropomorphic image of the Buddha’s enlightenment, the artist depicts Prince Siddhartha seated on a throne, surrounded by the demon Mara and his army, who attempted—unsuccessfully—to thwart Prince Siddhartha’s attainment of enlightenment. At the moment of enlightenment, the prince reaches his right hand towards the ground in a gesture mudra in which his hand is oriented towards earth.

The Influence of Alexander the Great

Gandhara is the ancient name of a region in northwest Pakistan. It is bounded on the west by the Hindu Kush Mountain range and to the north by the foothills of the Himalayas.

In 330 B.C., Alexander the Great conquered this region and familiarized its artists with the classical Greek sculpture. Starting about 50 B.C., Kushan era, the sea trade driven by monsoons increased. Thus, merchants from Rome and Middle East passed through Gandhara on their way to Central Asia and China. Gandharan control of the high mountain passes vital to this international commerce made the region wealthy. The resulting cosmopolitan elites became some of the most powerful Buddhist patrons in all South Asia.

Art of Gandhara

This art combines (syncretism) local characteristics with elements derived from both Indian and western (Greek, Roman) cultures.

 

Gandhara Buddha

• the body is hidden with heavy cloak echoing a Roman toga; its sharp folds echoing Greek Parthenon draping styles form concentric curves centered on the right shoulder.
• the face is elongated, the chin is quite prominent, and the corners of the relatively thin mouth are slightly sunken.
• the eyes are narrow under a heavy lid, gazing downward in compassion to the world
• the wavy Greek-like hair is gathered into a topknot symbolic of wisdom
• a lightly incised circle, called an urna, appears between the eyes.  The urna was an identifying mark of the Buddha’s divine status and ability to see beyond our realm.
• Buddha has long earlobes that recall the heavy royal earrings he once wore
• the second-century Bodhisattva Maitreya had a musculature markedly western/Greek

The Buddha is shown in his human shape because of his last incarnation in the human world,  but particular bodily marks are witness to his transcendence of the human realm. After enlightenment, the historical prince Siddhartha Gautama acquired various marks (lakshana) that identify him as the Buddha.

The importance of the bodily attributes for any Buddha image in India and China can hardly be overestimated. Descriptions of these are formalized in the Buddhist canon, specifying 32 primary and 80 secondary superhuman attributes.

For the most part, however, the local lists are homogenous. The major bodily attributes of a Buddha are witness to his completion of awakening and are, therefore, the only adequate way to represent him in human form.

The Buddha’s body is dignified, well proportioned, and extremely tall, with its slender and long limbs.  The top hair bump, and the hair into tiny snail stylized curls. Another mark is the urna between the eyebrows.

The Buddha’s earlobes are extended in reference to the heavy jewelry he wore previously as a prince. He wears a simple monk’s robe, in keeping with his spiritual purpose, and sits in a lotus position. His skin was said to be of a golden hue, emitting light from every single pore.

Fingers have all the same length, or special markings on the palms and on the soles of the feet. All parts of the Buddha’s body, even features that cannot be represented, like his voice, are determined by his being enlightened.

Often the face and the uncovered parts of the body were gilded, representing the light emitting from the Enlightened One’s body.

Other important attributes mentioned in the texts pertain to the meanings of his hands position, the mudras, which evoke ideas during Buddhist meditation or rituals:

• right hand over right knee (calling Earth as a witness to Enlightenment)
• right hand held up with palm out (symbolizing giving reassurance, “no fear”)
• hands held at chest with fingers turning invisible wheel (setting in motion the “wheel of the doctrine”—that is, preaching)
• hands placed on the lap, left hand on right with fingers fully stretched palms facing upwards (“meditation mudra”)

A Parallel with the Icon of Christ

A remarkable parallel can be drawn with the icon of Christ. The portrayal of his physical features follows the notion of a “delineation,” which places every human being into a coded system of features that establish a distinctive identity.

The Patriarchs of the Byzantine stated that “The icon of a man is not inscribed according to nature, but according to position.” (Barber 2002).

In other words, there was no doubt about what the historical, incarnated Christ “looked like,” because there was only one way in which He could have manifested physically in the world. Thus “an icon has to be seen as a living eyewitness of actual events.” (Barber 2002).

 

Buddha Sculptures – Mathura style

The Mathurā school started in in the central northern India and it was contemporaneous with the NW school of Gandhara (1st century CE). During a period in which Buddhism, Jainism, Hinduism flourished in India, Mathura was a sacred place for the followers of Jainism who sculpted their deities

Mathura Buddhas are related to the earlier Indian yakṣa figures (male nature deity), a direct continuation of the old Indian art of Sanchi with few Gandharan elements.

• facial types are more Indian-like and have a round smiling face

Buddha iconography:

• full of energy with broad shoulders, swelling chest,
• if standing the legs are firmly planted and spaced apart.

Mudras

• the left-hand palm facing down in “calling earth as witness” mudra
• often the right hand forms a mudra of “fearlessness” representing protection, peace,

benevolence and the dispelling of fear; the left arm akimbo or resting on the thigh

 Warmer climatic conditions

• Buddha’s torso is dressed in a transparent monk’s robe
• a higher fluidity of the clothing
• drapery is closely molding the body giving the illusion of nudity
• the right shoulder bare

Other Elements:

• details tend to be less realistic, and more symbolic
• radiant inner calm and stillness, the products of supreme wisdom
• earlier the shaven head and the topknot of the head indicated by a tiered spiral
• later Buddhas had shell-like hair curls, which became the standard representation throughout the Buddhist world.

• ornate halos around the Buddha’s head, while in Gandharan art the aureole is plain
• garments with lotus flower (symbol of purity) design
• the presence of either the lion throne or the lotus throne.
• the sitting Buddha images
• naturalistic pose with legs crossed
• represented as powerful with broad shoulders and open eyes

 

Standing Buddhas tend to display characteristics and attitudes seen in the Greco-Buddhist

art of Gandhara:

• the clothing covers both shoulders, with symmetric folds
• the left hand holds the gown of the Buddha while the other hand (Roman toga style)
• the folds in the clothing are more typical of the Gandharan style
• the clothing covers both shoulders, with symmetric folds
• the left hand holds the gown of the Buddha while the other hand (Roman toga style)
• the folds in the clothing are more typical of the Gandharan style

 

(8) 192. Great Stupa at Sanchi.

