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Maṇḍalas in the Making
The Visual Culture of Esoteric Buddhism at Dunhuang
Series: - Sinica Leidensia, Volume: 139
Author:
The first scholarly monograph on Buddhist maṇḍalas in China, this book examines the Maṇḍala of Eight Great Bodhisattvas. This iconographic template, in which a central Buddha is flanked by eight attendants, flourished during the Tibetan (786–848) and post-Tibetan Guiyijun (848–1036) periods at Dunhuang. A rare motif that appears in only four cave shrines at the Mogao and Yulin sites, the maṇḍala bore associations with political authority and received patronage from local rulers. Attending to the historical and cultural contexts surrounding this iconography, this book demonstrates that transcultural communication over the Silk Routes during this period, and the religious dialogue between the Chinese and Tibetan communities, were defining characteristics of the visual language of Buddhist maṇḍalas at Dunhuang.
Michelle C. Wang, Ph.D. (Harvard, 2008), is Assistant Professor in the Department of Art and Art History at Georgetown University. A specialist in medieval Chinese art, her publications have addressed Buddhist maṇḍalas, Dunhuang painting, and art of the Silk Road.
Contents
Acknowledgements
List of Illustrations
Abbreviations and Conventions
Introduction
Recentering Buddhism at Dunhuang
The Shingon Impact
Maṇḍalas in the Making
Overview of Chapters
1 From Dhāraṇī to Maṇḍala
Dhāraṇī Pillars in Medieval China
Maṇḍalas and Altars
Visualizing the Maṇḍala
2 The Crowned Buddha and Narratives of Enlightenment
The Cult of Vairocana in Early Tibet
The Crowned Buddha
Networks of Transmission
Stylistic Bilingualism in Images of Vairocana
The Eight Bodhisattvas
3 Maṇḍalas and Historical Memory
Mogao Cave 156 and the Victory of Zhang Yichao
The Cult of Avalokiteśvara at Dunhuang
The Maṇḍala of Eight Great Bodhisattvas in the Guiyijun Period
Amoghavajra and the Vajradhātu Maṇḍala
Maṇḍalas and Ritual Space
4 Maṇḍalas, Repentance, and Vision
The Vajra Realm in Ritual Manuals from Dunhuang
The Five Buddhas and Repentance Altars
5 Beyond the Maṇḍala
Bodhisattvas and Repentance
The Kalyāṇamitras as Embodied Experience
The Vows of Samantabhadra
The Ascent to the Dharma Realm
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgements
List of Illustrations
Abbreviations and Conventions
Introduction
Recentering Buddhism at Dunhuang
The Shingon Impact
Maṇḍalas in the Making
Overview of Chapters
1 From Dhāraṇī to Maṇḍala
Dhāraṇī Pillars in Medieval China
Maṇḍalas and Altars
Visualizing the Maṇḍala
2 The Crowned Buddha and Narratives of Enlightenment
The Cult of Vairocana in Early Tibet
The Crowned Buddha
Networks of Transmission
Stylistic Bilingualism in Images of Vairocana
The Eight Bodhisattvas
3 Maṇḍalas and Historical Memory
Mogao Cave 156 and the Victory of Zhang Yichao
The Cult of Avalokiteśvara at Dunhuang
The Maṇḍala of Eight Great Bodhisattvas in the Guiyijun Period
Amoghavajra and the Vajradhātu Maṇḍala
Maṇḍalas and Ritual Space
4 Maṇḍalas, Repentance, and Vision
The Vajra Realm in Ritual Manuals from Dunhuang
The Five Buddhas and Repentance Altars
5 Beyond the Maṇḍala
Bodhisattvas and Repentance
The Kalyāṇamitras as Embodied Experience
The Vows of Samantabhadra
The Ascent to the Dharma Realm
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index
All those with an interest in cross-cultural interactions in Chinese and Tibetan visual culture and Buddhism, as well as specialists in esoteric Buddhism, Silk Road art, and Dunhuang studies.