Page 152 - China, 5000 years : innovation and transformation in the arts

(i368-i644)-The most spectacular sarTra discovery
was made in 1987 at the Famen Temple ("Temple
of the Gate to the Law"), in Fufeng county, west of
Xi'an, Shaanxi Province (cats. 63-65). There the
Chinese excavators claim to have found (among
much else) four authentic finger bones (fogu) of
Sakyamuni.The sarira were well preserved and
concealed in precious reliquaries in the Tang
dynasty underground palace (digong) of the Famen
Temple's sixteenth-century octagonal brick pagoda.
The collapse of the pagoda in 1981 made possible
the investigation of its crypt. Thus well-known
literary evidence for the cult of relics, such as Han conformity.' 5
Yu s (768—824) forthright memorial to the Throne
(819) condemning veneration of the Buddha's
bones, was substantiated more than a millennium
later by archaeological evidence.
HanYu had serious grounds for protest.
Sakyamuni's physical remains had several times been
carried in lavish procession between Famen Temple
and the Tang capital, a distance of more than 100
kilometers. Like many conservative literati of the
day, HanYu was appalled by the religious frenzy
pervading all strata of society, and he proposed
drastic measures to suppress the enormous
influence of the Buddhist church. When, in 819, the
Famen Temple finger-bone relics were received by
an enthusiastic crowd in Chang'an and temporarily
placed on view at the imperial palace, he wrote the
Lunfogu biao ("Memorial Discussing the Buddha's
Bones") and presented it to the Throne. HanYu
criticized His Majesty in harsh words: "You are . . . enlightenment is the lima on his forehead;
putting on for the citizens of the capital this
extraordinary spectacle which is nothing more than
Nowa sort of theatrical amusement. . . . that the the Buddha's life and virtues or devised as symbols
Buddha has long been dead, is it fitting that his
decayed and rotten bones, his ill-omened and filthy
remains, should be allowed to enter in the
forbidden precincts of the palace? . . Without figures of the Buddha in sculpture and painting.
. essence is enlightenment." Renouncing their own
reason you have taken up unclean things and
examined them in person."' 4
DEITIES OF THE BUDDHIST PANTHEON
AND THEIR ICONOGRAPHY
Three major doctrinal divisions, emerging
successively, coexisted within the Buddhist faith.
First in time is HTnayana, the "Small Vehicle," a
conservative form of Buddhism based almost
exclusively on the Pah canon and asserting that
enlightenment comes only through one's own
efforts. The second is Mahayana, the "Great
Vehicle," the doctrinal outlines of which seem to
have been formulated in India as early as the first
century bce, advocating salvation for everyone
through the assistance of a vast pantheon of
compassionate divinities. The third is Esoteric
Buddhism, also called tantric orVajrayana
("Diamond Vehicle") Buddhism, known in China
as mijiao, "Secret Teachings." This form of
rRANSFICURINC DIVINITIES: BUDDHIST SCULPTURE IN CHINA 150
Buddhism, depending largely on "mysteries" taught
and transmitted by Esoteric masters, developed
from the fifth century ce as part of a most complex
religio-philosophic movement.
—Each Buddhist school there were eight major
—schools by the Tang period emphasized different
aspects of faith and worship and thus favored
particular figures from the vast pantheon. Sacred
texts offered clear-cut descriptions of the special
qualities and appearance of the Buddha and all the
other figures of the Buddhist pantheon, providing a
basic assurance of iconographic correctness and
In artistic representations the Buddha's ideal figure
appears very austere in stature, pose, and dress.
Usually, his modest monk's robe and the near
absence of specific attributes and individualizing
features convincingly indicate his holy status of
utmost unworldliness (cats. 147-49, 156, 162). Such
utter simplicity gives his human figure a lofty
majesty. Several unusual, seemingly aesthetic or
miraculous features were assigned to the Buddha.
They are manifestations of the Sacred, and basically
statements of ontological quality, like the mudras,
the gestures (literally, "seal marks"; C: yin[xiangj)
formed with the hands to convey such actions as
preaching, meditating, wish granting, protecting, or
releasing from fear. The Buddha's thirty-two major
distinguishing physical marks are called lakshana
(C: xiang). One of the most important is the
protuberance on top of his head symbolizing the
absolute perfect wisdom of the Enlightened One. It
is usuaUy referred to by the Sanskrit term ushntsha
(C: rouji or dingxiang); ancient Buddhist scriptures
sometimes explain it as a "mark of the crown that
is invisible" to ordinary people and list it as the
sixty-sixth among the eighty minor distinctive
marks of the Buddha. Another sign of supreme
originally a white curl (C: baihao) between the
Buddha's eyebrows, it was later simplified to a light-
emanating spot that illuminated the world. Most of
the exceptional marks and supernatural qualities
were either derived from legends associated with
of ultimate truth beyond human imagination, of
unworldly beauty, holy distinction, and the sublime
power of omnipresence.
In accordance with their salvific mandate,
bodhisattvas appear less austere and inward than
Bodhisattvas are compassionate figures "whose
salvation and immediate entrance into nirvana, they
devote all their power and energy to saving
suffering beings in this world. As intercessionary
figures, majestic in power and sublime in