Buddhist; Maurya, late Sunga Dynasty. c. 300 B.C.E.–100 C.E.

Learning Objective: Buddhist stupa

Themes:

Reliquary
Pilgrimage
Appropriation
Passage of time
Funerary
Religion

The Great Stupa at Sanchi in Madhya Pradesh, India is a work of stone masonry with sandstone on the dome. The initial monastic center started with the original stupa (Stupa1) + monolithic pillar built by the Mauryan emperor Ashoka (reigned circa 269-232 BC) in the 3rd century BC.

Sanchi Stupa’s outstanding importance include:

• A large hemispherical dome crowned with a triple stone umbrella (chattras-Buddha stays under a chakra as royalty does) surrounded by a square railing
• Around the 1st century CE under the Shungas
• The stupa was later enlarged and encased in stone
• The four magnificently carved gateways called toranas were added at the cardinal points.
• The square posts of the entrances support three curved architraves with scrolled ends completely covered with relief sculptures
• Depict Jatakas (stories of the Buddha’s earlier incarnations, Bodhisattavas),
• Scenes from the life of the historical Buddha
• Buddhist aniconic symbols.
• A stone-paved processional path at the ground level enclosed by a balustrade and accessed through the four gateways
• A second higher terrace, also enclosed by a railing, is approached by a double staircase.
• Represents the Buddha, the path to Enlightenment, a mountain, and the universe
• Following the decline of Indian Buddhism, the site decayed; rediscovered in the 19th century

Great Stupa at Sanchi acknowledges early fertility symbols associated with the vitality of the fruit-bearing tree. At each end of the ornate torahs (gates) three yakshi sculptures act as architectural brackets, supporting the sandstone beams that ran above their heads. The yakshi is the almost nude female figure clasping onto the branches of a tree with her arms, with a leg along its trunk. They wear jewelry around their necks, waists, and ankles.

Sanchi Stupa- Circumambulating path to Enlightenment

Circumambulating is a ritual that helps Buddhist to understand the Buddha’s teachings, known as the Four Noble Truths (also known as the dharma and the law). By turning around, they understand what means to be caught up in samsara, the endless cycle of birth and death. Escaping on the 2nd terrace allows them to understand the escape from the cycle, the Enlightenment.

• The stupa= a circle or wheel and the unmoving center symbolizes Enlightenment.
• stupas are placed on a square base, and the four sides represent the four directions, north, south, east and west.
• Each side often has a gate—torana— in the center, which allows the practitioner to enter
• Each gate is a life event of the Buddha: East (Buddha’s birth), South (Enlightenment), West (First Sermon where he preached his teachings or dharma), and North (Nirvana).
• The gates are turned at right angles to the axis mundi to indicate movement in the manner of the arms of a svastika, a directional symbol that, in Sanskrit, means “to be good”
• They are guarded by guardians to remind the passage from mundane to sacred. They are either nude or dressed with a local dhoti

Sanchi Stupa Aniconic representations of Buddha

Sculptural friezes at important early Buddhist stupas like Sanchi depict scenes from the life of the Buddha, with the Buddha represented in aniconic form, using certain fixed symbols. On the Northern gate of “stupa one” in Sanchi the Buddha’s body is represented by the Body tree, a crowning lotus rosette on a column like structure, a stupa, the Buddha’s footprints with the Wheel of the Law (dharma chakra).

Each symbol represents a pivotal event in Buddha’s life: a lotus (or elephant holding a lotus before birth) representing his birth, a fig tree or throne representing his enlightenment that he reached after meditating under the tree, a wheel, a flaming column with a Wheel of the Law for his first teaching/sermon (the Four Noble Truths), and a stupa (funerary mound) for his bodily demise.  In some cases, he is also represented by a pair of footprints.

Stupa -Jataki Monkey King story – Bodhisattva

A depiction of the Mahakapi Jataka appears on the western gateway of the Great Stupa (Stupa 1) at Sanchi.  The first scene, depicted at the bottom, shows the arrival of the king of Benaras, mounted on a horse accompanied by soldiers. The king is shown with a parasol or chatra over his head, which signifies his royal status.

A feature that arouses curiosity is the portrayal of musicians who accompany the king—perhaps meant to accentuate the royal status of the king, suggesting that he travels with an entourage of attendants and musical accompaniment. To the right of the king an archer appears with bow and arrow aiming at the Bodhisattva (Great Monkey).

The artist(s) of the Sanchi relief shows the Bodhisattva as the bridge by which monkeys escape the king’s arrows to join the rest of the troop in the forest. On the left side of the river (which in this relief is full of active fish and rhythmic waves of water), two men, presumably following the order of the king, appear holding a sheet below the Great Monkey as he falls.

The episodes depicted in the Sanchi panel give no indication of order through either time or cause and effect. Such is the complexity of this portrayal that even a viewer well-versed in this story must closely examine the panel to “read” it accurately. Apparently, the artist made this for an audience with previous knowledge of the Jataka stories. There is mention of Bodhisattva instructing the king in Buddhist law before dying from the sustained wounds.

Context

Stupas predate Buddhism. Before Buddha, teachers and philosophers were buried in stupas (Hindu funerary monuments). The shape was supposed to represent a person seated in meditation.

In the 6th century BCE stupas built after Buddhism contained portions of the Buddha’s ashes (not known exactly when Buddha died for sure). There were 8 stupas originally because there were 8 kings who wanted to split the remains.

In the 3rd century BCE Great Stupa was one of the oldest and best-preserved stupas from Ashoka’s reign. Ashoka was the greatest Mauryan king in India and the first ruler to associate with Buddhism in India. He converted after killing 100,000 people. When he converted, he disinterred Buddha’s remains from the other stupas and distributed the remains to his new stupas.

Ashoka built many stupas across his empire so the faithful could always access them. Ashoka chose this site because it was raised on a hill

In the 2nd century BCE, the Sunga Dynasty in India enlarged this stupa and decorated it by adding the gates.

 

 

 

 

(7) 182. Buddha.

Gandharan. 400-80 CE (destroyed 2001). Buddhist.

