the ssu-wei figure in sixth-century a.d. chinese buddhist sculpture

The Ssu-Wei Figure in Sixth-Century A.D. Chinese Buddhist SculptureAuthor(s): Denise Patry LeidySource: Archives of Asian Art, Vol. 43 (1990), pp. 21-37Published by: University of Hawai'i Press for the Asia SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20111204 .

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The Ssu-wei Figure in Sixth

Chinese Buddhist Sculpture

Denise Patry Leidy

Wheaton College

Century a.d.

V>Jne of the most tantalizing problems in Chinese

Buddhist iconography is the reemergence of the

ssu-weia or pensive figure as a principal icon during the mid-sixth century a.d. in northeast China, and

the spread of this icon to Korea and Japan.1

Distinguished from other Chinese Buddhist im

ages by his clothing and his posture, the ssu-wei

figure sits on a high stool with his right leg crossed over a pendant left leg; his left hand rests on his left

foot while he gently touches his right cheek with one or two fingers of his right hand. He wears a

tight bodice belted at the waist and a heavy flowing skirt; a large torque encircles his neck; and he

generally wears a small crown with long trailing ribbons (Fig. i). In sixth-century Chinese sculpture ssu-wei figures are shown either singly or in pairs on small altarpieces capped by entwined dragon trees filled with apsaras, stupas, and other images.

They are frequently attended by bodhisattvas,

monks, and figures wearing conical caps; images of

spirit kings often decorate the bases of the ssu-wei

altarpieces.2

The closest prototypes for the Chinese ssu-wei

images are found in the Buddhist art of the first to

fourth centuries a.d. from Gandhara in northwest

India, and in related sculptures found at Mathura located to the southeast of Gandhara.3 Central Asian ssu-wei figures are painted in the cave-temples at

Kucha: a fourth century example is represented in cave 38 at Kizil; while the two pensive images to

either side of the entryway of the Ringatragentau benhohle date to the late seventh century.4

The earliest extant Chinese representation of a

ssu-wei figure is found on a small bronze mirror

dated to the fourth century unearthed in Japan.5

During the late fifth century ssu-wei figures played a prominent role in Chinese Buddhist art. They are

found throughout the cave-temples at Tun-huang in

Kansu province and at Yun-kang in Shansi province, and on certain independent stone and bronze images excavated in northern China.6 During this period, ssu-wei figures are shown either seated indepen

dently, occasionally accompanied by a kneeling horse, or as attendants to Maitreya, the Buddha of

the Future.

In the art of the early sixth century ssu-wei

figures are found in only two of the caves at Lung men in Honan province: once in the Wei-tzu Tung

(516-528) and twice in the Lien-hua Tung (516-528).

Additionally, a pensive figure is also represented on

the north wall of cave 4 of the Hung-ch'ing Ssu at

Min-ch'ih in the same province.7 At both sites, these

icons are the focus of a procession of donors her

alding the growth of the cult of the ssu-wei figure in the latter half of that century. The earliest known

free-standing stone image of a ssu-wei figure, now

in the collection of the Eisei Bunko Foundation in

Tokyo, is also dated to the closing years of the

Northern Wei period (386-532).8 Recent excavations at sites such as Hsiu-te Ssu

and Kao-ch'eng Hsien in Hopei province, and Yeh nan Ch'eng in Honan province have provided invaluable material for a reexamination of the

stylistic and iconographie evolution of Chinese

Buddhist sculpture in the late sixth century.9 Of

these, the most spectacular was the excavation of

the base of a ruined Sung Dynasty (960-1126)

pagoda at Hsiu-te Ssu in Chu-yang southwest of

Peking. In 1954 excavators uncovered over 2,200

small Buddhist statues made of white marble. Of the

sculptures excavated from this site, 247 were

inscribed with reign dates ranging from the Shen

k'uei period of the Northern Wei (517-519) to the

T'ien-pao era of the T'ang (742-745).10 Of the 40 images from Hsiu-te Ssu dated to the

Eastern Wei period (535-550), 9 are inscribed as

pensive figures. Of the 101 dated Northern Ch'i

(550-577) images, 16 are described as pensive figures and 8 as paired pensive figures. Taken as a group of 24, they are the most numerous of Northern Ch'i

images followed by the 22 statues inscribed as

standing bodhisattvas.11 In addition to the figures in

pensive poses inscribed ssu-wei and excavated at

Hsiu-te Ssu, several figures in this pose, inscribed

21



Fig. i. Ssu-wei altarpiece, China, Northern Ch'i dynasty, ca. 560-565, white marble, h. 56.5 cm. Charles Bain Hoyt Collection

50.1074. Courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Maitreya, and several uninscribed images have also

been excavated12; 5 pensive images and 8 paired

pensive figures are recorded among materials from

Hsiu-te Ssu dated to the Sui period (581-617). Dur

ing the Sui the importance of the pensive figure declines as these figures are superceded by 34 altar

pieces whose main images are paired standing bodhisattvas.13

ICONOGRAPHY OF THE PENSIVE FIGURE

The confusion between ssu-wei figures and Mai

treya found among the inscribed sculptures from

Hsiu-te Ssu is symptomatic of the uncertainty

centering on the iconography of the pensive figure in Chinese Buddhist art. The term ssu-wei has a long

history in China. In non-Buddhist literature, it first

appears in the biography of Tung Chung-shub in the

Han Shuc in reference to his consideration of the

past; while in Buddhist writings it was originally found in the title of a lost sutra entitled the Ssu-wei

Chingyd which is believed to have been translated by the prolific Parthian monk An Shih-kaoe in the

22

second century.14 In contemporary Buddhist ter

minology it is used to translate words such as cintana

that refer to the action of thinking.15 As ssu-wei is

not found in the extant version of the Chinese

Tripitaka as an epithet for a specific Buddha or

bodhisattva, there is no literary evidence to help

clarify the iconography of the pensive figure in

China.

Inscriptions on ssu-wei images vary: single fig ures are inscribed ssu-wei hsiangf (pensive figure), t'ai-tzu ssu-wei hsiangg (pensive crown prince), or

mi-l'o hsiangh (Maitreya); while paired images are

labeled shuang ssu-wei hsiang* (paired pensive

figures), shuang ssu-wei p'u-sai (paired pensive bo

dhisattvas), or shuang kuan-shih-yin hsiangk (paired

Avalokitesvaras).16 The variety of terms used in the

inscriptions on these figures as well as their use in

a wide range of contexts in the Northern Wei caves

has led to several identifications for the pensive

figure. Relying on the evidence supplied by in

scribed Chinese and Japanese statues, and on the role

of the ssu-wei figure as an attendant to Maitreya



in the Yun-kang caves, several scholars have iden

tified all ssu-wei figures as images of Maitreya.17 Others have interpreted the ssu-wei figure depicted with a horse at his feet as representations of Sid

dhartha saying adieu to his horse, Kanthaka, prior to leaving home in his quest for enlightenment, and

have therefore identified all pensive figures as

Prince Siddhartha.18 More recently, both Rei

Sasaguchi and John Rosenfield have suggested that

ssu-wei figures represent a bodhisattva at the moment of achieving bodhicitta, the awareness of

the desire to achieve enlightenment, one of the first

steps a bodhisattva must take on the path to Buddha

hood.19 The general use of ssu-wei rather than the names of specific deities on inscribed statues has

been dismissed as a result of the popular or non

theological nature of the cult of the pensive figure.20 However, given the distinctive iconography of

the ssu-wei image, it is unlikely that this term would

have become a popular synonym for an individual

Buddha or bodhisattva without specific clerical

direction. Moreover, the depiction of the ssu-wei

figure as the focus of a procession of donors in the

Lung-men caves, and the development of the pen sive figure as an individual icon in the mid-sixth

century, are contemporaneous with the use of the term ssu-wei as both a suffix and a prefix to the

names of a variety of Buddhas and bodhisattvas in

the version of the Fo-ming Ching1 written by Bodhiruci at Lo-yang between 520 and 524.21

A native of central India, Bodhiruci arrived in

Lo-yang in 508. Both he and his principal col

laborator, Ratnamati, also a Central Indian, were

among the monks who followed the court from

Lo-yang to Yeh in 534 and were two of the most

influential monks in sixth century China. In addition to their translation work they founded a theological

lineage that included Fa-shang,m the head of the

northern Chinese church during the Eastern Wei, Northern Ch'i, and early Sui periods, and many of

the more influential scholar-theologians of that era.22 The works of Bodhiruci, Ratnamati, and their

successors, begun at Lo-yang, the late Northern

Wei capital, and continued in the Northern Ch'i

capital at Yeh, provided the impetus for the de

velopment of the cult of the pensive figure in sixth

century Buddhist sculpture. Bodhiruci and Ratnamati were the founders of

the Ti-lunn sect of Buddhism. The predominance of

this school at Yeh and the theological and popular interest in the pure lands or paradises of the Buddhas

provided a religious basis for the popularity of the ssu-wei figure in the mid-sixth century. The Ti-lun sect focused on the study of a single scripture, the

Dasabhurmkas?tra-S?stra, a fifth-century commentary

Fig. 2. Avalokitesvara altarpiece, China, Northern Wei

dynasty, 489, gilt bronze, h. 22.0 cm. After Hopei Provincial

Museum and the Bureau of Cultural Relics, Hopei Sheng CWu

tu Wen-wu Hsuan-chi (Peking: Wen-wu, 1980), pi. 293.

by Vasubandhu on the Dasabhumtka S?tra.23 Written

by the Indian monk Nagarjuna in the second cen

tury, this sutra details the steps taken by a devotee in order to become a bodhisattva. Relying on the

paradigm of the life of the founder of Buddhism,

S?kyamuni, the Dasabhumtka S?tra, which clearly delineates the path to bodhisattvahood, was one of

the first Buddhist scriptures translated into Chinese:

Dharmaraks? converted a portion of the text in the

third century while a more precise translation was

made by Kumar?jiva at Hsi-an? in the early fifth

century. On the other hand, the Dasabhum?kas?tra

Sastra, while acknowledging the importance of these

individual steps, stresses their interconnectedness.

Moreover, recognizing the near impossibility of

achieving enlightenment through personal effort, the Dasabhum?kas?tra Sastra promotes the possibility of salvation through grace acquired by the trans

ferral of merit from others.24 Bodhiruci and

Ratnamati's simultaneous translations of this im

portant treatise by Vasubandhu were critical to the

development of both the Ti-lun and Pure Lands sects at Yeh in the second half of the sixth century.

According to the followers of the Ti-lun school,

beginning with the eighth stage of his spiritual development, each bodhisattva inhabits and purifies his personal sphere of activity known as his paradise or pure land; while during the ninth stage, he in

habits the Tusita Heaven awaiting his final rebirth in which he will become a Buddha.25 Maitreya, the

23



Buddha of the Future, is the most well-known in

habitant of the Tusita Heaven, which also housed

S?kyamuni prior to his final reincarnation as the

Buddha. Given the prominence of the Ti-lun in

northeast China during the late sixth century, it is

likely that the numerous Northern Ch'i images of

ssu-wei figures represent the innumerable

bodhisattvas, including Maitreya, who are the current inhabitants of Tusita.

Images of the inhabitants of the Tusita and other

pure lands, either seated in paradise or descending to earth, abound in the Buddhist art of China. As

has already been mentioned, the images of Maitreya attended by ssu-wei figures at Tun-huang and Yun

kang may represent the future Buddha and other

bodhisattvas enthroned in the Tusita Heaven. More

over, the iconography of the ssu-wei figure in early Chinese Buddhist sculpture is inextricably linked to

the evolution of paradise imagery during the late

fifth and sixth centuries.

Some of the earliest Chinese figures of ssu-wei

images are found on the backs of a group of small

bronze altarpieces from Hopei dated by inscriptions to the late fifth century (Fig. i).26 Avalokitesvara,

holding a lotus, stands at the front of these altar

pieces, and a ssu-wei figure is depicted at their

backs. While the primary icons of these altarpieces represent Avalokitesvara as the savior of sentient

beings, the ssu-wei figures seated under the

branches of a tree at the back depict this bodhisattva

in his personal paradise. Similar iconography is found in a well-known

altarpiece in the Metropolitan Museum of Art dated

524 (Fig. 3). In this altarpiece Maitreya stands against a flaming halo, attended by two standing bo

dhisattvas, two ssu-wei figures, the guardians of the

four cardinal directions, and a host of apsarases. While the standing figures represent Maitreya and

his accompanying bodhisattvas descending from the

Tusita paradise, the pensive figures refer to the

paradise itself.27

Comparable imagery continues throughout the

Northern Ch'i period.28 However, the shift in

iconography away from the use of ssu-wei figures as subsidiary motifs to the use of these images as

primary icons heralds a contemporaneous change in

emphasis away from the messianism of the early

Maitreya cult to a growing desire for personal re

birth in a pure land such as the Tusita Heaven or

Sukh?vat?, the paradise of Amit?bha Buddha. This

theological evolution provided the catalyst for the

popularity of ssu-wei altarpieces in the second half

of the sixth century. The promise of rebirth in paradise is graphically

depicted on the base of an often published ssu-wei

24

Fig. 3. Maitreya altarpiece, China, Northern Wei dynasty, 524, gilt bronze, h. 79.0 cm. Rogers Fund 1938. Courtesy

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.

figure in the collection of the Freer Gallery of Art

(Fig. 4). Here the numerous small figures seated on

buds in a lotus pond represent souls reborn in the

paradise inhabited by the pensive bodhisattva. The

depiction of the rebirth of these figures on the base

of the Freer altarpiece foreshadows the shift from

the cult of Maitreya to that of Amit?bha during the

closing decades of the sixth century.29 Faith in Maitreya's appearance in the future and

the subsequent arrival of a golden age of Buddhism

became less appealing in China during the sixth

century, when constant political instability and

economic chaos mitigated the value of waiting

through several lifetimes of unhappiness for Mai

treya's arrival. The continuous friction between the

two northern regimes and the internecine strife

among the ruling elite resulted in frequent battles,

assassinations, and massacres.30 This political un

certainty, combined with numerous crop failures, rendered life unbearable for both the elite and the

populace during this period. In Buddhist circles the pessimism of the times was

reflected in the belief that the sixth century was the



Fig. 4. Ssu-wei figure, China, Northern Ch'i dynasty, 550-555,

white marble, h. 33.0 cm. Courtesy Freer Gallery of Art,

Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 11.4n.

period of mo-fa,P the Buddhist apocalypse; and in

the development of the Ch'ing-tu^ or Pure Land sect

of Buddhism, which stressed the desire for rebirth

in Sukh?vat?, the western pure land of Amit?bha

Buddha. Found in several scriptures and scholastic

texts, S?kyamuni's prediction that the dharma is

doomed to extinction was eventually elaborated

into a scheme of three stages, each lasting several

centuries.31 The first, the period of the "true

doctrine" (chang-far), begins with the parinirv?na or death of the Buddha. During this period

S?kyamuni's teachings are followed and practiced in an unadulterated fashion. During the second

period, that of the "counterfeit doctrine" (hsiang

fas), religious practice among lay followers and the

clergy begins to decline and heresy arises. In the

final period, the "final age of the doctrine" (mo-fa), the dharma has been lost through sin and injustice and all must await the coming of the next Buddha.

