A Portable Buddhist Shrine from Central Asia

A Portable Buddhist Shrine from Central AsiaAuthor(s): Phyllis GranoffSource: Archives of Asian Art, Vol. 22 (1968/1969), pp. 80-95Published by: University of Hawai'i Press for the Asia SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20111002 .

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80



A Portable Buddhist Shrine From Central Asia

Phyllis Granoff

Harvard University

Cambridge, Massachusetts

The portable Buddhist shrine in the Nelson Gallery (Fig. 1) is a remarkable land mark in the history of Central Asian Buddhist art. It is a triptych made of fine aromatic wood, 12% inches in height and 14 inches in width when fully opened;

originally it must have been polychromed, for traces of red and green are still visible. On

the reverse is a Tibetan inscription written in ink which reads by an chub sems [dpah] or

bodhisattva.

The central portion is dominated by a Buddha seated in vajr?sana and dby?na mudr? on a lion

throne. Beneath him are two bodbisattvas and a

lay devotee, forming an inverted triangle with

the layman at the bottom. To the left and right of the main image are four bodbisattvas in a

strict vertical arrangement. Note that the lowest

bodbisattvas are the largest, and that the others

decrease slightly in size in an ascending order.

Two apsaras bearing flowers hover about the

canopy over the central figure.

The side panels are each divided into three

sections. The uppermost register shows a seated

Buddha and two kneeling bodbisattvas in a?jali mudr?; the middle, two of the Four Deva Kings;

and the lowest, a four-armed ferocious figure. The shrine is well preserved, but the canopy over

the main image is a later addition, as are the

upper scarves of both bodbisattvas and the arms

of the innermost one in the top right-hand panel.

A strong feeling for geometric order permeates the organization of the shrine, which is divided

into precisely defined spatial cells occupied by figures placed frontally in a strict hieratic

scheme. Within this rigid framework, however, each figure appears possessed of a compelling forcefulness. Tense muscles and sturdy limbs

imbue the images with a sense of potential move

ment; their compact energy seems to express the

yogin's ability to harness his vital forces in all

their intensity and to direct them inward through the powers of his mental concentration.

Each figure, moreover, seems almost to detach

itself from the background from which it was

carved; in fact, the legs of the striding wrathful

figures are modeled completely in the round, as

are many of the arms of the bodbisattvas. Within

the lace-like structure, the interplay of light and

dark gives accent to the robustness of the small

torsos.

The high relief, so Indian in quality, is offset

by a fondness for purely decorative embellish ment which is more properly Iranian or perhaps Central Asian in tone. The delicately wrought details have a strong linear effect which contrasts

with the rounder execution of the figures. These

opposing formal principles have been brought into harmony, however, and imbue the object

with a rich variety of visual forms.

The shrine was purchased in New Delhi in 1944, and at that time was said to have come

from Nepal. No other information about its

provenance is available. This paper will propose the hypothesis that it was made between A.D.

850-950, somewhere along the northern route of

the Tarim Basin, most likely in the Turfan area, and that it is a mandola of the Eight Great

Bodbisattvas grouped around a central figure who

is probably S?kyamuni.

I. Portable Shrines

The Nelson Gallery shrine is but one of a

group of such objects, which have been found in northwest India, Central Asia, China, Korea, and

Japan, and which seem to have been used pri

marily for the private devotion of Buddhist pil grims or travellers. Most of them share certain

features which made them eminently suited to

this purpose. They are constructed of ivory, wood, or fine grained stone such as chlorite, are

small in size, easily carried, and can fold in on

themselves for protection.

81



Fig. 2. The Song Kwang-sa triptych. (Korea's Treasures, Ministry of Education,

Republic of Korea, 1959.)

Perhaps the most widely known examples of

this genre are now in Japan,1 and of these, the

so-called Makurabonzon in the Kong?buji atop Mt. K?ya is the most revered.2 Related to it is

the box-shaped shrine in the Fumon-in, a sub

temple of the Kong?bu-ji. Both depict the his torical Buddha attended by bodbisattvas and bhikshus; on stylistic grounds they seem to have

been executed in China in the early T'ang period.

They must have been products of workshops which produced such shrines according to a fairly

standardized iconographical pattern, for both are close in style to a sandalwood triptych now

in the Song Kwang-sa,a a temple near Sunchon, South Korea, and also said to have come from

China (Fig. 2).3 While examples are known to have come from

northwest India and Kashmir, the greatest num

ber of portable shrines have been found in central

Asia, and most of them seem to have originated there as well. They may thus be considered a

part of the larger stylistic context of Buddhist

art in the Tarim Basin, for they share many traits in common with sculpture in other media.

They aid us in gaining an idea of the date and

origin of the Kansas City work and will there

fore be considered below.

II. The Date and Origin of the Nelson Gallery Shrine

The closest parallels to the style of the Nelson

Gallery shrine are to be found in northeast

Turkestan, particularly among the stucco sculp tures from the Turfan complex which share the

highly distinctive physiognomy of the Nelson

Gallery bodbisattvas.

In general, the faces in the shrine are large and

round, and the tiny lips are closed in a slight smile. The noses are broad and flat, defined by line and only summary modelling. The eye

brows are absent, and both the upper and lower

eyelids are indicated by means of a set of incised

lines which curve slightly upward. In all cases, the upper lid is wider than the lower, and the

linear emphasis of the eye, coupled with its slight

upward tilt and the broadness of the bridge of the nose, gives the impression of Mongolian rather than Caucasian racial type.

A ninth to tenth century head from the

S?ngim Ravine, in the vicinity of Toyuk, is a

close reflection of the facial type of the Nelson

Gallery shrine (Fig. 3). The upper eyelid is

significantly wider than the lower, and both are

82



unequivocally delineated by a thin line which curves slightly upward. The lips are small in

comparison to the fleshy fullness of the face, and

the hair falls softly and naturally onto the fore

head in a smooth V-shape, reminiscent of the

treatment in the shrine. It is true that the

presence of both upper eyelid and eyebrow con

stitutes a noticeable difference between this head

and those on the Kansas City triptych; however, the delicate refinement of the features and the

sensitivity of the expression make it extremely close to the spirit of the Nelson Gallery figures.

