Early Buddhist Art of China and Centra Asia, Volume 1: Later Han, Three Kingdoms and Western Chin in China and Bactria to Shan-shan in Central Asia (Handbook of Oriental Studies) 9004161376, 9789004161375

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EARLY BUDDHIST ART OF CHINA AND CENTRAL ASIA

HANDBOOK OF ORIENTAL STUDIES HANDBUCH DER ORIENTALISTIK SECTION FOUR

CHINA edited by S.F. TEISER . M. KERN

VOLUME TWELVE

EARLY BUDDHIST ART OF CHINA AND CENTRAL ASIA

EARLY BUDDHIST ART OF CHINA AND CENTRAL ASIA volume one Later Han, Three Kingdoms and Western Chin in China and Bactria to Shan-shan in Central Asia BY

MARYLIN MARTIN RHIE

LEIDEN • BOSTON 2007

This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data A C.I.P. record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.

ISSN ISBN

0169-9520 978 90 04 16137 5

© Copyright 2007 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. printed in the netherlands

To the memory of my parents Elva Eastman Martin and Dean Woodmansee Martin

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements xiii Preface by Erik Zurcher xv Abbreviated List of Illustrations, Maps and Drawings....................................... xvii Introduction xxxv PART I THE BEGINNINGS OF BUDDHISM AND BUDDHIST ART IN CHINA CHAPTER ONE: The Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-220 A.D.)

5

The Opening of China to the West.................................................................. 5 A. The Former Han Period (206 B.C.-8 A.D.) 5 B. The Later Han Period (25-220 A.D.) 11 II. Written Evidences of Buddhism 13 III. Translators and Translations of Buddhist Texts 22 IV. Buddhist Art 27 A. K'ung-wang Shan (Kiangsu) 27 1. Images of Popular Religious Belief. 29 2. Buddhist Images 33 39 3. Other Images 4. Technique and Historical Conditions 42 5. Conclusions 45 B. Evidences from Tombs in Szechwan and Kansu 47 47 1. Cave Tomb No. IX at Ma Hao 2. Buddha Images on "Money Trees" 56 a. Ceramic money tree base from P' eng shan 56 b. Buddhas on the money tree from Mien-yang 59 3. The Pagoda Relief Tile from Shih-fang 61 4. The Tomb at Lei-t'ai, Wu Wei 64 C. Miniature Bronze Shrine (Asian Art Museum) 67 I.

CONTENTS

VIII

V.

D. Harvard Flame-shouldered Buddha 71 1. Descriptive and Comparative Analysis of Technique and Style. 73 2. Considerations of Dating, Provenance, Iconography, Historical Circumstances and Interpretation 89 Conclusions 94

CHAPTER TWO: Period of the Three Kingdoms and the Western Chin (A.D. 220-317) 1. Political Setting, Relations with Central Asia and Developments in Buddhism A. The Three Kingdoms (220-265) B. The Western Chin (265-317) II. Bhuddist Art A. Funerary Art with Buddhist Figures 1. Ceramics a. Various vessels (other than hun-p'ing) b. Hun-p'ing vessels 2. Bronze Mirrors.................................................................................. a. Shen-shou mirrors with triangular rim b. Shen-shou mirrors with flat rim c. K'uei-feng mirrors 3. Small Bronze Figures a. Money tree bronze Buddhas from Szechwan b. Gilt bronze belt buckle with Bodhisattva dated 262 A.D 4. Clay Tomb Bricks, Tiles and Figurines a. Tomb bricks, with Buddhist figures b. Tile from P'ing-an, Ch'ing-hai c. Pottery figurine from Chung hsien, Szechwan B. The Orthodox Icons: Buddhist Bronze Sculptures 1. The Seated Buddha in the Tokyo National Museum 2. The Seated Buddha with Circular Halo Formerly in the Fujiki Collection................................................................................ 3. The Fujii Yurinkan Standing Bodhisattva a. Technique, description and stylistic sources b. Concluding remarks 4. Small Standing Bodhisattva III. Conclusions

96

97 97 103 112 112 112 113 115 119 120 122 122 126 127 127 130 130 131 132 133 133

139 143 144 151 152 154

CONTENTS

IX

PART II ART OF THE SILK ROAD IN CENTRAL ASIA: 1ST-4TH CENTURY A.D. CHAPTER THREE: Western Central Asia: Transoxiana and Bamiyan I. II.

