essay on buddhist architecture

View of stone pillar bases of the West Image Hall, Mireuksa temple site. Korea, Japanese Occupation period, 1917. Original image dry plate photograph. National Museum of Korea, pan 23141

Buddhist Architecture in Korea *

Kim Bongryol PhD, Professor of Architecture, Korea National University of Arts

A Buddhist Temple Is a Complex of Buildings

Buddhism was introduced to China from India and Central Asia, and it was already prevalent in China by the fourth century when the religion was first introduced to the Korean peninsula. At that time, the peninsula was divided into three separate kingdoms: Goguryeo 高句麗 (37 BCE–668 CE), Baekje 百濟 (18 BCE–660 CE), and Silla 新羅 (57 BCE–935 CE). Buddhism was welcomed by the royal houses of the Three Kingdoms, which pursued Buddhism competitively. The royal houses took the principal initiative for its spread, and Buddhism flourished in uniquely Korean forms, which came to characterize the architecture of Buddhist temples.

Following the introduction of Buddhism, the royal houses of the Three Kingdoms constructed huge temples in the heart of their capital cities. Goguryeo built Jeongneungsa 定陵寺 in Pyeongyang 平壤 to manage the royal tombs. Baekje constructed Mireuksa 彌勒寺 in Iksan 益山, a new city to which the capital of Baekje later moved. Silla constructed Hwangnyongsa 皇龍寺 in the heart of Gyeongju 慶州. The early seventh-century Mireuksa was built on a huge site on which three temples were placed in juxtaposition according to the Buddhist doctrine stating that Maitreya (Mireuk in Korean), the Future Buddha, would come to the world to save all living beings through three sermons. It is said that Mireuksa covered a land area of 165,000 square meters and was home to as many as three thousand monks. Hwangnyongsa was founded in 570 CE and covered an area of 80,000 square meters. A nine-story wooden pagoda was built at its center. This wooden pagoda rose 80 meters and had stairs inside that led to the top floor. It served as an observatory to view the city. Construction of temples by the royal houses drove the development of technology and improved the quality of Korean architecture overall, not to mention advancing Buddhist architecture.

According to Mahayana Buddhism, which is the mainstream of Korean Buddhism, the whole universe consists of three thousand worlds, which means near infinity, and one Buddha presides over each of these three thousand worlds. Buddhism has expanded from the belief in the one and only Buddha Shakyamuni to the belief in three thousand Buddhas. In particular, Mahayana doctrine emphasizes the “Path of the bodhisattva,” a key teaching of Mahayana ethics, which says “Seek enlightenment above, transform sentient beings below.” Countless bodhisattvas such as Avalokiteshvara, Manjushri, and Samantabhadra became popular and were venerated as second only to Buddha Shakyamuni. Also, in Central Asia and China, indigenous deities were added to the Buddhist pantheon, and these native gods became objects of worship in Korea as well. As a result, Central Asian Luminous Kings, the Daoist gods of the Big Dipper’s seven stars, and the Korean Mountain Spirit, not to mention many other Buddhist deities, all became objects of worship in Korea.

Buddhist temples in Korea necessarily included image halls for multiple Buddhas, bodhisattvas, and other deities. According to the principle of “One World, One Buddha,” or the existence of one Buddha at a time, a single building should enshrine only one object of worship, requiring that a temple have various buildings for worship. During the Joseon 朝鮮 period (1392–1910), when Confucianism was espoused by the ruling class and the elite literati-bureaucrats severely suppressed Buddhism, the Buddhist community in an effort to ensure its own survival unified all beliefs in different Buddhas and bodhisattvas. The distinctions between Buddhist sects were removed, and buildings for a number of Buddhas, bodhisattvas, and other deities were built on the premises of one single temple.

Located in the southern part of the Korean peninsula, Tongdosa 通度寺 has sixteen buildings in total for worship: five separate buildings for five Buddhas including Shakyamuni, Amitabha, Bhaishajyaguru, Vairochana, and Maitreya; four buildings for bodhisattvas and arhats including Avalokiteshvara, Kshitigarbha, and the Arhats; and six building for other deities including Chilseong 七星 (the Daoist Gods of the Seven Stars of the Big Dipper), Dokseong 獨聖 (Hermit Sage), Sansin 山神 (Mountain Spirit), the Four Heavenly Kings, and more.

Korean Buddhism prohibited the marriage of monks and established an obligation to live an austere, celibate life. Although a Buddhist sect that permits the marriage of monks came into being in the twentieth century, celibate monks still dominate the Buddhist community in Korea and are considered morally superior among laypeople. Temples, therefore, are monasteries where monks who renounced the world reside, study, and meditate.

The basic rule at a temple is “one room, one monk.” For this reason, a temple needs as many rooms as the number of monks residing there in addition to facilities like a kitchen, dining hall, bathing area, and toilets. A number of buildings for common use are also required, including a lecture hall to study and discuss sutras, a prayer hall for all monks to chant together, and a hall to practice Seon 禪 (Ch. Chan , Jp. Zen ) or meditation. It has been general practice in traditional Korean architecture to assign one function to each building. As the residences for monks, dining hall, lecture hall, prayer hall, and meditation hall were each separately constructed as independent buildings, the area for monks alone could include some ten buildings. Korean Buddhist architecture was bigger and more dignified than secular architecture. In fact, monasteries were in no way inferior to royal palaces in leading contemporaneous architecture. Numerous Buddhist temples were built during the Joseon period even in the face of the heavy political and economic suppression of Buddhism. The tradition of large scale, ornamented buildings, which was established in the early stage when Buddhism was first introduced to Korea, still continues today.

A temple is a unified premises consisting of a prayer section for laypeople and a monastic section for resident monks. According to Mahayana tradition, the prayer section requires a number of buildings for various objects of worship (Buddhas, bodhisattvas, and other deities), and under the tradition of ascetic living, the monastic quarters need multiple buildings, some for eating and sleeping and others for practicing the faith. This is the reason Korean Buddhist temples consist of so many independent buildings. Accordingly, although it is important to make each building impressive, the relationship between buildings within a temple complex has even great significance. Architectural concerns such as the integration and separation of the prayer and monastic sections, the hierarchical distinctions between buildings dedicated to Buddhas and those for subordinate deities, and the association between the interior spaces within buildings and outside spaces between buildings are truly complex issues that are governed by the religious and sectarian tradition of each temple.

Buildings and Structural Elements

Contrary to the European tradition in which materials and building techniques clearly differed between religious and secular structures, Korean Buddhist architecture is not significantly different from that of administrative buildings or common residences. Ancient temples in Egypt and medieval churches in Europe are exquisite, imposing stone edifices, which contrast with ordinary residences made of wood. Korean Buddhist structures, on the other hand, were wooden buildings just like ordinary houses. Construction techniques that were developed for Buddhist architecture were also applied to secular buildings and the technological gap between the two remained narrow. Accordingly, in the Korean architectural tradition, the plan and construction of Buddhist architecture represent characteristics of Korean architecture in general.

The main parts of a building are the stone base, the timber column-and-beam skeleton, and the heavy pitched roof with overhanging eaves. Once a site is selected, the ground is rammed hard and the stone foundation is laid. This platform functions as the support for a row of columns and keeps the wooden structure from rotting due to infiltration of ground moisture into the wooden structure. The corners of the foundation are reinforced with stones, bricks, or tiles. Such stone bases with elaborate facings were generally used for Buddhist structures.

The wooden structure of Korean buildings is composed of framing with vertical columns and horizontal beams. The heavy weight of the roof is transmitted to the beams which in turn distribute the load to the columns and the ground. The columns are connected by lintels which together frame the walls. Spaces within the framework are filled with clay or wood to form a wall or are fitted with windows or doors to provide light and access. For windows and doors of Buddhist structures, a wooden frame decorated with carved floral patterns is covered with translucent Korean paper. Such windows and doors function as barriers that allows air to pass while reducing the effects of cold and heat from outside.

Brackets—supporting elements that are both functional and decorative—are placed on top of the column heads below the eaves. On the brackets are small columns that form a frame for the roof. Rafters of about ten centimeters in diameter are densely laid on the roof-frame to make a sloping roof. The roof is finished by laying tiles on its inclined surfaces. The roof tiles are a type of fired earthenware that make the entire building structurally stable by compressing the frame with their heavy weight while also protecting the building from rain and snow. Korean roof tiles come in convex and concave pairs. Concave tiles are shaped like a quarter cylinder and convex tiles are semicircular in profile. Concave tiles are laid first while convex tiles are placed across the joints between the concave tiles, affording perfect waterproofing for the roof. Specially manufactured roof tile ends are used along the edge of the eaves. Concave and convex roof tile ends are all attached with angled sides so that rainwater can be channeled away from the building. The angled sides of the roof tile ends are decorated. On Buddhist structures, decorative designs that symbolize Buddhism, such as the lotus and phoenix, were stamped on the angled sides. On the peak of the roof, large ornamental tiles called chimi 鴟尾 in Korean crowned the ends of the main roof ridge. This special type of roof tile resembles the tail of an imaginary fish or wings of a bird.

Korean wooden structures were extremely vulnerable to fire. Most were destroyed during war or by accidental fires. Although some buildings have been rebuilt, it is difficult to restore them to their original state. Once they catch fire, major structural components such as columns and beams burn quickly and the whole building collapses. Only the foundation and its stone or clay facing remain along with the roof tiles. Much of the original structure of many European buildings ruined in wars or by fire remain standing for extraordinarily long periods of time because they were made of stone, but the remains of ruined Korean structures are flattened, as can be witnessed at many historic sites. Most artifacts excavated from such ruins are roof tiles, which are fire-resistant. Roof tile ends decorated with exquisitely impressed designs have been discovered in large numbers and displayed in museums.

Unlike wooden buildings in Europe, Korean wooden buildings have long extended eaves in delicately curved lines, which are very impressive. These cantilevered eaves project out from the beams that support the rafters. A special system called gongpo 栱包 (wooden bracket system used to support the heavy tiled roofs at the ends of the eaves) was devised to make the eaves extend in a beautifully curved line. Placed between the heads of the columns and the roof frame, the gongpo disperses the weight to the beams and columns by transmitting the vertical load from the rafters. Elaborate multi-cluster wooden brackets on the heads of the columns create a single structure themselves, which is the most characteristic of all exterior components of Korean structures. Gongpo are also important ornamental components often bearing carved lotus and cloud designs.

At the center of the interior space, Buddhist images are enshrined on top of a wooden altar. This altar is also called the sumidan 須彌壇 as it symbolizes Mount Sumeru, which is regarded as the center of the Buddhist universe. On the ceiling directly above the sumidan hangs a separate house-shaped canopy called a datjip 닫집 in Korean, which serves as a roof for the Buddhist statues enshrined on the altar. The interior of the datjip is filled with sculptures in the shape of a dragon, phoenix, and clouds to represent Buddhist heaven. Buddhist architecture does not divide the interior of a building into compartments but treats it as a single space.

The walls and ceiling are adorned with painted images of Buddha, heavenly beings, and various symbolic motifs such as lotuses. This was meant by the Koreans to create a splendid and magnificent Buddhist paradise. The five basic colors used in Korean architecture are red, yellow, blue, black, and white. The coloring technique is systematic and follows a specific set of rules. In addition to serving as interior and exterior decoration, applied paint protects the wooden building against rotting.

Relationship between Image Halls and Pagodas

Cave temples and stupas are archetypes of early Buddhist architecture. Caves were natural places for monks who had entered the Buddhist priesthood to practice austerity, and stupas were places for lay devotees to pray. Originally, the stupa, which means “burial mound for enlightened beings” in Sanskrit, was a mound that enshrined relics of the Buddha Shakyamuni and was worshiped as the symbol of the Buddha. China received the tradition of the stupa in the form of the high-storied building from India through Central Asia. Chinese pagodas were mainly built with bricks, but in Korea stone was the preferred material for constructing pagodas. Although both wooden and brick pagodas were also constructed in Korea, most Korean pagodas were built from stone and represent an architectural type distinguishable from the Chinese brick pagodas and Japanese counterparts made of wood.

Cave temples were developed on the Deccan Plateau in India. The earliest examples were created by cutting into sandstone rock to create spaces for Buddhist monks to stay. As visits to monks by lay devotees increased over time, caves for worship were also created, promoting the development of cave temple complexes. In regions where Buddhism spread, constructing a cave temple was regarded as the greatest way of accumulating merit. It soon created an international boom for hollowing out cave temples. This architectural form developed in Ajanta and Nashik in India, spread through Bamiyan and Kizil in Central Asia, and traveled to China, where the cave temples of Dunhuang 敦煌 and Yungang 雲崗 were built. Korea, too, aspired to construct cave temples after Buddhism was first introduced to the peninsula. However, the major rock type which covers the land surface of Korea is granite, which is too hard to cut into. In India and China, cave temples were comparatively easy to construct because the bedrock was much softer limestone, sandstone, and mudstone. Seokguram Grotto 石窟庵, the representative example of Korean cave temples, constructed in the eighth century, is in fact a stone chamber artificially built with stone and covered with a dome.

Although many cave temples were built, most temples were free-standing complexes with proper monks’ quarters. Also, at the initial stage, worship of Buddhist images was not yet introduced, and the stupa was the sole object of devotion. Around the second century BCE, Buddhist statues in the form of human figures appeared in the Gandhara and Mathura regions of India, and such statues became established as objects of worship. It was only natural that Buddhist statues in realistic human form eventually replaced the abstract symbol of the stupa as the central object of worship. This led to the need for the construction of a new building to enshrine Buddhist statues. Because Buddhist sculptures are covered in very expensive gilding, the image hall came to be called the “golden hall.”

The image hall itself became an object of worship because of the Buddhist statues enshrined within. The pagoda standing outside the image hall continued to be an object for a different, more abstract worship. Accordingly, ancient temples comprised an image hall and pagoda together, and the architectural form of the Buddhist temple complex was determined entirely by the relationship between the image hall and the pagoda.

Each of the ancient kingdoms of Korea had its own architectural layout for temples. For example, the architectural type of Goguryeo was “one pagoda, three image halls,” with one pagoda surrounded by image halls on three sides. Baekje adopted the “one pagoda and one image hall” model in which a pagoda, image hall, and lecture hall were placed along a shared axis. In Silla, the “twin pagodas” type, in which two pagodas were located in front of the image hall, was preferred.

Around the tenth century, the Seon School (Kr. Seonjong 禪宗), or Meditation School, was introduced to the Korean peninsula. It was received with enthusiasm by the Korean Buddhist community and was established as the major sect of Korean Buddhism going forward. The Seon School rejected existing icons and freed itself from the existing architectural patterns. Stupa worship, or the “cult of relics,” began to weaken, and this naturally made the pagoda lose importance. Buddhist pagodas became smaller in size and were pushed to the periphery of temple compounds away from the center. Temples without pagodas that have only an image hall quickly became the mainstream model.

Diversity in Architectural Forms

Religious architecture in Europe focuses upon the building itself. That is, architecture is a shrine or a church. Buddhist architecture in Korea, on the other hand, is a set of buildings, where a building functions like a single room. For example, the Pantheon in Rome is a religious building and also a piece of religious architecture that enshrines gods. A Buddhist temple in Korea has as few as five and as many as sixty buildings and all these together are considered one architectural whole. The relationship between the buildings and their orientation to the natural topography are essential architectural characteristics. In other words, Korean architecture can be defined as a relationship between buildings and topography rather than as a building itself. This relationship can be considered as an architectural layout or plan. It has taken on diverse forms for a number of reasons, such as when the temple was founded, where the temple is situated, and the sect and religious lineage to which the temple belongs.

Temples founded in ancient times followed strict standards because they were built mostly in capital cities with state support. The “one pagoda, three image halls,” “one pagoda and one image hall,” and “twin pagodas” layouts mentioned earlier are representative architectural plans of ancient temples. These three types all share a common feature in that the perimeter was surrounded by long cloisters forming a border with neighboring sites, which was entirely appropriate for an urban setting. Cloisters composed of a line of buildings make sense due to the flat topographical conditions of a city, enabling temples to be built in standard form.

After the medieval period—particularly during the Joseon period when Buddhism was suppressed—Buddhist temples in the cities were demolished by force and disappeared. Only those deep in the mountains survived. Generous contributions from powerful elites were no longer provided and temples faced financial hardship. Accordingly, inefficient structures like long cloisters disappeared and instead freer architectural arrangements better suited to the irregular, mountainous topography developed. Although the buildings of new temples were generally smaller than those of the past, their number increased to accommodate the beliefs of various schools of Buddhism. The architecture of syncretic Buddhism was more suitable for sloping terrain. Breaking away from geometric layouts, a more organic plan came into being and became the established tradition of Buddhist architecture of Korea.

By the early ninth century, five important sects of Buddhism had been established in Korea. Afterward, Seon Buddhism was introduced in the late ninth and tenth centuries and nine core schools of Seon Buddhism emerged. During the Goryeo 高麗 period (918–1392), when Buddhism was the state religion, the religion reached its apex and some twenty sects flourished. In the thirteenth century, Lamaism, a form of Esoteric Buddhism, was introduced to Korea from Yuan 元 (1279–1368) China. Each of these sects had its own scriptures and teachings, its own main Buddha, and its own view of the universe. It was only natural that the architectural models, which symbolize spiritual principles, should differ among the various types of Buddhism.