The faces of the images on the side panels differ slightly from those described above. The small Buddha figures have wider eyes with an

upward curve, a high forehead, small mouth, and

round face. Fig. 4 is a striking parallel from

Chotscho, where close counterparts also exist for

the menacing expressions of the Four Deva Kings and the four-armed protectors.4

The stucco sculptures of the Turfan area may

provide close stylistic parallels to the Nelson Gal

lery shrine, but the fragments of wooden portable shrines found in that area do not. Some may differ in date or belong to divergent religious contexts, but in any event, the shrines were easily

transported and could well have travelled far

from their place of origin. Coming from Chot

scho is the central section of a conical shrine

brought back by Albert Von Le Coq and now in the Metropolitan Museum (Fig. 5) .5 The Buddha is of the type which developed at Mathur? dur

ing the Gupta period, and the nimbus with its

striking radical lines relates to those from B?zak

lik and the S?ngim Ravine.6

The fragment showing Kshitigarbha (Fig. 6), found in Chotscho, seems the direct counterpart of some of the bhikshus and bodbisattvas on such

shrines as the Makurahonzon or the one in Song

Kwang-sa (Fig. 2) which must be roughly contemporary.

Further west on the northern trade route, the

site of Karashahr has yielded a section of a

wooden shrine which is divided into three parts

showing a standing Buddha and attendant in the

top, the Dtpankara J?taka in the middle, and a

standing Buddha and adoring figure in Chinese dress in the lowest level (Fig. 7). The object has been dated to the seventh century, and is notable

for its emphasis on narrative scenes from the

legendary life of the Buddha.7

Fig. 3. Head of a Bodhisattva. from the S?ngim Ravine, 9th to 10 century. (Von Le Coq, Bild er atlas zur Kunst und Kulturgeschichte Mittel-Asiens, Berlin, 1925).

Fig. 4. Head of a Buddha, from Chotscho, 9th to 10th cen

tury. (Von Le Coq, Die Buddhistiche Sp?tantike Mittelasiens, I Die Plastik, Berlin, 1922-1933).

83



Fig. 6. Kshitigarbha, fragment from Chotscho. (Von Le Coq, Chotscho, Berlin, 1913).

Fig. 7. Wooden shrine from Kara

shahr. (Stein, Serindia, Ox

ford, 1921).

Fig. 5. Conical shrine from Chot scho.

Metropolitan Museum

of Art, New York.

Kuch? and neighboring sites also provide paral lels for the figurai style of the Nelson Gallery shrine. The wooden torso (Fig. 8), despite its

cruder execution, shares with the Kansas City

figures and particularly the central Buddha its

tense roundness of the shoulders and rigidity of

form. The Tatb?gata of the wooden shrine from

Dordor Akur (Fig. 9) and the Amit?bha and Avalokitesvara of another diptych from the

same site (Fig. 10) are likewise related to the

Nelson Gallery images in a generic fashion.

From Khotan along the southern route has come an important shrine, the remaining frag

ment of which shows a Buddha in the dharmaca

kra -mudr? and an attendant bodhisattva who

makes the abhaya mudr? with his right hand and holds a kundika in his left (Fig. 11). The formal arrangement, a trinitarian group of figures, is

that of the later Khadalik paintings and suggests that the fragment belongs to the mature phase

of Khotanese art of the seventh to eighth cen

turies. The small bronze bodhisattva from Sven Hedin's collection (Fig. 12) in its bodily propor

tions and style of dress resembles the bodbisattvas in the central section of the Nelson Gallery shrine.

From our discussion it should be clear that al

though the physiognomy of the Nelson Gallery images is closely reflected in stucco sculpture from the Turfan area, the particular figurai style was not confined to any single site, being found with variations from Kucha in the north to Khotan in the south. This suggests that the

sculpture of this area shared certain formal prin

ciples which are known to be of eastern Indian, P?la dynasty origin. The ultimate center of this

school was Bihar and Bengal, although local inno vations abound. In the service of the Tantric sects of both Hinduism and Buddhism with their demands for an enormous number of deities, the

84



Fig. 10. Diptych from Dor dor Akur. (Bukky? G ei jut su, 20, 1953).

Fig. 9- Wooden shrine from Dor dor Akur, Mus?e Guimet, Paris. (Courtesy, Professor John M. Rosenfield).

"?i m MMi , m hit*?-^bp^^

Fig. 8. Wooden torso from Kucha. (Von Le

Coq, Die Buddhis tic he . . ., op. cit.).

forerunner of the figurai style of the shrine, where, however, the obvious muscularity and

overbearing physical power of the Bengali work have become somewhat softened and harmonized

with a spirit of subtle grace.9 An image of Vasudh?ra dated A.D. 930 in its rapidly sloping

shoulders and static forcefulness resembles the central image of the triptych.10 Lastly, the tenth

century Vajrasattva from Sukhab?spur (Fig. 14) is an astonishing counterpart of the Vajrap?ni of the Nelson Gallery work in both pose and pro portions (Fig. 15).

If the figure style is Indian in nature, the ornamental details of the shrine are the most

typically Central Asian and eclectic elements.

Briefly, the uppermost decorative motif on the side panels is the Greek fret which found great favor in Sassanian Iran, and in India, in Kashmir and Sarn?th. The source for the pearl or bead

motif on the throne is probably Iran, although the structure of the dais belongs to India and occurs in Central Asia mainly in northeast

Turkestan.

style was characterized by a lack of individual distinction in small scale, almost anti-monumental

images, fine surface finish and a sense of nervous

energy. It came into focus in the ninth century A.D., but persisted long afterward in regions as

diverse as Java, Cambodia and Borneo, in addition to the sites thus far mentioned.