The fear that it was impossible either to practice

Buddhism or to await the coming of Maitreya was

influential in Buddhist thought in the second half

of the sixth century. The most obvious result of the

late sixth-century belief in the end of the Buddhist

dharma was the development of the Three Stages Sect (San-chieh Tsung1) of the monk Hsin-hsingu

(540-594).32 However, the growing interest in the

pure lands of the Buddhas, and the desire for rebirth in one of these paradises, also reflect current theo

logical trends.

Study of the pure lands has a long history in

China. One of the earliest Chinese commentators on the pure lands was Seng-chaov (375-414), who

based his discussion of these lands on the Vimalaktrti

nirdesa S?tra. During the sixth century a great many scholars, including Ching-ying Hui-yuanw (523

592), a Ti-lun master working at Yeh, and Chih-ix

(538-597), the founder of the T'ien-taiy sect, pub lished discussions and classifications of the different

pure lands and their respective residents.33 More

over, the Ti-lun patriarch Bodhiruci was an avid

student of the pure lands and is credited with the

conversion of T'an-luanz (488-552), the founder of

Ch'ing-tu, or Pure Land Buddhism. Unlike other

sects, Ch'ing-tu promises rebirth in Sukhavat?, the

pure land of the Buddha Amit?bha, as a result of

deep faith, and does not require good works or other

forms of devotion. In 529 T'an-luan was returning to his native Shansi after having wandered through

China seeking the secret of immortality. Bodhiruci

introduced him to the Sukh?vat?vy?hopadesa, a text

praising the Western Paradise of Amit?bha Buddha, and the virtue of the easy path (salvation through faith) rather than the difficult path (salvation

through personal effort) during the period of mo-fa.34 The Sukh?vat?vy?hopadesa was written by

the same Indian master Vasubandhu whose

Dasabhum?kas?tra Sastra provided the basis for the evolution of the Ti-lun sect. T'an-luan's citation of

the Dasabh?mivibh?s? Sastra, an alternate version of the Dasabh?mika S?tra, in the opening lines of his famous commentary on the Sukh?vat?vy?hopadesa further attests to the close ties between the Ti-lun and Ch'ing-tu sects in late sixth-century China.35

The shift from the worship of Maitreya to that

of Amit?bha is reflected in the inscriptions found at Lung-men: between 495 and 535 A.D., 78 images of S?kyamuni and Maitreya and only 27 images of

Amit?bha and Avalokitesvara are recorded at this

site, while 20 images of Maitreya and S?kyamuni and 144 of Avalokitesvara and Amit?bha are cited for the years 650 to 704.36 The iconographie inno

vations, particularly the images of paired standing bodhisattvas, and paired ssu-wei figures, found

among the Northern Ch'i and Sui sculptures

25



Fig. 5. Amit?bha in Sukhavat?, from cave 2, Southern Hsiang

t'ang Shan, China, Northern Ch'i dynasty, ca. 570, limestone. h. 158.9, w. 334.5 cm. Courtesy Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 21.2.

recently excavated at Hsiu-te Ssu and other sites

provide valuable evidence for the growth of the cult

of Amit?bha at Yeh in the latter part of the Northern Ch'i dynasty.

Both paired standing bodhisattvas, often in scribed paired Avaloki tes varas, and paired ssu-wei

images appear in the Buddhist art of northeast China after 560.37 One possible catalyst for the devel

opment of this iconography was the arrival in Yeh of the Indian monk Narendraysas. Born in

Uddayana in 517, Narendraysas arrived in China in

556. After working at the T'ien-ping Ssu in Yeh from 557 to 568, he resided at the Ta Hsing-chan Ssu in Hsi-an, where he worked under the protection of the Sui emperors from 582 until his death in 588

(589). Narendraysas had a strong impact of the

development of Buddhist thought at Yeh. His trans

lations of the Lien-hua Mien Chinga between 558 and

593, and of the Candrag?rbhas?tra in 566, are often cited as the primary sources for the late sixth

century Chinese fascination with the concept of mo-fa. In particular, the Candrag?rbhas?tra was in fluential in the development of the thought of Tao ch'oab (562-645), who is often credited with the consolidation of the Pure Land sect.38

The visual arts clearly reflect the increasing interest in the Western Paradise of Amit?bha in the third quarter of the sixth century.39 Now in the Freer Gallery of Art, the relief representing Sukhavat?, which was originally in cave 2 at

Southern Hsiang-t'ang Shan and which can be dated to approximately 570, depicts Amit?bha seated in

his paradise attended by numerous bodhisattvas

(Fig. 5). The two bodhisattvas above his head,

particularly the figure to his left, who holds a lotus

pedestal, are among the earliest images of Amit? bha 's descent to earth to welcome the soul of the devout to his paradise, an important motif in later Pure Land imagery.40

26

Fig. 6. Paired Avalokite'svaras, China, Northern Ch'i dynasty,

562, excavated from Hsiu-te Ssu, Hopei, white marble, h.

54.0 cm. After Yang Po-ta, Ch'u-yang Hsiu-te Ssu Ch'u-t'u

Chi Nien Tsao-hsiang Te I-shu Feng-ke Yu Te Cheng,

K'u-kung Po~wu-yuan Yuan-Wan 2 (i960): fig. 37.

The earliest paired standing bodhisattvas are

found in a small altarpiece, excavated at Hsiu-te Ssu and dated 562 (Fig. 6). The stupa carried aloft by apsaras at the top of this altarpiece, and the

guardians, lions, and caryatid raising a closed lotus bud at its base, attest to the close connection found between the iconography of this sculpture and that of the prominent ssu-wei images.

A magnificent altarpiece in the collection of the Museum f?r Ostasiatische Kunst in Cologne, which can be dated to about 526-565 (Fig. 7), clearly links the iconography of the paired standing bodhisattvas to that of the ssu-wei figure. At the front of this

sculpture two bodhisattvas, accompanied by figures wearing conical caps, and two monks stand beneath entwined trees filled with garland-bearing apsarases, a stupa, and a seated Buddha. A solitary ssu-wei figure, attended by five kneeling adorants,

meditates at the back of the Cologne piece. This

figure represents the heaven from which the paired bodhisattvas and seated Buddha at the front of the

altarpiece have descended.



Fig. 7. Stele, China, Northern Ch'i dynasty, 565-569, white marble, h. 94.5 cm. Courtesy Museum f?r Ostasiatisches Kunst,

Cologne. BC 11,11.

Excavated at Kao-ch'eng Hsien, two altarpieces, one dated 569, the other 570, provide important information for the development of Amit?bha im

agery at Yeh (Figs. 8 and 9).41 The primary figures of both altarpieces are paired ssu-wei images seated

under a niche. To either sides of these niches are

two standing bodhisattvas, while additional figures decorate the base of the niche. On the 570 altarpiece these include an additional pair of pensive figures.

Above the niches, which are enclosed within a pair of entwined trees, apsarases support nets of pearl

garlands. In the 569 work the net contains a stupa beneath which stand three figures; while in the 570

altarpiece only the triad is depicted. These repre sent Amit?bha 's descent to earth accompanied by

his two primary assistants, Mahasth?mapr?pta and

Avalokitesvara. A small altarpiece in a private collection and one

in the Mus?e Guimet contain similar iconography. Dated 570, the private-collection altarpiece (Fig. 10) is nearly identical to the 569 Kao-ch'eng Hsien

altarpiece. The primary image of the Paris altar

piece is a seated Buddha, and there are five figures

standing among the trees above his head.42 The

change in iconography seen on the Paris altarpiece reflects the consolidation of the cult of Amit?bha

Buddha and Sukhavat? during the final decades of

the sixth century in China. This altarpiece provides a clear visual transition between Northern Ch'i ssu

wei images of figures seated in paradise, and later

Sui representations of Amit?bha in Sukhavat?, such as the well-known bronze altarpiece, dated 593, in

the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Fig. 11). The virtual disappearance of the ssu-wei figure

in Chinese Buddhist art after the sixth century may have resulted from the consolidation of the Pure

Land sect, and the subsequent stress on images of

Amit?bha's descent to earth. This led to a change in Amit?bha imagery. Images of deities seated in

paradise were replaced by the triad of Amit?bha,

Mahasth?mapr?pta, and Avalokitesvara as they descend to earth. After the seventh century both

Chinese and Japanese Pure Land imagery features

this scene, which is shown in embryonic form at

27



Fig. 8. Paired ssu-wei figures, China, Northern Ch'i dynasty,

569, excavated at Kao-ch'eng Hsien, white marble, h. 36.0

cm. Figs. 8, 9 after Cheng Jizhong, Hopei Kao-ch'eng Hsien

Fa-hsien I-pei Pei Ch'i Shih Tsao-hsiang, K'ao-Ku 3 (1980).

