Page 54 - JCAU-4-2

Tiangong Louge in Eastern Pure Land Illustrations You & Zhu

and music and burning lamps are usually There is also the notion of “Meditation on ice”
arranged on such balconies, which that there is clean water in the Western Pure
obviously is a reflection of the real life of Land that forms crystal-clear ice, and ice turns
that time. into a glazed ground. This appears in the
(6) Stairway-based round bridge: Stairways Western Pure Land illustrations as follows:
are mostly arc-shaped in the buildings in the foreground has a certain number of
Eastern Healing Master Pure Land balconies, which are on water, or on the
illustrations. Take the Healing Master platform adorned with seven treasures to form
Sutra illusion on the north wall of Cave open foreground-type of compositions. As
361 in Dunhuang Mogao Caves [Figure the Healing Master Sutra suggests that the
12] as an example, towers as hall bodies, Eastern Pure Land and the Western Pure Land
left and right symmetrically placed are “identical;” emulating the Western Pure
teahouses, corridors, and stairways that Land becomes one of the main types, such as
are all arc-shaped. The stairways of the the aforementioned Healing Master Sutra
Buddhist shrines in the Fashi are also illustration on the north of Cave 148 [Figure
arc-shaped [Figure 11], known as 3], the Healing Master Sutra illustration of
“Stairway-based round bridge,” but not Cave 112, the Healing Master Sutra
seen in Tiangong louge. illustration of Cave 85 [Figure 7], and the
Healing Master Sutra illustration of Cave 400
3. GROUP OF “TIANGONG [Figure 10]. Open foreground-type tianhong
LOUGE”IN THE EASTERN louge can be further classified.
PURE LAND ILLUSTRATION
Tiangong louge in the Eastern Pure Land
illustration can be divided into open
foreground and closed foreground types. The
discussion along the line of these two types is
carried out in the following paragraphs.

3.1 Open foreground type
Open-foreground type of pattern is an
imitation of the Western Pure Land
illustration. According to the Three Pure
Land Sutras based on the Western Pure Land
illustrations, the Western Pure land is flat and
vast without dirt mountains, rock mountains,
or hills. The so-called view of the
“meditation on the water of eight meritorious
virtues” suggests that there are eight lotus
ponds. “The water of eight meritorious virtues”
is commonly expressed by setting three layers
of above-water platforms, with the
foreground open and towers arranged on both
voids to form an enclosed shape in the
Western Pure Land illustrations. Tower boats
are generally placed between the second and
third floors on both flanks as a foreground of Figure 13. Western Pure Land illustration of Pantuo
the tower in the composition of a certain Temple, Qionglai, Sichuan (Detail). Source: Photo by
number of Western Pure Land illustrations in the author.
Sichuan, such as Pantuo Temple, Qionglai
[Figure 13] and Cave 4 of Shisun Mountain.

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