Numerous parallels to the Nelson Gallery shrine can be cited from amongst the bronze images of the Swat Valley, Kashmir and Bengal. The bronze seated figure of Vairocana from the Swat

Valley of the eighth or ninth century (Fig. 13), for example, shows strong resemblances to the central Buddha in its feeling of rigidity and repose, combined in its long chest tapering slight ly at the waist, in the large hands, ample legs and carefully defined feet. Examples from Kash

mir are the standing Vishnu and the ninth cen

tury Buddha in the Heeramaneck collection, and the famed image of Queen Didd?, dated in the tenth century.8

Among the more precisely dated Indian

bronzes, the Bengali image of Balar?ma dated in

the ninth year of Devap?la (A.D. 826) seems a

8J



Fig. 12. Bronze Bodhisattva from Khotan. Museum of

Far

Eastern Antiquities,

Stock

holm. (G. Montell, t(Sven

Hedin's Archeological Col lections from Khotan, II,"

Museum of

Far Eastern

Antiquities Bulletin 10,

1938).

Fig. 13. Bronze Vair o cana, from the

Swat Valley, 8th to 9th

century. Collection of Wait Sahib of Swat. (D. Barett, t(Bronzes from Northwest

India and Pakistan," Lalit

Kal?, April 1962, no. 11).

Fig. 11. Wooden shrine from Kho tan, National Museum of India, Delhi. (Photograph, courtesy Professor John M.

Ros en field).

Fig. 14. Vajrasattva, from Sukhab?spur, 10th century. Dacca Museum. (N. K. Bhattasali, Iconog

raphy of Buddhist and Brahmanical Sculp tures in the Dacca Museum, Dacca, 1929).

Fig. 15. Vajrap?ni, detail from the Nelson Gallery shrine. (Fig. 1).

86



The lotus under the central figure is similar to Indian and Kashmiri prototypes. Those under

the other figures show more imagination and

fantasy in their detailed depiction of the petals by means of incised lines radiating outward from

the oval center. They seem to be unique to

northeast Turkestan and are found in works from

the S?ngim Ravine and B?zaklik, where the Cen

tral Asian love of abstract design is combined

with the Chinese delight in representing floral motifs.

The last element of style useful in determining the approximate date of the Nelson Gallery shrine is the regular, ordered placement of fig ures. Despite the prevalence of hieratic composi tions in much earlier Indian art in Gandh?ra, such an entirely schematic mode of composition does not seem to have gained favor in Central

Asia until the later phases of its art in northeast

Turkestan and Tun Huang. The Avalokitesvara

from Tun Huang dated A.D. 971 (Fig. 16) is

extremely close to the disposition of figures in

the central portion of the shrine. In both cases, the larger central image of the m?ndala is the

main focus of attention, and the subordinate

bodbisattvas are carefully positioned in vertical rows on his right and left. Above the nimbus of

the main figure are a canopy and two apsaras, while donors are relegated to a position under

the throne.

In summary, the Nelson Gallery shrine shows close dependence in figurai style upon Indian

works of the ninth and tenth centuries, strong resemblances to the faces of stucco heads from

Turfan of roughly the same period, and orna

mental elements both native to northeast Turke stan and derived from the further west.

III. Iconography

Ideologically, the Nelson Gallery shrine is an

important example of esoteric Buddhist art and

belongs to a class of mandala-\ike images depict ing a central figure surrounded by eight bodbi sattvas. The identity of each figure in the shrine and the significance of the whole may be deduced

through a comparison with three closely related

works from Tun Huang, Wan Fo Hsia, and

Ellora (Fig. 17-20).

In the Tun Huang painting (Fig. 17) datable to ca. A.D. 950, and now in the British Museum, the main deity sits in va]r?sana and dhy?na mudr?

Fig. 16. Avalokitesvara from Tun-huang, dated A.D. 971.

(Stein, S er india).

on a lion throne. Below him is a lake, to the

right of which is a tiny adoring female figure. Eight bodbisattvas are arranged in two rows on

either side of the main figure; they may be num

bered as follows:

5 1 6 2 7 3 8 4

The painting is provided with Tibetan inscrip tions which are, unfortunately, badly abraded.

According to Matsumoto Eiichi, the inscriptions name the bodbisattvas, and four of them are

legible:11

2. Sarvaniv?ranavishkambh?

3. Samantabhadra 6. Kshitigarbha 7. Manjusr?

It appears now, however, that the reading of

Manjusr? for No. 7 is not correct. Professor

Nagatomi Masatoshi of Harvard University

87



found that this one reads spyan-ras-gzigs-dban

phyag or Avalokitesvara. Moreover, it is placed

slightly higher than the corresponding inscription on the left, and could conceivably refer to the

central figure. Be that as it may, bodhisattva No.

7 does carry a pustaka in the left hand, and con

forms to the standard representation of Manjusr? in the Garbhadh?tu M?ndala.

These bodbisattvas are four of the eight of the Ashtamah?-bodhisattva M?ndala as described in the Ashtamandalaka S?trah (Taish? 20) which

was translated into Chinese by Amoghavajra be

tween A.D. 746-771. Their attributes, however, do not agree precisely with the descriptions pro vided for them in that text. Matsumoto observes

that despite this discrepancy, the bodbisattvas in the Tun Huang painting resemble those of the

same name in the Garbhadh?tu M?ndala and the

Kong?kai-shichi-sh?f hence their inscriptions may be accepted. He relates the four bodbisattvas

whose inscriptions are illegible to the remaining four in the Ashtamandalaka S?tra. No. 1 is Avo

lokitesvara, No. 8 is ?k?sagarbha, and Nos. 4 and

5 are either Maitreya or Vajrap?ni.