Hsiang-t'ang Shan and in the altarpieces excavated at Kao-ch'eng Hsien.

SUBSIDIARY MOTIFS ON SSU-WEI ALTARPIECES

The prominence of the pensive figure during the

second half of the sixth century was paralleled by the growth of several other iconographie innovations that provide further understanding both

of the meaning of ssu-wei imagery, and of the

development of Chinese Buddhist thought during this period. These include the depiction of a stupa in the branches of the paired trees capping Northern

Ch'i altarpieces, adorants wearing conical caps, and

the spirit kings. Due to the popularity of the Saddharmapundartka

S?tra in China, representations of stupas rising into

the air are generally interpreted as references to the

dramatic moment in this text when Prabh?tar?tna, the Buddha of the Past, appears in a stupa above the

head of S?kyamuni as the latter is preaching at

Vulture Peak, in order to underscore the importance of S?kyamuni's sermon.43 Despite the popularity of

the Saddharmapundar?ka S?tra in Chinese Buddhist

28

Fig. 9. Paired ssu-wei figures, China, Northern Ch'i dynasty, 570, excavated at Kao-ch'eng Hsien, white marble, h. 65.5 cm. After Cheng Jizhong, Hopei Kao-ch'eng Hsien Fa-hsien

I-pei Pei Ch'i Shih Tsao-hsiang, Kao-Ku 3 (1980).

thought, it is unlikely that the depictions of stupas found in ssu-wei altarpieces inevitably refer to this

event. The stupa has a long history in Buddhist art.

Its primary symbolism is funerary as stupas have

long been used in Buddhist lands to mark the lo

cation of the relics of a Buddha, or the remains of

devotees. Usually carried aloft by apsarases, the

stupas depicted in ssu-wei altarpieces may represent the ascent of the souls of the devout to paradise.

Moreover, the stupa has long been known as an

emblem of Maitreya, who, in Indian sculpture, often

bears one in his crown.44 Therefore, images of stupas in ssu-wei altarpieces may also refer to Maitreya and could help identify these works as representa tions of the Tusita Heaven.

Figures wearing conical caps serve as attendants to ssu-wei figures and other Buddhist deities in early

Chinese Buddhist art. They generally form part of a larger group of attendants including monks and

bodhisattvas. Groupings of monks, bodhisattvas, and figures wearing conical caps are often inter

preted as representations of the three main paths a

devotee can pursue on the road to salvation: the

sravaka-yana, the way of the monk; the prayteka



Fig. io. Paired ssu-wei figures, China, Northern Ch'i

dynasty, 570, white marble, h. 62.2 cm. Courtesy private collection.

buddha-yana, the way of the self-enlightened Buddha; and the bodhisattva-yana or path of the bodhisattva.

As the figures of the monks and bodhisattvas are

readily recognizable on Northern Ch'i altarpieces, those wearing conical caps are assumed to represent

prayteka-buddhas.45 This identification is supported

by discussions of the relative values of the paths of

the sravaka, prayteka-buddha, and bodhisattva.

Such references in early Buddhist text reflect the

evolution of Buddhist ideals away from the impor tance of self-reliance in the quest for enlightenment toward the concept of salvation through grace

represented by the ideal of the bodhisattva.46 How

ever, while they were of paramount importance in

India at the beginning of the common era, these

issues were of relatively little interest to the pre

dominantly Mah?y?nist Chinese Buddhists. The use of figures wearing conical caps in Chi

nese Buddhist art in the early sixth century provides useful material for a study of their iconography.

They are found in the role of donors in both cave

121 at Mai-ch'i Shan in Kansu and in the Lu-tung cave at Lung-men. The two such figures depicted on the 593 bronze altarpiece in the Museum of Fine

Arts, Boston are identified as male and female

adherents.47

Fig. ii. Amit?bha altarpiece, China, Sui dynasty, 593, bronze.

h. 76.5 cm. Gift of Mrs. William Scott Fitz 22.407; Gift of

Edward Jackson Holmes in Memory of His Mother, Mrs. W.

Scott Fitz 47.1407-1412. Courtesty Museum of Fine Arts,

Boston.

Additional evidence for the identity of figures

wearing conical caps is found on a large stele in the

Isabelle Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston (Fig.

12). Dated 543, the Gardner stele provides icono

graphie prototypes for several features found in

Northern Ch'i Buddhist sculpture. S?kyamuni, two

monks, and two bodhisattvas are depicted on the

front of this stele while a image of S?kyamuni

preaching the Saddharmapundatika S?tra is illustrated on the back. Figures wearing conical caps are carved on the sides of the stele. They have been identified as paired Avalokitesvaras based on the long in

scription carved on the Gardner stele.48

The placement of such figures as both attendants

to Buddhas and as part of a group of donors in a

29



Fig. 12. Stele, China, Eastern Wei dynasty, 543, limestone. h.

142.0 cm. Courtesy Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum,

Boston, Massachusetts.

procession suggests that figures wearing conical

caps represent lay bodhisattvas, or devout lay

persons who have taken the bodhisattva vows and

who figure prominently in Mah?y?na texts. The

appearance of these figures and the simultaneous

development of larger Buddhist groupings coincides

with the transition of Chinese worship away from

S?kyamuni to savior-Buddhas such as Maitreya and

Amit?bha. The development of expanded retinues

for the Buddhas in the early sixth century parallels the growth of the paradise cults and a resultant

interest in the depiction of these pure lands.49 As

prayteka-buddhas are believed to inhabit only the

lower type of Buddhist paradise and not the high er paradises such as the Tusita Heaven and

Sukhavat?, it is unlikely that the figures wearing conical caps depict prayteka-buddhas.50 Rather,

they represent rebirth of faithful laymen and lay

30

Fig 12. Side view.

women who have ascended into these pure lands

inhabited by monks, bodhisattvas, and other heav

enly beings.

Laymen and laywomen played an important role

in the development of Buddhist thought and iconog

raphy. Images of laypersons are often found on the

bases of early free-standing sculptures, in cave

temples, and on large stelae commissioned by Buddhist sodalities as acts of devotion. In China the

role of layperson was first defined in the T'i-wei Po

li-ching,*c an apocryphal sutra written by T'an-ching around 460 after the first persecution of Buddhism

in the mid-fifth century. Written to replace the

many scriptures lost during this persecution, the

T'i-wei Po-li-ching provided structure for the par

ticipation of lay adherents in Chinese Buddhism, as

well as justification for the ideological use of

Buddhism by Northern Wei and later rulers.51 In the

early sixth century the importance at Lo-yang of



Fig 12. Back view.

the Vimalik?rti-nirdesa S?tra, which extolls the wisdom

of the lay bodhisattva Vimalik?rti, attests to the

prominence of lay adherents.52 Nearly all the mid

sixth century altarpieces unearthed during recent

excavations were commissioned by laypersons, many of whom are not recorded in dynastic his

tories. As the inscriptions on these altarpieces fre

quently contain written statements of the donor's

desire for rebirth in a Buddhist paradise, it is likely that the attendants wearing conical caps are the

depiction of a realization of this wish.

