The Elements Of Buddhist Art

Our lives are closely connected with an art. People easily regard an artwork as something that is far from our lives, but it is always around us. Now, I would like to introduce one of Buddhist artworks of Korea. The title is Pensive Bodhisattva. The artist is unknown. However, it was made in mid-7th century during the Three Kingdom Period. The dimension of this artwork is 8 7/8-inch and the medium is gilt bronze. It is located in Gallery 233 among other Korean artworks at the Metropolitan Museum of Art now.

In comparing The Tibetan Mandala and the Navajo Sand painting the sand drawings are from different cultures, yet their purpose is the same. A better understanding and appreciation comes with looking at these works.

Beauty is an incredibly subjective thing; what might seem appealing to one’s eyes may be horrendously ugly in the eyes of another. However, the status of “beautiful” or “ugly” can be assigned rather objectively when art is examined from the perspectives of different philosophies. The beliefs and values of different philosophies can be used to find meaning and beauty in various art forms, allowing for a more straightforward determination of beauty. Because of the many layers of meaning most paintings entail, they are a perfect example of an art form that can be analyzed by numerous philosophical viewpoints to find meaning and beauty, and Ma Yuan’s painting Walking on a Mountain Path in Spring, which comes from the Song dynasty of Chinese and depicts a sole figure standing in a natural surrounding, is no exception. Ma Yuan’s painting is beautiful because it represents the ultimate achievements for the Buddhist, Daoist, and Confucian philosophies.

The distance required to convert to Buddhism was greatly decreased and this allowed for more people to join. This greatly appealed to the diverse peoples outside of India. One way that Buddhism spread throughout the world was along the Silk Roads. “In addition to silk traders, monks traveled along Afro-Eurasian trade arteries to spread the word of new religions.2 Buddhism traveled from India to China and central Asia, following the Silk Roads. The transmission of the ideas of Buddhism to China and other eastward areas was aided by translated Buddhist texts and converts. A Buddhist Manuscript of the Great Dagoba (Doc A) exemplifies the way that these ideas were transmitted in the early days of Buddhism. This document suggests that monasteries and stupas, a mound-like or hemispherical structure containing Buddhist relics3, played a major role in the spread of Buddhism in the east Asia because of the creation of texts such as these. Art found from the central area of India is called Mathuran art. This Mathuran art evolved from the carved idols of South Asian folk gods and goddesses. Another example of the importance of temples to Buddhism is shown on an Indian Temple relief. The relief describes the propitious alignment of the heavenly bodies on the day that the temple was founded. This is important because it means that the native peoples

Introduced by a mission from Korea in 552 C.E., Buddhism has long been a central theme in Japanese artwork. Since the king of Paekche, a kingdom in the South East of the Korean peninsula, first gave the Japanese emperor a bronze Buddha statue, the Buddhist art forms that were periodically introduced from China and Korea were tempered in the crucible of local custom and usage, to yield a rich tradition of religious art.

I chose to do my research paper on the colorful and extraordinarily detailed mural titled “Dhrtarastra (Dharma King of the East Direction) with 16 Attendants” by Shashi Dhoj Tulachand. Shashi is also known as Guru Nawang Chhogyall Tenzin is a 69 year- old spiritual leader of the Chhairo gompa, a branch of Tibetan Buddhism from Tuksche, a remote village located in Mustang, Nepal's northernmost district, adjacent to Tibet. He is a master in Buddhist thangka painting who is committed to re-establishing the lost teaching tradition of Chhairo gompa. Shashi comes from a long line of Buddhist artists, his father Kamal Dhoj Tulachan, and grandfather were responsible for many wall paintings and statues to be found in gompas, chortens and private household shrines in the villages of the Thak Kola and the upper Kali Gandaki area.

The legal, cultural, and structural developments during the Roman Empire (753 BCE- 476 CE) have had an effect on Western civilization. Influenced by the ideals of the ancient Greeks, the empire lived through many worldwide transformations that changed the way in which emperors governed and ruled the Roman people, and these adaptations can be seen in the style of artwork in each Roman reign. One of the most notable changes in art style is in the Late Empire Period, during the third and fourth centuries, where the change in government, from imperial rule to the tetrarchy, led artists to focus on the message of the piece rather than the individual represented, and become more abstract and geometric rather than classical and individualistic.[footnoteRef:1] Another notable period of change was under Constantine I, who overthrew the tetrarchy, and was the first Roman emperor to embrace Christianity. [1: Marilyn Stokstad and Michael W. Cothren, Art History. 4th ed., Vol 1 (London: Laurence King Publishing, 2011), 207.]