Learning Objective: Buddhism in the Middle East

Themes:

Pilgrimage
Place of worship
Devotional object
Site-specific
Cross-cultural
Deities

Buddha in Bamiyan, Afghanistan was one of two rock cut Buddhas fashioned with plaster, polychrome, and paint.  The largest stood 150 feet tall. They were destroyed in 2001.

The main bodies were hewn directly from the sandstone cliffs. The stone was in situ and living rock. The details were modeled in mud, mixed with straw, coated with stucco. Gold and fine jewels were added These were gifts and offerings from pilgrims.

The niches are shaped like mandorlas to emphasize the statues. This also acts as protection from the elements such as rain, wind, and sun.

The works were an appropriation of Greek and Asian artforms. The Asian influence could be seen in the body form, facial features, and size. The Greek influence was present in the drapery and folds.

There is no knowledge of patron, artist, or details of the commission.

Function

• Important site of pilgrimage for centuries and a stop on the Silk Roads
• Veneration/religious art

Content

The larger Buddha was painted with a red robe and depicted as Vairocana Buddha who embodies all wisdom. This type of Buddha must be depicted as grand in size as it is a very masculine form of Buddha.

The smaller Buddha was painted with a blue robe and known as a historical Buddha. It may represent female aspects and as such is smaller.

The cave galleries are painted with wall paintings and images of Buddha. Pilgrims can walk through these caves.

Context

Gandharan was a diverse culture that emerged in Afghanistan. It was influenced by Alexander the Great’s Greek empire, Buddhism from the Silk Roads, and Indian kingdoms.

Bamiyan was a caravanserai, a “highway town” of sorts for travelers on the Silk Road that connected China to the Mediterranean. The area contained numerous Buddhist sanctuaries. By the 7^th century, there were 5,000 plus monks and pilgrims in Bamiyan.

Buddhism is not location-specific, focuses on an afterlife, and is not class-specific. it can be worshipped anywhere and spread easily among traders. Mahayana Buddhism spread due to Chinese expansion westward. It developed a concept of Buddha as an incarnation of wisdom and truth. This meant Buddha was literally larger than life. As such, monumental statuary of Buddha emerged.

 Timeline

In 1221 CE, Ghengis Khan conquered this region of Afghanistan killing everyone but left the sculptures

Mughal ruler Aurangzeb, who was Muslim, tried to destroy the statues in the 17^th century.

In March 2001 the Taliban, who determined these works were idols, dynamited and destroyed them.

 

(7) 184. Jowo Rinpoche.

Tibetan (Yarlung Dynasty). Believed to have been brought to Tibet in 641 CE. Buddhist.

Learning Objective: Buddhism in Tibet

Themes

Pilgrimage
Place of worship
Offerings
Portrait
Devotional object
Religion
Site-specific

Jowo Rinpoche is made from gilt metals with semiprecious stones, pearls, and paint as well as items from various offerings. It is believed to have been brought to Tibet in 641 CE. Today, the 5-foot-tall sculpture sits in the Jokhang Temple, Lhasa, Tibet.

Originally,  the sculpture was in the style of Nirmanakaya which was simple and unadorned. But it was transformed into a Sambhogakaya or adorned sculpture because of all the offerings made to it.

The temples’ interior is a dark labyrinth of chapels and hallways.

Function

This is the holiest object in Tibet. Since it represents the Buddha, it is believed to be Buddha’s proxy. It is based on what Buddha looked like when he was 12 and it was made during his lifetime. As such, it is an important pilgrimage destination for Tibetan Buddhists. They must take a pilgrimage here if they are able and three major pilgrimage routes dead end here.

This object is said to bestow freedom from fear and suffering, can grant wishes and quickens the path to enlightenment.

The Process for Pilgrims

• Before entering, pilgrims circumambulate the temple to create good spiritual energy
• Inside the temple, pilgrims make their way to the central shrine, often crawling on their hands or sliding on their bellies.
• They hum prayers while bringing offerings.
• When they reach Jowo Rinpoche, they pray in front of it and give offerings

Content

Jowo means Lord

Rinpoche means precious one

Khang means house

 The Visuals

This is the sacred image of Buddha at age 12.

• Urna: spiral or circular red dot on the forehead of Buddhist images
• Stretched earlobes (previously as a prince, Buddha wore huge earrings that stretched out his ears)
• Believed to be based off Buddha himself
• Face is of inner focus and patience.
• The meditative pose in lotus position signifies enlightenment.

Context

The temple was founded in 647 CE by King Gampo, 1^st ruler of unified Tibet who imposed Buddhism. The Queen was Queen Wencheng, daughter of the Tang Chinese emperor. She is credited with bringing Buddhism to Tibet when she married King Gampo in 641 CE. Part of her dowry was the Jowo Rinpoche.

On her way to Tibet from China, her wagon got stuck in the mud. This was interpreted as the Jowo Rinpoche wanting to stay on that spot, so construction began on a temple. Every day when workers returned to the site, the construction they had done the previous day had been undone. This continued for 6 years!

Finally, a divination revealed that an ancient demoness was sleeping in the earth under the exact spot where they were building the temple. Every night, she would push her arms and legs, while thrashing around, wrecking the construction on the temple. To stop this, the main Jokhang Temple was built on her heart to weigh her down and prove Buddhism’s supremacy, and ten smaller temples were built around Jokhang Temple to hold down her arms and legs.

Development of Vajrayana Buddhism (Tantric Buddhism)

A further evolution of Mahayana Buddhism, Vajrayana (Sanskrit: “Thunderbolt Vehicle” or “Diamond Vehicle”) form of Buddhism that was developed in India about 500–600 C.E. in India and neighbouring countries, especially Tibet. It was based on the traditions of late (600) Indian and Chinese Buddhism with a strong emphasis on monasticism.

Unique to Tibetan Buddhism is the institution of the tulku (incarnate lama): Tibetan Buddhists believe that compassionate teachers are reborn again and again, in each lifetime. Identified when they are children and invested with the office and prestige of their previous rebirths. Tibet has had many such lamas, the most famous of whom is the Dalai Lama.