The ten spirit kings depicted on the bases of many

altarpieces from Hopei, and throughout the cave at

Hsiang-t'ang Shan and Shui-yu Ssu on the Honan/

Hopei border, and T'ien-lung Shan in Shansi

provence, are found exclusively in sixth-century Chinese Buddhist art.53 They are always shown

seated, often in individual niches, wearing a tunic

and trousers and carrying the varying emblems that

distinguish them from one another. The earliest

depictions of the spirit kings is on the dado of the

main wall of the Pin-yang cave at Lung-men constructed between 505 and 523. Spirit kings are

also depicted in cave 3 at Kung Hsien in Honan, which can be dated to 530.54 Since there is no extant

s?tra listing the spirit kings, identification of these

deities is based solely on the inscribed images on the

base of the Gardner stele mentioned above. Ac

cording to this stele, nine of these ten figures are

identified as the dragon spirit king, the wind spirit

king, the pearl spirit king, the tree spirit king, the

elephant spirit king, the fish spirit king, the mountain spirit king, the bird spirit king, and the

lion spirit king. Although the name of the tenth

spirit king is undecipherable, Chavannes has sug

gested that he may represent the fire spirit king.55 The lack of a scriptural basis for the spirit kings makes it difficult to ascertain their iconography. However, their depiction on ssu-wei altarpieces and

their appearance in the early sixth century indicates

that they may be related to the development of the

cult of the pure lands during this period. The specific nomenclature and consistent imagery of these

divinities suggests that they may have derived from a scripture no longer extant; the clothing of the

spirit kings, and their placement in arcades, in

dicates a Central Asian origin.

DISAPPEARANCE OF THE PENSIVE FIGURE IN CHINA

The persecution of Buddhism by Chou Wu-t'i from

574 to 577 and the Northern Chou conquest of the

Northern Ch'i resulted in the destruction of in

numerable scriptures, statues, and temples. The loss

of this material hinders the study of the development of sixth-century Chinese Buddhist thought and

imagery. Nonetheless, the rapid disappearance of

the ssu-wei image in the following Sui and T'ang

periods is not solely a consequence of the turmoil

of this period. It also reflects theological devel

opments and the political use of Buddhism by the

Kaoad rulers of the Northern Ch'i.

The Kao family, which dominated the Northern

Ch'i and preceding Eastern Wei dynasties, controlled a large territory inhabited by varying sociopolitical and ethnic groups. Tense relationships between the

Han, Hsien-peiac and Erh-chuaf elite plagued the court during both periods.56 The Kao rulers used

several means to consolidate and maintain their

control of northeastern China. For example, in 552 the first Northern Ch'i emperor, Wen-hsuan Ti,a8 ordered Wei Shou^ (505-572) to compile a history of

the Northern Wei state, justifying its demise and the

subsequent rise of the Ch'i to help placate his Chinese

subjects; and in 555 the same emperor ordered a major

31



Fig. 13. Ssu-wei figure, Korea, Koguryo, late 6th century, gilt bronze, h. 80.0 cm. Korean National Treasure no. 78. Figs. 13,

14 after Choi Sunu, 5000 Years of Korean Art (Seoul: Hoyman,

1979), Fig- 13, pis. 218-219.

persecution of Taoism in order to ally himself with

non-Chinese factions at his court.57

Throughout their rule the Kao family used Bud

dhism to help unite and control their disparate and

frequently rebellious subjects. For example, in 538 Kao Huan,ai the founder of the Kao hegemony and

de facto ruler of the Eastern Wei dynasty, circu

lated an apocryphal sutra entitled Kuan-shih-yin

Chinga that extolled his benevolence and promised instantaneous reward to those reciting the name of

Avalokitesvara.58 In 539 Kao Huan's son Kao Tengak commissioned the translation of the Aryasaddha

rmasmrtyupasth?na S?tra by Gautama Prajfiaruci, a

monk from Benares who arrived in Lo-yang in 516 and worked at Yeh from 538 to 543-59 This sutra

stresses the power of the mind, extolls the values

of meditation, and lists the ten good deeds of the

devout layperson. These ten rules are inscribed on

a late sixth-century stele excavated in Shantung

province in 1956. It is clear that the Kao family rulers disseminated these "commandments" in an

attempt to consolidate their power by controlling the lives of their subjects.60 In addition, this scripture defines the ruler as one who meditates well, a

definition that helps to explain the growth of the

32

Fig. 14. Ssu-wei figure, Korea, Paekche, late 6th century, gilt bronze, h. 93.5 cm. Korean National Treasure no. 83. After

Choi Sunu, 5000 Years of Korean Art, pis. 220-221.

cult of the pensive figure at the Eastern Wei and

Northern Ch'i courts.61

The use of entwined trees on ssu-wei and other

Northern Ch'i images is also a reference to the

rightful power of the Ch'i rulers. Grace Yen has

amply demonstrated the importance of the twin

tree motif as a symbol of imperial virtue in Chinese art and literature.62 The image of the entwined tree

(mu-lien li^ or lien li-mu) as a symbol of the virtuous

emperor begins in the Han dynasty. Images of

double trees are found on a wide variety of funerary reliefs from northern China and their meaning is

recorded in an inscription from the well-known

reliefs of Wu Liang-tz'u^ in Shantung: "when the

emperor's virtue diffuses widely and all the eight directions are combined into one direction then the

trees will intertwine . . . when the emperor does not lose the affection of the people trees will

intertwine." The auspicious entwining of trees as

symbols of imperial virtue and piety are recorded

in 116 and 220. The appearance of eight double trees

was reported during the reign of Emperor Wu-tian

of the Western Chin dynasty (266-290). In 343 four

pairs of double trees appeared to celebrate the rule

of Emperor K'ang-tiao of the Eastern Chin. Double



trees are among the auspicious symbols cited by the founder of the Sui dynasty, Wen-tiaP (r. 589-601) to legitimize his accession to the throne.63

While ssu-wei figures are often shown seated beneath the branches of a single tree in the late fifth and early sixth centuries, the use of the double tree

motif with these images is a later innovation. The earliest securely dated combination of twin trees

and a ssu-wei figure occurs in an altarpiece in the

Avery Brundage collection dated 551.64 When

coupled with Bodhiruci's use of ssu-wei in the

Fo-ming Ching and the definition of the ruler as one

who meditates well in the Aryasaddharmasmrytapa sth?na S?tra, there can be little doubt that ssu-wei

images were commissioned both as religious icons

and as symbols of the righteousness of Kao rule. After their conquest of the Northern Ch'i,

internal divisions within the Chou court ultimately led Yang Chien,a(? the founder of the subsequent Sui

dynasty who ruled under the name Sui Wen-ti, to

depose the last Chou ruler, Ching-ti.ar Yang Chien, his successors during the Sui dynasty, and the rulers of the following T'ang dynasty claimed legitimacy as the descendants of an uninterrupted lineage,

beginning with the foundation of the Northern Wei

dynasty in the late fourth century.65 Within this

schema, the Kao rulers of the Northern Ch'i and

preceding Eastern Wei dynasty were considered

upstarts, and it is not surprising that the ssu-wei and

other images, so closely associated with the Ch'i court at Yeh, quickly fell into disfavor (except for a brief flourishing in Korea and Japan), and were

replaced by images more representative of the

rightful power and proper lineage of the Sui and their successors.

EPILOGUE: THE SSU-WEI IMAGE IN

KOREA AND JAPAN

Korea

Due to their prominence in mid-sixth century Chi nese sculpture, ssu-wei images played a seminal role in the introduction of Buddhist culture to Korea and

Japan. From the mid-fourth through the mid seventh centuries, an era known as the Three King doms period, Korea was divided between three

principal kingdoms: Koguryo in the northwest, Paekche in the southwest, and Silla in the southeast. Buddhism reached Koguryo and Paekche in the fourth century but was not formally practiced in Silla until the sixth century.

