Page 44 - JCAU-4-2

Tiangong Louge in Eastern Pure Land Illustrations You & Zhu

The Sutra of the Master of Healing
depicts the buildings in the Eastern Lapis
Lazuli Pure Land very briefly and it does not
mention buildings in its crucial twelve primal
vows of Medicine Buddha, only putting a
passage behind it: “The Buddha’s land…The
ground is made of vaidurya, with golden
cords lining the roads. The city, watchtower,
palace, pavilion, verandas, windows, and
latticework are all made of the seven treasures.
The merit, virtue, and adornments of this land
are identical to those of the Western Land of

[2]
Ultimate Bliss” . This scripture contains two Figure 4. Healing Master Sutra illustration on the
key points: north wall of Cave 231 in Mogao Caves (the mid-
First, the main architectural types of Tang dynasty). Source: Drawing by the author.
“city, watchtower, palace, and pavilion” are
largely given [3] 2 .
Second, it is noted that the buildings in
the world of the Eastern Pure Land are
“identical” to those in the Western Pure Land.
Therefore, tiangong louge can be painted with
reference to the Western Pure Land. It
appeared in the Healing Master Sutra
illustration on the east wall of Mogao Cave
148 in Dunhuang for the first time [Figure 3],
which directly imitates the composition of the
Western Pure Land illustration and shows a Figure 5. Healing Master Sutra illustration of Cave 12
grand scene when appearing, unparalleled in in Mogao Caves (mid-Tang dynasty). Source: Drawing
by the author.
any of the subsequent Healing Master Sutra
illustrations for a very long period of time, 1.2 From “Painting of Sermons” to “Pure
such as Mogao Cave 231 [Figure 4] and 112 Land Illustration”
[Figure 5] in the mid-Tang dynasty. The Pure Land Illustration of the Eastern
Master of Healing broadly went through three
stages: “Painting of Sermons” as a
predecessor, pure land illustration that only
reflects Buddha’s sermons, and eastern lapis
lazuli pure land illustration with vast building
clusters as its background. Only in the third
stage exists tiangong louge.
The so-called “Painting of Sermons”
generally refers to the painting of figures with
Buddhas (or Bodhisattvas) preaching the
dharma with their thumb and index fingers
Figure 3. Healing Master Sutra illustration in the east
of Cave 148 in Dunhuang during the High Tang era. touching to form a circle as the main figure
Source: Research on buildings in Dunhuang by Xiao and retinues arranged in the left and right,
Mo. mostly without inscriptions or distinct image

2 “Verandas, windows, and latticework” in the scripture are not individual types of buildings. “Verandas” are corridors with
decorations and a part of buildings, like “windows,” so they are collectively referred to. “Latticework” refers to a network-
shaped structure in buildings, which was very popular in the Han dynasty, known as “Fusi” (a screen outside the gate).

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