For example, temples associated with the Pure Land School, which emphasized a belief in a Buddhist paradise (or Buddha land 佛國土), created an architectural form centered on the external space surrounded by buildings. The inner courtyard of the temple itself was regarded as a representation of the Western Paradise. Temples associated with the Dharma-Character School (Kr. Beopsang jong , Ch. Faxiang zong 法相宗), which promoted Buddhist precepts in religious practice, adopted a strict arrangement of gate-pagoda-stone lantern-image hall-Buddhist statues on a shared axis. Seon temples, on the other hand, were free from such specific constraints. Some were of unprecedented architectural layout with two pagodas placed both in front and behind the image hall. Some followed no architectural pattern at all.

Temples of the Doctrinal School (Kr. Gyojong 敎宗) took a different stance. While temples associated with the Doctrinal School regarded image and lecture halls as important locations for worship and for studying sutras, respectively, Seon emphasized mediation rooms and monks’ living quarters as spaces for religious practice and therefore constructed monastery buildings with spaces for such activities. As advocates for the Doctrinal School and Esoteric Buddhism tend to decorate temples magnificently, they emphasized color and decorative designs. Seon Buddhism, in contrast, regarded all decoration as nothing but emptiness, and emphasized extremely minimal ornament.

The Korean peninsula is small in size with a land area of only 220,000 square kilometers. Its topography is folded into many mountains and valleys, both large and small, making communications between regions difficult and thereby allowing folk cultures peculiar to each region to develop. In particular, the traditions of the Three Kingdoms that coexisted in the early centuries of the development of Buddhism persisted as cultural differences in later history. For example, many buildings in the region of the former Baekje kingdom, which has vast plains, sprawl horizontally, while many of those in the mountainous region of the former Silla kingdom are very vertical.

This discussion has shown that the diversity found in Korean Buddhist architecture developed through the ages, influenced by topography, religious schools, and regional traditions. Although relatively few Buddhist temples remain today, each extant example has unique architectural characteristics resulting from this complex matrix of factors.

* This essay is adapted from a text first published in English by Kim Bongryol in the exhibition catalogue The Smile of Buddha: 1600 Years of Buddhist Art in Korea (Brussels: Bozarbooks and Bai, 2008), 89–99. The publication of the current version has been coordinated by Lee Jae-jeong and Yang Sumi at the National Museum of Korea. It was edited by Keith Wilson and Sunwoo Hwang at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art. The copyright belongs to Bozarbooks and Bai, Brussels.

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In This Article Expand or collapse the "in this article" section Buddhist Art and Architecture in Nepal

Introduction, general overviews.

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Buddhist Art and Architecture in Nepal by Erberto Lo Bue LAST REVIEWED: 10 July 2020 LAST MODIFIED: 24 November 2020 DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780195393521-0079

The earliest evidence of the presence of Buddhism in the Nepal Valley belongs to the 5th century. According to inscriptions of the Licchavi dynasty, the Buddhist ruler Vrsadeva (fl. c. 400 CE ) founded a monastery at Svayambhu. Most Licchavi foundations have disappeared, but a few, such as the Gum monastery near Sankhu, have survived. The Buddhist pantheon in Nepal is obviously related to the Indian tradition, in which Buddhism and Hinduism coexisted and influenced each other through many centuries. Although the sophisticated artistic production in the Nepal Valley represents to some extent the continuation of the aesthetics prevailing in India under the Gupta, Pâla, and Sena dynasties, the art and architecture of its original inhabitants, the Newars, developed in a unique way. Even after their Buddhist tradition was cut off from its sources following the destruction of all Indian monastic universities by the 13th century, Newar artists continued to produce images for Buddhists not only in Nepal, but also in other countries, particularly Tibet. At least two Buddhist traditions and related styles may be distinguished in Nepal: the Newar ones of the Nepal Valley, where Buddhism followed its own local development; and the Tibetan ones, in areas inhabited by people of Tibetan stock and language, such as Lo (Mustang) and Dölpo, and in the Nepal Valley itself, where the number of Tibetan monasteries has increased significantly since the 1960s. That accounts for iconographic and stylistic differences in images produced even by the same artist, who traditionally can adapt easily to the requests of his client. The traditional style of architecture characterizing most of the 363 monasteries in the Nepal Valley, the earliest ones dating to the Licchavi dynasty, may be traced to Buddhist monastic structures such as those found at Sanchi, Ajanta, and Ellora, representing stone versions of now-lost Indian wooden architecture, but at the same time prototypes of the brick and wood monasteries of the Nepal Valley. Newar monasteries are characterized by three essential elements: the main shrine, a small stupa in the middle of the courtyard, and a tantric temple above the shrine. Their courtyards are surrounded by rooms that do not necessarily conform in their function to their Indian models, since, following the decline of Buddhism in the Nepal Valley, they have sometimes turned into residential buildings. Another feature deriving from Indian architecture is the tòrana , originally a decorated arch leading to a shrine, which in the Nepal Valley turned into a semicircular panel placed above the doors of shrines or gates.

There are no general overviews of Nepalese Buddhist art and architecture, both subjects being covered in works dealing also with Hindu art and architecture in Nepal. The first significant study of the art and sculpture of the Nepal Valley was produced by Pratapaditya Pal ( Pal 1974 , cited under Sculpture , and Pal 1978 , cited under Painting ), who has since published a series of catalogues on the subject, one of them being devoted exclusively to Newar art ( Pal 1985 , cited under Collections and Exhibitions ). Hutt, et al. 1994 provides an introduction to the art and architecture of the Nepal Valley, devoting sections of this work to Buddhist sites. Also, Slusser 1982 deals with Newar Buddhist art and architecture, placing them in their cultural and historical context. Buddhist monasteries and stupas are surveyed in Locke 1985 and Gutschow 1997 (both cited under Architecture ), whereas an inventory of sites and monuments in the Nepal Valley in the early 1970s was edited by Pruscha ( Pruscha 1975 ). The only serious guide recording Buddhist as well as Hindu sites and temples all over Nepal is written in French ( Rouvre 1975 ). Newar artists have been active not only in the Nepal Valley, but also in other parts of the Himalayas such as Lo (Mustang), Ladakh, and Bhutan ( Lo Bue 1985 ), and beyond, from Tibet ( Lo Bue 1988 ) to China ( Jing 1994 ). However, the finest wall paintings in Nepal are found in the culturally Tibetan former kingdom of Mustang ( Lo Bue 2010 ).

Hutt, Michael, David N. Gellner, and Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute. Nepal . A Guide to the Art and Architecture of the Kathmandu Valley . Gartmore, UK: Kiscadale, 1994.

An introduction to Newar art and architecture dealing also with Buddhist sites and images in the Nepal Valley, it is intended for a general readership. It includes pictures, some of them in color; maps and drawings; and, being based on authoritative sources, it is useful for students and travelers alike.

Jing, Anning. “The Portraits of Khubilai Khan and Chabi by Anige (1245–1306), a Nepali Artist at the Yuan Court.” Artibus Asiae 54.1–2 (1994): 40–86.

DOI: 10.2307/3250079

This essay affords much more than what is suggested by its title, since it documents the life story of the great Newar sculptor, painter, and architect Anige, exemplifying the important role played by the Buddhist artists of the Nepal Valley well beyond the Himalayas.

Lo Bue, Erberto F. “The Newar Artists of the Nepal Valley: A Historical Account of Their Activities in Neighbouring Areas with Particular Reference to Tibet.” Oriental Art 31.3 (1985): 262–277.

This essay, published in two parts, represents a first attempt to record the role played by sculptors and painters from the Nepal Valley in the production of images for Buddhist clients and monastic institutions in other Himalayan areas as well as Tibet and India from the 8th to the 20th century. Part 2 in Oriental Art 31.4 (1986): 409–420.

Lo Bue, Erberto F. “Cultural Exchange and Social Interaction between Tibetans and Newars from the Seventh to the Twentieth Century.” International Folklore Review 6 (1988): 86–114.

This essay deals with the relationship between Buddhist Newars and Tibetans both in Tibet and in the Nepal Valley, with particular reference to the Newars’ organization in Tibet and to their production of Buddhist images for Tibetan clients and institutions (pp. 91–110).

Lo Bue, Erberto F. Wonders of Lo: The Artistic Heritage of Mustang . Mumbai: Marg, 2010.

This monograph is devoted to Buddhist art and architecture in the culturally Tibetan former kingdom of Mustang, which maintained a degree of autonomy even after its inclusion in the Gorkha kingdom. Its authors deal with the most important and some hitherto unpublished sites in the region, with a special emphasis on painting.

Macdonald, Alexander W., and Anne Vergati Stahl. Newar Art: Nepalese Art during the Malla Period . Warminster, UK: Aris & Phillips, 1979.

This survey deals with Newar cultural history, architecture, and painting during the Malla dynasties (1200–1768). It includes a section on the Newar pantheon (pp. 38–60), which it illustrates with pictures of Hindu as well as Buddhist statues, one on Buddhist architecture (pp. 71–82), and a chapter on painting (pp. 119–150), some of it Buddhist.

Pruscha, Carl, ed. Kathmandu Valley: The Preservation of Physical Environment and Cultural Heritage : Protective Inventory . 2 vols. Vienna: Anton Schroll, 1975.

This inventory was meant to be a tool for the Nepalese government to preserve the cultural heritage and physical environment of the Nepal Valley. Although it failed in its purpose, it affords black-and-white pictures of and basic information on scores of Hindu and Buddhist sites all over the valley as they were in the early 1970s.

Rouvre, Évrard de. Népal . Paris: Robur, 1975.

This French travel guide, handy, conveniently arranged in alphabetical order, and based on authoritative sources, describes and illustrates in color the most important sites in Nepal, including Buddhist ones.

Slusser, Mary Shepherd. Nepal Mandala: A Cultural Study of the Kathmandu Valley . 2 vols. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1982.

Because of the detailed treatment of its variously related subjects, this exhaustive and clearly written study, based on many references to scientific publications and indigenous sources, provides invaluable information on the Nepal Valley, including Buddhist art and architecture, and its reading is compulsory for a serious approach to those subjects.

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185.66.15.189

Asian Art and Architecture

An open educational resource

The Architecture of Japanese Buddhist Temples

Natalie Solari

This exhibition takes a closer look at the main buildings of five Japanese Temple Complexes. Temples are the places of worship in Japanese Buddhism, and are also used to display sacred Buddhist objects. It is believed that Buddhist images could have been brought to Japan as early as 522 (Beguin). Japanese Buddhism has made an abundant impact on Japanese culture and continues to influence society today. The architectural elements of Buddhist temples are meant to embody themes and teachings of Buddhism.

Most Buddhist temples in Japan are designed around four main architectural styles: Wayō, Daibutsuyō, Zenshūyō, and Setchūyō. Temples designed in the wayō style take a minimalistic approach to architecture. Natural timber and generally plain materials are used. Wayō architecture was made during the Heian period, between 794 CE and 1185 CE. Typically these structures feature thin columns and a low ceiling. A beam is run through the columns to reinforce the top parts of columns. The wayō style emphasizes more Japanese-style architecture than the features of Chinese-style architecture. Inside the structures inner space divisions are fluid, many feature screens and thin. A true connection is meant to be felt between the interior and exterior of the building.

In the late 12th and early 13th century CE, a more monumental style emerged. The daibutsuyō style was based on Song Dynasty architecture. Daibutsuyō style architecture is characterized by thick woodwork and penetrating tie beams. The ends of the penetrating tie beams are decorated with moldings also known as ‘kurigata’. The thick woodwork of the structure is typically left exposed to show its elements. This style takes a grander approach than the wayō style. Daibutsuyō style architecture utilizes horizontal elements.

Zenshūyō is another style that emerged in the late 12th or early 13th century CE. Zenshūyō style temples are based on contemporary Chinese architecture derived from the Song Dynasty. The style is named after the Zen sect of Buddhism that was introduced to Japan. These temples typically incorporate earthen floors, decorative curved pent roofs, pointed windows, and paneled doors. Slim columns and low ceilings are used to create calming spaces for meditating. The complexes have a generally linear layout. Kōzan-ji’s butsuden is the oldest extant building in the Zenshūyō style in Japan.

The last style of temple architecture incorporates a fusion of elements from the three other styles. This style was called setchūyō, and was used during the Muromachi period. By the end of the Muromachi period, Japanese Buddhist architecture and construction methods had been perfected and building types were conventionalized.

Although the temples are designed around a few different styles, there are some key features that distinguish these Japanese Buddhist temples. Characteristics of most Japanese Temples include post and lintel support, a gentle curved roof, and thin walls. The use of a single central pillar or column. embodies the Axis Mundi of Buddhism. Having the cardinal directions reflected through the structure is important. The most prominent examples of the iconic form are represented in Pagodas and Indian Stupas. Many of these temples are incorporated into complexes with several other structures that include a main hall, a pagoda, and other facilities for prayer and meditation. Many of these temple complexes are surrounded by a large wall and gates. Entering the complex is supposed to feel like a journey through meditation. These spaces are intended to evoke feelings of peace.

Title: Great Buddha Hall, Todai-ji temple complex

Category: Japanese Buddhist Architecture

Architectural style : Daibutsuyō

Location: Nara, Japan

Author Name: Felix Filnkössl

Medium: image/jpeg

Date of Creation: 18 August 2010

Dimensions: 4,000 × 2,248 pixels

Image Link: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Todai-ji.jpg

Description:

The Great Buddha Hall at Todai-ji temple complex displays the grand features of the daibutsuyō architectural style. The Great Buddha hall houses the world’s largest bronze Buddha Vairocana statue. This Buddhist temple complex was once one of the powerful Seven Great Temples. Two towering guardians sit on top of the massive entryway of the temple, protecting the great Buddha. The great architects of Todaiji temple complex developed the Yakushiji axial plan with paired pagodas into one of greater complexity (Ikeuchi 2007). The hall was erected in the early 8th century CE, and later reconstructed in 1709. The Great Buddha hall was built at a very large scale, displaying the power and prestige of the imperial house of Japan. Columns are arrayed throughout the rectangular base to represent universal order. Many horizontal braces are run through vertical posts called Nuki to make the structure solid.

As a daibutsuyō style hall, structural elements are left exposed without the covering of a ceiling as decoration. The vast structure is made entirely of wood, commonly seen in Japanese architecture. Building structures out of wood was seen as a way to celebrate life. A gently sloping roof was used to help blend in the large structure to its natural surroundings. The roof tiles were carefully crafted to channel water to prevent erosion.

Title: Kondô, Fudôin Hiroshima

Architectural style : Zenshūyō

Location: Hiroshima, Japan

Author Name: Fraxinus2

Date of Creation: 11 October 2012

Dimensions: 1,771 × 1,240 pixels

Image Link: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fud%C3%B4in_3.jpg

Kondô Hall is the main hall of Fudôin Temple. This hall was built in the Zenshūyō architectural style. Kondô at Fudôin is an Important Cultural Property, as one of the few remaining historic structures in Hiroshima. After careful studies of historic documents and writing found on the ceilings, it is believed that Kondô Hall was originally built in Yamaguchi in 1540 at the site of Koshakuji Temple. The Kondô Hall was later relocated to its current location in Hiroshima when Ekei expanded the temple. The structure miraculously survived the atomic bomb drop in 1945 on the city. Kondô Hall is the only National Treasure in Hiroshima City. The structure features massive beams, the longest being over 7 meters (Davies). Kondô Hall has a irimoya, a unique combination of gable and hip roof with a mokoshi (an extra roof). The grand roof casts shadows on the ground below, adding to the sacred atmosphere. Oversized eaves give the interior a characteristic dimness, which contributes to the temple’s sacred atmosphere. Paintings of angels and dragons fill the ceilings. This structure appears less conspicuous and more meditative than the other styles of architecture. This structure houses the statue of Yakushi Nyorai, also known as the Medicine Buddha. The statue was carved by the pioneer sculptor Jocho, who was a famous Japanese sculptor in the early 11th century.

Title: Kakurin-ji Temple Main hall

Architectural style: Setchūyō

Location: Kakogawa, Japan

Author Name: 663highland

Date of Creation: 7 December 2008

Dimensions: 4,592 × 3,056 pixels

Image Link: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kakogawa_Kakurinji12n4592.jpg

Kakurin-ji Temple is the 20th temple of the Shikoku Ohenro Pilgrimage. Kakurin-ji is incredibly difficult to reach due to its location at the top of a steep mountain. Sitting at 550 meters elevation, the temple is the 5th highest structure on the pilgrimage route. The Main Hall at Kakurin-ji Temple embodies the Setchūyō architectural style used to design Japanese Buddhist temples. The Main Hall, which was named a National Treasure of Japan, was built in 1397. The Main Hall was designed with the East Asian hip-and-gable roof, the structure stands tall off the ground and appears to float. The roof is a bold feature of the structure. With the location high on a mountain and the unique architecture a sacred Buddhist space is created. A beautiful three-storey pagoda sits to the right of the Main Hall.

