Contemplating Amitabha Images in The Late Koryo Dynasty
Contemplating Amitabha Images in The Late Koryo Dynasty
Contemplating Amitabha Images in The Late Koryo Dynasty
(Fourteenth Century)
Author(s): Junhyoung Michael Shin
Source: Archives of Asian Art, Vol. 55 (2005), pp. 1-15
Published by: University of Hawai'i Press for the Asia Society
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Iconographie Surrogates: Contemplating Amitabha Images
in the Late Kory? dynasty (Fourteenth Century)
Junhyoung Michael Shin
Seoul National University
I
cultivates all the virtues, and aspires to be
single-mindedly
I. THEMATICJDENTITY OF KORY? reborn in my land, and if, when the moment of
they approached
AMIT?BHA IMAGES their death, I did not appear before them, surrounded by a great
assembly.5
This section will briefly review various scholarly opinions
Earlier Japanese representations of theWelcoming Descent
regarding the thematic identity of these generic Amit?bha
images, in an attempt to point out common iconographie portray the Buddha and his assembly descending from
and compositional elements rather than to determine their heaven on trailing clouds, with Avalokite?vara presenting a
true subject matter. I am concerned with these common lotus pedestal to receive the soul of the dying believer. In
classified by Mun as the
elements because they provide the clues to the reception contrast, the Kory? paintings
and function of these pictures. Welcoming Descent are much simpler and lack iconographie
My?ng-dae Mun was the first to attempt to distinguish a motifs that would suggest the descent of the deities into our
group of Amit?bha images as representing the subject realm (see Fig. 1). Furthermore, these Kory? paintings do
of Welcoming Descent. His 1981 catalogue of Kory? not represent the group of divinities who, according to the
Buddhist painting designated six paintings as depicting this scriptures, accompany the triad. Amit?bha is shown either
theme.3 Later, Junichi Kikutake andWoo-thak Chung pre alone or accompanied by two or by eight bodhisattvas. Mun
ferred less definitive terms such as "transformed Welcoming interpreted only paintings showing the deities in three
Descent" or "Welcoming Descent type."4 quarter view as representing the descent toward a dying
The iconography known as Amit?bhas Welcoming believer. Inscribed on one of these paintings is the patron s
Descent (K: Nae'y?ng-do; C: Laiyingtu) represents the wish for rebirth in theWestern Paradise. I shall discuss this
dramatic moment when Amit?bha and his holy assembly inscription in detail below.6
descend to receive a dying believer for rebirth in the On the contrary,Yun-sik Hong and Kyu-won Kim have
Western Paradise. According to the S?tra of the Buddha of argued that most of the Kory? paintings of Amit?bha in
(K: Muryangsuky?ng; C: Wuliangshoujing), three-quarter stance represent the moment of sugi (K)
Infinite Life
Welcoming Descent was the subject of the nineteenth vow rather than theWelcoming Descent.7 Sugi, or Hearing of
Amit?bha made before he attained Buddhahood: Revelation, is the moment when the believer, reborn in
theWestern Paradise, hears Amit?bha and other Buddhas
May I not gain possession of perfect awakening if, once I have
attained Buddhahood, any among the throng of living beings in predict the course of his future attainment of buddhahood.
the ten regions of the universe resolves to seek awakening, The motif of sugi was based on the Sutra ofMeditation on
2
the Buddha of Infinite Life (K: Kwanmuryangsukyong; inclusion of Ksitigarbha in the triad of Welcoming
C: Guanwuliangshoujing), hereafter The Meditation Sutra: Descent, as found in the Ho-am Kory? painting (Fig. j),
continued into the Chos?n dynasty.
Then, in the interval of an instant, he serves one by one the bud
Hong asserts that the idea of Ksitigarbha as Inro'wang
dhas throughout the realms of the ten quarters. In the presence of
each buddha, he successively receives a of his future began in China during the Tang dynasty (618-907), and
prediction
attainment.8 was transmitted to Korea shortly thereafter. If so,
3
Ksitigarbha was surely worshipped as a guide to paradise in Strikingly, in this image Amit?bha faces the viewer,
the Kory? dynasty. Hong's assertion has been seconded by evoking a direct psychological response. This painting was
Kyu-won Kim and, to the best of my knowledge, has so far once identified as Korean,14 but some scholars have con
not been refuted.13 If correct, it explains the appearance tested that attribution.15 Unlike typical Kory? Buddhist
of Ksitigarbha in this Ho-am Welcoming Descent painting paintings, the picture contains little decorative detail
(see Fig. 3): his presence would have further assured the viewer and no gold, which could be explained by a later date of
of the promise of paradise. production.16 A more serious argument against a Kory?
