The Cultural Heritage Of Buddhist Art

The Buddha’s of Bamiyan were carved into the side of a cliff in the Bamiyan valley. The Bamiyan valley in the Hazarajat region of Afghanistan is marked one of the famous landmarks to see. It’s a historical site because of the two great Buddha figures. Each Bamiyan Buddha was built in different time periods, the smaller one was built in 507 AD and the other larger Buddha was built in 554 AD. The statues represented the style of the Gandhara art. It was not until 2001 when Taliban destroyed the statues.

As Buddhism began to spread, the artwork began to show figurative images Buddhism art began to show gods, Buddha, bodhisattva’s history etc. Buddhism art expresses the lives of both history and mythical stories. Regarding the “The Wheel of Existence” in the Rubin Museum of art shows the development of Buddhism art. This art work

Since their destruction, the international community has risen up in protest, and endless discussions on its reconstruction have been hashed out as further studies are done on the remains. The interaction with religious ideology complicates and stigmatizes the situation, causing many discussions to go nowhere. The Bamiyan Buddhas hold significant cultural value, providing not only a religious sanctuary for many, but also by attracting travelers with their beauty. By leaving the niches empty, we risk the well-being of the Bamiyan Valley, as well as a loss of a key part of history. In restoring the Buddhas, the international community can also see it as a restoration of the Bamiyan Valley

The Kannon Bosatsu, or Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, is a carved wood statue of a Bodhisattva figure standing about two and one half to three meters tall. This statue shows a high level of detail on the Bodhisattva 's body, and is carved so smoothly that it could be mistaken for a stone carving. The show of skilled craftsmanship can be seen around the shoulders with the interaction of the cloth with the jewelry the Bodhisattva. The statue is placed on an ornate pedestal to cause the figurine to appear taller, giving it a feeling of authority, which contrasts with its calm, expressionless face. While the figure appears to be standing in a meditative state like the Buddha, the jewelry present all over the body of this figure distinguishes this figure as a Bodhisattva instead of a Buddha. In his book, The Story of Buddhism a Concise guide to Its History and Teachings, Donald S. Lopez Jr. establishes the importance of imagery in Buddhism. One major point he makes concerning the worship of Buddhist figures, is that the disciples of Buddhism not only believe that the figures are a mere representation of Buddha, but that the figures actually become and are animated by Buddha, an argument which seems to hold merit as truth.

These two seated Buddha represent the meaning and the embodiment of Buddha. Both of these sculptures convey Buddha and represent key aspects of Buddhism, but these two sculpture do not convey and represent the symbolism entirely of what Buddha is in other art pieces. Rock cut stone sculpture of Buddha is represented in a peaceful nature as he gives the first sermon, the sun, the lotus flower, the knot on his head, the elongated earlobes, the slightly closed eyes and cherubs up above are common symbols that represent Buddha. Where the Grand Buddha at Ling Shan is an 88 metre tall bronze statue, that stand upward, and has very little Buddha symbolism represented. He has the knot on his head, slightly closed eyes, standing on an opened lotus flower

Buddhism began to dominate Japanese culture during the Heian period from 794 C.E. to 1185 C.E. and affected both spiritual and political issues in Japan. For example, every time an emperor died during this period, the capital would have to move, as the people were superstitious. This period is also marked by Chinese influence with the adoption of Buddhism in Japan and ideally planned cities. The Head of the Buddha was made during the twelfth century and The Head of the Bodhisattva was made circa 1053 C.E. These two pieces fit into this time period stylistically, as they relate to Buddhist ideals during the Heian period. These sculptures demonstrate their nature through their subject matters, their location of display, their form, style,

Later we went in to the museum this is where we saw many artifacts of the Buddhist culture. These artifacts were from all different branches of Buddhism. We saw a depiction of Buddha in his last moments before he passed on to Nirvana and by this statue there were tiny marble like balls that apparently represent the merit achieved before they passed away. Then there were multiple statues of Buddha and the Bodhisattva and there were multiple art works done by many different Buddhist that the museum cycles through. Although this wasn’t a huge museum it provided with a lot of different material and information. Then at the end of the museum the guide told us a bit about Hsing Yun, the founder of the Fo Guang Shan Buddhist movement. This Buddhist

