22 ASIAN ART Japanese Art


HEAVEN AND HELL SALVATION AND RETRIBUTION IN PURE LAND BUDDHISM


By Martin Barnes Lorber I


n 12th-century Japan, military followers of two rival emperors fought for control of the country,


tearing the nation apart and ushering in a time when all of Japan felt that it was living with hell on earth. As a result of these circumstances during the


late


period, a particular branch of Buddhism, Pure Land,


Heian/early Kamakura came to


dominate Japan. Te ranks of the believers swelled because Pure Land offered the promise of immediate salvation in that time of unrest, while preaching of a coming period of lawlessness for all remaining on earth. With the spectre of a further civil war and death stalking the country, the Japanese populace – warrior and peasant alike – embraced Pure Land’s teachings regarding salvation. It is only logical that a society under siege and confronting the prospect of death would ask the question ‘Ten what?’. Pure Land teachings first developed in India, and spread west


to the


Gandharan Region around the 2nd century, where it was very popular. It travelled to China in the 7th century, together with sacred texts and images of Amitabha Buddha (Amida Butsu in Japanese), the central figure in Pure Land, and his two attendant Bodhisattvas, Avalokitesvara and Ksitigarbha (Jizo and Kannon in Japanese). Te concept of Bodhisattva originated in Gandharan legends of individuals who, having achieved Enlightenment, nevertheless chose to postpone their Buddhahood so that they could remain on Earth to help guide others to Enlightenment. Pure Land faith, the gentlest and most exoteric of all Buddhist sects, achieved its highest development and most enduring popularity in Japan. It teaches that devotion to Amida Buddha, the Buddha of the Western of Paradise, will ensure rebirth in his Western Paradise and escape from the endless cycle of birth, death and reincarnation. Salvation according to Pure Land, does not require rituals, special ceremonies or any complicated theology, but simply a belief in Amida Buddha and recitation of the nenbutsu: a repetition of his name. Te teachings of Pure Land reached Japan through monks who had studied Tantric Buddhism in China, with its belief that in numerous divine or semi- divine beings who attend various Buddhas in different paradises, and who serve as guides and protectors of individual worshipers. To the uninitiated, it can be


confusing as to who is who because the various Buddhas all typically wear monastic robes, have tightly curled hair and pendant ear lobes. Tey are frequently distinguished by their posture and hand positions, called mudra. Amida is most commonly depicted standing,


and easily


recognisable by the raigo mudra (thumb and forefinger touching). In contrast, Sakyamuni, the


Buddha, is often depicted seated, and associated


with several


historical different


Bowing Buddha, Japan, Edo period, 17th-18th century, gilt wood, 28 x 14 x 9 in. Vanessa and Henry Cornell Collection. Photography by Ylva Erevall Photography


believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life’ - John 11:25. In the 7th century, Tendai sect


Eighteen Arhats (Iuohans) (detail), China, Qing dynasty, Reign of the Qianlong emperor, 1736-1795, ink and colours on bodhi leaves, eighteen leaves, each 11 x 7 in. Courtesy of Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, Te Avery Brundage Collection. Photography © Asian Art Museum of San Francisco


mudra. Te art of Pure Land faith includes illustrations of Amida in his Western Paradise and souls being reincarnated into it, a realm from which they can then move toward their final nirvana. Te exhibition includes Amida


images from China and Japan that depict him in simple monastic robes, similar to those worn by Sakyamuni. In the classic raigo presentation, they show Amida descending to Earth on clouds and flanked by two Bodhisattva attendants, Seishi on his right and Kannon (Chinese Guanyin) on his


left. Te Bodhisattvas wear jewellery and crowns typical of royalty, reflecting the garb of Nepalese royalty of the first millennium BC. Sakyamuni himself was the Nepalese prince Sidhartha before becoming a Buddha. Bodhisattva can