The central figure in this Tun Huang -m?ndala

is problematical, even though the Ashtamanda

laka S?tra describes him as S?kyamuni. In the Wan Fo Hsia painting (see below) the central

figure is identified by inscription as Vairocana, and Amit?bha is known from Tibetan and Jap anese sources to be the central figure in the m?n

dala of the Eight Great Bodbisattvas^ It appears, then, that the main image varied according to

local circumstances; moreover, such ambiguity in the central figure will be shown later to be an

essential feature of the cult of eight bodbisattvas even in the early Mah?y?na texts in which they

appear.

Returning to the Tun Huang painting, Mat

sumoto identifies the central Buddha as Amit?bha

because of the Lotus Lake which suggests the

topography of the Western Paradise. But the

correct reading of inscription No. 7 provides the

additional possibility that the central figure is Avalokitesvara. Arthur Waley believed this and further stipulated that Avalokitesvara was simply

replacing Amit?bha at the center of the m?n

dala^ It is, of course, possible that the inscrip tion was added later, or that it is incorrect, but

in the absence of any more definite evidence, the

central figure may indeed be considered as

Avalokitesvara.

The mandola at Wan Fo Hsia appears in Cave

5 which bears a date of A.D. 901 (Figs. 18, 19). The Buddha in the center is identified by a Tibetan inscription as Vairocana, and he is sur

rounded by eight bodbisattvas, four on either side. Only the names Kshitigarbha and Manjusr? remain legible.14 The photographs are not suffi

cient to determine anything about the identity of the other figures beyond the fact that they are

probably the rest of the eight bodbisattvas of the Ashtamandalaka S?tra. The whole closely resem

bles a later development of the Ashtamah?bodhi sattva M?ndala, which is frequently encountered

in Japan, the Vik?rnoshn?sa (Sonsh?d) M?ndala.15 Its relationship to the Tun Huang painting will be discussed at the conclusion of this section.

The nine-square mandola at Ellora is in Cave

12 in a large compartment to the left of the main

shrine (Fig. 10). The figures may be identified as follows:

1. Kshitigarbha 4. Padmap?ni 6. Sarvaniv?ranavishkambhi

2. ?k?sagarbha

S?kyamuni 7. Avalokitesvara

( Samantabhadra ? ) 3. Maitreya 5. Vajrap?ni 8. Manjusr?

No. 1 holds a lotus in his right hand and sits in

ardhaparyank?sana. According to both the

Mah?vairocan?bhisambodhi S?tra and the Amo

ghap?sa S?tra, Kshitigarbha holds a lotus and is dressed in traditional bodhisattva garb.16 No. 2

holds a flaming sword on a lotus, which accord

ing to the Mah?vairocan?bhisambodhi S?tra, is the attribute of ?k?sagarbha. No. 3 has a lotus

in his left hand and bears a caitya in his crown. This is the symbol of Maitreya according to the Ashtamandalaka S?tra as well as numerous other

textual sources. No. 4 has a lotus in his left hand

and a small Buddha figure in his )atamukuta, indicating Padmap?ni. The next figure holds a

lotus upon which is placed a va)ra; it is clearly Vajrap?ni. No. 6 holds a flag, the attribute of Sarvaniv?ranavishkambhi in the Ashtamandalaka S?tra and the Taiz?kai Jiz?in. No. 7 has a lotus in his hand and a small Buddha in his jatamukuta,

88



Fig. 18. The Wan F o Hsia Vikirnoshnlsa M?ndala, detail.

Fig. 17. The Tun-huang Eight Bodhisattva M?ndala. British Museum, London.

" m i -l i 4M

Fig. 19. The Wan F o Hsia Vikirnoshnisa M?ndala, detail. (Langdon Warner, Buddhist Wall

Paintings: A Study of the Ninth Century Grotto at Wan F o Hsia, Cambridge, 1938).

Fig. 20. The Ashtamah?bodhisattva M?ndala at Ellora.

(R. S. G up te and B. D. Mahajan, A junta, Ellora, and Aurangabad Caves, Bombay,

1962).

89



indicating a form of Avalokitesvara. No. 8 bears a pustaka and is clearly Manjusr?.

Again the central figure is the most difficult to identify. Strictly speaking, the dhy?na mudr? could belong to any Tath?gata, and there is little to aid in the determination. I prefer S?kyamuni for several reasons. The first is the primacy given the historical Buddha in the Indian cave sites; not only is he the main object of worship in Cave 12 and the other Buddhist caves at Ellora, but also at Aurangabad and Ajant?. Second, Tucci's

research in Tibet, where Indian prototypes are

generally closely followed, reveals that one of the

main iconographical schemes of earlier Tibetan

temples involves S?kyamuni surrounded by the

eight bodbisattvas of the Ashtamandalaka S?tra.17 Third is the fact that S?kyamuni is the only Buddha mentioned in the text, and in the ab sence of any conflicting evidence, I feel that the

central figure of this mandola should be con

sidered the same.

In summary, the Ellora mandola is an Astama

habodhisattva Mandola with only one curious

deviation from the text, which is the appearance of Avalokitesvara in two forms and the absence

of Samantabhadra.

The central section of the Nelson Gallery shrine is similar to all the works explored above

in its emphasis upon a figure in dhy?na mudr? surrounded by the eight bodbisattvas. The two bodbisattvas beneath the throne, however, seem

to form a group apart from the others. They are

focusing their attention on the lay devotee who

kneels with his right knee raised and has his hands in the o?jali mudr?. The figure to the right has

his right hand on the head of the worshipper, and his left hand holds a ring, now partially de

stroyed. The other bodhisattva in both his out stretched arms holds a circular object, possibly a

gourd. It appears that these figures represent an

abhiseka or initiation ceremony, which was origi

nally modelled after the royal coronation rites, and was used in such proto-Mah?y?na texts as

the Mah?vastu to consecrate the historical

Buddha's final birth and accession to his princely rank. The ceremony later came to symbolize the

last stage in any man's path toward Enlighten ment, and finally, in the context of Esoteric Bud

dhism, was connected with initiation into the

secrets of the mandola.18 It is presumably with

this last significance that we find it here on the shrine. The hand on the head of the worshipper

is a traditional gesture of blessing, and the gourd is probably a water vessel used in baptism.