Bibliography:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Todai-ji.jpg

Daibutsuden (Great Buddha Hall), Todai-ji temple complex

(4,000 × 2,248 pixels, file size: 5.91 MB, MIME type: image/jpeg)

Image Author: Felix Filnkössl

Date: 18 August 2010

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fud%C3%B4in_3.jpg

Fudôin Hiroshima Kondô

‎(1,771 × 1,240 pixels, file size: 521 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg)

Image Author: Fraxinus2

Date: 11 October 2012

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kakogawa_Kakurinji12n4592.jpg

Kakurinji Buddhist temple in Kakogawa

(4,592 × 3,056 pixels, file size: 10.49 MB, MIME type: image/jpeg)

Image Author: 663highland

Date: 7 December 2008

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Golden_pavilion,_Kinkakuji.jpg

Temple of Golden Pavilion Kinkaku-ji, Kyoto

(5,312 × 2,988 pixels, file size: 4.89 MB, MIME type: image/jpeg)

Image Author : Ondraness

Date: 9 September 2019

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Le_temple_Byodo-in_(Uji,_Japon)_(42809689812).jpg

Temple Byōdō-in (Uji, Japan)

(2,400 × 1,600 pixels, file size: 3.53 MB, MIME type: image/jpeg)

Image Source: Le temple Byodo-in (Uji, Japon)

Image Author: Jean-Pierre Dalbéra

Date: 15 May 2018

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Davies, Jake. “Fudo-in Temple Hiroshima.” Fudo-in Temple Hiroshima | JapanVisitor Japan Travel Guide. Accessed December 1, 2021. https://www.japanvisitor.com/japan-temples-shrines/fudoin-temple.
“Buddhist Temples.” Japanese Temples, May 23, 2021. https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2058.html.
Beguin, Gilles, Buddhist Art: An Historical and Cultural Journey. River Books, 2009.
“Japanese Temple Architecture.” Encyclopedia of Japan. Accessed November 15, 2021. https://doyouknowjapan.com/architecture/temple/#:~:text=Wayo%20Architecture%20refers%20to%20a,China%20in%20the%20Kamakura%20period.
Yu, A. C. “Wayo Architecture – Japanese Wiki Corpus.” Wayo Architecture – Japanese Wiki Corpus. Japanese-English Bilingual Corpus of Wikipedia’s Kyoto Articles. Accessed November 15, 2021. https://www.japanese-wiki-corpus.org/building/Wayo%20Architecture.html.
Coaldrake, William H. “The Roof in Japanese Buddhist Architecture” Monumenta Nipponica 39, no. 3 (1984): 366–68. https://doi.org/10.2307/2384605.
“Kinkaku-Ji.” 2019. 臨済宗相国寺派. June 12, 2019. https://www.shokoku-ji.jp/en/kinkakuji/.
Newton. P.O. “Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion), Kyoto, Japan” 31, no. 10 (2006).
“Kyoto Travel: Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion).” 2019. Japan-Guide.com. 2019. https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3908.html.
Mishima, Yukio. “Kinkakuji, The temple of the golden pavilion.” Ketteiban Mishima Yukio zenshū 6 (2001): 7-274.
Wikipedia Contributors. 2019. “Kinkaku-Ji.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. April 27, 2019. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinkaku-ji.
“Kinkaku-Ji.” 2019. 臨済宗相国寺派. June 13, 2019. https://www.shokoku-ji.jp/en/kinkakuji/about/.
Mizuta, MiyaElise. “Luminous Environment: Light, Architecture and Decoration in Modern Japan.” Japan Forum 18, no. 3 (November 2006): 339–60. doi:10.1080/09555800600947223.
“Kinkakuji.” n.d. World History Encyclopedia. https://www.worldhistory.org/Kinkakuji/.
Cabeza-Lainez, Joseph M, and Jose M Almodovar-Melendo. “Daylight, Shape, and Cross-Cultural Influences Through the Routes of Discoveries: The Case of Baroque Temples.” Space and Culture 21, no. 4 (November 2018): 375–94. https://doi.org/10.1177/1206331217749764.
“Golden Pavilion Kyoto, Japan | Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto.” 2019. Travelonline.com. 2019. https://www.travelonline.com/japan/attractions/golden-pavilion.
Reed, Clela. 2014. At The Byodo-in Temple. Atlanta Review : AR 21, 37-37,116, https://login.peach.conncoll.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/at-byodo-temple/docview/1812449074/se-2?accountid=10255 (accessed November 15, 2021).
“Byodoin Temple.” n.d. Www.japan-Guide.com. https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3923.html.
Kaneta, Kiyoshi. “Structural Reinforcement of Historic Wooden Temples in Japan.” Bulletin of the Association for Preservation Technology 12, no. 1 (1980): 75–91. https://doi.org/10.2307/1493875.
“The Architecture | Learn about Byodoin | World Heritage Byodoin.” 2014. Byodoin.or.jp. 2014. https://www.byodoin.or.jp/en/learn/architecture/.
“Byodoin Temple, Past & Present | Learn about Byodoin | World Heritage Byodoin.” n.d. Www.byodoin.or.jp. Accessed November 15, 2021. https://www.byodoin.or.jp/en/learn/history/.
Yiengpruksawan, Mimi Hall. “The Phoenix Hall at Uji and the Symmetries of Replication.” The Art Bulletin 77, no. 4 (1995): 647–72. https://doi.org/10.2307/3046141.
Wikipedia Contributors. “Byōdō-In.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. September 25, 2021. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/By%C5%8Dd%C5%8D-in.
“The Phoenix Hall of Byodoin in Uji – Uji, Kyoto.” n.d. JapanTravel. https://en.japantravel.com/kyoto/h%C5%8D-%C5%8D-d%C5%8D-phoenix-hall/5243.
Yu, A.C. “Byodo-in Temple – Japanese Wiki Corpus.” Japanese-Wiki-Corpus.org. 2021. https://www.japanese-wiki-corpus.org/shrines/Byodo-in%20Temple.html.
Ikeuchi, K., Oishi, T., Takamatsu, J. et al. The Great Buddha Project: Digitally Archiving, Restoring, and Analyzing Cultural Heritage Objects. Int J Comput Vis 75, 189–208 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11263-007-0039-
“Nara Travel: Todaiji Temple.” 2011. Japan-Guide.com. https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4100.html.
“The Tōdai-Ji.” 2009. Todaiji Temple Office 406-1 Zoshicho. n.d. Www.todaiji.or.jp. http://www.todaiji.or.jp/english/.
“Todai-Ji Buddhist Temple: Architecture & Statue” 2020. Study.com. https://study.com/academy/lesson/todai-ji-buddhist-temple-architecture-statue.html.
Johshinin. “鶴林寺の歴史.” 鶴林寺公式ホームページ. 鶴林寺公式ホームページ, October 31, 2019. https://www.kakurinji.or.jp/history/.
“Temple No. 20, Kakurin-Ji.” Shikoku pilgrimage. Accessed December 1, 2021. https://www.shikokutours.com/attractions/tokushima-prefecture/88-temples/Temple-No-20-Kakurin-ji.

Survey 1 See all→

Prehistory and Prehistoric Art in Europe
Art of the Ancient Near East
Art of Ancient Egypt
Jewish and Early Christian Art
Byzantine Art and Architecture
Islamic Art

Buddhist Art and Architecture Before 1200

Hindu Art and Architecture Before 1300
Chinese Art Before 1300
Japanese Art Before 1392
Art of the Americas Before 1300
Early Medieval Art

Survey 2 See all→

Rapa Nui: Thematic and Narrative Shifts in Curriculum
Proto-Renaissance in Italy (1200–1400)
Northern Renaissance Art (1400–1600)
Sixteenth-Century Northern Europe and Iberia
Italian Renaissance Art (1400–1600)
Southern Baroque: Italy and Spain
Buddhist Art and Architecture in Southeast Asia After 1200
Chinese Art After 1279
Japanese Art After 1392
Art of the Americas After 1300
Art of the South Pacific: Polynesia
African Art
West African Art: Liberia and Sierra Leone
European and American Architecture (1750–1900)
Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth-Century Art in Europe and North America
Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Sculpture
Realism to Post-Impressionism
Nineteenth-Century Photography
Architecture Since 1900
Twentieth-Century Photography
Modern Art (1900–50)
Mexican Muralism
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Art Since 1950 (Part II)

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Art and Cultural Heritage Looting and Destruction
Art and Labor in the Nineteenth Century
Art and Political Commitment
Art History as Civic Engagement
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Comics: Underground and Alternative Comics in the United States
Disability in Art History
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Feminism & Art
Gender in Nineteenth-Century Art
Globalism and Transnationalism
Playing “Indian”: Manifest Destiny, Whiteness, and the Depiction of Native Americans
Queer Art: 1960s to the Present
Race and Identity
Race-ing Art History: Contemporary Reflections on the Art Historical Canon
Sacred Spaces
Sexuality in Art

First Things First...

For many instructors of the art history survey, teaching Asian Art can be intimidating since it falls outside of the parameters of a Western area of expertise. It can be helpful for the instructor as well as the students to find connections between other cultures that have previously been discussed in class. Ask the class to provide examples of religious and/or administrative objects or buildings from the Ancient Near East or from Ancient Egypt to re-visit key issues in the creation of visual culture and the built environment. Introducing similarities between what has already been discussed can provide comfort and familiarity before moving into a discussion of Buddhism and Hinduism, concepts that can be challenging to those new to these traditions.

It is also helpful to explain to the class that although Buddhism is an outgrowth of Hinduism, there is a specific reason to begin the discussion with Buddhism. Since Buddhism attracted a large number of adherents many years after the death of the historical Buddha, a visual culture was introduced to aid the practitioner. Hinduism, which was not originally a faith with statues of deities, was forced to follow suite in order to remain competitive with Buddhism as it spread through India and other parts of the Himalayan region and Southeast Asia. In other words, Buddhism as a faith came second, but its visual culture came first.

The primary focus of the lecture will be on Buddhism, outlining its origins in the historical figure of Siddhartha Guatama (the Buddha) and its two earliest phases: Hinayana, which underscored an aniconic practice, and Mahayana, which introduced a reliance on icons of the Buddha and other newly emerging deities such as the bodhisattva.

A close analysis exercise :

Assign this video on the Great Stupa (Māhā Stupa) before class to ground students in a common Buddhist practice—pilgrimage and ritual circumambulation. Project a slide of the stupa and ask “what qualities does this share with other monuments we have previously discussed?” See how many examples the students can reference. You can then generate a conversation comparing and contrasting the Parthenon and the Great Stupa of Sanchi. Ask the students to look first at the shape of the two structures.

Do they have any thoughts on how the shape of the stupa underscores its very different function from the Parthenon? Ask if they notice any other differences. Who is permitted to enter the Parthenon? Where do the lay people gather? How is that similar or dissimilar to how the stupa is used? To what direction or directions are the Parthenon and the Great Stupa oriented? Is that significant in relation to the practice of the religion? Each monument is dedicated to a specific figure. What is the location of the cult figure in each? How does this affect devotion to this figure? Both the Parthenon and the stupa also contain a large number of reliefs. Why? How do the reliefs play a part? Are there images of the specific figure on each? Why or why not? These are just some examples of questions that the instructor can pose to the class to facilitate a discussion through close looking and through revisiting past lecture materials.

Background Readings

Buddha and Attendants , c.182 BCE, Ghandara, northwest Pakistan.

Instructor resources:

Vidya Dehejia, Indian Art, particularly “Experiencing Art: The Viewer, The Art, and The Artist” (Phaidon, 1997).

Denise Leidy, The Art of Buddhism (Shambala, 2008).

Meher MacArther, Reading Buddhist Art (Thames and Hudson, 2004).

George Mitchell, Hindu Art and Architecture (Thames and Hudson, 2000).

Partha Mitter, Indian Art (Oxford, 2001).

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has an excellent section devoted to South Asian art and culture , The Buddha , and the Mauryan Empire (c. 323–185 BCE) .

PBS provides an overall history of India ( PBS: The Story of India ), while a history of Buddhism is addressed in The Big View. Additional information can be found in several Smarthistory links, including sections dedicated to stupas , the Ashoka Pillars , the Lion Capital , and Buddhist Monasteries .

Suggested student discussion readings and videos for this lecture:

Read #31 (“Pillar of Ashoka”) in MacGregor’s The History of the World in 100 Objects , which can also be found on the BBC .

The video, “Beliefs Made Visible: Art in South Asia” ( Part II ) (Buddhism).

Watch “ Bamiyan Buddhas: Should They be Rebuilt ” for a final in class discussion.

Content Suggestions

Key questions for the lecture : How do the objects from Buddhism illustrate the main tenets from the faith for the practitioner? How and why did Buddhism move from an aniconic based practice to an iconic one? What role did the trade routes play in the dissemination of Buddhism and the subsequent creation of Buddha’s image? How did the visual culture of Buddhism influence Hinduism? Why are there so many deities in Buddhism and Hinduism? Why do they look the way they do?

Timeline : c. third century BCE (seals) to c. tenth century CE (early Pala Dynasty)

It is suggested to split the Art and Architecture of Southeast Asia into two lectures or more if there is time, since the lecture addresses early Indic civilization and a major world religion. The lecture notes are lengthy, particularly those on Buddhism. The instructor can pick and choose which objects and content to include in the lecture:

The Great Stupa at Sanchi, third century BCE. Added to in first century BCE
aniconic images of the Buddha
Rock cut monasteries (Ajanta Caves, the Bhava Caves, and the Karle Caves)
Coins from the Kushan Empire, first-second century CE
King Kanishka, c. 120 CE
Gandarhan Buddhas, both standing and seated, c. second–third century CE
Mathuran Seated Buddha, c. late first–early second century CE
Sarnath Buddha, First Sermon
Pala Dynasty, Seated Buddha at Enlightenment, tenth century
Pala Dynasty, Seated Buddha Teaching the Dharma (The First Sermon), eleventh century CE
Tara, c. ninth century CE
Bamiyan Buddha, c. fifth century CE

India is home to several major world religions, three of which were formulated there: Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. Each of these faiths constructed distinctive objects in honor of their deities. Christianity arrived within years of Christ’s death (first century CE). Islam began in the Arabian Peninsula and reached India in the ninth century, well established by the thirteenth century. Sikhism arose in the sixteenth century as a singular outcome of the Hindu-Islamic encounter. In general, religious temples were constructed of stone and have survived for us today. The great palaces and cities were made from brick and wood and did not survive the heat and humidity of the region.

During the time that the early Indus cities were abandoned, archeological and literary records reveal the presence of Indo-European speaking communities in the northwestern part of the subcontinent. Scholars are still trying to work out the process of migration or assimilation that explains their presence. These people, who called themselves Aryas or Noble Ones, spoke an ancient form of the language known as Sanskrit, one of several Indo-European languages.

The Aryas composed a sacred text known as Veda , or Knowledge , which was transmitted orally for at least a millennium. The first of the four Vedas , the Rigveda , finally written down around 1300 BCE, provides a picture of a nomadic people, the Aryas, who lived along the Indus River and whose primary occupation was stock-breeding. Arya’s superiority over the Indus civilization was due to their possession of the horse and the spoke-wheeled chariot, both apparently unknown to the Indus peoples, and more efficient weapons. The Aryas organized themselves into groups that held regular assemblies, and they had distinctive sacred cults centering on sacrifice. They considered the local dark-skinned Dasas, or Dravidians, to be inferior and described them as “non-sacrificers.”According to some Indian scholars, it was this attitude that set in motion the societal organization known as the caste system noted earlier.

The three later Vedas indicate the movement of the Aryas into the plains of the Ganges River that became their heartland. Agriculture took over from cattle breeding and the earth goddess rose to prominence. We see evidence of these goddesses in the proliferation of yakshi sculptures (discussed below). By the sixth century, northern India was divided into a number of small principalities. Elaborate sacrificial rites had become obligatory and their accurate completion required familiarity with many details, known only to the priestly Brahmins. The Brahmin’s dominant status and the subsequent transformation into a rigid caste system led to considerable discontent. One outcome of this discontent was the rise in alternative belief systems to Hinduism. Sages, philosophers, spiritual leaders, and sects roamed the Ganges Valley, and as many as sixty-six new religions developed. Only two survived to become influential: Jainism, under the direction of Māhāvira, and Buddhism, through the teachings of Siddhārtha Gautama, later known as the Buddha.

Some of the core tenets of these early belief systems are the following:

samsara : the cycle of birth, death, disease and decay.
karma : the universal law of cause and effect.
maya : the illusionary nature of the phenomenal world, including skepticism of the physical world and a desire to find the truth beyond it.
mokśa : liberation, release from samsara.
nirvana : the possibility of release from samsara and release from samsara (suffering) the cycle of birth, death, life, pain, and misery.

Siddhartha and Buddhism

Buddhism is the second ideology that rose to prominence, spreading across southeast Asia in the following centuries, up to the Tibetan plateau, and across into China, Korea, and Japan.

Siddhartha (also known as Shakyamuni referring to the Śakya (lion) clan into which he was born) spent his early life surrounded by the luxuries of palace life sheltered from the ills of the world. After four short and secretive trips outside the palace walls, he observed an old man, a sick man, a dead man, and a holy man. Committed then to finding the answer to overcome the suffering of the world as demonstrated in these four encounters, he left the palace at the age of twenty-nine and spent a number of years following the Sramana mendicant movement, an extreme ascetic movement, that was common in his region, but was unable to find a solution to the suffering he witnessed.

Arriving at a small village, Bodh Gaya, is what is now the Bihar district, he sat down under a Pipal tree and meditated , vowing not to stop until he completely understood the illusionary nature of the world ( maya ). During his meditation, Śakyamuni achieved a means for individuals to understand the meaning of life and the way toward being released from that life as exemplified in samsara , the endless cycle of birth, disease, decay and death. His realization, known as his Enlightenment, was the Four Noble Truths , which is referred to as the dharma (or the Buddhist law).

