Iconographic Surrogates: Contemplating Amitābha Images in the Late Koryŏ Dynasty(Fourteenth Century)Author(s): Junhyoung Michael ShinSource: Archives of Asian Art, Vol. 55 (2005), pp. 1-15Published by: University of Hawai'i Press for the Asia SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20111324Accessed: 19/11/2009 01:12

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Iconographie Surrogates: Contemplating Amitabha Images in the Late Kory? dynasty (Fourteenth Century)

Junhyoung Michael Shin

Seoul National University

iVory?-dynasty (918?1392) paintings of Amit?bha Buddha,

mostly made in the fourteenth century, are renowned for

exquisite detail and luxurious decoration, but their iconog

raphy is confined to a number of limited types.1 These

paintings show Amit?bha, often accompanied by two or

eight bodhisattvas, either in three-quarter view or in frontal

stance, but without motifs that would identify or suggest their specific context. The Amit?bha Triad in the MOA

Museum of Art in Atami, Japan (Fig. 1), for example, pres ents Amit?bha Buddha in the center, the bodhisattava

Mah?sth?mapr?pta on his left, and the bodhisattva

Avalokit?svara on his right. Avalokit?svara holds a bottle

and a willow branch, Mah?sth?mapr?pta carries a s?tra. All

three stand in three-quarter view, which Myong-dae Mun

interprets as implying movement toward a believer, who is

imaginatively located outside the picture frame.2 Since

the background and ground plane have been left blank, there is nothing to provide narrative context for this

depicted moment. Such sparing iconography has spawned much discussion of the thematic identity of Kory? Amit?bha paintings.

In the Amit?bha Triad in Senjuji, Japan, the same con

figuration of divinities, holding the same attributes,

appears frontally (Fig. 6). They look directly out at the

viewer, thus exerting a strong psychological impact. The

iconic relation of these figures with the viewer suggests some particular function of the painting in rituals and in

devotional meditation.

After reviewing some of the hypotheses about the

three-quarter compositions, this essay will turn to discuss

the functions of frontal compositions within the devo

tional practices of Pure Land Buddhism in the late Kory?

dynasty. Rather than asking what moments these pictures represent, I shall seek to discover how the frontal images served believers in their devotional practice.

I argue that these compositionally rather simple Amit?bha

images, precisely because they do not identify a specific situation, could serve different devotional needs, such as

deathbed ritual or visually oriented meditation. Such visual

flexibility accords with the situation of Kory? Pure Land

Buddhism, which did not form an independent school but was embraced by Chan, Tiantai, and Esoteric schools as

a powerful devotional methodology.

Fig. i. Amit?bha Triad. 14th c. H. 100.9 cm, w. 54.2 cm. MOA Museum

of Art, Atami, Japan.

I

I. THEMATICJDENTITY OF KORY? AMIT?BHA IMAGES

This section will briefly review various scholarly opinions

regarding the thematic identity of these generic Amit?bha

images, in an attempt to point out common iconographie and compositional elements rather than to determine their

true subject matter. I am concerned with these common

elements because they provide the clues to the reception and function of these pictures.

My?ng-dae Mun was the first to attempt to distinguish a

group of Amit?bha images as representing the subject of Welcoming Descent. His 1981 catalogue of Kory? Buddhist painting designated six paintings as depicting this

theme.3 Later, Junichi Kikutake and Woo-thak Chung pre ferred less definitive terms such as "transformed Welcoming

Descent" or "Welcoming Descent type."4 The iconography known as Amit?bhas Welcoming

Descent (K: Nae'y?ng-do; C: Laiyingtu) represents the

dramatic moment when Amit?bha and his holy assembly descend to receive a dying believer for rebirth in the

Western Paradise. According to the S?tra of the Buddha of

Infinite Life (K: Muryangsuky?ng; C: Wuliangshoujing),

Welcoming Descent was the subject of the nineteenth vow

Amit?bha made before he attained Buddhahood:

