The Features of Sacred Spaces Images in Vajrayana Buddhist Art
Keywords:
Buddhist art, Vajrayana art, pilgrimage, Bodh Gaya, Manjushri, Mount Wutai, Geumgangsan, OtgontengerAbstract
The article analyzes the images (painting and votive models) of sacred sites in the art of Buddhism, primarily in Vajrayana. Authors posit the thesis of their early emergence, almost simultaneously with the advent of pilgrimage practices, during the time of Emperor Ashoka (3rd century BCE). The focus is on sites and their images in India, China, Korea, and Mongolia. Special attention is given to the representations of the temple in Bodh Gaya (Bihar, India) where Ashoka built the Mahabodhi Temple, which took on its present form in the 5th–6th centuries. The first representations of this temple in sculpture (votive models) appeared in India in the 9th century and maintained their presence in the history of Buddhist art until the 15th century. It should be noted that with the development of Vajrayana Buddhism and its geographical spread, the emergence of new sacred sites within Buddhism was be associated with the locations of residence or special blessings of various bodhisattvas. Typically, these are mountain ranges, within the valleys of which monasteries are gradually built. Examples of such sites include the Five-Headed Mountain Wutai in Shanxi Province, China, associated with the cult of the bodhisattva Manjushri; Mount Geumgangsan on the Korean Peninsula, a space where many bodhisattvas reside; Mount Otgontenger in Mongolia, the abode of Vajrapani; and many others. The authors propose that the emerging sacred geography of Vajrayana not only had a significant impact on the formation of iconography (for example, the emergence of the form of Simhanada Manjushri, riding on a lion, is closely linked to Wutai), but these sacred places themselves became subjects of representation and can be regarded as a unique iconographic type.
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