An Amit?bha triad painting in the Cleveland Museum attribution is that no other paintings of the Welcoming
of Art also illustrates the Welcoming Descent in some Descent represent it in such indicative detail.
detail (Fig. 4). Here Avalokit?svara holds a lotus pedestal, This type of painting was more frequently made in the
Amit?bha displays the wish-granting mudr?, and the Ningbo area of China in the fourteenth century and
dynamic swirl of clouds below and behind the deities imported into Japan (Fig. 5). Since at the time Korea as
suggests their hastening from paradise to our realm. well as Japan traded with China through the port of
Ningbo, it seems likely that such a full representation of
the Welcoming Descent was also imported into Kory?
and even reproduced there as well.17 Koreans as well as
Fig. 4. Welcoming Descent of theAmit?bha Triad. 15th c. H. 119.1 cm, w. Fig. 5. Attrib. Zhang Sikong (Yuan dynasty). Welcoming Descent of the
53.3 cm. Cleveland Museum of Art. Amit?bha Triad. 14th c. H. 102.8 cm, w. 57.4 cm. Zenrinji, Kyoto, Japan.
4
Japanese avidly collected paintings from China. Even if face the viewer (Figs. 4, 6, 10), the images clearly represent
such paintings were made in Ningbo, if they were a moment of encounter, be it here on earth or in the
itmust have been because they met or even in a I shall explore how this
imported into Kory?, paradise dream.
Kory? Buddhists' devotional needs. I shall elaborate on "encounter" iconography, with its allusion to salvific
this matter in the following sections. rebirth, could serve to reassure the Kory? Buddhists in
As we have seen, their sparing iconography makes it their devotional yearning for theWestern Paradise.
hard to pinpoint precisely the subject matter of To this end, I shall look into the development of Pure
many Kory? Amit?bha images. But motifs such as a lotus Land Buddhism and its imagery in fourteenth-century
pedestal (or its holder, Avalokit?svara), the wish-granting Kory?, and ask why Kory? Buddhists wanted to "meet
mudr? of Amit?bha, and occasionally Ksitigarbha's atten with" Amit?bha and his retinue even in a visual simulation.
dance, clearly convey the Kory? Buddhists' wish for
rebirth in theWestern Paradise. Especially when the figures II. PURE LAND BUDDHISM AND ITS IMAGERY
5
The to the lotus pedestal here indicates that con
reference representations of the encounter with Amit?bha were
temporary understanding of the rebirth in the paradise quite perceived and how they functioned.
specifically invoked the visual imagery narrated in the s?tras.
True believers will be reborn on a lotus on the pond of the III. THE DEATHBED RITUAL
Paradise.
Another Fourteenth-century monk, Mu'oe, stated in his The function and use of Amit?bha paintings in Kory?
plea to the Ten Kings of Hell: have been hardly discussed, partly due to the paucity of
evidence.23 contrast, their use in con
Iwish, with the aid of the Holy Ten Kings of Hell, to be able to documentary By
temporary Japan is well known.
from Honen A scene
get rid of sins accumulated through my countless lives, rescue
in the burning lives, and sit on the lotus Sh?nin Eden, the pictorial biography of Monk Honen
people suffering earthly
pedestal to be received by the Holy Company [of Amit?bha].20 (1133-1212) at K?sh?ji, shows him on his deathbed hold
ing a string connected to an image of Amit?bha (Fig. 7).