The Fifth Dalai Lama became ruler of Tibet in 1642, and under his rule was built the great palace of the Potala in Lhasa, the country’s capital. Tibet was incorporated into China in 1951, and the present (Fourteenth) Dalai Lama went into exile in India in 1959, when the Tibetan diaspora began. Since that time, Tibetan Buddhism has become of increasing interest to people throughout the world.

Based on a sophisticated scholastic philosophy that can be traced to ancient Hindu and Vedic texts, the followers of Vajrayana Buddhism believe in a shortcut to enlightenment through psychological/physiological transformations. This involves elaborate forms of tantric practice believed to be handed out by Buddha to selected disciples to recapture his own enlightenment experience. It also includes borrowed exorcism practices from Bön (Tibet’s indigenous belief system).

They practice:

• yoga techniques of meditation, mantra (sacred power words)
• rituals using vajra (the weapon of the Indian Vedic rain and thunder-deity Indra) and ghanta (bell), sacred images (such as those in the museum collection), hand and body gestures (mudra) .

Tibetan Buddhism eventually spread into Mongolia and Nepal, as well as into China, where it received imperial patronage especially during the Yuan (1260–1368) and Qing (1368–1644) dynasties. It also influenced parts of Southeast Asia and East Asia.

As an offshoot of Mahayana Buddhism, the Vajrayana pantheon is made up of a vast group of buddhas, bodhisattvas, dakinis (female buddhas), and fierce deities whose devotees venerate them as great protectors.

Vajrayana’s visual arts culminate in the mandalas, elaborate diagrams representing the universe and used as meditation aids. Temples and mandalas are sacred spaces that believers can inhabit through meditation and can help interacting with buddhas and bodhisattvas.

Vajrayana Buddhists engage in a variety of rituals and ceremonies, some of which are considered taboo by other Buddhism branches: (visual) meditation practices, ritual devotion to buddhas and bodhisattvas, pilgrimage, and mantra recitation.

Cross-cultural connections:

 

(3) 58. Church of Sainte-Foy (Reliquary of Sainte Foy)

Romanesque Europe. Stone. 1050-1130 CE. Conques, France. Romanesque.

A relic is an object that is esteemed or venerated because of association with a sanctified historical person. Catholic churches have a long history of collecting and venerating relics. The more closely something was associated with Christ, the more spiritually valuable it was.

Who was Sainte-Foy?

Sainte Foy (English: Saint Faith) was born in the French/Roman 2^nd century city of Agen. She became a martyr when she was killed by the Romans by refusing to worship pagan gods. She was only 12 years old.

Her skull became the relic that pilgrims wanted to visit. It was believed that it cured blindness.

There are formal characteristics shared by both Jowo Rinpoche and Reliquary of Sainte Foy  that relate to their association with relics . Each is shaped as a human whose pose, expression, and embellishment, indicate the core beliefs associated with the relics.

• Figural sculptures
• Static, rigid postures and bilateral symmetry
• Expressionless faces
• Reflective luster of the surfaces
• Seated position

The rigid, static pose of these figures and their bilateral symmetry reflect a separation from earthly concerns and suggest a spiritual transcendence. This is also communicated through their calm, expressionless faces. Likewise, the reflective luster of the surfaces evokes an association with the spiritual realm. Finally, the seated positions of the figures convey different ideas.

The enthroned Sainte-Foy reflects the heavenly majesty of a sainted Christian marty, while the Jowo Rinopoche lotus position and “calling the earth as witness” mudra reflect his enlightenment.

The materials/imagery used reinforce the reliquary Sainte-Foy’s association with relics.

Materials

The gold and silver convey the heavenly rewards (of Christian martyrdom)

The Reliquary of Sainte-Foy is a female figure enthroned and richly embellished. The figure is sculpted in wood and plated in gold and silver gilt repoussé. Cabochon gems and enameling add to the lavish presentation.

Many of the gemstones encrusting the surface were donated by pilgrims as part of their veneration.

There are elements of ancient Roman art. The head of the saint is a reused ancient Roman sculpture and antique cameos are found on the exterior. This links the reliquary to the Christian persecution era, corresponding with the age of the relics contained inside. This use of spolia (repurposed art) makes the object even greater in value by associating it with the treasures of the Roman Empire and by linking the sculpture to the era in which Sainte-Foy was martyred.

 Imagery

• The youthful appearance of the figure which recalls the story of the 12-year-old martyr who refused to renounce her Christian faith.
• The blank stare of the figure reflects a spiritual transcendence from earthly life.
• The jeweled crown or throne that evokes the heavenly majesty of a sainted Christian martyr.
• The lamb imagery and crucifixion scene at the base of the throne parallels the martyr’s sacrifice with that of Jesus Christ.

Function

Their function is associated with movement.

• with a destination to which pilgrims travel
• a relic/reliquary is a fixed object in a specific location: a pilgrimage on a known route.
• Their function is religious and cannot be explained outside a Christian/Buddhist context.

The reliquary of Sainte-Foy is synonymous with its Christian context. Its function cannot be seen, considered, or described without reference to the Church of Sainte-Foy. The object does have a more varied history. The saint’s remains were transferred from Agen to Conques in the 9th century, and the head of the statue is widely believed to be a repurposed imperial portrait from the later Roman Empire. Yet the fundamental religious function of the reliquary of Sainte-Foy has remained the same for centuries.

The Jowo Rinpoche despite the historical evidence is seen as a relic of the historical Buddha, carved by a celestial architect to serve as Buddha’s proxy after he leaves Earth.

Both works function is to express the power of their relics. The access to them is institutional, held by a religious order and held on display to be viewed by the public.

Once a year, on the saint’s feast day, the reliquary is paraded in a glass case through the town of Conques so that it may be viewed and venerated by large crowds. The reliquary also protects the relics. The actual relics of Sainte-Foy are not seen. They are believed to be engaged through prayer and contemplation during the pilgrimage.

Jowo Rinpoche was built to act as a proxy of Buddha after he left Earth.

Difference in function

• The relics of Sainte-Foy are never seen
• Buddha relic, Jowo Rinpoche is permanently on display

 

(3) 95. The Virgin of Guadalupe

Miguel González. New Spain. 1698 CE.  Based on original Virgin of Guadalupe, Basilica of Guadalupe, Mexico City.