Introduction: Brief Historical Background Sites and Art of the Termez Region A. Khalchayan B. Airtam 1. Buddhist Temple Site 2. Stupa Site C. Kara-tepe 1. Temple Complexes: Courtyards, Caves, Stupas, Paintings and Sculptures a. Complex A b. Complex B i. stupa drawing ii. Buddha group........................................................................... c. Complex C d. Complex D i. seated Buddha sculpture ii. wall paintings 2. Some Concluding Remarks D. Fayaz-tepe 1. Monastery Site 2. Wall Paintings 3. Sculpture E. Dalverzin-tepe 1. Buddhist Temple No. 1 a. sculptures 2. Buddhist Temple No.2 a. sculptures III. Sites and Art of the Khorezm Region A. Koy-krylgan Kala B. Toprak Kala 1. Sculptures and Wall Paintings IV. Bamiyan: Some Early Caves A. Introduction

162 162 168 169 175 176 178 179 181 182 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 191 191 193 194 196 196 198 199 200 204 204 206 208 210 210

CONTENTS

x

B. Cave 24 C. Cave 51 1. The Watercolor Drawing by J. Carl 2. Wall Painting Fragments D. Caves 129, 130 and 152 E. Cave 140 F. Cave 165 G. Cave 155: The Eastern Great Buddha Niche Conclusions A. Sculpture B. Painting C. Architecture

214 217 218 221 223 225 227 228 234 235 237 237

CHAPTER FOUR: Eastern Central Asia: Kashgar and Khotan

240

V.

Introduction A. History of the Region: Han-early 5th Century A.D B. The Routes II. Sites and Their Buddhist Art Remains A. Kashgar 1. Stupas of the Kashgar Region B. Yarkand and Karghalik C. Khotan 1. Buddhism and Buddhist Art in Khotan from Literary Sources. 2. Sculpture from Khotan a. Figurines of western deities b. Two bronze Buddha heads c. Small bronze Bodhisattva d. Clay Buddha head e. Stone stupa fragment f. Large clay Buddha head g. Conclusions 3. Textiles from Tombs at Shampula a. Fragment with design of a man's head b. Fragment with design of a centaur and rosettes c. Cotton fabric with rosette, pearl and wave design d. Chinese warp-faced compound tabby silk fragment. 4. The Site of Rawak I.

240 241 244 246 247 249 255 257 260 265 265 266 270 270 270 271 272 272 273 274 275 276 276

CONTENTS

a. The stupa b. The sculptures i. Style I ii. Style II iii. Style III iv. Style IV" v. Style V vi. Style VI c. Painting from Rawak d. Conclusions: Rawak 5. Ak-terek and Siyelik 6. Kara-dong (near Keriya) III. Conclusions: Southern Route (Kashgar to Khotan/Keriya)

XI

278 285 287 296 298 299 301 302 313 314 316 318 321

CHAPTER FIVE: Eastern Central Asia: The Kingdom of Shan-shan: Niya to Lou-Ian

323

Introduction: The Shan-shan Kingdom A. Early History B. Period of the KharoHi Documents 1. Chinese Sources 2. Kharo~ti Inscriptions 3. Shan-shan Kings C. Shan-shan from the late 4th-early 6th century 1. Concluding Remarks II. Sites and Their Art Remains A. Niya, Endere, Cherchen and Charklik 1. The Stupa at Niya 2. Art from Niya a. Woodwork b. Clay seals c. Painting and textiles 3. Endere, Cherchen and Charklik B. Miran 1. Stupas and Structures of Shrines M III and M V 2. Paintings of Shrines M III and M V a. Brief description b. Style, technique, and stylistic sources

323 324 332 332 338 343 352 355 357 357 359 361 361 363 363 367 370 372 376 377 380

I.

XII

CONTENTS

c. Conclusions and dating 3. Structures and Sculptures of Mil 4. Sites M XIII, XIV, and XV 5. Conclusions: Miran C. Lou-Ian 1. L.A. Area a. Stupas of the L.A. area b. Wooden lintel of Buddha niches i. The niches ii. The Buddha images 2. L.B. Area a. L.B.!, II, and III complex i. Buddhist shrine L.B.II ii. Figural sculptures from L.B.II a. Jamb with niches of standing Bodhisattvas b. Standing guardian c. Panel with lower part of a cross-ankled figure b. L.B.IV, V, and VI i. Carved panel with cross-ankled and standing figure 3. Remains from Grave Sites a. Textiles from the L.C. area i. Woolen fragments ii. Silk fragments 4. Conclusions: The Lou-Ian Site III. Conclusions: Art from Sites of the Southern Silk Route in Eastern Central Asia