Mu'oe explicitly mentions the motifs of lotus pedestal and At the same time Honen beholds in a vision an Amit?bha
the holy assembly of Amit?bha at the moment of salvific triad hovering above his head. The clouds near the triad
transition. Contemporary understanding of rebirth in the suggest that this is a vision of their arrival to receive and
Western Paradise was articulated in the vivid imagery of transport Honen into theWestern Paradise.
theWelcoming Descent and subsequent transition. Yamagoshi Amida, a late thirteenth-century Japanese
The late Kory? literatusYi Saek (1328?1396) also alluded screen at
the Konkaik?my?ji, Kyoto, offers additional
to theWelcoming Descent in the inscription for a pagoda evidence such images were
that used to comfort dying
dedicated to Ayusmat Poje of the Kwangmy?ngsa: believers (Fig. 8). The painting still retains the shreds of
five-colored strings attached to Amit?bha's two fingers.
The priest (Poje) calmly passed away in the morning, and the peo
clouds covered the The screen was brought to the dying person so that he
ple of the village observed that five-colored
nearby mountain.21
could hold the strings and pray for rebirth in Amit?bha's
Western Paradise.24 The inscription on the left side of the
he did not mention Amit?bha, the five-colored screen confirms its function as psychological support of a
Although
clouds over the mountain suggest
an
auspicious
occurrence.
dying believer in the hour of his passing:
Since this was a respected priest died,
the moment
when
I have yearned for the Western Paradise all my life. That is the
I believe that the auspicious event referred to here meant
moment when Amit?bha will lead me into the paradise.
to contemporaries nothing other than the Welcoming
In delectation, there comes a light from Amit?bha's forehead, and
Descent: Amit?bha with his cloud-borne company music and new teaching surprise my hearing.
arrived to receive the priest.Yi's description also recalls an
iconography well known from Japanese painting, Yamagoshi As I bid an eternal farewell to my village mountain, the autumn
moon sees me off; as I behold the Western in the distance,
Amida (Fig. 8), in which Amit?bha, surrounded by me.
paradise
night clouds welcome
clouds, traverses a mountain toward the dying believer.
The clouds over the mountain inYi's inscription might Now I should go first with the aid of Amit?bha. May Amit?bha
refer to the trace of the deities' visit, which would not have lead all the people in the world into theWestern Paradise!25
6
Fig. 7. Death ofH?nen.
From H?nen Sh?nin Eden.
Koshoji, Hiroshima
Prefecture, Japan.
7
The Cleveland triad (see Fig. 4), made inMonk Kihwa s
lifetime or even earlier, would have been a perfect image for
use in such a rite. Amit?bha, in frontal stance, faces the dying
believer, Avalokit?svara presents the vehicle of salvation, and
trailing clouds suggest the deities'journey from theWestern
X 53.3 cm) and hanging
Paradise.The painting's size (119.1
scroll format would have made it easily portable. If a paint
to Kory?, it could
ing of this type was made in or imported
have been mainly for the use in the rite.
I believe that iconographically less specific Amit?bha
paintings had a similar use in the Kory? dynasty. The
previously mentioned Amit?bha painting from the former
Shimazu collection (Fig. 9) bears an inscription of 1286 that
states the nobleman Y?m S?ng-ik's wish for the afterlife:
Iwish that, at the time of dying, Iwill be able to remove all hin
drances and my body will not encounter any difficulties. I further
wish to meet with the Buddha Amit?bha and be reborn in the
8
ii. Amit?bha and Ksitigarbha. H. 94.5 cm, w. 55.6 cm.
Fig.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Frontal Amit?bha images were not only useful for the last
rite, but could also be a most effective focus for contem
plation of the deity, since they simulate the moment of
Fig. io. Amit?bha. 14th c. H. 116.4 cm, w. 54.5 cm.Tokai-an, Kyoto, S?tra
meeting with Amit?bha face-to-face. The Meditation
Japan.