Statues of figures seated in the ssu-wei pose are

preeminent in the early Buddhist art of Korea. They are the most numerous type of image in early

Korean Buddhist art; the first monumental stone

carving of this nation, the S?san triad, contains a

figure seated in the pose.66 A brief discussion of Korean ssu-wei

figures, therefore, provides an ex

cellent paradigm for the study of Chinese influence on the art of Korea.

Recently, Kang Woo Bang has attributed two

well-known ssu-wei figures, Korean National Treasures 78 and 83, to the Koguryo and Paekche

kingdoms, respectively.67 He argues that the

Koguryo image predates that from Paekche, and that during the sixth century Koguryo was the

principal center for the diffusion of Buddhist art from China to Korea.

Both historical records and archeological dis coveries support Kang's argument. Often known as

the Koguryo Kao, the Hsien-pei rulers of Koguryo were distant relatives of the P'o-hai Kao,as the ancestors of the ruling family of the Northern Ch'i.68 Both the Northern Ch'i and Koguryo Kao ruled over ethnically diverse populations, and both used Buddhist imagery to unite their disparate subjects. The prominence given to the ssu-wei

figure in both countries, their familial ties, and their

geographic proximity suggests the existence of

constant, albeit unofficial exchanges between these two nations.

Korean National Treasure 78 sits on a wicker stool (Fig. 13). His unusual crown, which contains three small stupas, and the thin scarves covering his shoulders and crossing over his lower abdomen

distinguish him from other Korean ssu-wei figures. His elongated figure and decorative scarves are

comparable to the figurai proportions and orna ments of Chinese sculptures dated to the Eastern Wei and early Northern Ch'i periods (about

535-55S)-69 On the other hand, blocked by Koguryo from

access to northeastern China, Paekche retained close ties with the Liang (502-556) empire of southern China. The relative weakness of the

succeeding Ch'en (557-587) dynasty, however, re

sulted in the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Northern Ch'i and Paekche in 567. These ties were strengthened in 570, when the ruling emperor Hou Chuat granted a formal court title to

the ruler of Paekche.70

The compact upper torso, oval face, and small features of Korean National Treasure 83 (Fig. 14) have parallels in the Hsiu-te Ssu altarpieces dated from 565 to 575, the era that saw the first official ties between Paekche and the Northern Ch'i court.71

However, the icongruously heavy cascading drap ery of the lower skirt of this Korean ssu-wei

sculpture resembles that of Chinese pieces dated to

the mid-sixth century. The use of this type of

drapery is a characteristic feature of all Korean

33



ssu-wei images. This suggests that the prototypes for these figures were well established in Korea

prior to the contact between Paekche and the Ch'i court in 567. Furthermore, the embryonic pure land imagery, seen in the popularity of paired ssu-wei figures at Yeh in the second half of the

Northern Ch'i period, does not occur in the early Buddhist art of Korea or Japan. Korean and Japanese ssu-wei images continue the Tusita Heaven imagery and political overtones of their mid-sixth-century Chinese prototypes.

Buddhism played an important role as a protector of the state during the Three Kingdoms period. Both

the official nature of early Korean Buddhism and

the ancestral ties between the Northern Ch'i and

Koguryo rulers suggest that the ssu-wei images in

early Korean Buddhist art had the same political overtones as their Chinese protypes. The promi nence of these figures in the Buddhist art of Korea

and China during the second half of the sixth

century resulted from the importance accorded to

Buddhism by the rulers of both nations, and from

their use of this religion as an instrument of

government.

Japan Buddhism was formally introduced to Japan in 538

through the auspices of King Song (r. 524-551) of

Paekche. The early Buddhist history of Japan is

often divided into three stages beginning with the

period from the introduction of Buddhism to the

death of Sh?toku Taishiau in 622, when Buddhism

reached Japan exclusively through contact with Korea. During the second period, from 622 to 670,

Japan initiated direct contact with T'ang China, often sending priests to Ch'ang-anav to study. From

670 to 710 strong ties between Japan and the United

Silla dynasty resulted in the renewed impact of

Korean Buddhism on that of Japan. Ssu-wei figures occur frequently in the early Buddhist art of Japan and are dated exclusively to the first two of these

periods.72 Japanese ssu-wei images adhere faithfully to stylistic prototypes such as Korean National

Treasure 78, the pensive figure from Koguryo discussed earlier (see Fig. 13). As was true of the

Korean images, Japanese ssu-wei figures also retain

the heavy lower drapery characteristic of mid

sixth-century Chinese prototypes. Both Tamura Encho and Joseph Kitagawa have

noted the close ties between Japanese ssu-wei

images and Sh?toku Taishi.73 Appointed regent to

34

his aunt, the Empress Suikoaw (r. 539-628) when he was nineteen years old, Sh?toku Taishi was the

catalyst for many of the political, economic, and

religious changes originating from the overwhelm

ing impact of continental culture upon Japan during the Asuka and Nara periods. In 607 Sh?toku Taishi

officially opened diplomatic channels between China and Japan. He revered Chinese political and

religious institutions and is generally credited with

creating a Japanese system of court ranks modeled after those of China. A noted scholar, Sh?toku

Taishi is venerated for his commentaries on three famous sutras, his encouragement of Buddhism, and his patronage of Buddhist art and architecture.

Shortly after his death, Sh?toku Taishi became the

object of a cult in which he was identified with both

S?kyamuni and Maitreya. The homology of Mai

treya, S?kyamuni, and Sh?toku Taishi is reflected in the importance that Sh?toku Taishi and his followers accorded to the ssu-wei image. Of the seven temples commissioned by Sh?toku Taishi and

his disciples, six are known to have housed a pensive figure as their principal icons.74

Influenced by Korea, early Japanese Buddhism was theurgic, stressing the protection of the state,

the promotion of material prosperity, and the aversion of illness and calamity. The cult of the

pensive or meditating ruler accorded well with the

political use of Buddhism by the Soga clan headed

by Emperor Yomeiax and his son, Sh?toku Taishi. The preponderance of ssu-wei images in early Japanese sculpture suggests an early identification

between members of the ruling Soga clan and this icon comparable to that found under the Kao rulers of the Northern Ch'i dynasty. Given the regal symbolism of the ssu-wei figure in China and Korea, the importance of the latter in the transmission of

Buddhism to Japan, and the close affiliation between the cult of Sh?toku Taishi and the pensive figure, it is likely that the six ssu-wei images commissioned

by Sh?toku Taishi and his followers were intended to symbolize the righteousness of their rule.

Direct contact between China and Japan in the

early seventh century resulted in the introduction of contemporaneous forms of Buddhism and its

imagery. As a result, the ssu-wei figure, which had

earlier been discarded in China, also disappeared in

the Buddhist art of Korea and Japan; this figure was

replaced by icons popular in T'ang China.



Chinese Characters

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Notes

i. Matsubara Sabur?, Zotei Ch?goku Bukkyb Chokokushi

Kenky? (Tokyo, 1969), pp. 129-149 (hereafter: Ch?goku); Rei

Sasaguchi, The Image of the Contemplating Bodhisattva in Chinese

Buddhist Sculpture, unpublished dissertation, Harvard University,

1975 (hereafter: Image); Yu-min Lee, The Maitreya Cult and Its

Art in Early China, unpublished dissertation, Ohio State Uni

versity, 1983; Tamura Encho et. al., Hanka Shiyuz? no

Kenky?

(Tokyo, 1985). 2. For additional examples of ssu-wei images see Matsubara,

Ch?goku, pis. 89, 118, 136, 140a, 141, 145-148.

