Buddhist Art and

Architecture

The Spread of Buddhism

After the Buddha’s death, Buddhism spread through missionaries and traders along the Silk Road

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One form of Buddhist art: Chinese

landscape painting

Song Dynasty China•960 - 1279 C.E.•China - most populated and advanced nation in the world

•Taoism and Zen sect of Buddhism still

held vigor

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Decline of martial spirit led to little interest in pursuing military agenda - Song were attacked from the north and forced to flee south (Southern Song)

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PaintingChinese painting reached level of perfection under Southern Song that was never surpassed

Ma Yuan (active 1190-1224), On a Mountain Path in Spring

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Emperor Song Ningzong and Ma Yuan, A leaf from an Album of Poetry and Painting China, Southern Song Dynasty (1126-1276)

• Emphasis shifted from humans to landscapes or vignettes of nature

• Highly impressionistic - used technique of “suggestion”

• Monochromatic

• Minimum of detail with amazingly bold brush strokes

• Artist showed his soul through his brushstrokes

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A wall scroll painted by Ma Lin on or before

1246.

• Influenced by Taoism - wonder at nature; empty space filled with spirit

• Influenced by Buddhism - goal of simplicity, idea that the world around us is merely a dream

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Buddhist Temple in the Mountains, 11th century, ink on silk

Painted in a few swift brushstrokes and deftly applied ink washes, “Chan Master Riding a Mule” exemplifies the freely expressive manner of Chan (Zen, in Japanese) Buddhist painting

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Buddhist Architecture• Evolved from Hindu architecture

• Typically temples, monasteries and grottoes (caves)

• Some characteristic elements:– Stupas– Pagodas– Rock gardens– Mudras (on sculpture)

One example: Angkor Wat, Cambodia

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Angkor Wat’s Bayon Temple has 37 towers which have about 200 massive serene Buddha faces carved into them

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