Page 92 - September 11 2018 Junkunc Collection Sculpture

he present seated figure, Vimalakirti, also known as Wei Mo Jie, is the central figure of the
Vimalakirti Sutra, a popular Mahayana Buddhist scripture of remarkable literary quality
Tand with highly abstruse content. It primarily teaches the concept of ‘nondualism’, meaning
to reach the realm of absoluteness by transcending the relative dualism in life. Not only a brilliant
debater, as well as an upāsaka, a wise and faithful lay devotee to the Gautama Buddha, Vimalakirti
demonstrated outstanding wisdom and deep enlightenment through his debates with a host of disciples
and bodhisattvas, which ultimately charmed the cultivated Chinese aristocratic literati. The sutra
consequently received growing favor, resulting in the emergence of an artistic repertory of Vimalakirti
in the form of paintings, wall murals and stone sculptures. He was often shown leaning on one side to
suggest the illness that initiates the drama of the sutra. One of the earliest iconographic illustrations of
Vimalakirti is believed to have been painted by the celebrated Eastern Jin (317-420) master, Gu Kaizhi (c.
344-406).

With the pronounced facial features, cascading garment and the dark-grayish colored limestone, this
figure is carved in the style of Northern Wei (386-534) stone sculptures in the Longmen cave temples
located south of Luoyang in Henan province. The benign facial expression incarnating compassion and
gentleness is created by a deeply carved groove around the mouth. The sloping shoulder and cascading
garment with various folds falling over the body indicated by low-relief lines deliberately emphasise the
linearity of the overall composition. Its compact size suggests that he was likely part of an elaborate
votive pantheon or stele, possibly depicting the popular religious debate with Manjushri, the ‘Bodhisattva
of Wisdom’, along with various disciples and deities witnessing the illuminating conversations.

Compare depictions of Vimalakirti in the Yungang grottoes, particularly a carving of the debate found in
Cave no. 6 and illustrated in Seiichi Mizuno, Yun-Kang: The Buddhist Cave-Temples of the Fifth Century
A.D. in North China, Kyoto, 1951-56, vol III, pl. 31 (fig.1). Vimalakirti’s foreign origins are still quite visible in
this rendition. He wears a Phrygian cap, tall boots, and the upwardly peaked fan is still of deer tail, unlike
the feathered versions more familiar to Chinese artisans. Even within the Yungang grottoes, the evolution
and sinification of Vimalakirti can be detected, and by the sixth century, several elements including the

᱙౽׼ݨ⪘㋚ᦖ㾝ᅲธڥಸᒏ׼ȡ㋚ᦖ㾝Ͱ๔΅҈᪆ ᱙׼䑗᐀ܳᬻ喑㶐㶺ᆑ⪷喑ⴠ▝ⴠॵ⌞▝㞟喑䰂ݨᆙ
㋀ᰥȨ㋚ᦖ㾝㋀ȩͨ㻿喑ₑ㋀᪴䛴䅽ჹ喑⌞ດ⢱ໆ喑 ⇠ࢄ≈䮪ࢄ䘕咺䪭ⴠ⿌䕍׼䷕ᵩȡጒࡍ఺㎋ऐ䘕ݨ̭
͚ᓰᕊᘠͰȪ̺ι∂䪭ȫ喑ᠴ䊲䊷̓䫀⽛⽛͸Ⱕᄺ 䖀⌞㈸喑✌䕍ᙵᗟ⺒হ䲏ღȡ᫉㗖ࣷᆑ⪷㶐㶺喑ݴВ
ᕔ喑ᗌڒ♎ι♎ݒ喑Ꭰぶ̭ຯ͸ධౝȡ㋚ᦖ㾝㘪㼭઱ ⌧⊛䰂ݨ᜽喑⾮䶜᪡倁Ỹృ͸㌇᷊ᙌȡ䥾᫩᱙׼ᅧ
䓜喑◧ཱིٗඋ喍Һ๶ຯҳ҈͸ᅲธ喎喑㜴䀥Ѻ㤖㫖䓜 ᄥ喑जᣕ᫤ڣᝃᆙ᫩̭Ꮤݨ⪘㜴᪴₷㤖㫖䓜䀃ȠⱫᄷ
䀃喑⌞䶜ڣᮧᚔࣷԛ㵹ȡₑ㋀⌞ऄ͚స䇡᫼᪴ธᙈ ࣷᒿᑌౕ᫮㻭ⰸᗲධ͸҈⃬ᝃⴠⶾȡ
ᝡ喑㽞็ݨ⪘㋚ᦖ㾝͸ᰥ⪘Ƞ෮⪘ࣷⴠ䰂䯕͸㔹⩌ȡ
㋀נ͚ᰶ㋚ᦖ㾝⹧⫫ڥᩲ喑ᩲڣݨ⪘ᒏ׼็◧ӊ䲍༬
ᙸȡ㋚ᦖ㾝ᅲธᰭᬖ᱌͸ڥಸᒏ׼喑ᨇנ◧Პ᭶ऺუ
䶔ᙤ͸᝭㎗ȡ

90 JUNKUNC: CHINESE BUDDHIST SCULPTURE