The eight bodbisattvas may be identified as

follows, reading from top to bottom and begin ning in the upper right:

1. Probably Kshitigarbha. Holds a lotus in left hand; right hand in Tath?gata-vandan?

mudr?. The attribute agrees with his de

scription in the Mah?vairocan?bhisambodhi S?tra and the Amoghap?sa S?tra.

2. Sarvanivaranavishkambh?. Right arm miss

ing; holds a flag in the left hand. This at tribute is given in both the Ashtamandalaka S?tra and his descriptions in the Viktrnosh ntsa and Amit?bha M?ndalas of the Bessonzakki.19

3. Probably Manjusr?. Holds an utpala in left hand; right arm bent at elbow with hand

resting on thigh; crown reduced and single tuft of hair is clearly visible. According to

the Ashtamandalaka S?tra, Ma?jusri is to be portrayed as a young child with five tufts of hair and no crown. Foucher notes

that in the absence of all other attributes

Manjusr? retains the utpala which is always his symbol. This is also the manner in

which Manjusr? is represented in the Taiz?zuz?.20e

4. Vajrap?ni. Holds vajra in right palm; left arm bent at elbow with hand on thigh.

This corresponds to his description in the Ashtamandalaka S?tra.

5. Maitreya. Holds a kundika on a lotus in

right hand; left in abhaya mudr?. This is his form in the Garbhadh?tu and Buddha locant M?ndalas.21

6. Samantabhadra. Holds sword in right hand; left arm bent at elbow with hand on

thigh. Samantabhadra is represented in the same manner in the Ashtamandalaka S?tra,

Taiz?zuz?, Vik?rnoshn?sa M?ndala and the Bessonzakki.22

7. Probably Avalokitesvara. Holds small

Buddha on lotus in right hand; left arm bent at elbow with hand on thigh. The Buddha figure is in monastic garb and makes the dhy?na mudr?. This suggests

90



that perhaps the Buddha is Amit?bha and the bodhisattva, thus, is Avalokitesvara.

Bhattacharya illustrates a standing Avalo

kitesvara holding an image of Amit?bha on a lotus, and he mentions that sometimes

the dhy?ni bodbisattvas are represented in different sitting attitudes, holding a plant stem on which is placed the crest of their

spiritual father.23 There is an example of

this in stone sculpture from the P?la dy

nasty and at Aurangabad Cave 2.24

8. ?k?sagarbha. Holds cint?mani in right

hand; left arm bent at elbow with hand on

thigh. The flaming jewel is associated with this bodhisattva in the Ashtamandalaka S?tra, the Amidaky?son and the Sonsh?

Mandara drawings of the Bessonzakki.25

The Four Deva Kings in the middle register at

the side panels are Vaisravana of the North hold

ing the st?pa in his right hand; beside him, Dhrtar?shtra of the East; and on the left, inside,

Vir?p?ksa of the West and Vir?dhaka of the South. All but Vir?dhaka appear in the same form in the Garbhadh?tu Mandola.

The four-armed protectors in the bottom regis ter resemble most closely a class of guardian

figures which are forms of Vajrap?ni and which appear in numerous Tun Huang paintings of the

Tantric manifestations of Avalokitesvara. Ac

cording to Matsumoto Eiichi, the names Kat?

kong? and Hekidokukong?f sometimes appear next to these figures, but their attributes vary

considerably, and they do not seem to have had a very substantial symbolic or religious function.26

The identification of the two side Buddhas offers severe problems. A prototype of these may be the small Buddhas which occur frequently in

Gandh?ran stele such as Fig. 21, which probably

depicts an assemblage of figures listening to

S?kyamuni preaching the Law of the Great

Vehicle.27 Their role must have been to demon

strate symbolically the important Mah?y?na Buddhist conception that the Law is preached by a Tath?gata in many Buddha realms at any given

moment of the present, past, or future.

The Nelson Gallery shrine has an arrangement

analogous to these stele in so much as it shows a

seated Buddha in the center of an assembly of

subordinate figures, and in the upper left and

right hand corners two additional Tath?gatas. Small Buddhas of this kind appear often in later Buddhist art, as for example in the representation

Fig. 21. Gandh?ran stele from Loriy?n Tan gai. Cal cutta Museum.

of Vairocana at Ellora Cave 10, the litany of

Avalokitesvara from Aurangabad Cave 17, and

P?la stele of scenes from the life of S?kyamuni.28

Lacking epigraphic evidence, the exact iden

tity of these secondary images is not immediately

clear; however, in Tibetan sculptural representa tions of the Ashtomah?bodhisottva M?ndalo the two smaller Buddhas have been identified as the

Tath?gatas of the past and future, D?pankara and Maitreya. Tucci, moreover, gives strong reason to believe that the Buddhas of the Three

Times flanked by the eight bodhisattvas was a common scheme. It occurred at Dolma Lhakang,

Depung, and numerous other sites.29 This would

appear to be the most reasonable hypothesis, ex

plaining the two side Buddhas on the Nelson

Gallery shrine as bearing witness to the eternal

truth of the m?ndala.

91



The identity of the central figure remains the most ambiguous aspect of the entire shrine. We

have seen how the central figures in the man

dolas from Ellora, Wan Fo Hsia, and Tun Huang are all in the same mudr? and ?sana and yet are

identified as different deities. There is only one small bit of evidence which, if it is icono

graphically significant, might aid in the determi

nation of the central image of our shrine. This is

the elephant which is at the center of the throne.

