Examples of Buddho–Daoist interaction: conceptions of the afterlife in early medieval epigraphic sources

oai:ojs.pkp.sfu.ca:article/726This paper is based on a larger study of conceptions of the afterlife in the engraved texts of 496 entombed epigraphs (muzhi 墓誌) and 494 votive stele inscriptions (zaoxiangji 造像記) from northern China from the fifth and sixth century CE, using the database of Wei Jin Nanbeichao Stone inscriptions 魏晉南北朝石刻語料庫, part of the larger database of excavated documents from the Wei Jin Nanbeichao 魏晉南北朝實物語料庫 at the Center for the Study and Application of Chinese Characters at ECNU Shanghai

'Scholars should be considered the last of the Four Classes': the case of scholar-official Zheng Banqiao

A

Tale of Two Potalakas

Several places around the world have been identified as Potalaka, which was originally thought to be located in South India. The most well-known among these places are Mount Putuo in China and Naksan Temple in Korea. Geographically speaking, Korea is connected to China by sea, which acted as a source of cultural and material resources for a long time. For this reason, throughout history the sea became the stage of cultural exchanges between these two regions. The sea was the channel through which faith in Avalokiteśvara entered Korea from China, and where the traditions of Buddhism merged with beliefs in indigenous sea gods. The present paper focuses on the cultural exchanges between Korea and China, with special emphasis on the role that the sea played in this process examined through the faith in Potalaka.Számos helyet hoznak összefüggésbe a világon az Avalokiteśvara bodhisattva földi lakóhelyének tartott Potalaka-heggyel. A legismertebb kelet-ázsiai helyszínek között találjuk a kínai Putuo-hegyet és a dél-koreai Naksan-templomot. Földrajzi szempontból Koreát tenger köti össze a tőle nyugatra elterülő Kínával, amely terület hosszú ideig a kulturális és anyagi javak forrásaként szolgált a félsziget számára. A tenger ezért a két régió közötti kulturális kölcsönhatások fontos színterének szerepét töltötte be a történelem során. Avalokiteśvara kultusza is a tengeren keresztül jutott el Koreába, ahol a buddhizmus magába olvasztotta a helyi hitvilág tengeristeneinek különböző hagyományait. A jelen tanulmány a Kína és Korea közötti kulturális kapcsolatokat vizsgálja a Potalaka-kultuszon keresztül, különös tekintettel a tenger által játszott szerepre a folyamatban

Kitajsko-budistično srečanje: sinteza Fuxija in Nüwe s kamnom cintamani v zgodnji kitajski srednjeveški umetnosti

The standard pictorial formula of Fuxi and Nüwa, a pair of indigenous Chinese deities, started to absorb new motifs from Buddhist art during the early medieval period when Buddhism became more prominent in China. In this paper, I focus on the juxtaposition of Fuxi-Nüwa and cintamani, a magic Buddhist jewel, depicted on the ceiling of the corridor in the tomb of Lady Poduoluo, Pingcheng, Shanxi (435 CE). Through a detailed visual analysis, I explain the multiple meanings embedded in the combination of the Chinese mythological figures with the Buddhist symbol in the funerary space, thus challenging the previous studies that understand cintamani only as a substitute for the sun and moon. This paper furthers the discussion on the hybrid image by investigating the mural painting on the ceiling of Mogao Cave 285 in Dunhuang. Despite their different spatial and temporal contexts, both the tomb of Lady Poduoluo and Mogao Cave 285 present a similar pictorial formula, featuring the hybridization of cintamani and the Fuxi-Nuwa pair. This phenomenon invites us to explore the transmission of such motifs. I, therefore, situate the production of the syncretic scheme of Fuxi-Nüwa with cintamani within a broader historical context and examine the artistic exchange between Pingcheng and Dunhuang by tracing the movements of images, artisans, and patrons in early medieval China.Standardna slikovna formula upodobitve Fuxija in Nüwe, dveh kitajskih avtohtonih božanstev, je začela vsrkavati nove motive iz budistične umetnosti v obdobju Wei Jin Nanbei, ko je budizem postal bolj prepoznaven na Kitajskem. V pričujočem prispevku se osredotočam na jukstapozicijo Fuxija in Nüwe z magičnim budističnim draguljem – kamnom cintamani, naslikanima na stropu hodnika v grobnici Gospe Poduoluo v mestu Pingcheng v provinci Shanxi (iz leta 435). S pomočjo podrobne vizualne analize razložim večpomenskost upodobitve, ki se odraža v kombinaciji kitajskih mitoloških figur z budističnim simbolom v kontekstu grobnega prostora, pri čemer postavljam pod vprašaj pretekle študije, ki interpretirajo cintamani kot zamenjavo za sonce in luno. V nadaljevanju se diskusija razširi na raziskovanje upodobitve na stropu budistične jame Mogao št. 285 v kraju Dunhuang. Čeprav gre za različne prostorske in časovne kontekste, tako grobnica Gospe Poduoluo kot budistična jama Mogao št. 285 prikazujeta podobno slikovno upodobitev, ki se kaže skozi hibridizacijo Fuxija in Nüwe ter kamna cintamani. Ta pojav nas nadalje vodi v raziskovanje prenosa tovrstnih motivov, pri čemer umestim produkcijo sinkretične sheme Fuxija in Nüwe s kamnom cintamani v okvir širšega zgodovinskega konteksta in na osnovi prenosa motivov in migracije obrtnikov ter mecenov raziskujem umetniške izmenjave med krajema Pingcheng in Dunhuang v obdobju Wei Jin Nanbei

The Siwei Bodhisattva: The contemplating image in popular Buddhism of sixth century China.

This dissertation examines the visual characteristics and religious background of a distinctive Buddhist iconographic form, the contemplative or pensive image (banjia siwei xiang).This dissertation aims to shed new light on the long-standing scholarly debates regarding the pensive figure's identity, but more importantly to understand the way in which the image's changing forms and the changing meanings assigned to the image were linked to the formation of a new and distinctive complex of religious beliefs and practices.;This dissertation is based on an examination of more than two hundred sculptures of the pensive image, many of which are accompanied by dedicatory inscriptions. Approximately one-third of the images and inscriptions have not previously been described in any scholarly publication. The geographic and chronological coverage ranges from early Gandhara (the first to third centuries), Dunhuang and Jingta examples (c. 400-470 AD), through the Yungang, Maijishan and Longmen cave-temple complexes (c. 460-530 AD), to sixth-century examples from Shanxi, Hebei and Shandong.;The iconographic development shows a clear progression in the pensive figure's importance, from a minor role as attendant to a prominent deity in its own right. At the same time, my analysis of the accompanying inscriptions reveals that the figure gradually began to take on a distinct religious significance. To reconstruct the religious concepts that the Siwei Bodhisattva represented, I examine both textual and visual evidence relating to this figure, showing how it embodied ideas about mental discipline' in pursuit of enlightenment and the belief in Pure Lands. By reconstructing the religious beliefs and practices surrounding the cult of Siwei, I illustrate the ways in which Chinese religion was constituted through the interaction of texts, images and ritual practices

Atlas of Religion in China

This atlas maps religious sites and describes social and demographic characteristics of religious believers in contemporary China.; Readership: All people interested in religion in China; academic libraries; research institutes on China

Brushes with Some “Dirty Truths”: Handwritten Manuscripts and Religion in China

East Asian Languages and Civilization