May I not gain possession of perfect awakening if, once I have

attained Buddhahood, any among the throng of living beings in

the ten regions of the universe resolves to seek awakening,

cultivates all the virtues, and single-mindedly aspires to be

reborn in my land, and if, when they approached the moment of

their death, I did not appear before them, surrounded by a great

assembly.5

Earlier Japanese representations of the Welcoming Descent

portray the Buddha and his assembly descending from

heaven on trailing clouds, with Avalokite?vara presenting a

lotus pedestal to receive the soul of the dying believer. In

contrast, the Kory? paintings classified by Mun as the

Welcoming Descent are much simpler and lack iconographie motifs that would suggest the descent of the deities into our

realm (see Fig. 1). Furthermore, these Kory? paintings do

not represent the group of divinities who, according to the

scriptures, accompany the triad. Amit?bha is shown either

alone or accompanied by two or by eight bodhisattvas. Mun

interpreted only paintings showing the deities in three

quarter view as representing the descent toward a dying believer. Inscribed on one of these paintings is the patron s

wish for rebirth in the Western Paradise. I shall discuss this

inscription in detail below.6

On the contrary,Yun-sik Hong and Kyu-won Kim have

argued that most of the Kory? paintings of Amit?bha in

three-quarter stance represent the moment of sugi (K) rather than the Welcoming Descent.7 Sugi, or Hearing of

Revelation, is the moment when the believer, reborn in

the Western Paradise, hears Amit?bha and other Buddhas

predict the course of his future attainment of buddhahood.

The motif of sugi was based on the Sutra of Meditation on

Fig. 2. Meditation Sutra

Bianxiangtu. Detail. 14th c.

H. 202.8 cm, w. 129.8 cm.

Saifukuji, Tsuruga City,

Japan.

2

the Buddha of Infinite Life (K: Kwanmuryangsukyong; C: Guanwuliangshoujing), hereafter The Meditation Sutra:

Then, in the interval of an instant, he serves one by one the bud

dhas throughout the realms of the ten quarters. In the presence of

each buddha, he successively receives a prediction of his future

attainment.8

A Meditation Sutra Bianxiangtu ("transformation picture," i.e., a visualization of Amit?bha) from the Kory? period, owned by Saifukuji, Fukui Prefecture, Japan, depicts sugi at

the bottom of the scene (Fig. 2). Whereas the Welcoming Descent represents the deities' passage into our realm, sugi takes place within the Western Paradise. Since most Kory?

Amit?bha paintings do not explicitly illustrate the deities

descending from heaven, I take them to represent the

Revelation in the Western Paradise.

One Kory? Amit?bha triad, however, even though it

does not suggest the deities' descent, is agreed by most

scholars to depict the Welcoming Descent. An Amit?bha

triad in the Ho-am Art Museum (Fig. 3) contains multiple

iconographie motifs drawn from the scriptural source of

the theme, including a small figure of the believer.9 A beam

of light from Amit?bha's forehead illuminates the figure of

the believer, to whom the Buddha extends his right hand

and Avalokit?svara, bending forward, offers a lotus pedestal. These motifs all appear in The Meditation Sutra:

Bodhisattva Avalokit?svara holds an adamantine pedestal and comes

before the practitioner with Bodhisattva Mah?sth?mapr?pta.

Thereupon, Amida Buddha sends forth great rays of light and

shines over the practitioner's body; and with the other bodhisattvas,

he offers his hands in welcome.10

Of particular interest in Figure 3 is the replacement of

Mah?sth?mapr?pta, who usually accompanies Amit?bha and

Avalokit?svara in the triad iconography, by the bodhisattva

Ksitigarbha in the form of a monk.The triad with Ksitigarbha seems to be unique to Kory? Buddhist painting.

Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha is characterized by his compas sion for condemned souls in hell and by his zeal in

rescuing them. This conception of his qualities inspired the

belief in "Ksitigarbha, Guide of Souls," who leads deceased

believers to the Western Paradise of Amit?bha.11 Hong observed that during the Chos?n dynasty (1392?1910) this belief developed into worship of Ksitigarbha as the

independent deity Inro'wangbosal (K), literally, the

"Boddhisattva King Who Shows the Way" to the Western

Paradise. As evidence, Hong cites a Kamrot'aeng'hwa owned by Taeh?ngsa in Haenam, South Cholla Province,

Korea, a panoramic view of the levels of hell and the rescue of condemned souls by Buddhas and bodhisattvas.12

In this Chos?n-dynasty painting, Hong argues,

Ksitigarbha, holding a banner and resembling the figure of

Inro'wangbosal, accompanies Amit?bha and Avalokit?svara

in the motif of Welcoming Descent. This suggests that the

inclusion of Ksitigarbha in the triad of Welcoming Descent, as found in the Ho-am Kory? painting (Fig. j), continued into the Chos?n dynasty.

Hong asserts that the idea of Ksitigarbha as Inro'wang

began in China during the Tang dynasty (618-907), and was transmitted to Korea shortly thereafter. If so,

Fig. 3. Amit?bha Triad. 14th c. H. 110 cm, w. 51 cm. Ho-Am Art

Museum, Yong'in, Korea.

3

Ksitigarbha was surely worshipped as a guide to paradise in

the Kory? dynasty. Hong's assertion has been seconded by

Kyu-won Kim and, to the best of my knowledge, has so far not been refuted.13 If correct, it explains the appearance of Ksitigarbha in this Ho-am Welcoming Descent painting

(see Fig. 3): his presence would have further assured the viewer

of the promise of paradise. An Amit?bha triad painting in the Cleveland Museum

of Art also illustrates the Welcoming Descent in some

detail (Fig. 4). Here Avalokit?svara holds a lotus pedestal, Amit?bha displays the wish-granting mudr?, and the

dynamic swirl of clouds below and behind the deities

suggests their hastening from paradise to our realm.

Strikingly, in this image Amit?bha faces the viewer,

evoking a direct psychological response. This painting was

once identified as Korean,14 but some scholars have con

tested that attribution.15 Unlike typical Kory? Buddhist

paintings, the picture contains little decorative detail

and no gold, which could be explained by a later date of

production.16 A more serious argument against a Kory? attribution is that no other paintings of the Welcoming

Descent represent it in such indicative detail.

This type of painting was more frequently made in the

Ningbo area of China in the fourteenth century and

imported into Japan (Fig. 5). Since at the time Korea as

well as Japan traded with China through the port of

Ningbo, it seems likely that such a full representation of

the Welcoming Descent was also imported into Kory? and even reproduced there as well.17 Koreans as well as

Fig. 4. Welcoming Descent of the Amit?bha Triad. 15th c. H. 119.1 cm, w.

53.3 cm. Cleveland Museum of Art. Fig. 5. Attrib. Zhang Sikong (Yuan dynasty). Welcoming Descent of the

Amit?bha Triad. 14th c. H. 102.8 cm, w. 57.4 cm. Zenrinji, Kyoto, Japan.

4

Japanese avidly collected paintings from China. Even if

such paintings were made in Ningbo, if they were

imported into Kory?, it must have been because they met

Kory? Buddhists' devotional needs. I shall elaborate on

this matter in the following sections.

As we have seen, their sparing iconography makes it

hard to pinpoint precisely the subject matter of

many Kory? Amit?bha images. But motifs such as a lotus

pedestal (or its holder, Avalokit?svara), the wish-granting mudr? of Amit?bha, and occasionally Ksitigarbha's atten

dance, clearly convey the Kory? Buddhists' wish for

rebirth in the Western Paradise. Especially when the figures

face the viewer (Figs. 4, 6, 10), the images clearly represent a moment of encounter, be it here on earth or in the

paradise or even in a dream. I shall explore how this

"encounter" iconography, with its allusion to salvific

rebirth, could serve to reassure the Kory? Buddhists in

their devotional yearning for the Western Paradise.

To this end, I shall look into the development of Pure

Land Buddhism and its imagery in fourteenth-century

Kory?, and ask why Kory? Buddhists wanted to "meet

with" Amit?bha and his retinue even in a visual simulation.

II. PURE LAND BUDDHISM AND ITS IMAGERY

Unlike in Japan, Pure Land Buddhism of the Kory? dynasty did not develop as an independent school, but its idea of

rebirth in the Western Paradise and practice of y?mbur

(C: nianfo;]: nenbutsu; the recitation of Amit?bha's name), were eagerly accommodated by other schools such as Chan,

Tiantai, and Esoteric Buddhism. The simple practice of

y?mbur and the appealing grandeur of the Western Paradise

opened a way to access the religious teaching and share

its spiritual benefit. As a result, many writings from this

period provide descriptions of the Pure Land. They show

how the Pure Land was understood literally and visually, not abstractly and metaphysically, by Kory? Buddhists, even

by the educated such as monks and literati.

Belief in the Pure Land was further fueled by the anxiety and unrest in the contemporary Kory? society. The frequent contests for throne and the invasion of Mongols corrobo

rated popular belief that the Age of the Degenerate Law had

begun. Monk Mugi (fourteenth century) said:

What else should we do but seek after the Pure Land in this Age of the Degenerate Law? Those who doubt this teaching and laugh at the believers of the Pure Land mislead themselves as well as

others. This is deeply deplorable.18

The Age of the Degenerate Buddhist Law was believed to

be the third era after the death of Buddha S?kyamuni. In

this age of corruption men were bereft of any ability to

accumulate merits and attain rebirth in a better state of

being. The only way to attain salvation was to invoke

Amit?bha's name and to be reborn in the Western Paradise

through the Buddha's compassion and power. As a result, the invocation of Amit?bha's name, especially at one's

deathbed, became very significant in the late Kory? dynasty. In a writing addressed to a certain Yi Sang, the Son (Zen)

monk Hyek?n (1320-1376) suggested that he practice

y?mbur while facing west, the direction where Amit?bha was believed to reside. Although Son monks were usually critical of such a literal understanding of the Western

Paradise, Hyek?n thought it effective for the layman:

If you face toward the west and persevere in reciting Amit?bha's

name, the lotus pedestal for the highest level of rebirth will open

up of itself.19

5

Fig. 6. Amit?bha Triad. 14th c. H. 168.5 cm> w- 92-4 cm- Sinjuji,Tsu

City, Japan.

The reference to the lotus pedestal here indicates that con

temporary understanding of the rebirth in the paradise quite

specifically invoked the visual imagery narrated in the s?tras.

True believers will be reborn on a lotus on the pond of the

Paradise.

Another Fourteenth-century monk, Mu'oe, stated in his

plea to the Ten Kings of Hell:

I wish, with the aid of the Holy Ten Kings of Hell, to be able to

get rid of sins accumulated through my countless lives, rescue

people suffering in the burning earthly lives, and sit on the lotus

pedestal to be received by the Holy Company [of Amit?bha].20

Mu'oe explicitly mentions the motifs of lotus pedestal and

the holy assembly of Amit?bha at the moment of salvific

transition. Contemporary understanding of rebirth in the

Western Paradise was articulated in the vivid imagery of

the Welcoming Descent and subsequent transition.

The late Kory? literatusYi Saek (1328?1396) also alluded

to the Welcoming Descent in the inscription for a pagoda dedicated to Ayusmat Poje of the Kwangmy?ngsa:

The priest (Poje) calmly passed away in the morning, and the peo

ple of the village observed that five-colored clouds covered the

nearby mountain.21

Although he did not mention Amit?bha, the five-colored

clouds over the mountain suggest an auspicious

occurrence.

Since this was the moment when a respected priest died, I believe that the auspicious event referred to here meant

to contemporaries nothing other than the Welcoming Descent: Amit?bha with his cloud-borne company arrived to receive the priest.Yi's description also recalls an

iconography well known from Japanese painting, Yamagoshi Amida (Fig. 8), in which Amit?bha, surrounded by clouds, traverses a mountain toward the dying believer.