The Buddha , through his teachings, provided the long-hoped-for resolution to the question of a being’s future. Without contradicting existing belief systems, he revealed a path of deliverance that was, for the first time, accessible to all— The Middle Path , neither a wealthy nor a poverty driven extreme was the answer. Individuals who also come to fully understand the Four Noble Truths are able to then achieve Enlightenment. The endless cycle of rebirth ends and the individual attains moksha (liberation from samsara at death) and nirvana (peace of mind).

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).

Once Shakyamuni arrived at the knowledge of the Four Noble Truths he became an Enlightened Being and is henceforth known as the Buddha, the Enlightened or Awakened One. Bodhi or Enlightenment, is a state of perfect knowledge or wisdom, and is the result of the unification of compassion ( karunā ) and wisdom ( prajñā ), aspects that are articulated in much of the visual culture of Buddhism. Male deities embody compassion, particularly Avalokiteshvara (“The One Who Looks Down”) who is known as the Bodhisattva of Compassion, while the female deities embody wisdom. Prajnaparamita (the perfection of wisdom) is actually the personification of a book, the book of Buddhist wisdom. When a male (compassion) and a female (wisdom) deity are joined together in sexual union, they represent the perfection of the Enlightened Mind.

The tree in Bodh Gaya under which he meditated, a Pipal tree, is now known as the Bodhi Tree, or the Tree of Enlightenment. This event is the most commonly depicted story from the Buddha’s life. Prior to the establishment of a human image of the Buddha, an image of the Bodhi Tree was depicted as a focus of devotion. After an image of the Buddha was created in the last century BCE, about five-hundred years after his death, a scene of Buddha in the very act of Enlightenment was typically produced as a reminder for the practitioner of this important and foundational event, In this example, Buddha sits below the Bodhi Tree, which is visible at the apex of the stele. His left hand is palm up, open to receive wisdom and his right hand touches the earth (a gesture called bhumisparsamudra and a symbol of his Enlightenment), calling the earth to witness his new knowledge of the Four Noble Truths.

Another typical scene that soon followed was the Buddha preaching his first sermon (ie. “turning the wheel of the law (the dharma )), shown in this example. The Buddha makes the dharmacakramudra , the turning the wheel of the law (the dharma ) gesture, which symbolizes the spreading of the law (the Four Noble Truths) to all directions. He is essentially setting the wheel of the law in motion. More extensive analysis on the image of the Buddha can be found later in the lecture.

The Magadha region in the north of India emerged as the center of the first Indian empire, the Mauryan Dynasty. The empire prospered due to its control of the river trade, forests, and rich deposits of minerals and strategic expansion. The third emperor of this dynasty, Ashoka (Aśoka, pronounced Ashoke), who came to the throne two-hundred and eighteen years after Buddha’s Enlightenment, was the first leader to accept Buddhism and thus the first major patron of Buddhist art. After inheriting the empire, Ashoka made a dramatic conversion to Buddhism after witnessing the carnage of his conquest of Kalinga. He became a Buddhist and a pacifist and instructed his subjects to practice compassion and ethical behavior. The code of behavior ( dharma or referred to as dhamma in his edicts) also showed political astuteness and ingrained a social responsibility in an empire where tensions between urban merchants and the Brahmin caste threatened stability. Buddhism did not become the state religion, but through Ashoka’s support, it spread widely and rapidly.

Note: Patronage

Art historians often use royal empires to label or date religious objects, especially architecture. However, this is often a non-productive method since it was the laity who also commissioned these objects or members of the royal family, not the ruler himself. Or, if it was the ruler he often was acting in a personal capacity as a devotee, or sometimes it was to consolidate religion and politics.

One of Ashoka’s first artistic programs was the erection of pillars scattered throughout the empire, some of which had edicts inscribed upon them. The first pillar was discovered in the sixteenth century and the edicts were translated in the 1830s. Since the seventeenth century, one hundred and fifty Ashokan inscriptions have been found carved into the face of rocks and cave walls, which, along with the pillars, served to mark his vast kingdom that stretched across northern India, south to below the central Deccan plateau, and in areas now known as Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan. The rocks and pillars were placed along trade routes and in border cities where the edicts could be read by the largest number of people possible. They were also erected at pilgrimage sites such as at Bodh Gaya, the place of Enlightenment, Sarnath, the site of the First Sermon, and Sanchi, the site of an important Buddhist architectural structure.

Some pillars were inscribed with dedicatory inscriptions that give a firm date and names Ashoka as the patron. The script is Brahmi, the language from which all Indic languages have developed. A few of the edicts found in the western part of India are written in a script that is closely related to Sanskrit. One in Afghanistan is inscribed in both Aramaic and Greek, demonstrating Ashoka’s desire to reach the many cultures of his kingdom. The pillars vary from forty to fifty inches in height. Only nineteen of the original pillars survive and many are in fragments.

Some of the inscriptions are secular in nature. Ashoka apologizes for the massacre in Kalinga and assures the people that he now has only their welfare in mind. Some boast of the good works that Ashoka has done to provide for his people or inform them of his reforms. The pillars and edicts that have faith-related inscriptions represent the first physical evidence of Buddhism. The inscriptions assert Ashoka’s Buddhism and support his desire to spread the dharma throughout his kingdom. The edicts, through their strategic placement and couched in the Buddhist dharma , serve to underscore Ashoka’s administrative role as a tolerant leader.

It is this pillar that was adopted as the national emblem of India, here depicted on the one – rupee note and the two-rupee coin . The large cakra that used to grace the tops of the four lion’s heads is in the center of the national flag of India .

Suggested comparisons with previous lecture material:

Ashoka’s edicts compared with the codes from the Law Code of Hammurabi and/or the Votive Statue of Gudea. Students can be asked to think about what information does each ruler want to impart about his rule? How? Why?

The Lion Capital of Sarnath , erected at Sarnath where Buddha preached his first sermon, is the most famous pillar. Currently, the pillar remains where it was originally sunk into the ground, but the capital is now on display at the Sarnath Museum. Several Buddhist symbols are present in the capital.

Lotus ( padma ) : The lotus is probably the most recognizable symbol of Buddhism, found at the base of this capital. It is a pervasive symbol of transcendence: the lotus flower rises through the muddy waters of the mundane world and into the pure air where it spectacularly blooms with nary a trace of the mud from which it came. It is the perfect metaphor for the Buddha and his followers as they rise from the mud of desire, avarice, etc., to the purity of Enlightenment. The Buddha, unless he is standing, always sits in what is known as full lotus ( padmasana ) position, legs crossed with his feet turned up and placed on opposite thighs representing his full achievement of the purity of Enlightenment. He and other deities are also often depicted as seated or standing upon a lotus throne indicating that they exist in a transcendental space. Deities also often hold a lotus, usually blue, but sometimes white.

On top of the lotus in the capital rests the drum on which four animals are carved representing the four directions: a horse (west), an ox (east), an elephant (south), and a lion (north). Each of the animals can also be identified by each of the four perils of samsara (birth, disease, death, decay). The animals follow one another endlessly turning the wheel of existence.

Four lions stand atop the drum. They also face in the four cardinal directions. Their mouths are open roaring to spread the dharma across the land. Again, the lion references the Buddha, a member of the Śakya (lion) clan. The lion is also a symbol of royalty and leadership and may also represent Ashoka himself. A wheel (the dharmacakra —the wheel of the law) was originally mounted atop the lions. Thus, the pillar reads from bottom to top. The lotus represents the mundane world and the four animals remind the practitioner of the unending cycle of samsara as we remain, through our ignorance and fear, stuck in the material world. But the cakras between them offer the promise of the dharma that aids one to the unmoving center at the hub of the wheel. The lions are the Buddha himself from whom the knowledge of release from samsara is possible and the cakra at the apex represents moksa , the release from samsara .

The first visual images of Buddhism did not portray a human likeness of the Buddha. Instead devotees focused on objects to aid their practice. Practitioners revered objects associated with the historical Buddha such as his ashes, the objects he touched, and the places he visited. As a result, stupas, mounds of dirt (the word means ‘heap) that contain the Buddha’s ashes, proliferated throughout northern India, predominantly under the patronage of King Ashoka. Essentially, stupas are reliquaries (review with class previous discussions of reliquaries, pilgrimage, and relics). They are also memorials marking the location of an event in the Buddha’s life and can function as votive offerings when in miniature form. Miniature stupas also function as votive offerings. Practitioners use stupas as a focus for meditation and to help them to understand the dharma . A great video from the Asian Art Museum can be found here .

The practice of building stupas spread up into Nepal and Tibet (called chorten ), Bhutan, Thailand, Burma ( chedi ), China, and other countries that adopted a Buddhist doctrine. Stupas changed in physical form, but not in function.

Why a stupa? One of the early sutras (stories, threads) records that the Buddha gave directions to honor his remains (the Maha-parinibbāna sutra). They were to be buried in a stupa at the crossing of the four great roads (the four directions of space). The stupa form was already a way in which the ashes of an honored teacher or individual were buried. Prior to his death ( parinirvana ), the Buddha directed that stupas should be erected in many places other than those associated with historic moments of his life so that “the hearts of many shall be made calm and glad.”

The Great Stupa at Sanchi (the Māhāstūpa), for example, is the oldest stone structure in India and one of the primary destinations of Buddhist pilgrimage. It was commissioned by the Emperor Ashoka in the third century BCE. In the first century BCE, four intricately carved gateways and a balustrade that encircled the entire stupa were added. King Ashoka’s visit to the stupa is commemorated on the East Gate. Although Ashoka did lend his station to the creation of the Great Stupa at Sanchi, a thousand lay individuals also contributed.

Like other ancient structures associated with religion or government, the Great Stupa is located on a hill, high above the laity, built on an important trade route. The stupa is a solid object and so, the practitioner does not enter the stupa but circumambulates it as a meditational practice. The stupa is used as a support for meditation and as a symbolic reminder of the awakened, enlightened, state of the mind. The practitioner can walk around the stupa or move around it through a series of prostrations.

Entrance to the circular path is gained through four gates , each representational of the four great life events of the Buddha: East (Buddha’s birth), South (Enlightenment), West (First Sermon), and North (Nirvana). The gates are turned at right angles to the axis to guide the practioner in the manner of the arms of a svastika , a directional symbol that, in Sanskrit, means “to be good” (“su” means good or auspicious and “asti” means to be).

This movement suggests the endless cycle of samsara and the movement toward the center, which leads the practitioner to the knowledge of the Four Noble Truths and into the center of the unmoving hub of the wheel: Enlightenment (the center of the stupa where the ashes are buried—Buddha—the source of the knowledge). The gateway signals the movement from the secular space outside of the stupa into the spiritual space inside the balustrade. The south gate is believed to be the oldest since it has an Ashokan pillar and is the primary point of entrance. The vertical posts of the gates are covered with various versions of the Ashokan pillars, underscoring Ashoka’s presence here in Sanchi, the message of Buddhism that he wished to spread, and his goal of achieving positive merit.

All of the surfaces of the gates are covered with low reliefs. The horizontal lintels are designed to resemble scrolls that have been unrolled in order to read the stories of the Buddha’s past lives. The reliefs also provided religious instruction in an age of limited literacy. However, the Buddha is not depicted in human form. The Buddha was depicted aniconically through a variety of symbols until roughly the last century BCE, about five-hundred years after his death. References to the Buddha include a cakra , his footprints, an empty throne, the Bodhi Tree, or a stupa . The gates also contain detailed forest scenes and towns, which offer a wealth of information about contemporary life.

Buddhism, the first Indian religion to acquire large communal spaces, inspired three types of architecture: the stupa, the Buddhist monastery ( vihara), and a sepulchral monument (the caitya) , a stupa that holds no relics . Between the first century BCE and the first century CE, major architectural construction in the creation of numerous stupas, viharas and caityas was undertaken, sponsored by donations raised from the entire community (the samgha ).

Why a monastic system? In the early years of Buddhism, following the practices of contemporary religions, monks dedicated themselves to an esthetic life wandering the country with no permanent living quarters. They were fed, clothed, and housed by people wishing to gain merit. Eventually monastic complexes were created for the monks close enough to a town in order to receive alms, but far enough away so as not to disturb meditation. Many were established along trade routes, enabling the monks to receive a constant flow of goods and for traders and travelers to received blessing in return. The monastery quickly became an important aspect of the practice with a three-fold purpose: as a residence for monks, a center for religious work (on behalf of the laity), and a center for Buddhist learning.

An example of this practice is the monastic center at Vaishali. One can see the remains of one of several stupas, an Ashokan pillar, the monks’ cells, and administrative centers. Soon these types of monasteries were replaced by rock-cut accommodations for more durability.

The rock-cut caves were established in the third century BCE in the western Deccan. The earliest include the Bhaja Caves , the Karle Caves, and the Ajanta Caves . At Bhaja, the site of twenty-two caves, there are no representations of the Buddha since Bhaja was active during the earliest phase of Buddhism (Hinayana) when no images of the Buddha were created. It is the earliest example of this type of rock-cut cave and closely resembles the wooden structures that preceded it. The main chaitya hall at Bhaja contains a solid stone stupa surrounded in the nave flanked by two side aisles. The objects found in the caves suggest a profitable relationship existed between the monks and the 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. In the interior of a chaitya hall at Karle , space for circumambulation of the stupa has been created.

Eventually, the rock-cut monasteries became quite complex. They consisted of several stories with inner courtyards and verandas. During the second phase of Buddhism, Mahayana, where images of the Buddha and other deities were introduced, some facades had relief images of the Buddha and other the deities. This is noted at Ajanta where, in the chaitya hall, an image of the Buddha has been added to the stupa. Reliefs carved into the side aisles of the chaitya hall depict scenes from the Buddha’s life.

There are three phases of Buddhism: Hinayana, Mahayana, and Vajrayana (the diamond or indestructible path also known as tantrayana, the tantric vehicle). All three developed in India, but Vajrayana was, and still is primarily a Tibetan Buddhist practice and is usually discussed later in Survey II—Art and Architecture of India after 1200. In each phase, changes to the Buddhist catechism were made and the images of the faith were adapted accordingly . However, each phase does not necessary supplant the others. Hinayana (in the form of Theraveda (“doctrine of the elders) since the term Hinayana is no longer used) is still practiced in portions of southeast Asia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Laos and Burma in particular. Mahayana, or versions of it, is still practiced in China, Viet Nam, and Japan. The historical stages go by different names as the Buddhist practice blended with the indigenous one of each country.

Hinayana (shravakayana)

Generally, Hinayana is based on the original teachings of the Buddha. Release from suffering can only be achieved through personal effort and learning, and the goal is individual salvation. The Buddha is regarded as a historical person, an earthly man, and teacher and not as a transcendent being. There is a clear monastic tradition associated with Hinayana (as noted in the numerous rock-cut monasteries that were created during this period at Bhaja and Karle , for example). Understanding the Buddha’s journey and the knowledge is primary; worship of deities is secondary. The dharma is revered; the Buddha himself is not. The simple concept is release from samsara .

During the historical period of Hinayana, no images of the Buddha were made. He was often depicted by his absence (an empty throne, the empty space under the Bodhi Tree). He is also depicted by various symbols (the Bodhi Tree, feet, a cakra , etc.).

Mahayana (the greater vehicle)

Mahayana is rooted in the teachings of the historical Buddha, but seeks salvation for all beings. This attitude is embodied in the idea of the bodhisattva whose outstanding quality is compassion. The Mahayana places less emphasis on the monastery because through direct worship and assistance from the bodhisattva an individual can attain release. A bodhisattva is an enlightened being who has achieved Buddhahood ( moksha : release from samsara), but chooses to remain in the temporal world to assist others.

Vajrayana (the diamond or indestructible path)

Vajrayana, the form practiced in Tibet, promotes that the means to Enlightenment is available to all and the way is expedited through elaborate rituals.

Images of the Buddha

In the late first and early second century BCE, during the Mahayana phase, a standard the image of the Buddha was established in Mathura, Madhya Pradesh, India. Artists were already familiar with sculpting the human image in stone (kings and attendants as well as some early Hindu images), but for the images of the Buddha they referred to the canonical literature that described what the Buddha looked like:

a religious leader and thus in religious garb,
always frontal, and
always on a throne with usually lions in support beneath.

(The two-tiered formation is standard for the seated Buddha. He exists in the transcendental world as indicated by the upper tier and the larger figures that inhabit this space. The lower tier is the mundane world usually inhabited by lions, deer and/or devotees.)

From surviving seals, such as the so-called ‘yogic’ seal , there is evidence that the seated posture utilized for Mahavira, and later Buddha, may have originated during the proto-historical period. This seal depicts a deity seated in what is now referred to as the meditation or lotus position ( padmasana ).

The Stele of Buddha and Attendants is a good object with which to detail all of the visual aspects of the iconography associated with images of the Buddha. The most common characteristics included on the Buddha are the urna (the “third” eye), which symbolizes an ability to see past our mundane universe of suffering, the ushnisha (the cranial bump—a symbol of Buddha’s omniscience, which was transformed through the centuries into a topknot), elongated and empty earlobes (recalling his princely past of wearing heavy, expensive jewelry), and cakras on the soles of his feet and hands. If he is seated, he is always depicted in full lotus. Buddha, and other Buddhist deities, are also depicted with halos. This symbol may have originated during the Kushan Empire under King Kunishka later spreading into the west to be adopted and utilized in Christian visual culture.