“Hellenistic and Roman art may have even influenced the portrayal of the Buddha” (Clark, n.pgs). Initially the Buddha was only represented symbolically, not with a human image. A new Greek influenced anthropomorphic image of the Buddha may have been designed to reflect the human aspects of his life and

The group of objects chosen for this paper comes from the collection of the Saint Louis Art Museum. The title of both pieces is called Seated Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara (Guanyin). Both these pieces which are statues were sculpted in china. The earliest statue was made during the Tang dynasty. While, the later statue was made during the Northern Song dynasty. These statues were chosen because the same deity is depicted and were made in a similar geographic and cultural location. This allows for the comparison of the different styles between the 2 periods. The statue made during the Northern Song dynasty depicts the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara sitting in a pose called the relaxed pose or easy pose. This statue also depicts the Bodhisattva adorned in lavish silk garments while a jeweled crown sits atop his head. The statue is carved from wood and painted with gesso, pigments, and gilding. The statue made during the Tang Dynasty depicts the Bodhisattva sitting in the easy pose as well. It also depicts the Bodhisattva in flowing robes while wearing a string of jewels.

based on the style of stone statues. The figures of Buddhist art of Sui Dynasty have broader

This artist mostly works with sculptures and statues that are religious based from legends and myths. Gandhara uses stone to be showing more of a the story and history of the piece, he is not doing it to show personal art work but rather to show his take from the stories and legends. Gandhara art is in the style of Buddhist visual art that developed in what is now the northwestern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan between the first century BCE. and the seventh century century BCE (The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica).The first textual mention of historical Gandhara was in the region, which lies in the northwest of Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan, during the ninth century BCE (Art of Gandhara).

In Yukio Lippits’ article, he begins by depicting the typical Goryeo Korean Buddhist art during this time-period. Primarily identified through hanging scrolls, this art is conveyed and studied through “Pure Land subjects” and the work of “Water-Moon Avalokitesvara.” The framework that allowed for such a strength in artwork came from “the Goryeo court and its surrounding landscape of Buddhist institutions [that] served as a rich matrix for the production of Buddhist icons and ritual implements.”

The Iconography of Bodhisattva Buddhism is equally a philosophy and a religion that consists of a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices based on the Buddha’s life and teachings. Iconographic representations have depicted the life and teachings of Buddha that simply could not have been put into words. Buddhism followers heavily rely on the iconography of their divine figures in rituals. Artistic representations can be seen in temples and monasteries all over the world. However, the Bodhisattva specifically is seen prominently in Mahayana Buddhism.

From a style perspective, both the art of the Late Antique/Early Christian period in Rome and art from the Byzantine were very distinct in details and styles. The Roman empire and the Byzantine empire were both impacted by Christianity, which is their main religion. Roman art was mainly influenced by the Greeks, Egyptian, and Etruscan art, which can be seen in the history of Roman art. Unlike, the Byzantine favoriting glitter mosaic painting in the interior of a building, mosaic were very popular and hold a religious value towards the empire. The mosaic depicting "Christ as the Good Shepherd" from the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia in Ravenna with the other mosaics from San Vitale in Ravenna are excellent examples of the difference and similarities between Roman and Byzantine art. These images can also explain the representation of the natural world, difference in the art styles, and use of mosaics in church.

is filled with antiquities through the ages of Asian culture. Within the museum, in gallery one, the showroom is filled with ancient art from East India. Particularly, ancient art from Gandhara, strikes the audience immediately upon entry into the gallery. The Seated Buddha, dated approximately 300-500 CE, was found in the northwest area of modern day Pakistan within the Peshawar valley, once known as the ancient region of Gandhara. (Wall Label) Images of Buddha that have been found were all dated at least 500 years after the death of Buddha, who lived around 400 BC. Interestingly, the first few images of Buddha all have him shown in an enlightened state of being, seated in his lotus position, and wearing simple monk robes with one of his hands held at the chest while his fingers turning an invisible wheel “symbolizing setting in motion the “wheel of the doctrine” – that is, preaching.” (Wall Label) The Seated Buddha sculpture has Buddha sitting on a throne with a scene depicted on the bottom. The scene shows a princely figure in the middle with all his devotees surrounding him. This scene depicts the Gods urging Buddha to start his path towards enlightenment. The Seated Buddha was made with Schist, a form of dense stone that the region of Gandhara explicitly used for statues of Buddha and religious works of art.