The elephant can be associated with either S?kya muni, Akshobhya or Samantabhadra. I am not

aware, however, of any other mandola of this

type with Akshobhya at the center, or of any text

describing the eight bodbisattvas and that Buddha. Samantabhadra, it is true, is a real possibility, and

if the inscription identifying the main figure on the Tun Huang painting as Avalokitesvara is ac

cepted, then a precedent does exist for having a

bodhisattva replace the original Tath?gata. De

spite this, in the absence of any more convincing

evidence, I would tend to support the identifica

tion of the central figure in this shrine as S?kya

muni, who is after all the protagonist of the

Ashtamandalaka S?tra upon which this mandola

was presumably constructed.

In the conclusion of this section, I should like

to comment upon the variations we have noticed

in the Eight Bodhisattva Mandola, and the rela

tionship of the different forms to each other.

It seems possible to conclude that in the case of

the Tun Huang painting if the central figure is

Avalokitesvara, he is, as Waley stated, simply re

placing Amit?bha. Furthermore, there is historical

evidence that Amit?bha could replace Vairocana:

Snellgrove's findings at Tab?, for example, an

eleventh century temple in Tibet, and the de

velopment of a sect of Mantray?na devoted to

Amit?bha in twelfth century Japan.30

Regarding the relationship between the Vairo

cana-centered mandola at Wan Fo Hsia and the

S?kyamuni-centered mandolas at Ellora and on

the Nelson Gallery shrine, the Asabash?, a thir

teenth century work of the Japanese Tendai sect,

has an interesting passage in which it is stated

that Vik?rnoshn?sa is none other than Vairocana,

who, in turn is S?kyamuni.31 The eight ushntsa

are said to be the eight bodbisattvas in another

guise. The essence of this statement is that the

Vik?rnoshn?sa Mandola is nothing but a variant

form of the Ashtamah?bodhisattva M?ndala. Un

doubtedly it is a later elaboration in which the

historical Buddha has been idealized into Vairo cana, and Vairocana has been transfigured into

Vik?rnoshn?sa.

In summary, then, all of the mandolas dis

cussed are variations on the basic form of the

Eight Bodhisattva Mandola of the Ashtamanda laka S?tra.

IV. The Cult of Eight Bodbisattvas

The widespread occurrence of this type of

m?ndala from Ellora to Wan Fo Hsia is indicative of the importance of its worship, the goals of

which are defined in the Ashtamandalaka S?tra. The text clearly states that the mantras and

mandolas of the eight bodhisattvas are effective

in securing fulfillment of one's wishes, absolu

tion from crime, and protection from other ills; the aims of the cult are basically mundane. Simi

lar worldly ends are also served by the Vik?rnosh

n?sa Mandola. This point is particularly im

portant, as it is as providers and protectors that a

group of eight bodhisattvas first appears in early Mah?y?na literature.

One of the oldest texts in which eight bodhi sattvas are named is the Bussetsu-hachi-kichij?

jin-ky?g (Taish? 427), first translated into Chi nese by the Yiieh Chih monk, Chih Ch'ien in the third century A.D. In this brief s?tra, the eight Buddhas and the eight Buddha-lands protected by the Four Deva Kings are described. In the

concluding passages, eight bodhisattvas led by Bhadrap?la appear and vow to aid all beings on

the path to Buddhahood, saying that they will

support the needy in times of illness, and at the

moment of death they will rush to meet the de

parting devotee.

There are several striking features about this text. The first is that these eight bodhisattvas, like the different eight in the Astamandalaka

S?tra, are closely associated with securing mun

dane benefits for the faithful. The second point concerns their relationship to the eight Buddhas,

eight Buddha-lands and the Four Deva Kings. In the text it is explicitly stated that reciting the

names of either bodhisattvas, Buddhas, or Buddha lands will produce the same result, and that the

Four Deva Kings participate equally in protect

ing the worshipper. This leads one to believe that

the power of the eight bodhisattvas lies not within their identity as one or another bodhi

sattva, but is more related to a general concep tion of the efficacy of a group of four or eight

92



within the samgha and disorder will reign amongst the texts. The eight bodhisattvas step forward and vow to protect the Law which ex

plains the meditation on Amit?bha.

This is in perfect agreement with the function

of the eight bodhisattvas in the first text treated except that the protection offered is not for the

direct personal benefit of the worshipper, but for the Law with its seemingly greater spiritual em

phasis. In the eighth chapter of the text, the

Y?go-bon,2 however, the benefits of the sam?dhi are explained as including immunity from poi son, exemption from battle, freedom from disease

and theft, and the protection of the Four Deva

Kings. The material gains promised in the other

s?tra as a gift of the eight bodhisattvas are here

portrayed as a by-product of the meditation

practice they vow to protect.

In passing, it might also be remarked that at

the end of the Y?go-bon is a depiction of the horrors of an age when famine prevails and

countries fight one against the other; thievery is

rampant and the End of the Law draws near.

This poetic section provides a clue as to the cir

cumstances under which the text was composed ?a time of general strife and social decay. This

might help to explain why in the Hanjusammai

ky? so much emphasis has been placed upon the

eight bodhisattvas as protectors, and why their

concerns are so basically mundane.

These two early texts, then, suggest the fol

lowing: 1) that the worship of eight protective bodhisattvas has its beginning in the earliest phase of Mah?y?na literature; 2) that their efficacy is related to more general conceptions of directional

and astrological symbolism which allowed the

group to maintain its function despite its ready

adaptation to changing local forms of worship; 3 ) that at least in some particular instances his

torical circumstances?internal instability and

warfare?seem to have favored the rise and ac

ceptance of the eight bodhisattva cult.

In addition, the central Buddhas in these two

s?tras differ from each other. Variation in the

identity of the main deity has been repeatedly noted as a prominent characteristic of the late

Ashtamah?bodhisattva Mandola as well.

