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Tiangong Louge in Eastern Pure Land Illustrations You & Zhu

Healing Master Sutra, Avatamsaka Sutra, and dynasty, Dunhuang was basically in its
Siyi Brahma's Questions Sutra illustrations. jurisdiction. The rulers of the Xixia dynasty
The Healing Master Sutra and Amitabha vigorously advocated Buddhism and
Sutra illustrations are placed symmetrically. requested to the Song Imperial Court many
By observing tiangong louge [Figures 8 times to purchase the Buddhist Tripitaka and
and 17] in this Sutra illustration, it can be seen to build Buddhist temples widely. As the
that the degrees of realism have been further Fashi was published in this period, the forms
improved, with less decorative elements in of the temples mostly and closely adhered to
the imagination. The shapes of the buildings the Fashi, which was also reflected in
are accurate and the depictions meticulous, tiangong louge in the Healing Master Sutra
such as the upward curvature of the eaves, the illustrations. In this paper, only the Healing
owl’s-tail-shaped ornaments, doors and Master Sutra illustration of Cave 7 in the
windows, hooked railings, table valances, Thousand-Buddha Cave in east Dunhuang
tiangong louge has its front courtyard located has been taken as an example [Figure 18].
on the lotus pond, which is obviously an
imitation of the notion of “meditation of the
water of eight meritorious virtues” in the
Western Pure Land illustrations. It was made
into a closed foreground, especially with lamp
wheels in front of the stairway of Sanmen and
banners behind the hall body, which also
indicates that this is the Eastern Healing
Master Pure Land.
The grouping of tiangong louge in this
Sutra illustration belongs to “two-rise
courtyard type with closed foreground”
[Figure 17], with overhead three floors and
three doors as the foreground, and one-storey
wing rooms on the left and right of the
Sanmen. There are round bridge-type
stairways in the Sanmen and the wing rooms.
The front courtyard has one hall with a hip
roof and two teahouses, and the rear courtyard
has four teahouses. There are pavilion- Figure 18. Healing Master Sutra illustration of Cave
shaped towers in the front and back of the 7 in the Thousand-Buddha Cave in east Dunhuang.
corridor, with octagonal pavilion-shaped bell Source: “Medicine Buddha in murals of the Xixia
dynasty in east Thousand-Buddha Cave and its
towers and scripture towers in the front, and aesthetic implication” by Shi Wei.
round pavilion-shaped corner towers at the
back.
The foreground of this Sutra illustration
4.6 Healing Master Sutra Illustration of is a courtyard in front of the gate, which is
Cave 7 in the Thousand-Buddha Cave comprised of the Sanmen and two teahouses.
in East Dunhuang (Figure 18, in the Therefore, this group naturally belongs to
Xixia Dynasty) the“Two-rise courtyard type with an open
In the 11th century, the aristocrats of the Dang foreground.” As its main figure Medicine
Xiang ethnicity established the Xixia dynasty Buddha is located in the second-rise courtyard,
(1038‒1227) that covered today’s Gansu, the depiction of this Sutra illustration focuses
Shannxi, Ningxia, and other provinces and on the second-rise courtyard, which is a hall
autonomous regions in China. In nearly 200 with four teahouses. There is a rectangle pond
years after the establishment of the Xixia

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