3. For Gandhara see Harold Ingholt, Gandharan Art in the

Pakistan Museum (New York, 1947), figs. 225, 257, and Alfred

Foucher, L}Art greco-bouddhique du Gandhara (Paris, 1905), vol. 1,

figs. 76, 77; for Mathura see Martin Lerner, The Flame and the

Lotus (New York, 1984), pp. 30-35.

4- Ch?goku Sekkutsu: Kizil, 2 vols. (Tokyo, 1983), pis. 87, 88.

Also called Kuppelraum, portions of the murals from this cave

are now exhibited in the Museum f?r Indisches Kunst, Berlin.

5. Mizuno Seiichi, Ch?goku no Bukkyb Bijutsu (Tokyo, 1968), p. 25.

6. For Tun-huang see Tbnko Sekkutsu (Kyoto, 1982), pis. 3,

7, 12; for Yun-kang see Mizuno Seiichi and Nagahiro Toshio,

Unko, 50 vols. (Tokyo, 1951); for northern China see Matsubara,

Ch?goku, pis. 11, 25, 50, 59, and Matsubara Saburo, Hokugi D?z? Kannon Bosatsu Ritsuzo, Bijutsu Keny?m (March 1980):

25-38.

7. For Lung-men see Mizuno Seiichi and Nagahiro Toshio,

Ry?mon Sekkutsu (Tokyo, 1941), pis. 43, 52; for Min-ch'ih, Yu

Chien-hua and Yu Hsi-ning, Min-ch'ih Hung-ch'ing Ssu Shi

ku, Wen Wu no. 4 (1956): 46-49.

35



8. Matsubara, Ch?goku, pi. 89.

9. Yang Po-ta, Ch'u-yang Hsiu-te Ssu Ch'u-t'u Chi Nien

Tsao-hsiang Te I-shu Feng-ke Yu Te Cheng, K'u-kung Po-wu

yuan Yuan-k'an 2 (i960): 43-60 (hereafter, Ch'u-yang); Cheng

Jizhong, Hopei Kao-ch'eng Hsien Fa-hsien I-pei Pei Ch'i Shih

Tsao-hsiang, K'ao-Ku 3 (1980): 242-245; Hopei Lin-chang Hsien

Wen-wu Bao Kuan Suo, Honan Yeh-nan Ch'eng Fu-chi? Ch'u

tu Bei-chao Shih Tsao-hsiang, Wen Wu 9 (1980): 65-69. 10. Akiyama Terakazu and Matsubara Sabur?, Arts of China

(trans. Alexander C. Soper) (Tokyo and Palo Alto, 1968), vol. 2, p. 268.

11. Ibid, p. 268.

12. Yang, Ch'u-yang, fig. 26; Matsubara, Ch?goku, pis. 146b,

148, 193.

13. Akiyama and Matsubara, Arts of China, p. 268.

14. Han Shu, Chap. 56; Tsukamoto Zenryu, A History of Early Chinese Buddhism (trans. Leon Hurvitz) (Tokyo and Palo Alto,

1985), vol. 1, p. 88.

15. Mochizuki, S., Bukky? Daijiten (Tokyo, 1922) vol. 3, pp.

2198-2199; Sasaguchi, Image, pp. 13-21.

16. Yang, Ch'u-yang, pp. 50-51.

17. Christine M.E. Guth, The Pensive Prince of Ch?g?ji, in

Alan Sponberg and Helen Hardacre, Maitreya, The Future Buddha

(Cambridge, 1988), pp. 191-213.

18. Mizuno, Ch?goku, p. 246; Sasaguchi, Image, pp. 108-109.

19. Sasaguchi, op. cit., p. 48; Rosenfeld's comments are

recorded as part of a discussion in the International Symposium on the Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Properties (Tokyo,

1982), p. 275. 20. Matsubara, Ch?goku, p. 145.

21. Taish? Shinshu Daiz?ky?, 100 vols. (Tokyo, 1924-1932), vol.d 14, no. 440 (hereafter: Taish?).

22. Bodhiruci's biography is recorded in the Hsu Kao-seng

Chuan, in Taish? vol. 50, no. 2060, pp. 428-429; Ratnamati's

biography is unrecorded. For their work see Ono Gemmy?,

Bukky? no Bijutsu to Rekishi (Tokyo, 1937), p. 176. 23. For the Dasabhumtkas?tra-S?stra see Taish? vol. 26, no. 1522.

In this article, a sutra is cited by its Sanskrit title if one exists.

Otherwise, the Chinese title is given. For the Dasabhumtka S?tra

see ibid., vol. 10, nos. 285-287; for a translation, Johannes

Radher, Dasabhum?kas?tra (Leuven, 1922).

24. Francis H. Cook, Hua-yen Buddhism (Philadelphia, 1981), Dasabhumtka S?tra, pp. 21 ff.; Dasabhum?kas?tra Sastra, p. 31.

25. David Chappell, Tao-ch'o (562-645): A Pioneer of Chinese

Pure Land Buddhism, unpublished dissertation, Yale

University, 1976, p. 232; William Edward Soothhill and Lewis

Hodous, A Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms (London, 1937),

P-343 26. See Matsubara, Hokugi D?z? Kannon Bosatsu Ritsuz?,

plates. 27. I am indebted to Lee, The Maitreya Cult and Its Art in Early

China, pp. 320-321 for an identification of these figures. See pp.

319-322 for a slightly different explanation of the iconography

of this altarpiece. 28. For example,

an important and attractive altarpiece can

be dated to the early Northern Ch'i in the Cleveland Museum

of Art (Worcester R. Warner Collection, accession no. 17.320)

published in Matsubara, Ch?goku, pp. 135-136.

29. In the imagery of Pure Land Buddhism the reborn souls

of the faithful are often seated on rising buds in a lotus pond

located in the Western Paradise; see Joji Okazaki, Pure Land

Buddhist Painting (trans., adapted Elizabeth ten Grotenhuis)

(New York, 1977), figs. 21, 22, 34-41, 45.

30. For a quick overview of the political and historical events

in north and south China during this period see Leon Wieger,

Textes Historiques (Hsien-hsien, 1929), vol. 2, pp. 1177-1259.

31. For a good overview of the literature on this subject see

Erik Z?rcher, Prince Moonlight, Messianism and Eschatology in Early Medieval Buddhism, T'oung Pao 68 (1982): 1-59.

32. David W. Chappell, Early Forebodings of the Death of

Buddhism, Numen 27 (1980): 147.

33. David W. Chappell, Chinese Buddhist Interpretations of

the Pure Lands, in Michael Saso and David W. Chappell (eds.), Buddhist and Taoist Studies (Honolulu, 1977), pp. 26-32.

34. Taish?, vol. 26, no. 1524. For a brief discussion of this event

see Roger J. Corless, T'an-luan: Taoist Sage and Buddhist

Bodhisattva, in David R. Chappell (ed.), Buddhist and Taoist Practice in Medieval Chinese Society (Honolulu, 1987), pp. 36-45.

Corless suggests that the meeting between Bodhiruci and T'an

luan was an apocryphal embellishment to the latter's

hagiography. Nonetheless, Bodhiruci's interests in the pure lands is well established, and, as will be seen later, the

iconographie changes in Chinese Buddhist sculpture in the

second half of the sixth century attest to the growing

importance of the cult of Amit?bha Buddha during this period.

35. Hsiao Ching-fen, The Life and Teachings of T'an-luan,

unpublished dissertation, Princeton Theological Seminary,

1967, pp. 80 ff.

36. Tsukamoto Zenry?, Shina Bukky?shi Kenky?: Hokugihen

(Tokyo, 1942), p. 380.

37. Yang, Ch'u-yang, figs. 37, 41, 42, 45, 51. An additional

image of paired ssu-wei figures, dated 565 in the collection of

the Freer Gallery of Art (accession number 13.27) is published in Matsubara, Ch?goku, page. 134.