In this work of oil on canvas, on wood inlaid with mother-of-pearl the standing Virgin hovers above an eagle on a cactus (Mexico’s city symbol), a winged cherub, and a crescent moon . Mary’s face has an ashen tone.

Gonzalez’s depiction of the Virgin Mary is tied to European traditions.  Her entire body is surrounded by a glowing aureole of light augmented with golden rays, her feet rest on a crescent moon, and she wears a golden crown. All are references to the Woman of the Apocalypse, in the Book of Revelation.

The Virgin’s robes have been crafted from mother-of-pearl using a new, luxurious technique known as enconchado, inspired by imported Far East artworks. The reflective luster of the mother-of-pearl in the light emphasizes a divine status .

In Miguel González’s The Virgin of Guadalupe (Virgen de Guadalupe) the Virgin Mary is depicted in the form of the image said to have imprinted itself miraculously on the cloak of an indigenous man, Juan Diego, to whom she appeared in Mexico in the 16th century. The standing figure of the Virgin, her eyes downcast and hands clasped in prayer, hovers above an eagle, its wings spread wide, perched on a cactus, all supported by a winged cherub. Four roundels depict the manifestation of the Virgin in an indigenous form in the new world

Function as a Devotional Object

• the local features of the icon were intended to make the figure of Mary more accessible
• to assist the converted local population in their devotions towards the Virgin
• to promote the conversion of indigenous populations to Christianity
• as a large artwork permanently affixed to a wall, it required the pilgrimage of devotees
• as a copy of the famed, miracle-working image it has been credited with sharing some of the power of the original image displayed in the Basilica of Guadeloupe in Mexico City, yet there is no recorded a manifestation of divine action.

Iconography of the Mandala

A mandala (in Sanskrit maṇḍala – “circle”) is a spiritual geometric configuration/map

• appears first in the Vedas, common to Shintoism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism
• originally symbolized the organizational model of life itself, but it can represent the entire universe: Mount Meru as the axis mundi, surrounded by the 4 continents of Indian mythology
• Indo-Himalayan mountain related imagery from the Esoteric Vajrayana Buddhism
• for the educated Buddhist, who associates each figure/form with the specific text of a sutra
• it is a guide to the spiritual practice that leads to enlightenment
• it is a sacred space inhabited by a hierarchy of forms (buddhas, bodhisattvas, guardians, and symbols)
• the basic form (Womb Mandala) is a square with 4 gates containing a circle with a center
• exhibits radial balance
• the outer circle symbolizes wisdom and an escape from samsara, the perpetual rebirth
• from the central circle sand, one visually circumambulates in a clockwise sequence
• Vajrayana tradition: two mandalas form the world of the Cosmic Buddha, typically hung facing each other (E Womb World, W Diamond World)

The Diamond World Mandala

• a sacred space of 9 equal-sized square assemblies inhabited by the Five Wisdom Buddhas
• the square in the center, the Perfected-Body Assembly starts the clockwise sequence.
• in the center of the top row Buddha sits with his hands in the wisdom-fist mudra, in which the right fist encloses the index finger of the left hand.

The Womb World Mandala

• a sacred space inhabited by the Five Compassion Buddhas.
• a central 8-petaled lotus inhabited by a seated meditating Buddha surrounded by form used during important ceremonies: ordination, memorial rites, or new temple buildings.

 

(8) 198. Borobudur Temple  

Sailendra Dynasty. c. 750–842 centuries

Borobudur Temple, in Central Java, Indonesia, is made from volcanic-stone masonry. It is the largest Buddhist temple in the world and ranks with Bagan in Myanmar and Angkor Wat in Cambodia as one of the great archeological sites of Southeast Asia.

Borobudur Temple is 300 years older than Angkor Wat and 400 years older than the European Cathedrals. The Indonesian temple was buried under volcanic ash and overgrown with vegetation until discovered by the English lieutenant governor Thomas Raffles in 1814. A team of Dutch archaeologists restored the site in 1907–11. A second restoration was completed by 1983.

Function

Visiting the temple requires circumambulating through the corridors. It is a ritual that helps Buddhist to understand the Buddha’s teachings, known as the Four Noble Truths (also known as the dharma and the law). This helps to understand samsara, the endless cycle of birth and death.

Climbing up successive terraces allows for understanding the transition from the lowest manifestations of reality, through a series of spiritual regions, toward the enlightenment at the summit which allows unrestricted views of the mountains, offering a liberating feeling of spaciousness.

One enters on the east gate, and reads from left to right, moving in a clockwise direction around the monument. Almost 5 km of carved bas reliefs educate the illiterate according to Mahayana Buddhism texts. These texts deal with the self-discovery and education of the bodhisattva, conceived as being with compassionate, and fully devoted to the salvation of all creatures.

The stories from Buddha’s life, Jataka and Avadana illustrate lessons on morality, karma and merit that distinguished the enlightened creature.

Buddhist religion, philosophy and cosmology is woven into the architecture of the Borobudur. The temple is the symbol of Mount Meru, which is considered the center of the universe in Indian cosmology.

Based on the teachings of Buddha the temple represents:

• the Four Noble Truths
• the Noble Eightfold Path
• the three realms of existence: Kāmadhātu, Rūpadhātu and Arūpadhātu

These help to guide the visitors  to follow the spiritual teachings.

Kāmadhātu (Desire Realm)

• 160 reliefs based on the text of Mahakarmavibhangga, which is about the law of cause and effect (karma).

Rūpadhātu (Form Realm)

• Scenes depicting mankind’s consciousness about the meaning of life through reliefs on a four sides gallery, both inside and out.
• To view in the correct order, one must walk around clockwise four times and observe both upper and lower reliefs.

Arūpadhātu (Formless Realm)

• reliefs depicted at the top illustrating Enlightenment (Nirvāṇa) which requires an almost five kilometer walk clockwise, ten times, to view correctly.

Other Forms of Decoration

• birds
• flowers
• mythical beings like Kāla above the temple entrance
• Makara mythical being with an elephant trunk and an open mouth from which the head of a lion emerges are at the base of the gate.