The mudras , hand gestures of the Buddha, were fixed at the origin of the first human image of the Buddha. They were then transferred to the variety of other deities introduced into Buddhism during Mahayana Buddhism.

The common mudras :

Abhayamudra : fear not
Varadamudra : gift bestowing gesture
Bhumisparsamudra : the earth touching gesture
Dharmacakramudra : the First Sermon
Dhyanimudra : meditation or balance
Namaskaramudra : greeting, prayer, or adoration (hands folded at the chest)

A rapidly developing Roman influence on the art of Gandhara, at the northwest frontier of the Kushan empire, may have stimulated development of Buddha images in human form throughout the large Kushan empire, from Afghanistan to Madhya Pradesh. Some thought the classical influence was Hellenistic, but it is clear that the main influence on Gandharan art is that of Rome at the time of Trajan and later. Other influences include Persian and local Indian styles. This is noted in the Seated Gandharan Buddha , circa 182 . Here we see the formula of the Gandharan seated Buddha image. He is seated on a lotus throne making the turning-the-wheel-of the-law mudra ( dharmacakramudra ) beneath the Bodhi Tree. Attendant figures flank him. The ushnisha and urna are visible. Because of his toga-like dress and Roman features, this Buddha is clearly a product of a cultural exchange with the Greco-Roman world. A good comparison would be between the Seated Mathuran Buddha and the Seated Gandharan Buddha .

Compared to the standard seating type, the standing image of the Buddha, seen in the Standing Gandharan Buddha , was not as popular. The treatment of the robe is particularly characteristic of the Gandharan style: the folds are tight and rib-like clinging to the body, emphasizing the Buddha’s belly and the bend of his left knee. This complex folding pattern, including the asymmetrical U shape, is also found on togas on Roman statues. Since the fourth century, pockets of Hellenistic culture thrived in present-day Afghanistan and southern Uzbekistan when the Greeks, under Alexander the Great, reached the borders of India. In addition, Gandhara’s position near the east/west trade routes also seems to have stimulated contact with Roman culture.

The International Gupta Style

In 320 CE, after the breakup of the Kushan Empire, northern India was divided into a number of petty kingdoms. The king of one small principality, last name of Gupta, established the Gupta dynasty by continuously subduing the neighboring states. A succession of able warriors with long reigns brought peace and prosperity to a vital area in north India extending from coast to coast. Although the Guptas were Hindus, they contributed to the support of both Buddhism and Jainism. In fact, one of the last great rulers built a monastery at the famous Buddhist center of Nalanda in Bihar.

It was a time of cultural expansion and colonialism, which saw the influence of Indian art and ideas extending into Central Asia, China, Southeast Asia, and Indonesia. These were, with the exception of the Pala and Sena schools of Bihar, the last great days of Buddhist art. As Hinduism displaced Buddhism in India, the future of the art, like that of the faith, moved eastward.

Because of its dominance, Gupta sculpture established the standard type of the Buddha image. This was exported into two main directions: to Southeast Asia and Indonesia, and through Central Asia to East Asia. There are two major regional styles in Gupta sculpture, with many secondary styles and regional variations of minor importance.

The Mathura style, found in Uttar Pradesh, represents a softened continuation of the harsh Kushan style, typically made of the red Mathuran sandstone into which details can be worked but with little refinement. The Sarnath, seen here in the First Sermon, is the second style and utilizes the cream-colored sandstone that can be worked to a high degree of finish and detail.

The Pala Dynasty in northern India was the last great Buddhist Dynasty. It was supported by a large and thriving monastic community from 750–1174 CE. It was destroyed by the Mongols in the twelfth century. Two examples from the Pala Dynasty are the Seated Buddha at Enlightenment , tenth century, and the Seated Buddha Teaching the Dharma (The First Sermon), eleventh century. The focus on these two stele is on the Buddha, but the two attendant figures, the bodhisattvas, indicate that the Pala Dynasty followed a Mahayana practice.

Since the bodhisattvas remain connected to the mundane world, they still wear clothing and ornament that indicates this attachment such as earrings, arm and leg bands, and decorative dhotis. They rarely sit in full lotus position like the Buddha, who sits with his legs crossed in a position of permanent enlightenment unable to directly aid the Buddhist practitioner. The bodhisattvas sit in half lotus with the foot of their unbent leg resting on a lotus footstool. When called upon they are able to quickly rise to a standing position coming to help a practitioner in distress.

Tara is the female manifestation of the bodhisattva of compassion. Her name means “star,” or “guide.” She is also known as the saviouress as she saves the practitioner from the obstacles in daily life as well as obstacles the practitioner may face in their journey to enlightenment. For example, her popular form is the Tara of the Eight Great Perils, each with a mundane as well as a transcendental facet. Here, lions represent a threat someone may face that Tara can save him or her from. But lions can also represent pride, which can stand in the way of a practitioner’s goal of enlightenment. In the same manner, by calling out Tara’s mantra, she appears in a metaphysical sense and guides the individual through the obstacle of pride.

Here Tara makes two mudras—fear not ( abhayamudra ) and the gift bestowing mudra ( varadamudra ). The stele follows the stylistic precepts established by the fifth century: She occupies the central space existing in the transcendental realm. Beneath her exists the mundane world, which in this particular stele, contains two lions and a small human devotee. She sits on a lotus throne and holds a blue lotus in her left hand. She is fully frontal and seated on a lion throne (two lions flank her). Her head is surrounded by a halo of light (the prabhamandala ).

At the End of Class...

Standing Buddha , Gandhara, c. second–third century CE.

At the conclusion of the lecture, questions can be posed to the students that include:

How was a visual language of Buddhism developed that underscored specific tenets of the faith?
Once Ashoka embraced Buddhism, how was it spread?
What was an aniconic Buddhist practice and why and how did that change to one that now emphasizes the icon of the Buddha and the bodhisattvas?
How was Buddhism and its imagery spread throughout India?

With this last question, the class can explore the Silk Road and the construction of the Bamiyan Buddhas in what is now Afghanistan. Students can be asked to consider “ Why would colossal Buddhas be created in this region in what is now Afghanistan?” The area contained numerous Buddhist monasteries and sanctuaries. As noted prior, monasteries were built along the trade routes and became significant sites of pilgrimage.

These two colossal Buddhas were placed along the Silk Road. Travelers could ascend a staircase to the level of the shoulders of the smaller of the two and follow a ledge allowing for circumambulation of the Buddha’s head. Inside the niche that enclosed the head was a painting of a sun.

Q: Looking at the figures closely, what style are they reminiscent of?

They were built by the Kushans and represent the Gandharan school of art. They demonstrate the interchange of Indian, Hellenistic, Roman and Sasanian influences. The main bodies were carved from the sandstone cliffs. The details of the faces, hands, robes, etc. were additions made from mud and straw and coated with stucco, which were then painted. The arms were made from the same mixture plastered onto wooden supports.

Q: Why were they destroyed?

(Information on the Buddhas can be found here .)

A Taliban commander, Abdul Wahed, announced his intention to blow up the Buddhas in 1997 prior to taking control of the valley. Once he was in control of Bamiyan, he drilled holes in the Buddhas’s head for explosives. He was prevented from moving his plan along, however, by a direct order from Mullah Omar. In 1999, Mullah Mohammed Omar issued a decree in favor of preserving the Buddhas. He recognized that although the Afghans were no longer Buddhist, the statues could be a potential source of income from international visitors.

However, the radical clerics began a campaign to crack down on “un-Islamic” segments in society and soon banned all form of imagery, music, etc. in accordance with their strict interpretation of Sharia. Four-hundred clerics from across Afghanistan declared the statues to be against the tenets of Islam (they are idols after all). The organization of the Islamic Conference, which included Pakistan, Saudia Arabia and the United Arab emirates, the three Islamic nations that recognized the Taliban government, joined the protest against destroying the statues. India and Japan offered to transfer them to their own countries or to help cover them—but these overtures were rejected by the Taliban.

The statues were destroyed by artillery fire, guns, and dynamite over a series of several weeks staring on March 2, 2001. Some reported that the statues were destroyed in retaliation for the economic sanctions imposed upon Afghanistan when the Taliban took control. After years of impoverishment from Russian rule, the new government asked for monetary support, but was denied due to the reactionary tenets of the new regime. The Taliban were angered when offers of money came in in support of these statues as opposed to requests for support for the Afghan people in the initial months after the expulsion of the Russians. The Afghan foreign minister stated that the destruction was anything but retaliation against the international community for economic sanctions stating, “We are destroying the statues in accordance with Islamic law and it is purely a religious issue.” See here for more information.

Q: Should they be rebuilt ?

Further Resources

Smarthistory on Buddhist Art

Karen Shelby (author) is the co-founder of Art History Teaching Resources (AHTR) and an Assistant Professor of Art History at Baruch College. She specializes in nineteenth-century European art, early twentieth-century European and American art and teaches courses in nineteenth-century art, twentieth-century art, the art market, women and art, and Asian art.

Amy Raffel (editor) is a PhD candidate at the CUNY Graduate Center. She has a Master’s degree in Contemporary Art history from the Institute of Fine Arts (NYU) and has taught Introduction to Modern Art as a Graduate Teaching Fellow at Lehman College since 2010. Currently, Amy is a genome contributor for Artsy and editor and contributor of Art History Teaching Resources.

Amy Raffel, "Buddhist Art and Architecture Before 1200," in Art History Teaching Resources, December 27, 2014, accessed April 1, 2024, http://arthistoryteachingresources.org/lessons/buddhist-art-and-architecture-before-1200/.

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AP®︎/College Art History

Course: ap®︎/college art history > unit 10.

Ancient temples of Nara Japan
Night Attack on the Sanjô Palace
Ryōanji (Peaceful Dragon Temple)
Ogata Kōrin, Red and White Plum Blossoms
Hokusai, Under the Wave off Kanagawa (The Great Wave)

Built to impress, twice

Buddhism, emperor shomu and the creation of tōdai-ji, building tōdai-ji, bronze buddha, chogen and the rebuilding of tōdai-ji in the kamakura era (1185–1333), kei school of sculpture, ecology, craftsmanship, and early buddhist art in japan.

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The Phenomenology of Light in Contemporary Religious Architecture

Written by Ankitha Gattupalli
Published on March 13, 2023

The significance of daylight in volumes of space exceeds its function of illumination. Light is a creative tool manipulated by architects to infuse a space with a metaphysical spirit, influencing the emotional states of its occupants. Having a phenomenological effect on the human psyche, light and shadow have been played with to invoke a sense of divinity and spirituality into the character of religious buildings. The interplay between architecture and light is a powerful one, shaping a deeper experience of spirituality.

The cross-cultural commonality of associating light with divinity has been reflected in sacred spaces from time immemorial. From Stonehenge to pyramids, sun temples to ziggurats, the architectural quality of ancient structures emphasized the significant relationship of people with the sun. Built space centered around sunlight, protecting its inherent role in the daily routines of ancient communities. As societies shifted away from symbolic and religious worldviews towards more rational cosmopolitan ones , communities’ relationship with the sun lost importance. Contemporary religious architecture, however, still maintains the dialogue between light and space for its phenomenological qualities.

The Phenomenology of Light in Contemporary Religious Architecture - Image 6 of 12

Vision is the most dominant sense and strongly impacts how architectural space is perceived physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Through vision, light brings awareness. The ephemeral qualities of light - brightness, color, texture - create various psychological and physiological effects in combination with its shadow counterpart. A symbol of illumination, wisdom, goodness, and purity, the dynamism of natural light in places of worship is capable of raising the human mind beyond material limitations . In sacred architecture, it often takes on facets of mysticism and sanctity while emphasizing other elements of the space.

Light is inseparable from space. Architecture not only hosts natural light but is organized to make the best use of it. The rhythm of light qualities reflects areas of pause, movement, and emphasis in most religious spaces. The design of light penetration changes according to the intent of the space. While religions across the world revere light as a divine symbol, its articulation varies with cultural practices and spiritual metaphors in space. Light is unanimously used as a tool for the phenomenological experience.

Built forms of antiquity shaped daylight through many culturally derived elements such as the oculi of the Roman empire and the Mashrabiya (perforated screen) of the Ottoman period. Light was primarily brought in through roofs, domes, and the upper ends of walls as a way to symbolize the almighty above. Some cultures adopted the use of stained glass to alter the chromaticity of natural light penetrating the space. Light was used to sanctify architectural space and construct a sense of spirituality.

Contemporary spaces of worship follow suit by bringing in sunlight from near and above, although in more abstract expressions. Unlike its precedents that upheld a dominant identity, modern religious architecture combines postmodernism, minimalism, and futuristic styles to express spirituality in space. The typologies take inspiration from their roots and promote the cultural phenomenological relevance of light.

In Islamic religious architecture, light is used to make building materials seem transparent. It is used as a decorative element to diminish the solidness and coldness of the structure . Apart from symbolizing spiritual illumination, light and shadow patterns from perforated screens engage the mind.

Nakshabid Architects’ Aman Mosque in Bangladesh features a single concrete mass pierced with small triangular openings, reminiscent of the traditional Mashrabiya . The perforations allow sunlight to seep inside to create a sublime and mystical setting. In Australia, an oculus hovers over prayer galleries and a hall at the Punchbowl Mosque . Candalepas Associates designed the space to invite shafts of daylight through Muqarnas (honeycomb vaults), crafting a spiritual atmosphere that changes through the day.

At the dawn of Christianity - when it was illegal and without religious structures - devotees organized themselves in hidden locations in caves and hills. Their initial practice of carving out small holes as windows is said to have led to the practice of incorporating clerestory windows in churches. Oculi and stained glass windows soon found widespread use in alignment with Christian values of aesthetics. In church architecture, light has also been used to separate spaces.

China-based Church of Seed by O Studio Architects subtly communicates a dreamy atmosphere through the play of light and shadow. Light transforms the indoor space and reflects the message of its region’s religious culture. Tezuka Architects’ Bancho Church pays homage to the colorful openings of traditional churches with perforations in the roof designed based on the direction of light.

Buddhist Temples

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To Buddhists, light symbolizes the attainment of Lord Buddha’s “enlightenment”. In Buddhist architecture, light is primarily used to illuminate the statue of a deity rather than the architecture itself. In Japan’s Kuhon-ji Buddhist Temple , reflections of sunlight are thrown onto the walls and floor for a spacious, metaphysical feel.

Hindu Temples

Ancient Hindu temples were orchestrations of movement from light to darkness, from the outer entry to the innermost sanctum. As one moves through the temple, sharp punctures of light will often interrupt less bright spaces, bringing in a sense of wonder. As in Shiv Temple by Sameep Padora & Associates , many Hindu temples orient the light to fall on the idol of the main deity. As daylight is not as substantial to Hindu temple architecture, oil lamps, and another man-made lighting unavoidably light up the space at night as seen in SpaceMatters’ Temple in Stone and Light .

The widespread existence of the Jewish community and the unstable relationship between Judaism and other religions have hindered the evolution of a recognized architectural style. Light has a cultural and metaphorical significance in Judaism and Synagogue by SeARCH in the Netherlands celebrates it through large openings and a cut in the roof for natural light. With 600 openings, Ulm Synagogue in Germany is illuminated at many points and a central focus at the shrine.

This article is part of the ArchDaily Topics: Light in Architecture , proudly presented by Vitrocsa the original minimalist windows since 1992.

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General Studies

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Buddhist Art and Architecture-I

Quest for upsc cse panels.

Sub-Categories:

GS-I: Ancient History

Stupa

Phases , mauryan period, the gupta period (320-550 ce), post-mauryan period, major stupas.

Prelims : History of India

Mains : Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Arts forms, literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times

Indian Buddhist architecture includes a variety of styles, from the simple and austere designs of the early stupas to the more elaborate and ornate designs of later temples and monasteries.

Image of Stupa

A stupa is a hemispherical or dome-shaped structure that contains relics of the Buddha or other sacred objects . Stupas are a fundamental element of Buddhist architecture and have been built across the Buddhist world for thousands of years.

Shape and size: Stupas come in various sizes and shapes, but they typically have a hemispherical or dome-shaped structure.
The stupa was originally a funerary mound in ancient India, but it gradually evolved into a religious monument associated with the Buddha and his teachings.
The earliest stupas were simple hemispherical mounds of earth or brick , but they later became more elaborate and were decorated with carvings, reliefs, and sculptures.

Image of Bharhut Stupa

The stupa is a symbol of the Buddha's enlightenment and his teachings.
It represents the path to enlightenment, with the circular base representing the cycle of birth and death and the pinnacle representing the attainment of Nirvana .
They were constructed over the relics of the Buddha at Rajagriha , Vaishali , Vethadipa and Pava in Bihar, Kapilavastu , Allakappa and Ramagrama in Nepal, Kushinagar and Pippalvina in Uttar Pradesh.
Stupas typically consist of several elements, including a circular base or platform, a hemispherical dome or Anda , a spire or Harmika , and a parasol or Chhatra .
The base or platform may be decorated with carvings, reliefs, or sculptures, while the harmika may adorn the Buddha's eyes and other symbols.
Stupas were constructed using various materials, including brick, stone, earth, and plaster.
They were typically built in stages , with each stage representing a different aspect of the Buddha's teachings or his life.
Builders used a variety of techniques to ensure the stability and durability of the stupas, including the use of sloping walls, buttresses, and niches for votive offerings.
For example, the stupas at Sanchi in Madhya Pradesh are known for their elaborate carvings and reliefs. In contrast, the stupas at Amaravati in Andhra Pradesh are known for their intricate sculptures. The stupas in Ladakh and Tibet are often built in a distinctive Tibetan style, with a white dome and colorful banners.
Name of Artist: Very few inscriptions mention the names of artisans, such as Kanha at Pitalkhora and his disciple Balaka at Kondane caves in Maharashtra.