lays out a systematic method of visualization that could
accommodate even an individual without deep theological
Paradise, and Ksitigarbha, who guides the soul to that understanding. The text leads the reader through sixteen
paradise, both looking benignly down at the viewer, could stages of envisioning the panoramic features of theWestern
most effectively appease the anxiety of the dying. In par Paradise and contemplating them in sequence.32 The
ticular, Ksitigarbha's slighdy turned stance, as if about to walk ninth, tenth, and eleventh contemplations focus on the
into the empyrean, coupled with his gesture, appears to urge numinous physical features of Amit?bha, Avalokit?svara,
the viewer along on the impending journey to paradise. and Mah?sth?mapr?pta. The Meditation S?tra asserts the
9
spiritual benefit of contemplating the physical manifesta deity, as taught in the above-mentioned two sutras, but is
tion of these deities: composed as a plain incantation suitable for lay use:
It starts with very specific details of their physical attributes Instrumental to the attainment
of paradise is the practice
and unleashes readers' imaginative capacities with hyper of mental fixation.42 that this hymn was written
Given for
bolic language:34 the laity rather than for ecclesiastics, such fixation was most
There is a twist
of white hair between his [Amit?bha's] likely to occur in the visual imagination. Exposure to
eyebrows,
Amit?bha images could only facilitate such a process, since
curling gently to the right like five Sumeru mountains. The
Buddha s eyes are pure like the waters of the four great oceans, the believers could visualize more easily something they had
blue and the white are clear and distinct, and like Mount Sumeru, seen.
already
the pores of his body emit rays of light.35 The Tiantai
Chinese school also had a long tradition of
On his [Avalokit?svara s] head is a heavenly crown made of jew appropriating the Meditation Sutra. The idea of Zhiyi
els, and within this heavenly crown stands a
miraculously created
(538-597), founder of the Tiantai school, was adopted by
Buddha .... This bodhisattvas arms, the color of the
red lotus, the monkYose (1163?1245) of Kory?, who regarded him
are adorned with ornaments made of eighty kotis of exquisite rays self as Zhiyi's spiritual successor and often lectured on his
of light. Within these ornaments, the majestic works [of the
are reflected in their entirety.36 writings.43 Zhiyi had written in The Great Calming and
Buddha]
If one recite this dh?ranT a hundred thousand times with firm res
By fixating on the figure of Amit?bha, one will be able to in meet two
olution, this lifetime he will with
Maitreya; with
see him in this very life, first in a dream and eventually hundred thousand times, he will meet with Avalokit?svara; with
awake. three hundred thousand times, he will meet with Amit?bha.48
10
buddhahood in this life is possible. And it resonates very In language terse and delphic, typical of Son teaching,
closely with the aforementioned Sutra on the Sam?dhi of the Kihwa's suggestion to "turn your body into" the light of
II
Fig. 12. Detail of Fig. 2.
Kyoto, Japan. From Judith G. Smith, ed., Arts of Korea (New York:
In order to perceive the Buddha of Immeasurable Life, begin with Museum of Art,
Metropolitan 1998, pl. 76.)
one should
of the physical features; that is, you perceive just the
twist of white hair between his eyebrows until it becomes very
clear and distinct. Once you have seen the twist of white hair
between his eyebrows, the eighty-four thousand features appear of
their own accord.60 as religious objects have not received much attention. In
this essay I have attempted to demonstrate how these paint
By right concentration, then, the devotee's mind can trans ings could have served the devotional needs of Kory? Pure
form this small pattern unit on Amit?bha's robe (see Fig. 13) Land Buddhists.To this end, I have looked into contempo
into the whole robe draping the body of Buddha and rary s?tras and other writings that suggest the employment
eventually into the very image of Amit?bha. of visual imagery and images in devotional practices, and
drawn comparisons with the functional dimensions of
V CONCLUSION painting in Kamakura Japan, which have been fully studied.
Many religions, seeking to convey pure, abstract truth or
Even though Amit?bha paintings of the Kory? dynasty have divinity, have used forms as pathways to or metaphors of
been much praised for their exquisite detail, and represent those transcendants. Pure Land Buddhist art in Kory?
one of the best-known genres of Korean art, their functions dynasty is a vivid case in point.
12
i9. xf?m<m?mw???.sh?mm from mmmnwm, m
Notes
Han'gukpulgyoch?ns? ^Mi%>%k?=?M, vol. 6, p. 742.
20. Koj?ng So, Tongmuns?n the Eastern Kingdom),
(Selected Writings from
i.Jun'ichi Kikutake, "Special Features of Buddhist Paintings of the 1478, vol. 111, modern Korean translation by Minchokmunhwach'ujinhoe
Kory? Dynasty," in Kory? Sidae ?i Purhwa, ed. Han'g?k MisulY?n'guso (Seoul: Minchokmunhwach'ujinhoe, 1998), vol. 8, p. 449.
as 21.