Conclusions Bibliography Index

384 385 389 391 392 399 400 402 403 405 407 408 408 412 412 413 414 415 416 419 420 421 422 424 425

............................................................................................................ 427 ............................................................................................................ 433 ............................................................................................................ 449

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This work has been an ongoing project since the late 1980's. Many people have graciously contributed to its completion and I sincerely thank them all. Smith College has provided much needed yearly grants for various aspects of travel and photography, and the generous grants in 1987/88 and 1992 from the American Council of Learned Societies gave essential support in the initial phases of research. I also wish to acknowledge my mentors over the years, particularly Prof. Harrie Vanderstappen, University of Chicago, and Prof. Pramod Chandra, currently at Harvard University, whose teachings provided the foundations for the work appearing in this book. I am especially grateful to the world-renowned scholar of early Chinese Buddhism, Dr. Erik Zurcher, for his careful editorial reading of the manuscript and for his pertinent, knowledgeable and insightful suggestions that reflect his appreciation and understanding of the problems and issues involved in this subject. I am extremely pleased that he agreed to write the Preface for this book. This work could not have been achieved without the constant help of my husband, Young-in traveling, translating, photographing, and in working out and clarifying ideas from beginning to end. This is essentially a work produced by both of us. Also, my thanks to our daughter, Sonya Rhie Quintanilla, for her unendingly cheerful assistance in our work as a family team on this project. To the curators of the museums which were so crucial to my work-Robert Mowry of the Sackler Museum at Harvard University, Anne Murray of the Folkens Museum Etnografiska in Stockholm, Anne Farrer at the British Museum, Terese Bartholomew at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco and others, to the Smith College photographer, M. Richard Fish who processed most of the photographs, and to the efficient and delightful staff at Brill-particularly Desk Editor Patricia Radder, who is a joy to work with, and Jan Fehrmann, text editor, I wish to express my gratitude and thanks. Finally, it is my hope that this and the subsequent volume will help to clarify the earliest phases of Buddhist art in China and Central Asia, a difficult but extremely important first stage in the evolution of Buddhism and Buddhist art in its passage east to China and beyond. Because of the complexity and the necessity to look wider than China in order to more fully understand Chinese Buddhist art, what initially began as a single volume has developed into two. The second one will take

XIV

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

the course through the Sixteen Kingdoms Period (317-439) when the earliest Buddhist cave temple art appears in China, and to the sites of that time on the Northern Silk Road in Central Asia. Wilbraham, Massachusetts August 16, 1998

PREFACE

Many historians tend to be fascinated by the primordial, the first traces of what later was to become a major movement deeply affecting the course of the history. The spread of Buddhism from its Indian homeland through western and eastern Central Asia to China in the first centuries of our era was one of such movements, and Professor Rhie is one of such historians. Although this impressive work deals mainly with art, material culture and the archaeological record, it is a major contribution to the history of Asian Buddhism, and to Chinese Buddhism in its earliest formative stage-an indispensable complement to the little we know on the basis of written sources. In fact, after reading this almost exhaustive survey of the available iconographical materials, one of the main conclusions to be drawn is that they disclose a whole world of beliefs and rituals that have little in common with the scriptural tradition of "canonical Buddhism". Artefacts speak their own language, with its own conventions, not transmitted by an elite of scholarly monks but by nameless travelling artisans; not derived from the scriptural sources, but from some deeper strata of popular syncretism, or from portable models and prompt-book which the artisans carried with them. They constitute an independent channel of expression which often baffles the philologist. A Neptune-like seated Buddha with trident from Loulan defies any scriptural explanation; so does the common theme of the Buddha with flames rising from his shoulders. Of one of the most striking features of late Han Buddhist iconography -the association of the Buddha with the Taoist deity Xiwang mu-no trace can be found in any written source, Buddhist or secular, and there is no textual evidence for another common feature of this early "Buddho-Taoism": the part played by Buddhist figures in funerary cult. Such artefacts and images have come to light in regions where, according to our written sources, Buddhism was only introduced centuries later, such as Sichuan, Inner Mongolia, and perhaps even Japan. So far not a single object of this early period can be linked to any particular canonical scripture that is known to have been available in a Chinese translation. Since the written tradition is of little help, the earliest products of Buddhist art (and to a large extent the later ones as well) can only be described and analyzed in their own terms, in the language of pure form and in their wider context, covering most of Buddhist Asia of the Kushan period. That is what the author has done in this work: while focusing upon a rather limited time-span, she has placed the objects in a vast intercultural setting stretching from Mathura to Ferghana, and