All of the major elements of the Eight Great Bodhisattva Mandola then, can be found within these two early texts, and it would appear that

sometime in the seventh or eighth centuries the

beings as protectors. The reason for their po

tency seems, moreover, to be connected with

the directional or astronomical symbolism of

quadruples.

Later texts in describing the construction of

mandolas invariably assign each of the eight di

vinities in the outer circle to a particular quad rant. This lends support to the notion that the

protecting function of a group of eight is inti

mately tied with its placement at the cardinal

and intermediate points of the compass. More

specifically, the Pancakrama, a Tantric manual

of yoga attributed to N?garjuna, orients the

eight bodhisattvas of the Ashtamandalaka S?tra

according to the compass. The Asabash? in its

description of the Amit?bha Mandola places each bodhisattva at one of the four cardinal and inter

mediate directions. The Hevajra Tantra contains

invocations to the eight planets and the eight

points of the compass which are associated with

offerings made "so that the lives of beings might be protected from obstacles and troubles."32 In

the same text is the amusing statement:

"Then there are ?li, k?li, sun and moon, the sixteen phases, sixty-four periods, the

thirty-two hours, and the four watches. So

everything goes in fours."33

The final distinguishing feature of this s?tra is its connection with Pure Land beliefs in the al

lusions to rebirth upon a lotus and the descent of a heavenly retinue to meet the dying worshipper.

Nowhere in the text, however, does the name

Amit?bha appear.

The Pratyutpanna-sam?dhi S?tra or Hanju

sammai-ky?h (Taish? 417, 418) is related to the above text in the doctrines of rebirth in Paradise

and eight bodhisattvas as protecting deities. It was composed possibly even earlier, and the first

Chinese translation is either the one done by the

Y?eh Chih monk Lokakshema in A.D. 179 or that done by an unknown translator and entitled

Bhadrap?la Bodhisattva S?tra.

The main tenet of the Hanjusammai-ky? is a

meditation technique enabling the yogin to

visualize Amit?bha. Early in the text the same

eight bodhisattvas which appear in the Bussetsu

hachi-kichij?-jin-ky? assemble from different

parts of India to hear the recitation of the Law.

It is not until the Juketsu-bonx of the second

volume that their function is described. The pre diction is made that five hundred years after the

Parinirv?na of S?kyamuni, laxity will prevail

93



practice of conceiving objects of worship in the

form of a mandola was imposed upon the far more ancient custom of invoking eight bodhi

sattvas in times of trouble. During this period, when Esoteric Buddhist teachings were spreading

throughout Buddhist India, it seems that a text

like the Pratyutpanna-sam?dhi S?tra, with its doctrine of visualizing the deity upon whom one

meditates, was simply transformed into a new

guise, stressing the m?ndala as an object of medi

tation and ritual.

In the time intervening between the earliest

known appearance of eight bodhisattvas and the

composition of the Ashtamandalaka S?tra, groups of eight bodhisattvas continued to be worshipped as protectors, although their individual members

changed. The Bhaishyajaguru S?tra (Taish? 451), for example, translated in the Eastern Chin

dynasty, clearly indicates this continuity of be

lief. The eight bodhisattvas in this text will serve as protective deities and guides to the

Buddha's Paradise.

Later, the fully developed Esoteric text, the

Dai-my?-kong?-ky?k (Taish? 965) has an in

teresting statement about the eight bodhisattvas

of the Ashtamandalaka S?tra. It maintains that

from the eight bodhisattvas emerge the eight fierce guardians or My?-?, and shows the trans

lation into full Esoteric Buddhist terms of the ancient belief in the efficacy of eight figures as

protectors of the Law.

In closing, a few words might be added about

the evidence of the popularity of the particular

eight bodhisattvas of the Ashtamandalaka S?tra. In India traces of their worship are to be seen at

Ellora. Cave 12, which contains the Ashtamah?

bodhisattva M?ndala (Fig. 20), also has groups of eight large bodhisattvas flanking an image of

S?kyamuni on both the first and third storeys.34 From Naland? comes a small st?pa found in the

Devap?la stratum of the monastery remains, and

bearing the eight bodhisattvas at the corners of

the rectangular base.35

From Nepal is an interesting reliquary dis

cussed by J. L. Moens which he believes is a sym bolic representation of the eight bodhisattvas of

the Ashtamandalaka S?tra.36 There are also nu

merous Nepalese paintings of the same subject which show a wide variety in the identity of the central image.37

The existence of the Eight Great Bodhisattva M?ndala in Tibetan painting and sculpture has

been mentioned above, and in Java the Candi

Mendut, an early ninth century temple, shows

the eight bodhisattvas grouped around S?kya muni. At the Plaosan, of a slightly later date, can be found the same iconographical scheme.

Reference has already been made to the many

iconographical studies of the group in Japan.

In conclusion, the small wooden shrine in the

Nelson Gallery dates probably from A.D. 850

950, and may well come from the Turfan region. It is but one link in the long development of a cult of eight bodhisattvas, and but one example of the Ashtamah?bodhisattva M?ndala which

spread from India to the farthest limits of Bud

dhist Asia.

NOTES

1. A list of the major examples can be found in an article by Watanabe Hajime, "On the Small Wooden Niche Carved with

Buddha Images in the Chiman-ji", Bijutsu Kenky?, February 1936, No. 50, pp. 45-54.

2. According to sacred legend, the Makurahonzon was made in

India and brought by K?b? Daishi from China upon his

return to Japan in A.D. 806. For a description of the shrine and a discussion of its relationship to Central Asian works, see Matsumoto Eiichi, "Kong?bu-ji Makurahonzonsetsu",

Kokka, 1932, vol. 489.

3. Nakagiri Isao, "Sh?k?-ji Sanzon Butsuganz?," Bijutsu-shi, December 1959, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 54-60.