(Seoul: Sigongsa, 1997), pp. 10-14. Kikutake interprets this tendency Tongmuns?n, vol. 119 (1998), vol. 9, p. 179.
a conscious effort to adhere to a set of chosen 22. 121 (1998),
iconographie types. Tongmuns?n, vol. vol. 9, p. 246.
2. Mun, text in Korp Purhwa (Buddhist Painting 23. Pure Land rituals in general have been studied by
My?ng-dae catalogue thoroughly
in theKory? Dynasty), ed.Yi Dongju Ilbosa, I98i),p. 244. Yun-sik Hong. See "Pure Land Devotion in Korean Buddhist Rites,"
(Seoul:Joongang
3.My?ng-dae Mun, Kory? Purhwa pp. 243-45. Pulgyo Hakbo, vol. 13 (1976), pp. 191-205; also his book published in
4. See Kikutake Jun'ichi, "On aWork of Raig?-zu of the Kory? Japan, Kankoku Bukky? Girei no KenkyU (Tokyo: Ry?bunkan, 1976).
Dynasty?Painting of
standing Amit?bha of Hagiwaradera in Kagawa 24. The Pure-Land M?ndala, Nara National Museum (Nara: Nara
Prefecture," Yamato Bunka, vol. 72 (December 1983): pp. 15-24; Woo National Museum, 1983), p. 233.
thak Chung, "Transformation of Paintings of Amit?bha and Eight Great 25. Ibid. p. 233.
Bodhisattvas of the Kory? Dynasty," Yamato Bunka, vol. 80 (September
13
42. A similar type of meditative method is found in the S?tra on the 50. Yun'gil So, "Pure Land Ideas," p. 163; Sangsik Ch'ae, Kory?
Sea of Sam?dhi of Buddha Visualization. See Abe, "Art and Practice," p. 5. Huki Pulkyosa Y?n'gu, p. 224.
43. Sangsik Ch'ae, Kory? Huki Pulkyosa Y?n'gu (Studies on theHistory 51. Tongmuns?n, vol. 87 (1998), vol. 7, p. 189.
in late Kory? Dynasty) see vol. 121 (1998), vol. 8, p. 454.
of Buddhism (Seoul: Il'hogak, 1991), pp. 74-75; 52. Tongmuns?n,
also Ikchin Ko, "The White Lotus Confraternity of W?nmyo Yose and 53. Ibid., p. 456.
its Idea," Pulkyo Hakbo, vol. 15 (1977), pp. 109-20. 54.m&mmtt& a^mmmm^ Rfommmmmitw* ?#*&,
44. W?5?JL?#^?_bT. i9ii,p. 12 ws?wa%k p. 13 lu.
a+ 0?nMmtkE* A+ 0 pnmwmmmzmfr?, 55. Mari Yu, "Comparative Study of Chinese Dunhuang Guanqing
Bianxiangtu (Guimet Museum) and Korean Kwanky?ng Byonsangdo
(Saifukuji)," Kangjwa Misulsa, vol. 4 (1992), p. 64; "Painting of the
45. For etymological and methodological interpretation of this char Sixteen Visions of the Meditation S?tra, Made in April 1323,"
acter guan (K: kwan), seeWu Hung,"Reborn in Paradise," p. 56, and Abe, vol. 28 (1995), p. 47.
Munhwajae,
56. Mari Yu, "A on Chinese
Study Dunhuang Guanqing
46. mmummm. #t, mmmik^m voi. 6: P. 524. Bianxiangtu," Munhwajae, vol. 30 (1997), p. 154.
57. For each meditative stage and its inscription in this Saifukuji
14
Chinese Characters (with Korean transcription)
Chabsangkwan HSffi
Inro'wangbosal ^If??l?S?
Kamrot'aeng'hwa "rt?H???E
Kwanmuryangsukybng ?&3Ril?$S
Muryangsukyong IRA it IS
Nae'y?ngdo ^fflB
Panjusammaekyong ^if}H^M
Puls?lmuryang'gongd?kdaraniky?ng ?#teAIA^??PEil/E??
Sugi Sp5
Tosang'y?mbur H??^f^
y?mbur
15