 Borobudur Temple is shaped as a stepped grey andesite pyramid with 3 levels—a square base, a middle level of five square terraces, and an upper level of three circular terraces—totaling 9 lesser sections. The number 9 which represents the end of a cycle in the decimal system, which originated from the Indian subcontinent as early as 3000 BC is mystic in Buddhism and Hinduism. Important Buddhist rituals usually involve 9 monks.

The historical Buddha had 9 virtues:

1. Accomplished
2. Perfectly Enlightened
3. Endowed with knowledge and Conduct
4. Well-spoken
5. the Knower of worlds
6. the Guide Unsurpassed of men to be tamed
7. the Teacher of gods and men
8. Enlightened
9. Blessed

The 3 circular terraces carry small stupas, crowned at the centre of the summit by a large, circular, bell-shaped stupa, 115 feet (35 metres) above the base. The bottom plinth encasement that obscures an entire series of reliefs consists of a massive heap of stone pressed up against the original structure. It was probably added to hold together the bottom story, which began to spread under the pressure of the immense weight of earth and stone accumulated above.

The lowest level, which is partially hidden, contains reliefs of earthly desires, illustrating “the realm of feelings/desires”, the lowest sphere of the Mahayana Buddhist universe. It portrays the law of cause and effect. For example, if you like gossiping, you might be reborn with an ugly appearance.

The next level is a 13-foot-wide corridor open to the sky and adorned with bas-reliefs that depict “the realm of forms” through events in the life of the historical Buddha and scenes from the Jatakas. There are 2 registers: the balustrade depicting fables about altruism.

Opposite the balustrade is the main wall where the Jatakas stories are located.

Lalitavistara, a set of 120 reliefs on the first platform, depict Prince Siddharta’s life from birth to enlightenment.

Queen Maya riding  in a horse carriage is retreating to Lumbini garden to give birth to Prince Siddhartha. In the nativity scene, Queen Maya’s depiction recalls the tree spirits or yakshinis. These spirits are are often shown as beautiful and voluptuous, with a flywhisk in right hand, fleshy cheeks, wide hips, narrow waists, broad shoulders, knotted hair and exaggerated, spherical breasts. According to legend, the infant stood and took seven steps. With each step, a lotus flower appeared, to prevent his tiny feet from touching the ground.

Here is the Story

“Prince Siddharta was born to King Sudhodana and Queen Maya of the Sakya clan who reigned in Kosala, India, around the fifth century BC. One day Queen Maya had a dream of a white elephant entering her womb. This dream was interpreted by priests as a sign that the couple would bear a son, who would become either a world ruler or a Buddha. The king preferred him to be the world ruler, so he confined the prince in the palace and indulged him in sensual pleasures.

As fate had it, one day the prince went out of his palace and he saw a sick person, an old person, a corpse, and a monk. Siddharta realized that he, too, would become old, sick, and die. Later, he renounced his mundane life and embarked on his search for true happiness. After learning from several spiritual teachers, and practicing severe ascetism for six years, he finally meditated under a bodhi tree. Here he attained enlightenment. Because of his compassion for fellow humans, he revealed the path to achieve unconditional happiness.”

The Jataka Tales

The Jataka tales are about the 500 Bodhisattvas, the alternating human and animal forms in which Buddha was reincarnated before he was born as Prince Siddhartha and attained enlightenment.

Animals perform self-sacrifices for other beings. “A sad monkey hugging a buffalo’s neck is the story of real friendship. One day a monkey had a problem. An ogre wanted to eat him. Devastated, the monkey told his buffalo friend about his fate. The buffalo comforted the monkey, saying that he would offer himself instead. What’s more, the buffalo’s body was bigger. The buffalo just asked themonkey to send his best wishes to his relatives. Then they both met the ogre. Touched by thekindness of the buffalo, the ogre dismissed his plan to eat either of them.”

• Avadana (Noble Deeds) are similar to Jataka, but the main figures are legendary people.

Sudhana’s quest for enlightenment

He was an Indian youth, maybe a merchant’s son seeking bodhi (enlightenment). He takes a pilgrimage on his quest for enlightenment and studies under 52 “teachers”: a doctor teaches him compassion for the ill, children playing teach him about simple happiness,…

The upper level illustrates “the realm of formlessness,” or detachment from the physical world. There is little decoration, but lining the terraces are 72 bell-shaped stupas, many containing a statue of the Buddha, partly visible through the lattice stonework. The 504 Buddha statues are shaped to express 6 different mudras (hand positions).

 Buddha Hand Gestures and Significance

1. Right hand across right knee symbolizing the summons of the Earth Goddess.
2. Right hand open with the face of the hand facing upwards – a symbolic gesture of loving kindness by the act of giving.
3. Both hands folded on his lap symbolic for meditation.
4. Right hand raised upwards with the face of the hand facing the audience – a symbolic gesture of dispelling of fear.
5. Right hand slightly lifted upwards with the tips of his thumb and index finger touching each other – a symbolic gesture of preaching the Dharma.
6. Both hands raised in front of the center of the upper body, touching with his right ring finger his left index finger – by far the most important symbolic gesture, for it represents the turning of the wheel of the Dharma.

The archways allow people to access the higher levels are decorated with pre-Buddhist elements,  such as the fearsome face and open mouth of Kala. This is a Hindu deity from the Mahabharata, the Ramayana, In Javanese mythology, Batara. Kala is the god of destruction.

Symbolism of the Mandala

The temple’s plan suggests a mandala, one of the richest visual objects in Buddhism. A mandala is a symbolic picture of the universe painted on a wall or scroll, or simply created with colored sands on a table. It represents an imaginary palace that is contemplated during meditation. Each object in the palace has significance, representing an aspect of wisdom or reminding the meditator of a guiding principle.

The mandala’s purpose is to help transform ordinary minds into enlightened ones and to assist with healing.  The entire sacred manmade mountain of chiseled gray andesite is a giant stupa. On the topmost terrace, the main stupa contained an unfinished image of Buddha with the hands not fully carved that was hidden from the spectator’s view, symbolized the indefinable ultimate spiritual state.

Techniques

Progressively the reliefs on the terraces become more static. The sensuous roundness of the forms of the figures is not abated but, in the design, great emphasis is laid upon horizontals and verticals and upon static, formal enclosures of repeated figures and gestures. At the summit all movement disappears.