38. Narendraysas' biography is recorded in the Hsu Kao-seng

Chuan, Taish? vol. 50, no. 2060, p. 432a-b. For his influence on

the concept of mo-fa see Taish? vol. 12, no. 386; Chappell, Tao

cho, p. 162; and Kawakatsu Yoshio, A propos de la pens?e de

Huisi, Bulletin de l'?cole Fran?aise de l'Extr?me-Orient 699 (1981): 102. For his influence on the thought of Tao-ch'o see

Chappell,

Early Forebodings of the Death of Buddhism, p. 123.

39. Yang, Ch'u-yang, fig. 30.

40. Okazaki, Pure Land Buddhist Painting, pp. 94 ff.

41. Cheng, Hopei Kao-ch'eng Hsien Fa-hsien I'pei Bei-ch'i

Shih-tsao Hsiang, pp. 242-245 and plates at back. Ssu-wei

images are also associated with Indian images of Sukhavat?; see

John C. Huntington, A Gandharan Image of Amit?yus'

Sukhavat?, Instituto Oriental di Napoli, Annali 30 (1989): 651-672.

42. This date is found at the beginning of the badly damaged inscription on the altarpiece in the private collection. For the

Paris one see Osvald Siren, Chinese Sculpture from the Fourth

through the Fifth Centuries (London, 1925), vol. 3, pi. 252B.

43. J. Leroy Davidson, The Lotus Sutra in Chinese Art (New

Haven, 1954).

44. Gouriswar Bhattacharya, The Stupa as Maitreya's Em

blem, in Anna Libera Dellapiccola and Stephanie Zingol-ave

Lallement, The Stupa, Its Religious, Historical and Archaeological

Significance (Wiesbaden, 1980), pp. 100-112.

45. Matsubara, Ch?goku, pp. 129-148.

46. I am assuming that this is the basis for Matsubara's

identification of the prayteka-buddhas. Matsubara never states

his rationale.

47. Michael Sullivan and Dominique Darbois, The Cave

Temples of Mai Chi Shan (London, 1969), pis. 29 and 33; Lung men Shih Ku (Peking, 1981), pi. 113; Kojiro Tomita, A Chinese Bronze Buddha Group of 593 a.d. and Its Original Ar

rangement, Boston Museum Bulletin 43 (June, 1945): 19.

48. Edouard Chavannes, Six Monuments de Sculpture Bouddhique Chinoise (Bruxelles and Paris, 1910), p. 13.

49. This is seen in the Northern Wei cave-temples of Lung

men, where the standard triptych of the Yun-kang caves is

expanded to a group of five deities, and the various triads and

36



pentads are

distinguished from one another; see Mizuno and

Nagahiro, Ryumon Sekkutsu, pp. 13-26, 32-34, 40-56, 676-680.

The interest in using the composition of the interior of a cave

temple to distinguish varying Buddhas and their attendants

continues throughout the Northern Ch'i period. 50. Chappell, Chinese Buddhist Interpretations of the Pure

Lands, pp. 30 ff.

51. Peter N. Gregory, The Teaching of Men and Gods: The

Doctrinal and Social Basis of Lay Buddhist Practice in the Hua

yen Tradition, in Robert M. Gimello and Peter N. Gregory, Studies in Ch'an and Hua-yen (Honolulu, 1983), pp. 257 ff and p.

302 footnote 9; and Whalen W. Lai, The Earliest Folk Buddhist

Religion in China: T'i-wei Po-li Ching and its Historical

Significance, in David W. Chappell (ed.), Buddhist and Taoist

Practice, pp. n-35.

52. Taish?, vol. 14, nos. 474-476.

53. Emmy C. Bunker, The Spirit Kings in Sixth Century Chinese Buddhist Sculpture, Archives of the Chinese Art Society

of America 18 (1964): 6-37. The recently rediscovered cave

temples at Shui-yu Ssu are

published in Committee for the

Preservation of Archeological Monuments, City of Han-tan,

Han-tan Ku Shan Shui-yu Ssu Shih-k'u T'iao-ch'a Pao-kao, Wen Wu 4 (1987): 1-23.

54. Mizuno and Nagahiro, Ry?mon Sekkutsu, pi. 216; Akiyama and Matsubura, Arts of China, plate 125.

55. Chavannes, Six Monuments de Sculpture Bouddhique Chinoise,

p. 15.

56. Jennifer Holmgren, Seeds of Madness: A Portrait of Kao

Yang, First Emperor of the Northern Ch'i, 530-560 a.D., Papers on Far Eastern History 24 (September, 1981): 83-134; W. J. F.

Jenner, Memories of Loyang (Oxford, 1981), pp. 3-138.

57. The Wei Shu was the first dynastic history to discuss

Buddhism as an integral part of Chinese affairs. For a translation

of this section see Leon Hurvitz, Wei Shou's Treatise on Taoism

and Buddhism, in Mizuno and Nagahiro, Unko, vol. 16, pp. 22

103; see also Wieger, Textes Historiques, p. 1232.

58. Taish?, vol. 85 no. 2898. Makita Tairyo, K?w?

Kanzeonky? no Seiritsu, Bukky? Shigaku 2:(i) (February 1966): 121-126.

59. Taish?, vol. 17 nos. 721-722.

60. This stele is illustrated in an article on Chinese

calligraphy; see Lung Ch'ien, Chieh K'ai Lan T'ing Hsu T'ieh

Mi Hsin de Wai-i, Wen Wu 10 (1965): 8.

61. Taish?, vol. 17 no. 721, p. 323.

62. Yen Chuan-ying, The Double Tree Motif in Chinese

Buddhist Iconography, National Palace Museum Bulletin 14(5)

(November-December 1979): 1-14 and 14(6) (January-February

1980): 1-13.

63. Ibid., 14(5), p. 2-12; quotation from p. 2.

64. Ren?-Yvon L. d'Argenc?, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese

Sculpture (Tokyo, 1974), pp. 130-131.

65. Holmgren, Seeds of Madness, pp. 83-134. 66. Tamura Encho, The Influence of Silla Buddhism in Japan

During the Asuka-Hakuho Period, in Buddhist Culture in Korea

(Seoul, 1982), p. 77 and Table II; Jonathan Best, The Sosan

Triad: An Early Buddhist Relief Sculpture from Paekche, Archives of Asian Art 33 (1980): 89-108.

67. Kang Woo Bang, A Study on the Gilt Bronze Pensive

Image with Mountain Shaped Crown, (English pr?cis of Korean

text), Mis?l Charyo 22 (June 1978): 1-27; Kang, Gilt Bronze

Pensive Images with the Crown Combined with Sun and Moon

(English pr?cis of Korean text), Mis?l Charyo 30 (June 1982):

1-36. 68. Jennifer Holmgren, Empress Dowager Ling of the

Northern Wei and the T'o-pa Sinicization Question, Papers on

Far Eastern History 18 (September 1978): 125-126.

69. Yang, Ch'u-yang, figs. 13-25.

70. Jonathan Best, Diplomatic and Cultural Contacts

Between Paekche and China, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies

42(2) (1982): 463-467 71. Yang, Ch'u-yang, figs. 27, 28, 31-33, 36, 40-42, and 45.

72. For examples of early Japanese ssu-wei figures see A

Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Oriental Arts, Japan, Volume I (New

York, 1969), pis. 34, 73, 75, 76, 86.

73. Tamura et. al., Hanka Shiyuizo no Kenkyu, pp. 55-80 and

Joseph M. Kitagawa, The Career of Maitreya with Special Reference to Japan, History of Religions 42(2) (November 1981): 107-125.

74. Kitagawa, The Career of Maitreya with Special Ref

erence to Japan, p. 121; Tamura et al., Hanka Shiyuizo no

Kenkyu,

pp. 231-274.

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the ssu-wei figure in sixth-century a.d. chinese buddhist sculpture

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