4. Albert Von Le Coq, Chotscho, Berlin, 1913, plate 55.

5. Alan Priest, Chinese Sculpture in the Metropolitan Museum

of Art, New York, 1944, plate LXXX.

6. Von Le Coq, op. cit., plates 17, 20.

7. It shares this narrative concern with several early portable shrines, particularly with Stein's stone fragment from Khotan,

which is discussed by Matsumoto, op. cit., p. 218, and with the ivory diptych treated by both Alexander Soper, 'A Bud

dhist Travelling Shrine in an International Style," East and

West, 1965, vol. 15, p. 222 and Douglas Barrett, 'An Ivory Diptych," Lalit Kola New Delhi, 1967, no. 13, pp. 11-15.

94



8. The Arts of India and Nepal: The Nasli and Alice Heera

maneck Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, plates 51, 54. Marg, vol. 8, no. 2.

9. K. P. Jayaswal, "Metal Images of the Kurkihar Monastery," Journal of the Indian Society of Oriental Art, 1934, vol. II,

plate XXVII, fig. 1.

10. Ibid., plate XXIX, fig. 2.

11. Matsumoto Eiichi, Tonkoga no Kenky? (Henceforth abbrevi

ated as Tonkoga), p. 634. He has based his translations

upon Sir Mark Aurel Stein, Serindia, Oxford, 1921, vol. 11,

p. 954, ch0074. I am deeply indebted to Professor Ono

Sh?nen of Nara, Japan, who kindly advised me of the perti nence of Matsumoto's conclusions to my research. I should

also like to thank Professor John Rosenfield of Harvard Uni

versity for his suggestions and corrections of the manuscript, and Associate Professor Nagatomi Masatoshi of Harvard Uni

versity and Dr. Pratapaditya Pal of the Boston Museum for

their generous advice.

12. The Tibetan work is mentioned by G. Roerich, Tibetan Paint

ing, Librairie Orientaliste, Paris, 1925, p. 36, and the Japanese sources include the Bessonzakki1 (Taish? Daiz?ky?-zuz?

[henceforth abbreviated as Zuzo], vol. 3, p. 99) Tokyo, 1930, and the Asabashom (Zuz? vol. 8, 1093 b.c.)

13. Arthur Waley, A Catalogue of Buddhist Paintings Recovered

from Tun Huang by Sir Aurel Stein, London, 1931, p. 83.

14. Langdon Warner, Buddhist Wall Paintings: A Study of the

Ninth Century Grotto at Wan Fo Hsia, Harvard University Press. 1938, p. 15.

15. The Butsuch? - sonshd - darani - nenju

- gikih?*1 translated by

Amoghavajra, gives the rules for making such a mandola, and

the Mandara-sh?0 (Zuz? vol. 4, nos. 12, 13) has two made

according to that text.

16. The Mah?vairocan?bhisambodhi S?tra was first translated in

A.D. 724; the first Amoghap?sa S?tra translations belong to

the Sui dynasty. 17. Giuseppe Tucci, To Lhasa and Beyond, Italy, 1956. This icono

graphical scheme appeared at Samding, Iwang, Dolma Lha

kang, and other temples. 18. Yamada Ry?z?, Daij?bukky? Seiritsuron Josetsu? Kyoto, 1959,

has an excellent account of the historical development of the

abhisekha.

19. Zuz?, vol. 4, no. 12; vol. 3, no. 22.

20. Alfred Foucher, ?tude Sur l'Iconographie Bouddhique d'apr?s des Documents Nouveaux, Paris, 1900, p. 19 and fig. 17; Zuz?, vol. 2, no. 11.

21. Zuz?. vol. 1; vol. 3, fig. 13 from the K?yasan-shinbekkyo ents?jiz?-hon, vol. 4, fig. 4, Daigojiz?-hon.^

22. Zuz?. vol. 1, no. 188; vol. 2, no. 11; vol. 4, no. 12, from the

Mandara-sh?0; vol. 5, no. 12.

23. Bentoysh Bhattacharya, The Indian Buddhist Iconography, Oxford, 1924, p. 8.

24. R. D. Banerji, Eastern Indian School of Medieval Sculpture (Archeological Survey of India New Imperial Series, vol.

XLVII, 1933), plate ixb, and R. S. Gupte and B. D. Mahajan, Ajanta, Ellora, and Aurangabad Caves, Bombay, 1962, p. 227.

25. Zuz?, vol. 4, p. 69; vol. 4, no. 12, from the Mandara-sh?.0

26. Matsumoto, Tonkoga, pp. 650-681. 27. For other examples see Alfred Foucher, The Beginning of

Buddhist Art, Paris, 1917, plates XIV, XXVI, XXVII, XXVIII.

28. Gupte and Mahajan, op. cit., plates LXI, CXLVII; R. D.

Banerji, "Buddhacarita in Bengal," Modern Review, 1937, no. 47, p. 104.

29. Tucci, op. cit., pp. 65, 70, 105.

30. David Snellgrove, Buddhist Himalaya, New York, 1957, p. 185; Japanese Shingi Shingon.r See Mochizuki Shinko,

Bukky? Daijiten, Tokyo 1935, pp. 2012-2014.

31. Vol. 53; Zuz?, vol. 8. 32. David Snellgrove, The Hevajra Tantra, Oxford, 1959, vol. 1,

p. 108. 33. Ibid., p. 49. 34. Gupte and Mahajan, op. cit., plate LXXIX. 35. Archeological Survey of India Annual Reports, 1927-1928,

plate XLIV. 36. J. L. Moens, "Tjandi Mendut," Tijdschrift war Indische Taal

Land-en Volkenkunde, 1921, no. 59, p. 529-600. 37. The Arts of India and Nepal, op. cit., plates 121, 122. 38. A. J. Bernet-Kempers, Ancient Indonesian Art, Cambridge,

Mass., 1959, description of plate 35; Moens, op. cit.

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