The circular design enclosing the stupa, between the reliefs are decorative scroll panels, and a hundred monster-head waterspouts carrying off the tropical rainwater.

The stone was cut to size, transported to the site and laid without mortar.

The Javanese Variation

Although the origin of the temple is based on Indian mythology and Buddhist iconography, one can see the Javanese influence. The statues are less refined and have been recreated in the local perception of beauty. This is the way Buddhism was manifested in Java during the Sailendra dynasty.

Based on Indian influences and Mahāyāna Buddhism, arriving via China during Tang dynasty (618-906), this became the Buddhism of Java.

Sailendra dynasty shared their power with the Hindu dynasty Sanjaya. For example, the construction of the Kalasan temple – illustrates, that, apart from its religious function, the Borobudur also formed an important expression of power.

Tradition

The congregational worship in Borobudur is performed in a walking pilgrimage paying reverence to the stupa. This is achieved by circumambulating and keeping it on the right. The visitor is transformed and educated, while climbing through the levels of Borobudur. The encountering of illustrations of progressively more profound tales from Jataka and Avadana is achieved in a  similar way to the very early frescoes of the Ajanta Caves in India.

Pilgrims are guided by the system of staircases and corridors ascending to the top platform. Each platform represents one stage of enlightenment. The path that guides pilgrims was designed to symbolize Buddhist cosmology.

Vesak, the “Buddha Day” ceremony, occurs once a year during a full moon. Thousands of Buddhist monks walk in solemn procession to Borobudur to commemorate the Buddha’s birth, death, and enlightenment. Devotees may bring simple offerings of flowers, candles and joss-sticks to lay at the feet of their teacher.

Cross-Cultural Comparison

(2) 60. Chartres Cathedral

Gothic Europe – c. 1145-1155 CE (original construction) 1194-1220 CE (reconstructed); Limestone, Stained glass

Function:

• Chartres’ stained glass and statues educate the illiterate
• created to inspire the illiterate medieval masses and tell the entire Christian story
• Medieval symbolism of light as divine presence, i.e. Christ’s presence in the church
• the windows on the cathedral’s darker north side feature Old Testament themes of awaiting the light of Christ’s arrival.
• the windows on the brighter south side illustrate the good news of the New Testament
• Chartres’ windows must be read in the medieval style: from bottom to top.

The Story

A window near the entrance to the tower tells the story of Noah and the flood. In the bottom diamond, God tells Noah he’ll destroy the earth. Subsequent panes show Noah building the ark, loading animals, waves covering the earth drowning the wicked, and Noah releasing a dove. Near the top is a rainbow, symbol of God’s promise never to bring another flood.

Symbolism

Gothic Marian Devotion in a church dedicated to her :

• Mary on a Throne of Wisdom (wise intercessor)
• presence of relics: Mary’s tunic (Sancta Camisa)- offering to the Catholic Church by Charlemagne

Modern symbolism: Chartres en Lumieres, a summer nighttime sound-and-light show helps re-create the cathedral’s facades with colorful statuary.

 

Annex: The tradition of the 1st image: King Udyana’s/Emperor Ming of the Han dynasty

In Christian tradition, the legend of St. Luke the evangelist, who portrayed the virgin mother and the son, was developed roughly from the sixth to the eighth centuries, and propagated the idea that Christ’s image, but also that of his mother, the virgin, can be regarded as an historical portrait.

The Buddhist tradition knows of a comparable legend about Buddha’s first image which was three dimensional and carved of sandalwood.

King Udyana was distressed at not being able to behold the Enlightened One’s appearance, therefore Udyana decided to have a sandalwood image made, five feet in height. When the Buddha descended from the heaven of the thirty-three gods, he accepted it and pointed out the various merits achieved by image making.

This scene is illustrated in a stone relief from Gandhara, where we see the Buddha holding the image up in his hand and Udyana kneeling in front of him. In the late fifth century, the Udyana legend was linked with the story of the dream of Emperor Ming (58-76 CE) of the Han dynasty in the official tale of how Buddhism was introduced to China.

The new story claimed that the Buddha’s painting that the emperor received was in fact the same first image produced by King Udyana in the Buddha’s lifetime, thus giving authority to Chinese icons of the Buddha.

The Udyana legend became embellished over time with details relating how one or many artisans were miraculously transported to the heavens to create the likeness of the living Buddha. Even today, there is an icon named the Udyana Shaka in Kyoto that is believed to be a direct copy of the legendary Udyana image that was brought from China to Japan by the monk Chonen in 985.

Seiryoji’s Shaka icon was always believed to embody miraculous powers that could be transferred to a replica if the copy was done with appropriate accuracy. The Udyāna story does not only establish the tradition of a first image in the likeness of the Enlightened One, but also makes a claim for the anthropomorphic Buddha image to be a divine image that is religiously efficacious, even to the point that it is equal to the extraordinary salvific powers of the Buddha’s relics.

The salvific efficacy of a divine image is affirmed by its ability to work miracles, which, once it happens, turns out to be not at all surprising, but rather expected and matter of fact. Furthermore, the type of miracles produced by images is foreseeable and consists primarily of various appearances of light and the self-induced movement of the image.

Stories about miraculous images were recorded in various text sources compiled during the sixth and seventh centuries. Within these miracle stories, a group of marvelous icons termed Aśoka images can be identified.

Historically, King Ashoka (reigned ca. 273-232 BCE) of the Maurya Dynasty left his famous stone edicts to testify to his widespread propagation of Buddhism, but at his time still no anthropomorphic Buddha images were known.

In China, his legend of having constructed 84, 000 relic stupas all over the world extended to sacred images. Even though stories of Ashoka images had become popular in the south of China, the notion of images possessing miraculous powers probably first arrived in the northern parts of China in the fifth century.

These Ashoka images are characterized not only by their wonder-working abilities, but also by their miraculous origin that is usually narrated in stories about wondrous discoveries.

One typical story about such images is a mural on the west side of the south wall in cave 323 at Dunhuang. Texts in accompanying cartouches state that two large Buddha statues on lotus pedestals came floating on the river Wu. Only the monks and believers in the Buddhist Law the wind and waves calmed down, and the statues could be taken to the monastery where they are worshipped until this very day

Annex: The Great Monkey King (Jat 407)

One day in Jetavana Monastery, Bhikkhus began talking about the good that the Buddha did for his relatives. When the Buddha asked them about their subject, and they told him, he said, “Bhikkhus, this is not the first time the Tathagata has done good works to benefit relatives.”