The Mauryan period (322 BCE-185 BCE) in India is considered a significant phase in the development of stupa architecture. During this period, stupas became more elaborate and were decorated with carvings, reliefs, and sculptures.

Image: Parts of Sanchi stupa

They were relatively simple hemispherical mounds of earth or brick.
The oldest known example is the Piprahwa stupa in Uttar Pradesh, which dates back to the 4th century BCE.
For example, Stupa at Sanchi, this stupa was built in several phases, with the earliest phase dating back to the 3rd century BCE.
The elaborate decoration of stupas: The Mauryan stupas were decorated with carvings, reliefs, and sculptures that depicted scenes from the life of the Buddha, as well as other religious and secular motifs.
The importance of stupas: Stupas were not only important as religious monuments but also served as symbols of imperial power and authority during the Mauryan period.
The stupa at Sanchi is known for its elaborate decoration and stone construction, while the stupa at Bharhut in Madhya Pradesh is known for its early Buddhist reliefs and carvings.
During the early phase of Buddhism , Buddha is depicted symbolically through footprints, stupas, lotus throne, chakra, etc.
This indicates either simple worship or paying respect, or at times depicts the historicisation of life events.
Gradually, the narrative became a part of the Buddhist tradition.
Thus, events from the life of the Buddha, the Jataka stories, were depicted on the railings and torans of the stupas.

It is considered a golden age in Indian history. It was marked by a flourishing of arts, sciences, and literature. During this period, stupa architecture continued to evolve and reached new heights of refinement and sophistication.

Emergence of new styles: During the Gupta period, new styles of stupa architecture emerged, with more elaborate decoration and greater attention to detail. The Dhamekh Stupa in Sarnath , for example, is a fine example of Gupta stupa architecture, with intricate carvings depicting Buddhist themes and motifs.
Decorative elements: Stupas during the Gupta period were often decorated with ornate elements such as lotus petals, garlands, and various mythical creatures such as yakshas, kinnaras, and Gandharvas. These decorative elements were often arranged in a symmetrical pattern, creating a sense of balance and harmony.
Construction materials: Stupas during the Gupta period were often constructed using bricks and stone, with the outer surface covered in plaster or stucco.
Influence on other art forms: Stupa architecture during the Gupta period had a profound influence on other art forms such as sculpture and painting. Many of the techniques and motifs used in stupa decoration were adapted and applied to other forms of art, resulting in a rich and diverse body of work.

The post-Mauryan period in India (around 200 BCE - 300 CE) saw the continuation and further evolution of stupa architecture. During this period, various dynasties and kingdoms emerged, each with their own distinct style and approach to stupa construction.

They built several important stupas, including the Amaravati Stupa in present-day Andhra Pradesh. This stupa was known for its elaborate carvings and sculptures that depicted various Buddhist legends and stories.
They were patrons of Buddhism and built Kanishka Stupa in present-day Afghanistan. This stupa was known for its large size and elaborate decoration, which included thousands of carved stone panels and sculptures.
The Andhras were a dynasty that ruled parts of southern India during the post-Mauryan period. They built Nagarjunakonda Stupa in present-day Andhra Pradesh.
This stupa was known for its unique style, which featured a circular base and a square top. It was also decorated with intricate carvings and sculptures.
Mahabodhi Stupa : It is located in Bodh Gaya, Bihar. This stupa marks the spot where the Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment. It is one of the most important pilgrimage sites for Buddhists worldwide.
This stupa is said to have been built on the site where the Buddha spent 24 rainy seasons, teaching and meditating.
It is believed to mark the spot where the Buddha gave his first sermon, known as the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta.
Sanchi Stupa: It is one of the oldest and most well-preserved stupas in India. This monument is located in Madhya Pradesh. It was originally commissioned by Emperor Ashoka of the Mauryan Empire in the 3rd century BCE.
It was built in the 1960s to promote world peace and is one of the tallest stupas in India.
Ratnagiri Stupa: ( Ratnagiri, Odisha)
This stupa is believed to have been built by the Gupta dynasty in the 6th century CE.
It is believed to have been built by the Satavahana dynasty in the 2nd century BCE.
It is known for its intricate carvings and sculptures, which depict scenes from the Buddha's life and teachings.

Previous Year Questions

Q) Highlight the Central Asian and Greco Bactrian elements in the Gandhara art. (2019)

Q) Early Buddhist Stupa-art, while depicting folk motifs and narratives, successfully expounds Buddhist ideals. Elucidate. (2016)

Q) Gandhara sculpture owed as much to the Romans as to the Greeks - Explain (2014)

Q) Taxila University was one of the oldest universities of the world with which were associated a number of renowned personalities of different disciplines. Its strategic location caused its fame to flourish, but unlike Nalanda, it is not considered as a university in the modern sense. (2014)

Q) Which one of the following statements is correct?

a) Ajanta Caves lie in the gorge of Waghora River.

b) Sanchi Stupa lies in the gorge of the Chambal River.

c) Pandu-Lena Cave Shrines lie in the gorge of Narmada River.

d) Amaravati Stupa lies in the gorge of Godavari River.

Q) The painting of Bodhisattva Padmapani is one of the most famous and oft-illustrated paintings at:

a) Ajanta

b) Badami

d) Ellora

Q) With reference to the Indian history of art and culture, consider the following pairs:

Famous work of Sculpture Site

1. A grand image of Buddha's Mahaparinirvana with numerous: Ajanta

celestial musicians above and the sorrowful figures of his followers below

2. A huge image of Varaha Avatar (boar incarnation) of Vishnu, as he rescues: Mount Abu

Goddess Earth from the deep and chaotic waters, sculpted on rock

3. “Arjuna’s Penance”/“Descent of Ganga” sculpted on the surface of huge: Mamallapuram

boulders

Which of the pairs given above is/are correctly matched?

(a) 1 and 2 only

(d) 1, 2 and 3

Q) With reference to Buddhist history, tradition and culture in India, consider the following pairs:

1. Tabo monastery and temple complex: Spiti Valley

2. Lhotsava Lhakhang temple, Nako: Zanskar Valley

3. Alchi temple complex: Ladakh

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 and 3 only

Q) Consider the following historical places:

1. Ajanta Caves

2. Lepakshi Temple

3. Sanchi Stupa

Which of the above places is/are also known for mural paintings?

(a) 1 only

(b) 1 and 2 only

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q) who were the yakshas.

The Yakshas were powerful nature spirits or deities in ancient Indian mythology. They played a significant role in stupa architecture, often depicted as guardians and protectors of the sacred space.

Q) What does the fresco effect mean?

The term "fresco effect" refers to a painting technique used in ancient times where pigments were applied to wet plaster. As the plaster dries, the pigments bind with it, creating a durable and long-lasting painting.

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Southeast Asia | Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam | Indonesia

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Andrea Acri & Peter D. Sharrock (eds.), The Creative South: Buddhist and Hindu Art in Mediaeval Maritime Asia, Volume 1 (2022)

San San May & Jana Igunma, Buddhism Illuminated: Manuscript Art from Southeast Asia (2018)

Gauri Parimoo Krishnan (ed.), Nalanda, Srivijaya and Beyond: Re-exploring Buddhist Art in Asia (2016)

Kimberly Masteller, Masterworks from India and Southeast Asia: The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (2016)

D. Christian Lammerts (ed.), Buddhist Dynamics in Premodern and Early Modern Southeast Asia (2015)

Sambit Datta & David Beynon, Digital Archetypes: Adaptations of Early Temple Architecture in South and Southeast Asia (2014)

John Guy et al, Lost Kingdoms: Hindu-Buddhist Sculpture of Early Southeast Asia (2014)

Gauri Parimoo Krishnan, On the Nalanda Trail: Buddhism in India, China, and Southeast Asia (2013)

Elisabeth A. Bacus, Ian C. Glover, and Peter D. Sharrock (eds.), Interpreting Southeast Asia’s Past: Monument, Image and Text (2008)

Aziz Bassoul, Human and Divine: The Hindu and Buddhist Iconography of Southeast Asian Art from the Claire and Aziz Bassoul Collection (2006)

Fiona Kerlogue, Arts of Southeast Asia (2004)

Pratapaditya Pal, Asian Art at the Norton Simon Museum, Volume 3: Art from Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia (2004)

Nandana Chutiwongs, The Iconography of Avalokiteśvara in Mainland South East Asia (2002)

Michel Jacq-Hergoualc’h, The Malay Peninsula: Crossroads of the Maritime Silk Road (100 BC–1300 AD) (2002)

Marijke J. Klokke, Narrative Sculpture and Literary Traditions in South and Southeast Asia (2000)

Maud Girard-Geslan (ed.), Art of Southeast Asia, trans. J. A. Underwood (1998)

Daigoro Chihara, Hindu-Buddhist Architecture in Southeast Asia (1996)

Philip Rawson, The Art of Southeast Asia: Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Burma, Java, Mali (1990)

George Coedès, The Making of South East Asia, trans. H.M. Wright (1966)

Louis Frédéric, The Art of Southeast Asia: Temples and Sculpture (1965)

M.M. Deneck et al, Indian Sculpture: Masterpieces of Indian, Khmer, and Cham Art (1962)

Bernard Philippe Groslier, The Art of Indochina: Including Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, trans. George Lawrence (1962)

Buddhist temples in Southeast Asia are centers for the preservation of local artistic traditions. Chief among these are manuscripts, a vital source for our understanding of Buddhist ideas and practices in the region. They are also a beautiful art form, too little understood in the West. The British Library has one of the richest collections of Southeast Asian manuscripts, principally from Thailand and Burma, anywhere in the world. It includes finely painted copies of Buddhist scriptures, literary works, historical narratives, and works on traditional medicine, law, cosmology, and fortune-telling. This stunning new book includes over 100 examples of Buddhist art from the Library's collection, relating each manuscript to Theravada tradition and beliefs, and introducing the historical, artistic, and religious contexts of their production. It is the first book in English to showcase the beauty and variety of Buddhist manuscript art and reproduces many works that have never before been photographed.

The study of historical Buddhism in premodern and early modern Southeast Asia stands at an exciting and transformative juncture. Interdisciplinary scholarship is marked by a commitment to the careful examination of local and vernacular expressions of Buddhist culture as well as to reconsiderations of long-standing questions concerning the diffusion of and relationships among varied texts, forms of representation, and religious identities, ideas and practices. The twelve essays in this collection, written by leading scholars in Buddhist Studies and Southeast Asian history, epigraphy, and archaeology, comprise the latest research in the field to deal with the dynamics of mainland and (pen)insular Buddhism between the sixth and nineteenth centuries C.E. Drawing on new manuscript sources, inscriptions, and archaeological data, they investigate the intellectual, ritual, institutional, sociopolitical, aesthetic, and literary diversity of local Buddhisms, and explore their connected histories and contributions to the production of intraregional and transregional Buddhist geographies.

The volume covers monumental arts, sculpture and painting, epigraphy and heritage management across mainland Southeast Asia and as far south as Indonesia. New research on monumental arts includes chapters on the Bayon of Angkor and the great brick temple sites of Champa. There is an article discussing the purpose of making and erecting sacred sculptures in the ancient world and accounts of research on the sacred art of Burma, Thailand and southern China (including the first study of the few surviving Saiva images in Burma), of a spectacular find of bronze Mahayana Buddhas, and of the sculpted bronzes of the Dian culture. New research on craft goods and crafting techniques deals with ancient Khmer materials, including recently discovered ceramic kiln sites, the sandstone sources of major Khmer sculptures, and the rare remaining traces of paint, plaster and stucco on stone and brick buildings. More widely distributed goods also receive attention, including Southeast Asian glass beads, and there are contributions on Southeast Asian heritage and conservation, including research on Angkor as a living World Heritage site and discussion of a UNESCO project on the stone jars of the Plain of Jars in Laos that combines recording, safeguarding, bomb clearance, and eco-tourism development.

The pagodas of Burma, the temples of Angkor, the great Buddhist monument of Borobudur - these achievements of powerful courts and rulers are part of a broad artistic tradition including textiles, applied arts, vernacular architecture, and village crafts. Covering Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Burma, and the Philippines, Fiona Kerlogue examines the roots and development of the arts of this distinctive region from prehistory to the present day. Broadly chronological, the book traces the different religions that have shaped the region's historic cultures - Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity - finishing with an exploration of the arts of the postcolonial period. With nearly 200 illustrations, over 100 in color, a glossary of names and places, and suggestions for further reading, the book is a comprehensive introduction to the arts and culture of Southeast Asia.

Leedom Lefferts & Sandra Cate, Buddhist Storytelling in Thailand and Laos: The Vessantara Jataka Scroll at the Asian Civilisations Museum, trans. Wajuppa Tossa (2012)

Anne-Valérie Schweyer, Ancient Vietnam: History, Art and Archaeology (2011)

Vittorio Roveda & Sothon Yem, Preah Bot: Buddhist Painted Scrolls in Cambodia (2010)

Claude Jacques & Michael Freeman, Ancient Angkor (2009)

Joyce Clark (ed.), Bayon: New Perspectives (2007)

Claude Jacques, The Khmer Empire: Cities and Sanctuaries from the 5th to the 13th Century, trans. Tom White (2007)

Helen Ibbitson Jessup, Art & Architecture of Cambodia (2004)

Emmanuel Guillon, Hindu-Buddhist Art of Vietnam: Treasures from Champa, trans. Tom White (2001)

Somkiart Lopetcharat, Lao Buddha: The Image and Its History (2000)

Eleanor Mannikka, Angkor Wat: Time, Space, and Kingship (2000)

Helen Ibbitson Jessup & Thierry Zephir (eds.), Sculpture of Angkor and Ancient Cambodia: Millennium of Glory (1997)

Ann H. Unger & Walter Unger (eds.), Pagodas, Gods and Spirits of Vietnam (1997)

Marc Riboud, Angkor: The Serenity of Buddhism (1993)

Boisselier Trends in Khmer Art cover art

Jean Boisselier, Trends in Khmer Art, ed. & trans. Natasha Eilenberg & Melvin Elliott (1989)

Madeleine Giteau, Khmer Sculpture and the Angkor Civilization (1965)

John N. Miksic & Anita Tranchini, Borobudur: Golden Tales of the Buddhas (2017)

Jan Fontein, Entering the Dharmadhatu: A Study of the Gandavyūha Reliefs of Borobudur (2012)

Julie Gifford, Buddhist Practice and Visual Culture: The Visual Rhetoric of Borobudur (2011)

Natasha Reichle, Violence and Serenity: Late Buddhist Sculpture from Indonesia (2007)

I.G.N. Anom (ed.) & UNESCO, The Restoration of Borobudur (2005)

Ann R. Kinney, Marijke J. Klokke, and Lydia Kieven, Worshiping Siva and Buddha: The Temple Art of East Java (2003)

Paul Mus, Barabudur: Sketch of a History of Buddhism Based on Archaeological Criticism of the Texts (1998)

Louis Frédéric & Jean-Louis Nou, Borobudur (1996)

Marijke J. Klokke & Pauline Lunsingh Scheurleer (eds.), Ancient Indonesian Sculpture (1994)

Roy Adams, Borobudur in Photographs: Past and Present (1990)

Fontein Sculpture of Indonesia cover art

Jan Fontein (ed.), The Sculpture of Indonesia (1990)

R.P. Soekmono, J.G. de Casparis, and Jacques Dumarçay, Borobudur: Prayer in Stone (1990)

Rudi Badil & Nurhadi Rangkuti (eds.), The Hidden Foot of Borobudur (1989)

Pauline L. Scheurleer & Marijke J. Klokke, Divine Bronze: Ancient Indonesian Bronzes from A.D. 600 to 1600 (1988)

Luis O. Gómez & Hiram W. Woodward (eds.), Barabudur: History and Significance of a Buddhist Monument (1981)

A.J. Bernet Kempers, Ageless Borobudur: Buddhist Mystery in Stone. Decay and Restoration. Mendut and Pawon. Folklife in Ancient Java, trans. Surya Green (1979)

Jacques Dumarçay, Borobudur, trans. Michael Smithies (1978)

Jan Fontein et al (eds.), Ancient Indonesian Art of the Central and Eastern Javanese Periods (1971)

A.J. Bernet Kempers, Ancient Indonesian Art (1959)

W.F. Stutterheim, Studies in Indonesian Archaeology (1956)

With vivid photography and insightful commentary, this travel pictorial shines a light on the Buddhist art and architecture of Borobudur. The glorious ninth-century Buddhist stupa of Borobudur--the largest Buddhist monument in the world--stands in the midst of the lush Kedu Plain of Central Java in Indonesia, where it is visited annually by over a million people. Borobudur contains more than a thousand exquisitely carved relief panels extending along its many terraces for a total distance of more than a kilometer. These are arranged so as to take the visitor on a spiritual journey to enlightenment, and one ascends the monument past scenes depicting the world of desire, the life story of Buddha, and the heroic deeds of other enlightened beings--finally arriving at the great circular terraces at the top of the structure that symbolizes the formless world of pure knowledge and perfection.

