16 Buddhist Art


Vairocana (Dainichi Nyorai), 17th century, Japan, cypress wood with gesso, lacquer, polychrome and gilding, 130 x 73 cm x 57 cm, UMMA purchase made possible by the Margaret Watson Parker Art Collection Fund


temple system and its attributed excesses aiding its decline. Te new Joseon dynasty (1392-1910) saw Neo- Confucianism coming to the fore with the establishment of educational institutions


and state Buddhism was tolerated in


exams. the


provinces and Buddhist works of art continued to be created, but could only be found in Buddhist monasteries, where they reflected the local believers taste. Buddhism is thought to have


The Great Buddha (Daibutsu) at Todai-ji, Nara, 8th century, National Treasure, is the largest Vairocana bronze Buddha existing today, standing at 14.98 metres VAIROCANA BUDDHA T


he Vairocana Buddha is an embodiment of the light of the Buddhist dharma that pervades


the universe and the embodiment of the Buddhist concept of wisdom and purity. Vairocana,


as the celestial


Buddha who resides at the centre of the cosmos, is considered a transcendent form of the historical Buddha Shakyamuni.


Tough similar in


appearance, he exists on another plane, unhindered by a mortal body. Te Vairocana form is first mentioned in the Brahmajala sutra translated into Chinese from Sanskrit by the monk- scholar Kumarajiva around the year 406. Tis sutra derives its name from the vast net that the god Brahma, as creator of the universe, hangs in his palace and how each jewel in this net. reflects the light of every other jewel. Te Sanskrit word Vairocana can be


translated as ‘he who is like the sun’, or the ‘illuminator’. In East Asia, the Vairocana is also seen as the supreme buddha-body and the concept of Buddhist wisdom and purity. Te Brahmajala sutra also records that Vairocana


is introduced to the


Shakyamuni Buddha. Te text is noteworthy for describing Vairocana as the personification of the dharma (the nature of reality as a universal truth; and the teaching of Buddhism). Buddhism may have been known in China as early as the 2nd century BC, however, there were centres housing foreign monks who served as teachers that were firmly established in China by the 2nd century. Early representations of the Buddha are sometimes found in tombs dating to the 2nd and 3rd centuries, but there is little evidence for Buddhism to have been widespread until the 4th century. Tis period in China, from the 4th to the 10th centuries, was marked by


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the development and flowering of traditions such as Pure Land, which focuses on the Buddha Amitabha and the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara in Chan, or Zen Buddhism. Te Pure Land


sect practices emphasise


devotion and faith as a means to enlightenment, while Chan prefers meditation and mindfulness during daily activities. Both traditions are also prevalent in Korea and Japan.


Buddhism arrived in Korea from


China during the Tree Kingdoms period (circa 57 BC to AD 676), although the religion may have existed earlier than its official adoption date between 527 and 535. Both Goguryeo in the north and the Baekje kingdom in the southwest are believed to have chosen Buddhism as the state religion in the late 4th century. In Korea, the first Buddha images were imitations or simplifications


of Chinese styles,


however, distinctive features gradually emerged and these can be seen in the art from all three kingdoms of Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla. With unification in the late 7th century, the styles of the Tree Kingdoms gradually came


together to


reached Japan between 538 and 552, from the Korean Baekje Kingdom, via Gandhara and Bamiyan, by travelling along the Silk Road. Te finest example of the Vairocana Buddha in Japan is the Great Buddha (Daibutsu) at Todai-ji temple in Nara. It is believed that the Todai-ji was modelled on the Tang-dynasty Mahavairocana found at Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang, China. Te Great Buddha was constructed as the principal image suitable worshippers at Todai-ji temple, as it was considered the hub of Buddhism and would become the principle protector of the whole nation, central to the order of the universe. Emperor Shomu (r 724- 749) promoted construction of provincial temples throughout Japan in order to eliminate the social unrest of the time combined with repeated political changes. Te emperor chose the power of Buddhism to promote the idea of national protection, and in 743, commissioned the Great Buddha, which was to become the world’s largest gilt-bronze figure of Vairocana, at approximately 15 metres. In 752, the ceremony for opening the eyes of the newly constructed image was conducted with great celebrations. By the Heian period (794-1185) in Japan, the Mahavairocana (Dainichi Nyorai), developed from the Vairocana Buddha, was regarded as the Primordial Buddha of the universe in esoteric Buddhism. Te Vairocana Buddha may have


create a new


distinctive style. By this period, new stylistic influences had also began to arrive from Tang-dynasty China that proved to have a significant impact on local creativity. Tese new styles were quickly adapted to create the mature classical style seen from the 8th century onwards – a golden age in Korean Buddhist sculpture. Vairocana (Birojana) images were first created in Korea during the 8th century and gained enormous popularity in the 9th century. Alongside the traditional images seen of the historical Buddha Shakyamuni,


a wealth of


Vairocana, Tang dynasty, early 8th century, gilt bronze, height 20.3 cm, The Rogers Fund, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The teaching gesture made by this 8th-century figure from China, with the thumb of the right hand touching the little finger of the left, identifies him as Vairocana Buddha


other


Buddhist and Bodhisattva imagery had also appeared by the 6th century. From the 9th century onwards,


Vairocana Buddha, stone, United Silla period, 9th century, acquired in 1911. This Buddha is notable for its round face and well-proportioned body, National Museum of Korea


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images of the Shakyamuni Buddha with the earth touching gesture, as well as those of the Vairocana Buddha with the wisdom gesture, prevailed – the Chinese influences faded and eventually ceased to exist. Buddhist sculpture continued to flourish under the Goryeo dynasty (918-1392), and from the 10th to 12th centuries, many colossal images inspired by the vitality


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of the new dynasty were created for temples. In the second half of the century, the dominant political influence of Yuan China (after the adoption of a peace treaty when Korea became a vassal state of the Khagan), which led to the adoption of the Tibeto-Mongolian style in Buddhist sculpture. Interest in Chinese art and literature


during the Goryeo dynasty had encouraged the spread of Neo- Confucianism, in which the older teachings of Confucius had been melded to Taoism and Buddhism. Neo-Confucian became an alternative to the influence of Buddhism, with the


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been superseded by other forms, but images of this type continued to be made in Japan, such as the late 17th- century example in the collection of the University of Michigan Museum of Art. Marybeth Graybill, as senior curator of Asian Art at UMMA in 2004, wrote, ‘In Japan, representations of Buddha as a prince come out of a tradition that stressed the royal origins of the historical Buddha Shakyamuni, before he abandoned secular life. Te imagery of a more “godlike” Buddha emerged in the late 7th to early 8th century in India, as a response to the growing popularity of Hinduism. Not surprisingly these images found great appeal from Tibet to Indonesia, and from China to Japan, where they dominated the great royal Buddhist temples of


the 8th century. Te


Vairocana Buddha in this collection is identified by his gesture of clasping his left forefinger with his right hand, symbolising the philosophical notion of ‘the union of six elements’: earth, air, fire, water, and wood, all subsumed into the mind. Te elegant facial expression and bejewelled crown shows Buddha as a prince. Made in Japan, probably in the late 17th or early 18th century, its style consciously looks back to the work of the late 12th and early 13th centuries, showing the influence of Vairocana through the centuries.


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