have


manifestations. Avalokitesvara, who appears in raigo images on Amida’s left (known in Japan as Kannon and in China as Guanyin), is the most popular of his group because he bestows mercy and kindness. In Korea, Japan and sometimes in China, Kannon/Guanyin has female attributes, such as flowing robes and head covering, representing his gentle, ie feminine, qualities. Te Bodhisattva on Amida’s right is Seishi, in Sanskrit, Mahasthameprapta or Vajrapani, who conveys the energy of the Enlightened Mind. Placing Amida between the two creates a triad that conveys how mercy/kindness and Enlightenment accompany salvation. Variations of this triad, sometimes depict the figures standing on lotus blossoms and descending to the Earth, sometimes on clouds, or as beginning to rise beyond a mountainous horizon. Amida’s Western Paradise island of


Enmao, Japan, Monoyama period, late 16th/early 17th century, wood, lacquer, gold gilt, and glass, 45 x 40 x 30 in. Dallas Museum of Art, Wendover Fund in memory of Alfred and Juanita Bromberg and the Cecil and Ida Green Acquisition Fund. Photo Courtesy Dallas Museum of Art


ASIAN ART SUMMER QUARTER 2017


Immortals who have been freed from the earthly cycle of birth, death and rebirth. Te core belief of Pure Land Buddhism is quite clear: one can attain salvation by reciting his name, a practice referred to as the nenbutsu. It is that simple, and not unlike the Christian belief


‘that whosoever


monks who had been studying in China brought Pure Land back to Japan to the centre of Tendai belief at their monastery on Mt Heie. It was not a public form of worship, not unlike the esoteric Shingon Buddhism, and it was not really proselytised. In 1148, a young man who came to be known as Honen (1133-1212) arrived at Mt Hiei to study Pure Land. He was deeply inspired by two great theological treatises, the Ojoyoshu (Essentials of Salvation),


10th/11th century, Genshin and the Kuan-hing


by su


(Commentary on the Meditation Sutra) by the 7th-century Chinese


Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara (Gwaneum bosal), Korea, Joseon dynasty, 1600-1700, hanging scroll; ink and colours on linen, 69 1/2 x 29 in. Courtesy of Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, Te Avery Brundage Collection. Photography © Asian Art Museum of San Francisco


Pure Land master, Shan-tao


(Japanese Zendo). In 1175 Honen, at the age of


twenty-seven, so inspired by Pure Land as a faith for everyone, chose to leave the monastery and proselytise the message of Pure Land throughout Japan. In the remaining 36 years of his life after leaving Mt. Hiei his message was hungrily received and adopted. Amid the civil unrest of the times, the idea of escape from the hardships of life and salvation to the Pure Land had tremendous appeal.


Te


Yoshu Chikanobu (Hashimoto Chikanobu), Japan (1838-1912), Te Hell Courtesan (Jigoku-dayu), Japanese, Edo period, Meiji era, latter half of the 19th century, hanging scroll, ink and colour on silk, 57 3/16 x 28 1/8 in. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, William Sturgis Bigelow Collection. Photograph © 2017 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston


widespread conviction during the 11th and 12fth centuries that the world was descending into chaos. Political strife and civil war reinforced the fear that the world had entered the age of mappo, an era of decline and social deterioration when Buddhist practice and obtaining enlightenment would be impossible. As a result, the devout turned toward salvific practices, such as the belief that by invoking the nenbutsu (a recitation of Amida’s name) on their deathbed while gazing at raigo images, they would gain birth in the Pure Land. Tere they would comfortably await the era of a future Buddha, or proceed themselves to attain Buddhahood. An iconographic star of the exhibition is a painting that demonstrates the culmination of a devotee’s intonation of nenbutsu, a painting on loan from Cleveland showing the Welcoming Descent Amida Buddha, called Raigo. He is depicted as a delicate and floating figure coming to save. It is very much a masterpiece of Kamakura painting, a time of great


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