The Gandavyūha, a sacred text of Mahāyāna Buddhism, is an allegorical tale of the pilgrimage of a youth named Sudhana, who visits fifty-three spiritual mentors to receive their instruction in the Conduct of the Bodhisattva. His miraculous journey on the path towards Enlightenment inspired the sculptors of Borobudur (9th century C.E.) to illustrate the tale in 460 bas-reliefs on the higher galleries of this great Javanese monument. During the 1920s N.J. Krom and F.D.K. Bosch identified many of the panels, but most of their findings, written in Dutch, remained unnoticed. Entering the Dharmadhātu compares the complete set of panels with three early Chinese translations of Central Asian and Indian Sanskrit manuscripts of the Gandavyūha. This first identification of the entire series in English concludes with a discussion of the new perspectives on the meaning, symbolism, and architecture of Borobudur that a reading of the Gandavyūha suggests.

This work, a study of the temples created in East Java between the tenth and sixteenth centuries, fills an important scholarly lacuna. The arts of Central Java, home of the great Buddhist monument, Borobudur, and Hindu Prambanan, have been given thorough scholarly attention. The architectural and sculptural treasures of the East Javanese kingdoms of Kadiri, Singasari, and Majapahit, are little known in comparison, yet beautiful and significant in Indonesian history. The author presents the major sites of these three historical periods, and discusses their architecture and sculpture. The many narrative reliefs illustrating sacred and secular literature have been painstakingly identified. The reader is thus able to follow their stories and understand where, why, and how they fit into the visual program planned for each temple and their relation to historical events and the wayang theater. These descriptions are augmented by extensive site summaries.

Nothing anywhere in the world quite compares with the dimensions and magnificent bas-reliefs of the Borobudur, an enormous Buddhist monument erected on the Island of Java in the late 8th century. Declared World Heritage by the UNESCO and restored between 1975 and 1983, it is very popular in the East and has begun to become known to western tourists. Built in the middle of the island and surrounded by volcanoes, the Borobudur – a square-based pyramid with circular terraces – symbolises the union of heaven and earth. For this first time this book offers an insight into the heart of this stone mandala, enabling readers to understand the Buddhist pantheon of Mahayana by interpreting the scenes of daily life and Indo-Javanese rites sculpted upon it. The photographs of the monument’s magnificent architecture and complex symbolism are by Louis Nou.

Alexandra Green, Buddhist Visual Cultures: Rhetoric, and Narrative in Late Burmese Wall Paintings (2018)

Stephen A. Murphy (ed.), Cities and Kings: Ancient Treasures from Myanmar (2016)

Sylvia Fraser-Lu & Donald M. Stadtner (eds.), Buddhist Art of Myanmar (2015)

Donald M. Stadtner, Sacred Sites of Burma: Myth and Folklore in an Evolving Spiritual Realm (2011)

Forrest McGill (ed.), Emerald Cities: Arts of Siam and Burma, 1775–1950 (2009)

Claudine Bautze-Picron, The Buddhist Murals of Pagan: Timeless Vistas of the Cosmos (2003)

Alexandra Green & T. Richard Blurton (eds.), Burma: Art and Archaeology (2002)

Pamela Gutman, Burma’s Lost Kingdoms: Splendours of Arakan (2001)

Pierre Pichard, Inventory of Monuments at Pagan, 8 vols. (1992–2001)

Elizabeth H. Moore, Shwedagon: Golden Pagoda of Myanmar (1999)

Sujata Soni, Evolution of Stupas in Burma: Pagan Period, 11th to 13th c. AD (1991)

Paul Strachan, Imperial Pagan: Art and Architecture of Burma (1989)

John Lowry, Burmese Art (1974)

Gordon H. Luce, Old Burma: Early Pagán, 3 vols. (1969–1970)

Kevin Trainor, Relics, Ritual, and Representation in Buddhism: Rematerialising the Sri Lankan Theravada Tradition (2007)

Stephen C. Berkwitz, The History of the Buddha's Relic Shrine: A Translation of the Sinhala Thupavamsa (2006)

John A. Listopad, Guardian of the Flame: Art of Sri Lanka (2003)

Markus Aksland, The Sacred Footprint: A Cultural History of Adam’s Peak (2001)

John C. Holt, The Religious World of Kirti Sri: Buddhism, Art, and Politics in Late Medieval Sri Lanka (1996)

Anuradha Seneviratna & Benjamin Polk, Buddhist Monastic Architecture in Sri Lanka: The Woodland Shrines (1992)

John Clifford Holt, Buddha in the Crown: Avalokiteshvara in the Buddhist Traditions of Sri Lanka (1991)

Ulrich von Schroeder, Buddhist Sculptures of Sri Lanka, 2 vols. (1990)

Senake Bandaranayake & Gamini Jayasinghe, The Rock and Wall Paintings of Sri Lanka (1986)

Diran K. Dohanian, The Mahāyāna Buddhist Sculpture of Ceylon (1977)

S. Bandaranayake, Sinhalese Monastic Architecture: The Viharas of Anuradhapura (1974)

Nandasena Mudiyanse, Mahayana Monuments in Ceylon (1967)

Ananda Coomaraswamy, Medieval Sinhalese Art (1956)

Angela S. Chiu, The Buddha in Lanna: Art, Lineage, Power, and Place in Northern Thailand (2017)

Maurizio Peleggi, Monastery, Monument, Museum: Sites and Artifacts of Thai Cultural Memory (2017)

Joe Cummings & Dan White, Buddhist Temples of Thailand: A Visual Journey Through Thailand's 42 Most Historic Wats (2014)

Heidi Tan, Enlightened Ways: The Many Streams of Buddhist Art in Thailand (2013)

Bonnie Pacala Brereton & Somroay Yencheuy, Buddhist Murals of Northeast Thailand: Reflections of the Isan Heartland (2010)

Peter Skilling (ed.), Past Lives of the Buddha: Wat Si Chum—Art, Architecture and Inscriptions (2008)

Donald K. Swearer, Becoming the Buddha: The Ritual of Image Consecration in Thailand (2007)

Forrest McGill (ed.), The Kingdom of Siam: The Art of Central Thailand, 1350–1800 (2005)

Reginald Le May, Buddhist Art in South-East Asia: The Indian Influence on the Art of Thailand (2004)

Carol Stratton, Buddhist Sculpture of Northern Thailand (2004)

Sandra Cate, Making Merit, Making Art: A Thai Temple in Wimbledon (2002)

Karl Döhring, Buddhist Stūpa (Phra chedi) Architecture of Thailand (2000)

Karl Döhring, Buddhist Temples of Thailand: An Architectonic Introduction (2000)

Henry Ginsburg, Thai Art and Culture: Historic Manuscripts from Western Collections (2000)

Santi Leksukhum & Gilles Mermet, Temples of Gold: Seven Centuries of Thai Buddhist Paintings (2000)

David K. Wyatt (ed.), The Royal Chronicles of Ayutthaya, trans. Richard D. Cushman (2000)

Clarence Aasen, Architecture of Siam: A Cultural History Interpretation (1998)

Hiram W. Woodward, Jr., The Sacred Sculpture of Thailand (1998)

Pattaratorn Chirapravati, Votive Tablets in Thailand: Origin, Styles, and Uses (1997)

Virginia McKeen Di Crocco, Footprints of the Buddhas of This Era in Thailand and the Indian Subcontinent (1992)

Steve Van Beek, The Arts of Thailand, rev. ed. (1991)

Jean Boisselier, Thai Painting (1990)

Dorothy H. Fickle, Images of the Buddha in Thailand (1989)

Henry Ginsburg, Thai Manuscript Painting (1989)

Carol Stratton & Miriam McNair Scott, The Art of Sukhothai: Thailand's Golden Age (1981)

Kalyanamitra Six Hundred Years cover art

Joti Kalyanamitra, Six Hundred Years of Work by Thai Artists and Architects (1977)

Piriya Krairiksh, Art Styles in Thailand: A Selection from National Provincial Museums, and an Essay in Conceptualization (1977)

Donald K. Swearer, Wat Haripuñjaya: A Study of the Royal Temple of the Buddha’s Relic, Lamphun, Thailand (1976)

Russell Marcus, Forms of Man: The Buddhist Vision of Thawan Duchanee (1974)

Damrong Rajanubhab, Monuments of the Buddha in Siam, 2nd ed., trans. Sulak Sivaraksa & A.B. Griswold (1973)

Theodore Bowie (ed.), The Sculpture of Thailand (1972)

Elizabeth Wray et al (eds. & trans.), Ten Lives of the Buddha: Siamese Temple Paintings and Jataka Tales (1972)

Elizabeth Lyons, Thai Traditional Painting (1963)

For centuries, wherever Thai Buddhists have made their homes, statues of the Buddha have provided striking testament to the role of Buddhism in the lives of the people. The Buddha in Lanna offers the first in-depth historical study of the Thai tradition of donation of Buddha statues. Drawing on palm-leaf manuscripts and inscriptions, many never previously translated into English, the book reveals the key roles that Thai Buddha images have played in the social and economic worlds of their makers and devotees from the fifteenth to twentieth centuries. Author Angela Chiu introduces stories from chronicles, histories, and legends written by monks in Lanna, a region centered in today’s northern Thailand. By examining the stories’ themes, structures, and motifs, she illuminates the complex conceptual and material aspects of Buddha images that influenced their functions in Lanna society. Buddha images were depicted as social agents and mediators, the focal points of pan-regional political-religious lineages and rivalries, indeed, as the very generators of history itself. In the chronicles, Buddha images also unified the Buddha with the northern Thai landscape, thereby integrating Buddhist and local conceptions of place. By comparing Thai Buddha statues with other representations of the Buddha, the author underscores the contribution of the Thai evidence to a broader understanding of how different types of Buddha representations were understood to mediate the “presence” of the Buddha. This book focuses on the Thai Buddha image as a part of the wider society and history of its creators and worshippers beyond monastery walls, shedding much needed light on the Buddha image in history.

This book follows the sweep of empire through the country's different temple-building eras and regions. Through profiling 42 of the most prominent wats it explores Buddhism's development throughout the kingdom and underpins the belief system's dynamic interplay with contemporary life and its everyday role in Thailand's vibrant culture. Beyond highlighting the most significant complexes, murals and Buddha images, the book explores the daily rituals, regular festivals, and key architectural elements of this diverse religious form. This expanded edition features two additional temples that were not included in the first edition.

This richly illustrated, full-colour volume offers an innovative study of the long, painted scrolls of Northeast Thailand and Laos that depictthe Prince Vessantara Buddhist birth story. A 31-metre scroll in the Asian Civilisations Museum provides the focus for this popular narrative. The scroll is reproduced in its entirety, with comparative illustrations from other scrolls. The authors analyze these scrolls in the context of the Bun Phra Wet – the Thai-Lao and Lao ceremony in which they are used – and consider the complex interplay of text, art, ritual, and belief which occur in these performances.

This is a lavishly illustrated catalog of artworks from Thailand and Burma, and provides an introduction to one of Asia's richest and least known artistic traditions. Focusing primarily on decorative and religious objects from the nineteenth century, Emerald Cities brings to light the lively, yet often strained, interchange between the regions of central and northern Thailand (Siam) and Burma. While representing the latest art historical scholarship, Emerald Cities is also an accessible entry into the world of Thailand and Burma, and highlights such luxuriant and spectacular artworks as gilded and mirrored ritual vessels, black lacquer and mother-of-pearl inlaid furniture, and vibrant, colorful paintings. These objects convey an exotic and exuberant ambiance which transports the reader to a lost time and place, one unlike any other.

In 1686 King Louis XIV of France had the great Hall of Mirrors in the Versailles specially prepared to receive, with exceptional pomp and ceremony, a group of foreign envoys. The envoys brought with them two shiploads of gifts for the court. In fact, they delivered so many objects of gold, silver, and lacquer that the French complained that their list would be as long as a book. The envoys had been sent from the kingdom of Ayutthaya, or "Siam" as it was known in the West. Though little remembered today, Ayutthaya was one of the largest and most important kingdoms of Southeast Asia. Founded in 1351, the kingdom flourished for more than four hundred years - longer than China's Ming dynasty. The envoys' gifts reflected its trade activity - more than fifteen hundred pieces of porcelain (mostly Chinese), Persian, and Indian carpets, and many other objects from Japan and China were given to the French king and his relatives. Despite the kingdom's power, prosperity, and influence, it was completely destroyed by a devastating invasion from neighboring Burma in 1767. As a result, many Ayutthaya artifacts, especially made of fragile materials, were destroyed, and the kingdom's splendor gradually faded.

Sandra Cate's pioneering ethnography of art-making at Wat Buddhapadipa, a Thai Buddhist temple in Wimbledon, England, explores contemporary art at the crossroads of identity, authority and value. Between 1984 and 1992, twenty-six young Thai artists painted a series of temple murals that continue to attract worshippers and tourists from around the world. Their work, both celebrated and controversial, depicts stories from the Buddha's lives in otherworldly landscapes punctuated with sly references to this-worldly politics and popular culture. Schooled in international art trends, the artists reverse an Orientalist narrative of the Asian Other, telling their own stories to diverse audiences and subsuming Western spaces into a Buddhist worldview. In her investigation of temple murals as social portraiture, Cate looks at the ongoing dialectic between the "real" and the "imaginary" as mural painters depict visual and moral hierarchies of sentient beings. As they manipulate indigenous notions of sacred space and the creative process, the Wat Buddhapadipa muralists generate complex, expansive visions of social place and identity.

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Buddhist Art and Architecture in Mongolia

2014, Oxford Bibliographies Online Datasets

Related Papers

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion

Brian Baumann

The history of Mongolian Buddhism during the Yuan dynasty began in 1206 with the investiture of Chinggis Khan (b. ?1162, r. 1206–1227) over Yeke Mongγol Ulus (the Great Mongol Nation). After the founding of the Yuan dynasty (1206–1365) following the accession of Qubilai Khan (b. 1215, r. 1260–1294) in 1260, Chinggis Khan retroactively became the dynasty’s original emperor, Taizu (太祖). The Yuan ended in 1635 with the fall of the Northern Yuan dynasty (1368–1635) and rise of the Manchu Qing dynasty (1636–1912) in 1636. The history of Mongolian Buddhism during the Yuan dynasty breaks into four periods at three important junctures. The first period lasts from Chinggis Khan’s investiture in 1206 until the 1260 accession of Qubilai Khan and subsequent establishment of the Yuan dynasty. The second period lasts until the 1368 expulsion of the Mongols from China and subsequent establishment of the Northern Yuan. This period lasted until the 1578meeting between Altan Khan (1507–1582) and Sönam Gyatso (Bsod nams rgya mtsho, 1543–1588), which resulted in the rise of the Gélukpa (Dge lugs pa) and the creation of the institution of the Dalai Lama. The fourth period lasts until the fall of the Northern Yuan dynasty in 1635. Over the course of this history, the Mongols made Tibetan-rite Buddhism preeminent over other Buddhist traditions and made first Sakya (Sa skya) and then later Géluk Buddhism preeminent over other Tibetan Buddhist schools. They made Buddhism the state religion of a vast empire, patronized Buddhism with unprecedented munificence, and took Buddhism to its apogee as a world religion. They used Buddhism to transform the model of imperial governance and ushered in a new age in the history of politics: the age of soteriological dominion. The history of Mongolian Buddhism during the Yuan dynasty is thus not only the formative moment of Mongolian Buddhism, it is a defining moment in the history of Buddhism, the history of religion, and the history of the world.

The Buddhist Monastery. A cross-cultural survey

Isabelle Charleux

From the end of the sixteenth century onwards, Tibetan Buddhism flourished among Southern Mongols, bringing revolutionary changes to their nomadic society. With the support of Mongol kings and, later, the Manchu emperors, the Gelugpa (dGe-lugs-pa) Buddhist institution expanded all over the country, while local religious life organised itself around Buddhist monasteries. Although Tibetan Buddhism was first introduced among the Mongols during the thirteenth century, it failed then to take hold in Mongols' hearts and very few monasteries were founded. Almost nothing of the present physical heritage of Mongol Buddhism dates from this period. Therefore, I will focus on the historical background and the architectural aspects of the Southern Mongolian monasteries from the sixteenth to the twentieth century. Inner or Southern Mongolia 1 is today an "autonomous region" of the People's Republic of China, and has been largely settled by Han Chinese since the mid nineteenth century. Due to border modifications that occurred repeatedly during the twentieth century, former Mongol territories now belong to other provinces of China (especially Liaoning), and thus are included in this survey. This study is mainly based on fieldwork undertaken between 1993 and 1999, which allowed me to visit more than thirty monasteries. The data gathered on the field along with the historical documentation were exposed in detail in my dissertation thesis (Charleux 1998).