This book focuses on Buddhist art during the Qing dynasty in China. The author first gain interest in the topic through visiting Mongolia. The author believes that it is impossible to exclude the Qing court’s influence on Buddhist art. The book discusses how Buddhist art was part of the Qing court’s diplomacy. Berger implied in this book that Buddhist art was highly political and that its major usage was to promote Qing’s position as the head of multiple tribunal kingdoms, such as Mongolia or Tibet.

Fig. 1 Sakyamuni Buddha and Attendant Bodhisattvas, 1565. Korea, Choson dynasty (1392-1910). Hanging scroll, colors and gold on silk, 69.5 x 33cm.

The colonization of Asian countries carried a tremendous force that is still felt in contemporary time. Micheal Joo, an American-South Korean artist, uses this force in his work Headless. The piece of work is made up of about 20-30 headless buddha statues, in meditation with their legs in the single lotus position. All of the statues’ bodies are eerily similar, each a burnt-orange terra-cotta color and all having the exact same draping of robes that cover everything, but their feet, hands, and upper body. What differentiates them from each other, either than the variation of brown undertones, are the transplanted heads. The heads attached to each body are heads of iconic figures in Western media, like Wolverine and Alfred E. Neuman, the cover boy of the famous magazine “MAD.” To some, these heads juxtaposed with Buddha’s bodies show a clear message: Western media has become the new god.

Combining artists of different backgrounds and cultures, Intertwine displays work that collectively opens the audience to Buddhist philosophy. Because the narratives of each artist are diverse, the audience is invited to explore the transmission of Buddhist ideas through different contemporary perspectives. In doing so, the audience is

In conclusion, The First Sermon helps as further evidence and guidance towards fully understanding the history of Buddhist art. Although it does not display any particularly unique features, the piece of art serves to strengthen concepts of South Asian art as well as its uses in everyday

One day when I was wandering around Bowers Museum, I came across nine oversized paintings shown in an exhibition made entirely by one extraordinary 69-year-old Buddhist monk in Nepal named Shashi Dhoj Tulachan, a second generation thangka artist living. The practice of thangka art has been around for centuries and is carried out by highly trained monks for the purpose of teaching about Buddha and the tenets of the Buddhist religion. The paintings attracted me because they were so big and colourful that I had to spend quite some time to fully absorb the beauty of the art. They are not thangka paintings in the traditional sense. Thangkas are

The Dunhuang cave temples have preserved evidences of the intense religious, cultural, and artistic exchanges between the western regions and central China from the fourth to the fourteenth century. The discovery of manuscripts and paintings there in the early twentieth century has forced scholars to reconsider the history of Buddhism 's development in China. This panel brings together art historians and scholars working with manuscripts to shed light on the visual and textual representations of religious experiences in Dunhuang. By analyzing textual and visual materials from the Dunhuang cave temples, presenters in this panel will discuss various aspects of religious practices in Dunhuang ranging from dialogues between Buddhism and other religious traditions to issues and challenges within the Buddhist community in Dunhuang. Specific topics to be discussed include the appearance of Brahman ascetic figures and artistic shift in the portrait of Buddhas in Dunhuang caves spanning from Northern Wei to the transition between the late Sui and the early Tang, legal disputes within Dunhuang nunnery that shed light on the implementation of legal theories outlining procedures to handle conflicts between religious and secular law in Tang China, and institutions and their staff associated with the production of Buddhist manuscript in Dunhuang and beyond.

The Bamiyan Buddha in Afghanistan has been restored by 3D light projection technology by Xinyu Zhang’s work team. One Sunday night, in the moment when the giant Buddha was raised up after fourteen years of laying destroyed in front of around 200 locals, everyone was cheering up and gazing over the Buddhas, as the Bamiyan can see their hope again.