XVI

PREFACE

from Parthia to the China coast. By a meticulous and detailed comparison of stylistic features she has been able to establish countless stylistic parallels which in turn provide arguments for their synchronicity. In other words: the overall approach is strongly and consciously diffusionist, and we may expect that it will provoke reactions from the advocates of polycentric parallel development and independent invention. In any case this comparative, continent-wide approach, treating Buddhist Asia as a multicultural continuum, has yielded important results. In terms of cultural areas Professor Rhie has made ample use of the findings of Soviet archaeology, especially in the Termez region, thereby highlighting the eminent role of the northern parts of the Kushan empire as a centre of diffusion. She has made well-founded statements regarding the relation between cave temples with inner core in western Central Asia and China and the typology of the Central Asian stupa, and she has established what seems to be the definite sequence of the Rawak clay sculptures. Her very early dating of the famous "flaming Buddha" in the Fogg collection, which she attributes to the late Han, will no doubt lead to heated discussions; it could revolutionize our view of Han Buddhist art. There can be no doubt that this work is a major contribution to the field, a mine of information, and an incentive to continue, or to renew, the debate. During the prenatal stages of the work I have had the chance to take part in that debate with the author, and that extensive exchange of views has been a memorable and most pleasant experience.

Erik Zurcher

ABBREVIATED LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS, MAPS AND DRAWINGS

Color Plates

PI. I PI. II a,b PI. III PI. IV PI. V PI. VI PI. VII PI. VIII a,b PI. PI. PI. PI. PI.

IX X XI XII XIII

PI. XIV PI. XV PI. XVI

Flame-shouldered Buddha, The Sackler Museum of Art, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts Miniature Shrine, The Asian Art Museum, San Francisco Bodhisattva (probably Maitreya), Fujii Yurinkan, Kyoto Head of a prince or king with pointed and spangled hat, Dalverzin Tepe, southern Uzbekistan Head of a Buddha, Khotan, Tokyo National Museum Detail of a small Buddha from a large Buddha's aureole, Rawak Stupa, Khotan, The British Museum, London Head of a Bodhisattva, Rawak Stupa, Khotan, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Pair of Miniature Stupas, Gandhara or Kashmir region, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Dlparpkara Buddha, probably from Swat, Pakistan Pair of furniture legs, Niya, The British Musuem, London Goddess with cornucopia and other scenes, "batik" cotton textile, Niya View of Stupa Shrine MIll, Miran site Buddha, wall painting, Stupa Shrine M V, Miran site, National Museum, New Delhi Relief with Buddha niches, Lou-Ian, Folkens Museum Etnografiska, Stockholm Guardian statue, Lou-Ian, Folkens Museum Etnografiska, Stockholm Warp-faced compound tabby patterned silk textile fragment, Lou-Ian

Chapter 1

Map Map Map Map Map

1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5

Later Han Empire (25-220 A.D.) Central Asia in the Han Dynasty China in the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-220 A.D.) The Kiangsu Region Central Szechwan in the Later Han Dynasty

XVIII

ABBREVIATED LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS, MAPS AND DRAWINGS

Map 1.6

Gandhara, Bactria and Contiguous Regions

Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig.

1.1 a 1.1 b 1.2 1.3 1.4 a 1.4 b 1.5 1.6 a,b 1.7 1.8 1.9 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14

Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig.

1.15 1.16 a-g 1.16 h, i 1.17 1.18 a-h 1.19 1.20 a

Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig.

1.20 b 1.21 1.22 a,b 1.23 1.24

The Vii-men kuan Qade Gate) Stone fragments with Kharo~th:i writing Drawing of the relief carvings, K'ung-wang shan Cliffs at K'ung-wang shan with "Toad" Stone Image of Hsi-wang-mu, K'ung-wang shan Seated male figure in Han dress, K'ung-wang shan Guardian and Buddha, K'ung-wang shan Rock-cut reliefs at Tang-i-Sarvak, Elymais, Iran Standing Buddha, K'ung-wang shan Charioteer, Tomb No.1, Tao-tzu-p'ing, Hunan Seated Buddha, K'ung-wang shan ParinirvaI).a, K'ung-wang shan Drawing of Fig. 1.10 Standing Buddha, K'ung-wang shan Drawing of images, eastern end of cliff, K'ung-wang shan Prince Sacrificing Himself to the Tigress (Mahasattva-Jataka), K'ung-wang shan Fragment of relief with Mahasattva:Jataka, Gandhara Rubbing of Figures, K'ung-wang shan Ceramic head of a man from Shang-yii, Chekiang Obverse of coin with King Virna II Ka

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