Leonard van der Kuijp

Krisztina Teleki

H-Net Reviews

Matthew Kapstein

Review of King, 'Ocean of Milk, Ocean of Blood: A Mongolian Monk in the Ruins of the Qing Empire'; Uranchimeg, 'A Monastery on the Move: Art and Politics in Later Buddhist Mongolia'; and Wallace, 'Sources of Mongolian Buddhism"

Oxford University Press eBooks

Vesna Wallace

Matthew King

Mongol lands were bastions of Mahāyāna (Mon. yeke kölgen) and Vajrayāna (Mon. vačir kölgen) Buddhist life from the seventeenth to the early twentieth centuries, vast territories of the Buddhadharma deeply twinned with Tibetan traditions but always of local variation and distinct cultural content and purpose. Mongol contact with the Dharma reached its apex in the early decades of the 20th century, a flourishing of Buddhist knowledge, craft, and institutionalism that would soon face the blunt tool of brutal state violence. As the great Eurasian Empires came undone with tectonic force and consequence, Mongol lands along the frontiers of the Qing and Tsarist formations had the highest per capita rate of monastic ordination in the history of Buddhism (up to one in three adult men holding some monastic affiliation). Decades into the revolutionary aftermath of imperial collapse, at the interface of Republican China and Soviet Russia, Mongolian monastic complexes were hubs of cultural, economic, and intellectual life that continued to circulate and shape anew classical Indian and Tibetan fields of knowledge like medicine and astrology, esoteric and exoteric exegesis, material culture, and performance traditions between the Western Himalaya; the northern foothills of the British Raj; the Tibetan plateau; North China; Beijing; all Mongol regions; and Siberia, right to St. Petersburg.

Uranchimeg Tsultem

Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History Essays

Cosmic buddhas in the himalayas.

Crowned Buddha

Mahapratisara, the Buddhist Protectress

Votive Stupa with Four Buddhas

Buddha Shakyamuni

Pair of Manuscript Covers with Buddhist Deities

Seated Jambhala

Portrait of the Indian Monk Atisha

The Goddess Mahasitavati, Folio from a Buddhist Manuscript

Buddha Amoghasiddhi with Eight Bodhisattvas

The Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara in the Form of Padmapani, the Lotus Bearer

Panel from a Buddhist Ritual Crown Depicting Vairocana

Twenty-One Emanations of the Goddess Tara

Hevajra Mandala

Akshobhya, the Buddha of the Eastern Pure Land

Amitabha, the Buddha of the Western Pure Land (Sukhavati)

The Five Tathagata or Cosmic Buddhas, Forehead Ornament for a Deity

White Jambhala on a Dragon

Kurt Behrendt Department of Asian Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Buddhist tradition in the Himalayas has a complex pantheon of deities who give form to Mahayana and Vajrayana ideology. At the foundation are the unchanged teachings of the historic Buddha Shakyamuni , but there emerged a belief that he was just one among many who had attained enlightenment. Mahayana Buddhists looked to living Buddhas residing in heavens that can be accessed through veneration and ultimately by rebirth in one of their realms. Vajrayana Buddhism builds on these ideas, formalized in a corpus of esoteric texts called tantras written in India between the eighth and twelfth centuries. According to the Yoga Tantra, at the moment the Buddha reached enlightenment ( 2012.458 ), he left his physical body and ascended to the highest heaven, where he assumed the perfected, crowned, and bejeweled form of the Buddha Vairocana ( 1997.152 ) and taught the path to enlightenment to the assembled gods. He then returned to our realm of existence and in his physical body went out into the world to teach the dharma, or the path to breaking free from the cycle of rebirth. After the Buddha’s death, his physical body was cremated and his relics enshrined in stupas that served as the devotional focus of Buddhist sacred areas across South Asia . Small votive stupas, such as one in the Museum’s collection that may have contained the ashes of a monk ( 20.70 ), were placed near massive stupas with the Buddha’s relics. By this time, the connection between the historic Buddha Shakyamuni and Vairocana in his heaven was known from texts and accepted in religious practice. Thus the dome of the stupa simultaneously represents Shakyamuni’s relics and Vairocana’s celestial presence in a heaven, with the four Buddhas looking out from foliate niches being understood as the celestial Buddhas (Tathagatas) who presided over the four directional pure lands.

For a devotee, the most important of these celestial Buddhas was Amitabha ( 2004.139 ), who lived in the western paradise. Being reborn in his heaven gave the individual access to Amitabha and his teachings of the uncorrupted path to enlightenment, and in this way offered an immediate way to escape the cycle of rebirth ( samsara ). Hence, being reborn in Amitabha’s western pure land became a central goal for lay and monastic practitioners, and could be achieved by simply saying the Buddha’s name. In a painting on cloth ( tangka ) dated around 1700 ( 2004.139 ), Amitabha sits beneath a flowering tree adorned with jewels and auspicious symbols. Throngs of the reborn fill the western paradise of Sukhavati, presented as a vast, panoramic landscape with lotus pools and courtyards. Below Amitabha, flanking tables of offerings, are the eight great bodhisattvas, while filling the sky are gods and flying celestials ( apsaras ) who scatter flowers.

Amitabha , like the other Buddhas of the four cardinal directions, could be approached and accessed through his emanations. A good example is Avalokiteshvara, also known as Padmapani the Lotus-bearer ( 2016.752 ), a bodhisattva of compassion that emanated from Amitabha in a ray of light emitted from his urna (a dot in his forehead understood to be an inward-looking eye) as he sat in meditation. Avalokiteshvara presides over our realm of existence in the period after the death of the Buddha Shakyamuni and before the coming of the future Buddha Maitreya; he achieved enlightenment but chose to help all sentient beings break free from the cycle of rebirth before entering nirvana. It is in this sense that the Gelugpa school of Tibetan Buddhism recognizes the Dalai Lama as the living incarnation of Avalokiteshvara.

Another of these directional Buddhas, Amoghasiddhi, presides over the northern pure land. In a thirteenth-century painting in the Museum’s collection ( 1991.74 ), Amogasiddhi can be identified by various iconographic markers and by his green color; his heaven and many of his emanations are also green. Lay worshippers using this image readily understood this depiction as a celestial Buddha (note his crown, jewelry, and elaborate textiles), but also as one who is essentially equivalent to the historic Buddha Shakyamuni . In fact, Amoghasiddhi shares the important hand gesture of approachability ( abhayamudra ) with the historic Buddha. However, as with so much imagery from the Himalayas, this painting also contains embedded secondary figures only a monk or learned Buddhist could interpret. At the base, for example, are five multi-armed Pancha Raksha goddesses who embody five early Buddhist texts and simultaneously serve as female emanations of the five celestial Buddhas (the four directions and the center). From left to right are the goddesses Maha Pratisara, Maha Sahasrapramardini, Mahamayuri (the green emanation of Amoghasiddhi), Shitavati, and Mantramanudharani. This seeming complexity in part is an effort to give sophisticated ideological concepts pictorial form, but for the average lay devotee, while these goddesses were known to have deeper meanings, effectively they served as protectors.

When the eleventh-century Indian Buddhist monk Atisha ( 1993.479 ) came to Tibet, it was with the intention of clarifying Mahayana ideas surrounding the directional celestial Buddhas and their various manifestations. Appearing to him in a dream, the goddess Green (Syama) Tara told him he would be of great service to Tibet. At the center of a fourteenth-century stela ( 2015.500.4.19 ), Green Tara holds a lotus and bestows boons with her lowered right hand ( varadamudra ). The five Taras above (which relate to the cosmic Buddhas) and the nearly identical representations below visualize the twenty-one forms of Tara described in an Indian tantric text. Each verse recalls a form of Tara offering protection against disease, malevolent spirits, or war, among other dangers. Some Taras bestow boons of health, abundance, and prosperity, while other emanations help devotees on the more abstract path to enlightenment by engendering knowledge and wisdom. The monk Atisha is credited with building the first temple in Tibet to the twenty-one forms of Tara. While the monastic community would have conducted tantric ritual to the many complex forms of Tara for the benefit of the lay community, even the average person would have understood Green Tara’s connection to Amoghasiddhi, reinforced by their shared color.

The Buddha of the eastern pure land, Akshobhya, seen here in a sixteenth- or seventeenth-century terracotta sculpture from Nepal ( 62.207 ), shares iconography with the historic Buddha Shakyamuni and here touches the earth with his right hand marking the moment of enlightenment. Akshobhya has mirrorlike wisdom that allows him to see reality without distortion, and he is the unshakable one that presides over deities in the vajra family ( vajrakula ). One of Akshobhya’s most powerful and important emanations is the deity Hevajra, seen dancing with his consort Nairatmya at the center of a fifteenth-century mandala ( 2015.551 ). A monk versed in tantric Buddhist practice would have used this mandala to visualize and self-identify with this three-headed, four-armed form drawn from the text of the Hevajra Tantra. Central to this practice is the concept of dualism, echoed here in the deity’s name, which fuses the male he (compassion) with the female vajra (wisdom, or shunyata ). Surrounding the couple is a ring of ferocious yet beautiful female dancing dakinis, powerful deities credited with obtaining secret doctrines. At the corners are four Hevajra images that are color-matched to the directional cosmic Buddhas.

The Buddha of the southern pure land, Ratnasambhava, seen here in a late eleventh-century image produced at the beginning of the surviving Tibetan painting tradition , has a much more practical meaning for the average devotee. He is associated with material abundance and enriching worshippers with the knowledge of Buddhist teachings, or the dharma. His name means “jewel-born,” and it is not surprising that his hand gesture is one of giving boons ( varadamudra ), associated with the historic Buddha Shakyamuni . One of Ratnasambhava’s most important emanations is the goddess Vasudhara ( 1983.547 ). As the consort of Jambhala ( 48.30.12 ), the god of wealth, she brings prosperity and offers protection. In our Nepalese example, she holds wheat, jewels, and a pot of foliage, marking her role as one who bestows abundance. Like Ratnasambhava, she holds her lowered hand in the varadamudra , or boon-giving gesture. As with so many Buddhist deities, she embodies ideology that here is signaled by the manuscript held in her upraised left hand; in this sense, the Mahayana Buddhist doctrine is conceived in terms of her physical form.

Although seemingly complex, nearly all of the Himalayan Buddhist pantheon can be related to these five celestial Buddhas, a structure illustrated in a fourteenth-century Vajradhatu (Diamond World) Mandala . The Buddha Vairocana, shown in white, sits at the center of this diagram of the heavens, framed by the four directional cosmic Buddhas, each with their own distinctive color, that together make up the focal circle. The most important of these heavens is the western pure land, at the top, where Amitabha (red) presides, and where pious devotees hope to be reborn. Akshobhya (blue) is below, with Ratnasambhava (yellow) to the left and Amoghasiddhi (green) to the right. Around this central group is a square, multitiered palace, inhabited by one thousand bodhisattvas. For the devout, the veneration of these five Buddhas offered a direct path to breaking free of the cycle of rebirth, a goal facilitated by their innumerable manifestations that make up the Himalayan Buddhist pantheon.

Behrendt, Kurt. “Cosmic Buddhas in the Himalayas.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History . New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/cbud/hd_cbud.htm (June 2017)

Additional Essays by Kurt Behrendt

Behrendt, Kurt. “ Gandhara .” (April 2012)
Behrendt, Kurt. “ Pre-Angkor Traditions: The Mekong Delta and Peninsular Thailand .” (August 2007)
Behrendt, Kurt. “ The Mon-Dvaravati Tradition of Early North-Central Thailand .” (August 2007)
Behrendt, Kurt. “ Poetic Allusions in the Rajput and Pahari Painting of India .” (October 2016)

Related Essays

Buddhism and Buddhist Art
Life of the Buddha
Recognizing the Gods
South Asian Art and Culture
Tibetan Buddhist Art
Chinese Buddhist Sculpture
The Decoration of Tibetan Arms and Armor
Kings of Brightness in Japanese Esoteric Buddhist Art
Korean Buddhist Sculpture (5th–9th Century)
Kushan Empire (ca. Second Century B.C.–Third Century A.D.)
Mauryan Empire (ca. 323–185 B.C.)
The Mon-Dvaravati Tradition of Early North-Central Thailand
Nepalese Painting
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Pre-Angkor Traditions: The Mekong Delta and Peninsular Thailand
Shunga Dynasty (ca. Second–First Century B.C.)
Tibetan Arms and Armor
Zen Buddhism
Himalayan Region, 1000–1400 A.D.
Himalayan Region, 1400–1600 A.D.
Himalayan Region, 1600–1800 A.D.
Himalayan Region, 500–1000 A.D.
South Asia and the Himalayan Region, 1800–1900 A.D.
South Asia and the Himalayan Region, 1900 A.D.–present
Himalayan Region
10th Century A.D.
11th Century A.D.
12th Century A.D.
13th Century A.D.
14th Century A.D.
15th Century A.D.
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8th Century A.D.
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Buddhism proposes a life of good thoughts, good intentions, and straight living, all with the ultimate aim of achieving nirvana, release from earthly existence. For most beings, nirvana lies in the distant future, because Buddhism, like other faiths of India, believes in a cycle of rebirth. ... Additional Essays by Vidya Dehejia.
[PDF] Buddhist Architecture in East Asia
This Issue focuses on the Buddhist architecture in East Asia. Over the last two thousand years since its legendary introduction to the Han court in the first century, Buddhism has transformed not only people's intellectual and practical lives but also the built environments of East Asia. From Mount Kunlun to the Japanese Isles, from the Mongolian prairie to the coasts of the South China Sea ...
Buddhist Art and Architecture in East Asia
This chapter highlights important examples of Buddhist art and architecture in East Asia, particularly those dating from the first millennium CE, which shed light upon the inception and transmission of artistic and architectural styles that accompanied the transmission of Buddhism across borders.
Buddhist Art and Architecture Before 1200
Northern Renaissance Art (1400-1600) Sixteenth-Century Northern Europe and Iberia. Italian Renaissance Art (1400-1600) Southern Baroque: Italy and Spain. Buddhist Art and Architecture in Southeast Asia After 1200. Chinese Art After 1279. Japanese Art After 1392. Art of the Americas After 1300. Art of the South Pacific: Polynesia.
Todai-ji (article)
Buddhism's influence grew in the Nara era (710-94) during the reign of Emperor Shōmu and his consort, Empress Komyo who fused Buddhist doctrine and political policy—promoting Buddhism as the protector of the state. In 741, reportedly following the Empress' wishes, Shōmu ordered temples, monasteries and convents to be built throughout Japan's 66 provinces.
The Phenomenology of Light in Contemporary Religious Architecture
A symbol of illumination, wisdom, goodness, and purity, the dynamism of natural light in places of worship is capable of raising the human mind beyond material limitations. In sacred architecture ...
Tibetan Buddhist Art
Buddhism was introduced to Tibet by the seventh century and was proclaimed the state religion by the end of the eighth century. Although Buddhist influence waned during persecutions between 838 and 942, the religion saw a revival beginning in the late tenth century. It rapidly became dominant, inaugurating what is known as the "later ...
writing Buddhist histories from Landscape and Architecture
Buddhist Studies Review 24(2) 2007, 192-225 ISSN (print): 0256-2897 doi: 10.1558/bsrv.v24i1.192 ISSN (online): 1747-9681 Writing Buddhist Histories from Landscape and Architecture: Sukhothai and Chiang Mai Anne M. Blackburn Cornell University, Ithaca NY ABSTRACT: This essay offers a preliminary account of the ways in which alterations to the ...
Buddhist Art and Architecture-I
Indian Buddhist architecture includes a variety of styles, from the simple and austere designs of the early stupas to the more elaborate and ornate designs of later temples and monasteries. Image of Stupa. A stupa is a hemispherical or dome-shaped structure that contains relics of the Buddha or other sacred objects. Stupas are a fundamental ...
Buddhist art and architecture Research Papers
Pure-land Faith in China greatly grew in the Sui and Tang Dynasty. The research on the composition of Buddhist temples in the early Tang Dynasty influenced by Pure-land Faith, is important to the whole development of Chinese Buddhist architecture. The research object of this article is Mogao Cave 331 of Dunhuang.
Buddhism: Visual & Material Culture: Southeast Asia & Sri Lanka
With vivid photography and insightful commentary, this travel pictorial shines a light on the Buddhist art and architecture of Borobudur. The glorious ninth-century Buddhist stupa of Borobudur--the largest Buddhist monument in the world--stands in the midst of the lush Kedu Plain of Central Java in Indonesia, where it is visited annually by over a million people.
The Buddhist Architecture (600 Words)
The Buddhist architecture has a lot of history that comes along with the culture, India is known for being the center of Buddhism as well as the highlight Buddha teachings. Different parts of Buddha life is instilled in the architecture. According to "The Buddhist Architecture" (2007), "Caves or grottoes are the oldest form of the Buddhist ...
Buddhist Art and Architecture in Mongolia
Three essays in the catalogue Trésors du bouddhisme au pays de Gengis Khan 2009 survey Buddhist architecture of both Mongolia and Inner Mongolia since the 16th century and give a general overview. Mortari Vergara Caffarelli 1996 studies temples of China, Mongolia, and Tibet and argues for the existence of an "international Gelukpa style ...
Cosmic Buddhas in the Himalayas
The Buddhist tradition in the Himalayas has a complex pantheon of deities who give form to Mahayana and Vajrayana ideology. At the foundation are the unchanged teachings of the historic Buddha Shakyamuni, but there emerged a belief that he was just one among many who had attained enlightenment.Mahayana Buddhists looked to living Buddhas residing in heavens that can be accessed through ...