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Tiangong Louge in Eastern Pure Land Illustrations You & Zhu

Healing Master Sutra illustration of Cave 220 left and right wing rooms, which lead to the
of the early Tang dynasty. This illustration is teahouses with a nine-ridge roof, and there are
the first case of “tiangong louge”in the two other teahouses in front of the two
Eastern Healing Master Pure Land illustration. teahouses that form an enclosed courtyard.
In the meantime, it is also the largest and most It is important to note that the picture
complicated illustration in all the Eastern depicts tiangong louge in imagination, “void
Healing Master Pure Land illustrations, in and adornment” that rest on the top floor, one
which tiangong louge shows a grand Buddha and two retinues sitting on the cloud
momentum on its presence, with vast and and apsaras, music instruments floating in the
complicated compositions far beyond sky, which represent the so-called “Self-
subsequent pure land illustrations of the mid- buzzing without playing drums,” and towers
and late-Tang dynasty, because it is the first and pagodas floating on the cloud, which of
time that the Eastern Healing Master Sutra course do not completely exist in reality. Xiao
illustration demonstrates “tiangong Mo removed it when redrawing the line
louge,”and there was no past experience to drawings [Figure 3], possibly because he
draw upon, and it is symmetrically placed thought it was not authentic, but drawers
together with the Amitayurbhavana Sutra selected these two performances from many
illustration. According to the Sutra of the building types just because they are correlated
Master of Healing “The ground is paved with with the Healing Master’s faith in the real
glaze, with golden cords lining the roads. The world.
city, watchtower, palace, pavilion, verandas,
windows, and latticework are all made of the 4.2 Healing Master Sutra Illustration on
seven treasures. The merit, virtue, and the North Wall of Cave 360 in Dunhuang
adornments of this land are identical to those Mogao Caves (Figure 15 in the Mid-Tang
of the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss” [12] , Dynasty)
this picture actually emulates the Western Dunhuang was occupied by the Tibetans in
Pure Land illustration. It is nearly the same the mid-Tang dynasty, who also adhered to
as the Amitayurbhavana Sutra illustration, Buddhism and chiseled a lot of rock caves and
except that the main figure has changed to the introduced new elements, including Esoteric
Healing Masters, Suryaprabha and Buddhism. There were 24 Healing Master
Candraprabha. Sutra illustrations in their infancy. Cave 360
The group of its tiangong louge has been and 361 in Mogao Caves were chosen as
analyzed in the previous paragraphs and examples for this analysis. These caves were
belongs to “opened foreground-type two-rise chosen because they are exploring works of
courtyard mode.” It is divided into front and the startup period of tiangong louge in the
rear two-rise courtyards. The front courtyard Healing Master Sutra illustrations, based
is open and the foreground has certain directly on the Sutra of the Master of Healing,
platforms adorned with seven treasures on the unlike Cave 148 in Mogao Caves, which
lotus pond, ascending floor by floor. This straightforwardly emulates the
emulates the notion of “meditation on the Amitayurbhavana Sutra illustration.
water of eight meritorious virtues” in the The form of this cave belongs to the most
Amitayurdhyana Sutra illustration. In the popular cave of niches carved into four faces,
middle is a two-storey hall with a hip roof, with a truncated pyramidal roof. There are
which is connected to a one-storey side hall three illustrations on the south wall:
with a nine-ridge roof on the platform on both Shakyamuni Mandala, Amitayurbhavana
sides through a long corridor to form a large Sutra illustration, and Maitreya Sutra
courtyard in the form of “grouping of the hall illustration. There are also three illustrations
body and teahouses.” In the center is also a on the north wall: Manjusri of a Thousand
hall with a hip roof, but with wing rooms on Bowls, Healing Master sutra illustration and
both flanks. There are rainbow bridges on the Questioning Devas Sutra illustration. It can be

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