Page 16 - Christie's, materpieces of Buddhist Art December 2, 2015 HK

spread to China and Korea and then crossed the straits to
Japan and flowered as Japanese Zen Buddhism. For followers
of Chan Buddhism, the path to enlightenment is meditation.
Buddhas and bodhisattvas are typically depicted in the
Mahayana tradition, as are a variety of minor deities, arhats,
and selected abbots and monks.
Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism generally are categorized
as Exoteric Buddhism as their teaching are based on the
sutras, or sacred texts, and can be read by all who are literate.
By contrast, Tantric Buddhism is characterised as Esoteric
Buddhism because, in addition to teachings based on the
sutras, it features secret yogic teachings that are not written
down but are memorized and passed orally from teacher to
initiate, as they are considered too powerful and too open to
misinterpretation for the uninitiated to hear. The Chinese term
Xianmi fojiao embraces both exoteric and esoteric traditions.
Sometimes considered a form of Mahayana Buddhism but
sometimes considered a separate, third form of Buddhism,
Tantric Buddhism—also known as Vajrayana Buddhism, the
“Diamond Vehicle”, and the “Adamantine Vehicle”—developed
in India and neighboring countries, notably Tibet. It is a complex
and multifaceted system of Buddhist thought and practice;
its appearance and development marks the transition from
Mahayana speculative thought to the enactment of Buddhist
ideals in individual life. The practice of Tantric Buddhism is
intricately connected with the mandala, which is a spiritual and
ritual diagram symbolizing the universe. The principal form of
Buddhism in Tibet, the Vajrayana tradition is also strong in Japan, the urna, or circular mark at the center of the forehead, the
where the main Esoteric sects are the Shingon and Tendai sects,
both of which were introduced to Japan from China in the early
9th century. Apart from images of Buddhas and bodhisattvas, the
Tantric pantheon includes many wrathful deities, who express the
Buddha’s anger, not at individuals per se, but at their misdeeds.
Because transmission of the religion’s doctrines and beliefs from
teacher to initiate plays such an important role in the Vajrayana
tradition, monks, abbots, and lamas are frequently depicted in
Tantric paintings and sculptures.
BUDDHIST ICONOGRAPHY AND SUBJECT MATTER
Buddhist images fall into two major categories: Deities and
non-deities. Those two categories can be subdivided as
follows:
14 Masterpieces of Buddhist Art 大俱足 — 經典亞洲佛教藝術
Four Basic Categories of Buddhist Deities
1 — Buddhas / Fo
2 — Bodhisattvas / Pusa
3 — Vidyarajas / Mingwang
4 — Others (Apsaras, Guardians, etc.)
Non-Deities
1 — Arhats / Luohan
2 — Buddha’s disciples
3 — Abbots, monks, lamas
“Buddha” means “the Enlightened One”.3 The Buddha is an
individual who has attained enlightenment and has entered
into nirvana. Presented in the guise of a monk, the Buddha
generally is depicted with a single head, two arms, and two
legs; he may be shown standing or seated and always displays
a benevolent countenance (lots 2901, 2902, 2903, 2911, and
2913). He wears a monk’s robes and may be shown either
barefoot or with sandals. Buddhas typically are portrayed
without jewelry, though Buddhas from Southeast Asia and
Tibet may wear crowns and other jewelry, particularly those
Buddhas associated with the mandala. His distended earlobes,
which resulted from the heavy earrings that he wore in his
youth as a crown prince, symbolize his rejection of worldly life
and his embrace of the religious life. He may be represented
with a shaven pate or with short hair arranged either in wavy
locks or in small, snail-shell curls (lots 2902, 2903, and
2911). The sutras state that he bears the “32 Marks of a Great
Man”; among those marks, the ones typically portrayed are
webbed fingers and toes, and the ushnisha, which is the cranial
protuberance atop his head that symbolizes the expanded
wisdom that he gained at his enlightenment. In fact, the
ushnisha is the Buddha’s diagnostic iconographic feature, as no
other being bears that characteristic. The texts also state that
the Buddha’s body is radiant and thus emits light.
As previously mentioned, Mahayana Buddhism, the
predominant form in traditional China, teaches that there are
an infinite number of Buddhas, all of whom are deities. As the
most recent to have appeared and thus to have lived in this
world, Shakyamuni is often called the Historical Buddha. Of
the many Buddhas, those most typically encountered in the
Mahayana tradition are four: