Buddhism has a long history in China, and Buddhist architecture mainly includes Buddhist temples, pagodas, prayer buildings and cave temples, among which the remains of cave temples are the richest. These beautiful or exotic Buddha statues are the essence of Buddhist art.
Yungang Grottoes 20 Cave Lord Buddha.
However, when looking at the Buddhist statues, Xiao Tanjun found that these statues had Gandhara characteristics for a while, and Modra characteristics for a while, Xiao Tanjun was really stunned, what are they?
Gandhara? Mosa? Stunned!
Throughout the development and evolution of Buddhist statues in ancient IndiaIt has experienced the peak of the three major arts of peacock, guishan and gupta, realizing the great transformation from no Buddha statue to Buddha statue.
Guanyin Bodhisattva statue (Gandhara).
4th-5th century Collection of the Peshawar Museum.
The Kushan period was an important historical stage in this transformation, when the image of the Buddha was created in Gandhara, Mathurā in the northwest, and Amar**ati in the south, almost simultaneously, forming the three major schools of early figurative art.
Birth of Prince Siddhartha (Gandhara).
3rd-4th century Collection of the National Museum of Pakistan.
The Gandhara style, a product of Hellenism?
Gandhara is the name of a place in northwestern India, which means fragrant land in Sanskrit, that is, it is full of flowers and green grass. Its core area is the Peshawar Gorge, Taxila and Swat Canyon areas.
Schematic diagram of the location of Gandhara.
In the middle of the Paleolithic period, it was inhabited by humans, and by the sixth century BC, India entered"The Time of the Nations",Formed in North IndiaGandhara is one of sixteen countries of different sizes. At the same time, Jainism and Buddhism arose during this period and gradually began to spread.
Schematic diagram of the location of Gandhara among the sixteen nations.
In 535 BCE, Cyrus the Great crossed the Hindu Kush into the Kabul valley and then attacked the east bank of the Indus River. After conquering the small states on both sides of the Indus River, the Gandhara province, the twentieth province of the Achaemenid dynasty, was established here, and later, the province of Taxila was established by Darius the Great.
Schematic diagram of the Achaemenid invasion of Gandhara.
In 330 BC, King Alexander of Macedon put an end to the Achaemenid dynasty and went on an expedition east. After defeating the governors of the provinces of Gandhara and Taxila, he established his rule in the Taxila region. So,Hellenistic culture was widely spread throughout this vast empire, and the architecture and sculpture of the Gandhara region took on the style of ancient Greece.
Schematic diagram of Alexander's crusade.
After Alexander's death, the province of Gandhara came under the Mauryan Empire. The third monarch of the Mauryan Empire, Ashoka, had great reverence for Buddhism, and Buddhism developed during this period.
In the second century BC, the Dayue people were driven westward by the Xiongnu from the Hexi Corridor and eventually entered BactriaIn 60 A.D., a Kushan tribe of the Otsuki clan invaded GandharaIt was here that the reign of more than three centuries began. During the reign of Kasserka, Buddhism was revered as the state religion.
Map of the territory of the Kushan Dynasty.
Kasserga promoted Buddhism in the territory of the dynasty, held the fourth assembly of Buddhism, and for a time Buddhist monasteries and pagoda buildings flourished, and the art of carving stone Buddha statues prevailed, which is the rise and development of "Gandhara art".
Gold Coins of Gasega.
After that, it went through the Sassanid and Gupta dynasties, and in the fifth century AD, Buddhism and Buddhist art began to decline in the Gandhara region with the invasion of the White Huns.
Gandhara cross-legged Bodhisattva statue
Collection of the Tokyo National Museum.
This style is realistic in style, with a broad forehead, deep eye sockets, a high nose bridge, curved and stretched eyeliner, large eyes, thin lips, and long earlobes with ring holes. The long, wavy curls are tied in a bun on the top of the head, reminiscent of the Greek statue of Apollo, the god of the sun.
Apollo head.
Meditation in the Cave of the Emperor 3rd to 4th centuries.
Collection of the Peshawar Museum.
The style of the garment was usually a full-shoulder garment, a sleeveless garment of a single piece of cloth in Greco-Roman clothing that was worn from the right shoulder to the left shoulder. The pattern technique is similar to that of Greek carving, starting from the left shoulder and extending radially to various places. The material of the clothes is heavy. In the late development of Gandhara Buddha statues, some features of the Buddha with his feet exposed or his right shoulder were gradually added.
Standing statues of the Buddha 1st-2nd century
Collection of the Peshawar Museum.
Standing statue of Maitreya in Gandhara.
Gandhara Maitreya statue in the collection of the Gyan Museum in Paris.
The 20th Cave Buddha of Yungang Grottoes.
It belongs to the Chinese Buddha statue influenced by the Gandhara style.
Straw, a small round face?
Mosara is a transliteration of the Sanskrit word mathurā, and it is located on the west bank of the Yanmuna River, a northwestern tributary of the middle reaches of the Ganges. It was the commercial center and transportation hub of India from the 1st to 4th centuries AD. The merchants who lived here were the main class of Buddhists, and it was also a center of Buddhism.
The red circle is the Gandhara region, the purple circle is the Mogara region, and the orange circle is the Amaravati region.
As we all know, before the birth of the Buddha statue, there was a centuries-long "pre-idol era", the Buddha image was not represented, and the establishment of the Buddha image in Mosara was based on the local indigenous idols.
Buddha footprint inscription stone 3rd-4th century National Museum of Pakistan.
When there are no Buddha statues, Buddhists generally symbolize the Buddha with certain things, such as Buddha footprints.
The time of the Buddha in the sixth century BCIt was the capital of the kingdom of Surosena (Surasena), one of the sixteen kingdoms of ancient IndiaSubsequently, it experienced the Mauryan Dynasty, the Sunga Dynasty, and the Kushan Dynasty in the first century ADMosura became the winter capital of the Kushan Empire.
Early Mosara Buddha statue of the second century
Collection of the National Gallery of Australia.
Beginning with the Kushan Dynasty, Buddhism matured in the era of no Buddha statues in the Maura and Sunga dynasties, and combined with primitive beliefs to create Buddhist statue-making activities. A large number of Buddhist statues in the form of single Buddha statues, "Bodhisattva" statues, three Buddha statues, and relief Buddha statues have been unearthed here.
Statue of the Buddha in the fifth century
Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Almost at the same time as Mosura, the stages of the Buddha's personality manifestation were also begun in Gandhara in the northwestern part of Kushan and Amavati in the south. This period is another peak in the history of Indian Buddhism after the age of symbols, and a new milestone in the history of Buddhist art.
Buddha statue c. second half of the second century
Collection of the Indian Mosura Museum.
With the Kushan Dynasty, Buddhist statue art in the Gandhara region gradually declined. The historical period of the early Buddhist statues of Mosara roughly coincides with the time period of the Kushan Dynasty. The posture and temperament of the early Buddha statues mainly inherited the original carving tradition of India, and the Buddha statues have a strong physique, a strong temperament, and a bright expression. The face shape tends to be of Southwest Asian race.
The tweed is usually a shoulder-length robe, with a thin fit and wavy pattern, and the clothes are close to the body, a bit like the feeling of "Cao Yi out of the water".
Schematic diagram of the formation and spread of early Buddhist statues in India.
Source: Research on early Buddhist statues in India, Zhao Ling.
The Modra sect continued and improved in quality until its end, while the Gandhara lost its glory until the Kushan dynasty declined in the third century AD. Gandhara seems to have established its foundations primarily through royal rule, and as a result, local workshops became extremely difficult after encountering political turmoil.
Standing statue of Buddha c. first half of the 5th century.
Collection of the Moshara Museum, Uttar Pradesh, India.
On the other hand, the Shodra sect was mainly supported by the society itself, especially the wealthy merchants, high-ranking merchants, monks, and donors. In this way, even after the Kushan Dynasty, the artist was able to continue to work. The original expression of emphasizing the sense of flesh gradually created a new Buddha statue based on local modeling and taking advantage of the strengths of each family in the context of great integration.
Half a statue of the Bodhisattva of the second to third centuries.
Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
This new style of Buddha statues gradually shifted to that of a contemplative Buddha, and the outward vigor gradually shifted to the inward. The delicate decoration of the Buddha's folds and headlight gives the Buddha a spiritual beauty that transcends the physical body, and perfectly realizes the divine deification of the Buddha.
Buddha statue (Sarnath style) 6th century
Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art, USA.
At the same time as the Mosura, another statue center, Sarnath, matured rapidly during the Gupta period, and the creation of the "Tianyi School" Buddha statue was listed as the peak of Indian classical art along with the "Wet Clothes School" of the Mosura.
Gilt painted round carved Buddha statue
Northern Qi In 1996, the Longxing Temple site was unearthed.
The Qingzhou statues of the Northern Qi Dynasty are believed to have been a strong imitation of the Indian Modra and Sarnath styles. Some scholars even believe that these statues were made by the hands of the Indians, or at least under the guidance of the Indians.
What's the difference?
And the fundamental difference between the two artistic styles of Gandhara and Modra is thatThe Modra has always been created on the basis of the Indian tradition, while the Gandhara has been developed under the influence of Greek or Roman sculptural styles, closer to the Western type.
Northern Wei Dynasty Yungang Grottoes 19 Cave West Wall Buddha statue.
Chinese Buddha statues influenced by the Gupta style.
Specifically, the sculptures of the Gandhara region inherited the style of Greek or Roman sculpture, with realistic techniques, and the head shape was characteristic of Westerners, with a rectangular face, deep eyes and a high nose, slender eyelids, and wavy hairlines.
Standing statue of the Bodhisattva (Gandhara).
1st to 3rd centuries Collection of Zhongtaishan Museum.
The statue is more abstract, with a short and round face, a large proportion of the eye sockets on the face, and three main hairstyles, one is a spiral bun, the other is a spiral bun, and there are no lines of flesh.
There are also certain differences between the two systems in the backlight, except for a small number of slight depictions on the edges, the Gandhara backlight is mostly plain and unmarked, and the Modra is basically engraved with lotus flowers and other ornaments.
Standing statue of the Bodhisattva (Mosa).
4th-5th century, collection of the Zhongtaishan Museum.
The influence of ancient Indian Buddha statues on Chinese Buddha statues peaked three times, the first time was during the Kushan Dynasty. The other two were the Gupta era and the Baltic era.
At the beginning of the fourth century AD, the Magadha kingdom under the leadership of Chandragupta I of India grew stronger and occupied the central Ganges region, after which all Central India and North India were incorporated into its territory and became known as the Gupta Dynasty (320-600), which was the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties of China.
Map of the borders of the Gupta dynasty.
The statues of this period are a combination of the early Gandhara and Mogara styles, with a tall nose and a straight nose, a slender and well-proportioned body, a delicate backlight, a neatly arranged right-handed screw, a light shoulder-length robe, a U-shaped pattern, and two eyes that are half-open and half-closed, showing a dream-like appearance, and a quiet face. This style is also very similar to Cao Zhongda's "Cao Yi out of the water" in the Northern Qi Dynasty, as if it came from the water.
Guptover head 5th century
Collection of the Mathura Museum, Uttar Pradesh.
Guptover statue of the fifth century
Collection of the State Museum, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.
During this period, Chinese Buddhist art was a combination of local and foreign culturesWith the rise and fall of dynasties and the development of Buddhism, the two had varying degrees of influence on China's native Buddhist art. In the alternating period of Guishan and Gupta period, China appeared the "Xiu Gu Qing Statue" this very local characteristics of the Buddha statue style, and the Northern Wei Dynasty also appeared in the style of the robe.
Buddha statue on the south side of the upper layer of the east wall of Cave 6 of Yungang Grottoes in the Northern Wei Dynasty.
The clothing is in the style of praise and clothing.
Finally, let's talk about the Polo eraThe Baltic period was an important period in the dynastic changes of IndiaDuring this period,There are many Tantric Buddhist statues that have survived.
Map of the Baltic dynasty (also known as the Para dynasty).
The Tantric statues of the Baltic Dynasty are of high quality, with delicate and dynamic depictions of faces, figures, and clothing. In addition, the Esoteric statue of the Baltic Dynasty has a relatively large feature, that is, the statue of the Buddha of double cultivation. In the Esoteric statues of the Baltic Dynasty, there are many statues of double cultivation Buddha, and there are many types.
One Buddha and Two Bodhisattvas of the Bala Dynasty 10th century
Collection of the Patna Museum, Bihar.
Because India was occupied by ancient Greek and Tibetan powers, the Tantric Buddha statues of the Baltic Dynasty have the characteristics of both Hellenistic and Tibetan Buddhism. On the other hand, the style of the Baltic Dynasty was also influencing the Esoteric Buddha statues in China.
Manjushri statue of Tang Da'an Guo Temple Esoteric statue.
Chinese Esoteric Buddha statues influenced by the Baltic style.
Conclusion
Stories, statues, classic ......It can be said that Buddhist culture has left a very strong mark on the world. These statues of different styles show the different cultural and artistic characteristics of different periods and regions, and it is really mysterious to swim in them.