Buddhist Sculptures and the Silk Road

History of Buddhism

• Northern India and Nepal in 6th Century BCE

• 1stC CE sutra brought to China

• 4 Noble Truths, Eightfold Path

Major Schools of Buddhism

• Hinayana/Theravada (Lesser Path)

  • monks focus on themselves, disappeared in India in 12thC, now largely in Sri Lanka and South East Asia

• Mahayana (Greater Path)

  • people assisted by bodhisattvas, complex cosmology, North East Asia

• Vajrayana (Diamond Way/Esoteric Buddhism)

  • compassionate deities, use of tantras, rituals, texts, Tibet, Nepal, Mongolia, China, Japan

Subject Matters in Art

• Hinayana -> historical Buddha, Shakyamuni, jatakas

• Mahayana -> Celestial Buddha, bodhisattvas

• Vajrayana -> bodhisattvas, deities, rituals, mudra

Symbols of Buddha

• 7 Jewels of Royal Power

• wheel, elephant, horse, queen, minister, general, jewel

Silk Road

• 2nd C CE

• early: 2 ways (North and South) around Taklamakan Desert

• several barriers built along Silk Road

• Great Wall of China intersects

• funerary stupas along length for pilgrims who died en route

Buddhist Cosmology

• centre: Mount Meru

• 7 circular mountain chains + 7 oceans

• great ocean contains 4 island continents and 4 guardian kings of 4 directions

• entire universe is surrounded by a wall of rock

Dunhuang Caves

• 3rd-8th Century CE

• entry to Silk Road

• Moguo Mountains

• late 19th C -> Scramble for China, search for ‘treasure’ along Silk Road

  • 1907 Brits found Dunhuang Caves

  • hidden scrolls in library save taken to British Museum, mostly art

  • French arrived -> Paul Pellicot in 1908

    • took writing, sutras

• 5th C styles/figures more Indian, later more Chinese

• caves carved into Chinese styles

  • sloping gables, ceiling decorations, etc

  • central pillar structures

• also 6th-7thC faces start to appear more Chinese