Then he told this story of the past.

Long, long ago, when Brahmadatta was reigning in Baranasi, the Bodhisatta was born as a monkey in the Himalayas. When he was fully grown, he was extremely strong and vigorous and became the leader of a troop of eighty thousand monkeys.

On the bank of the Ganges there was an enormous mango tree, with two massive branches so thick with leaves it looked like a mountain. Its sweet fruit was of exquisite fragrance and flavor. One branch spread over the bank of the river, but the other extended over the water.

One day, while the monkey king was eating the succulent fruit, he thought, “If any of this fruit ever fell into the river, great danger could come to us.”

To prevent this, he ordered the monkeys to pick all the mango flowers or tiny fruit from that branch. One fruit, however, was hidden by an ant’s nest and escaped the monkeys’ attention. When it ripened, it fell into the river.

At that time, the King of Baranasi was bathing and amusing himself in the river. Whenever the king bathed in the river, he had nets stretched both upstream and downstream from where he was. The mango floated down the river and stuck in the net upstream from the king.

That evening, as the king was leaving, the fishermen pulled in the net and found the fruit. As they had never seen a fruit like this before, they showed it to the king.

“What is this fruit?” the king asked.

“We do not know, sire,” they answered.

“Who will know?”

“The foresters, sire.”

The king summoned the foresters, who told him that the fruit was a mango. The king cut it with a knife and, after having the foresters eat some, tasted it himself. He also gave some of the fruit to the ministers and to his wives.

The king could not forget the magnificent flavor of the ripe mango. Obsessed with desire for the new fruit, he called the foresters again and asked where the tree stood. When he learned that it was on the bank of the river, he had many rafts joined together and sailed upstream to find it. In due course, the king and his retinue arrived at the site of the huge tree.

The king went ashore and set up a camp. After having eaten some of the delectable mangoes, he retired for the night on a bed prepared at the foot of the tree. Fires were lit and guards set on each side.

At midnight, after the men had fallen asleep and all was quiet, the monkey king came with his troop.

The eighty thousand monkeys moved from branch to branch eating mangoes. The noise woke the king, who roused his archers.

“Surround those monkeys eating mangoes and shoot them,” he ordered. “Tomorrow we will dine on mango fruit and monkey’s flesh.”

The archers readied their bows to obey the king. The monkeys saw the archers and realized that all means of escape had been cut off. Shivering in fear of death, they ran to their leader and cried, “Sire, there are men with bows all around the tree preparing to shoot us. What can we do?”

“Do not fear,” he comforted them. “I will save your lives.” Then he climbed onto the branch stretching over the river. Springing from the end of it, he jumped a hundred bow-lengths and landed on the opposite bank of the Ganges.

Judging the distance, he had jumped, he thought, “That is how far I came.” Then he found a long vine and cut it, thinking, “This much will be fastened to a tree, and this much will go across the river.”

He secured one end of the vine to a sturdy tree and the other around his own waist. Then he again leapt across the river with the speed of a cloud blown by the wind. In his calculation, however, he had forgotten to include the length to be tied around his own waist, so he could not reach the trunk of the mango tree.

He reached out and grabbed the end of a branch firmly with both hands. He signaled to the troop of monkeys and cried, “Quick! Step on my back and run along this vine to safety. Good luck to you all!”

The eighty thousand monkeys, each in turn, respectfully saluted the monkey king, asked his pardon, and escaped in this way. The last monkey in the troop, however, had long resented the leader and wished to overthrow him. When he saw the monkey king hanging there, he exulted, “This is my chance to see the last of my enemy!” Climbing onto a high branch, he flung himself down on the monkey king’s back with a dreadful blow that broke his heart.

After he caused his rival excruciating pain, the wicked monkey triumphantly escaped and left the monkey king to suffer alone.

Having seen all that had happened as he lay on his bed, the king thought, “This noble monkey king, not caring for his own life, has ensured the safety of his troop. It would be wrong to destroy such an animal. I will have him brought down and taken care of.”

He ordered his men to lower the monkey gently down to a raft on the Ganges. After the monkey had been brought ashore and washed, the king anointed him with the purest oil. Spreading an oiled skin on his own bed and laying the monkey king on it, the king covered him with a yellow robe.

After the noble animal had been given sugared water to drink, the king himself took a low seat and addressed him. “Noble monkey, you made yourself a bridge for all the other monkeys to pass over to safety. What are you to them, and what are they to you?” he asked.

The monkey explained, “Great king, I guard the herd. I am their lord and chief. When they were filled with fear of your archers, I leapt a great distance to save them. After I had tied a vine around my waist, I returned to this mango tree. My strength was almost gone, but I managed to hold the branch so that my monkeys could pass over my back and reach safety. Because I could save them, I have no fear of death. Like a righteous king, I could guarantee the happiness of those over whom I used to reign. Sire, understand this truth! If you wish to be a righteous ruler, the happiness of your kingdom, your cities, and your people must be dear to you. It must be dearer than life itself.”

After teaching the king in this way, the monkey king died. The king gave orders that the monkey king should be given a royal funeral. He ordered his wives to carry torches to the cemetery with their hair disheveled. The ministers sent a hundred wagon loads of wood for the funeral pyre. When the regal ceremony was over, the ministers took the skull to the king.

The king built a shrine at the monkey’s burial place and made offerings of incense and flowers. He had the skull inlaid with gold, raised on a spear, and carried in front of the procession returning to Baranasi. There he put it at the royal gate and paid homage to it with incense and flowers. The whole city was decorated, and the skull was honored for seven days.

For the rest of his life the king revered the skull as a relic, offering incense and garlands. Established in the wonderful teaching of the monkey king, he gave alms and performed other good deeds. He ruled his kingdom righteously and became destined for heaven.

After the lesson, the Buddha declared the Truths and identified the Birth: “At that time the king was Ananda, the monkey retinue was this assembly, the wicked monkey was Devadatta, and I myself was the monkey king.”