The clouds over the mountain inYi's inscription might refer to the trace of the deities' visit, which would not have

been visible to the unworthy. The literatus Py?n Kyeryang (1369?1430), who lived

through the transitional period of the late Kory? and early Chos?n dynasties, referred more specifically to the vision

of Welcoming Descent in an inscription for a pagoda dedicated to Ayusmat Myoom:

After saying this, the priest [Myoom] passed calmly away. In the

same night Hwaom monk Ch'anki, who was staying in the

P?p'wangsa in Kaes?ng, beheld in his dream that the priest was

standing on a lotus pedestal over the head of Buddha [Amit?bha] in the sky.22

Both clergy and laymen of the late Kory? dynasty were con

sumed by the idea of transition to the Western Paradise, and

they eagerly accepted the panoramic description from the

s?tras. In the context of such visually conceived under

standings and beliefs concerning rebirth in the Western

Paradise, we can return to the questions of how visual

representations of the encounter with Amit?bha were

perceived and how they functioned.

III. THE DEATHBED RITUAL

The function and use of Amit?bha paintings in Kory? have been hardly discussed, partly due to the paucity of

documentary evidence.23 By contrast, their use in con

temporary Japan is well known. A scene from Honen

Sh?nin Eden, the pictorial biography of Monk Honen

(1133-1212) at K?sh?ji, shows him on his deathbed hold

ing a string connected to an image of Amit?bha (Fig. 7). At the same time Honen beholds in a vision an Amit?bha

triad hovering above his head. The clouds near the triad

suggest that this is a vision of their arrival to receive and

transport Honen into the Western Paradise.

Yamagoshi Amida, a late thirteenth-century Japanese screen at the Konkaik?my?ji, Kyoto, offers additional

evidence that such images were used to comfort dying believers (Fig. 8). The painting still retains the shreds of

five-colored strings attached to Amit?bha's two fingers. The screen was brought to the dying person so that he

could hold the strings and pray for rebirth in Amit?bha's

Western Paradise.24 The inscription on the left side of the screen confirms its function as psychological support of a

dying believer in the hour of his passing:

I have yearned for the Western Paradise all my life. That is the

moment when Amit?bha will lead me into the paradise.

In delectation, there comes a light from Amit?bha's forehead, and

music and new teaching surprise my hearing.

As I bid an eternal farewell to my village mountain, the autumn

moon sees me off; as I behold the Western paradise in the distance,

night clouds welcome me.

Now I should go first with the aid of Amit?bha. May Amit?bha

lead all the people in the world into the Western Paradise!25

A similar use is also documented in Korea, but slightly later. Monk Kihwa (1376?1433), who lived through the

transitional period of the late Kory? and early Chos?n

dynasty, described the last moments of a monk named

Sang'am. This description is significant evidence for the

existence of the deathbed rite in the Kory? period.

At that time, relying on the s?tra and the law of the Pure Land,

he [Sang'am] set an image [of Buddha] in front of him, holding the bottom of the banner in his hand and reciting Amit?bha's

name in his mouth, and prepared to follow Buddha and be reborn

in Paradise. He was listening to an assistant's y?mbur but told him

to stop. Without the need o? y?mbur, he contemplated at that time.

It was with utmost devotion . . . .2<5

Monk Kihwa observed that this monk placed an image of

Amit?bha in front of him as he was dying, exactly as the

Honen Sh?nin Eden illustrates (see Fig. 7).

6

Fig. 7. Death of H?nen.

From H?nen Sh?nin Eden.

Koshoji, Hiroshima

Prefecture, Japan.

Fig. 8. Yamagoshi Amida. Late 13th c. H. 100.8 cm, w. 83 cm.

Konkaik?my?ji, Kyoto, Japan.

The Japanese Pure Land monk Genshin (942-1017) in

his Essentials of Salvation in the Pure Land (J: Op Y&shti) wrote that in China, in the deathbed ritual, a dying person held the tip of a banner that was draped around the left

hand of the Buddha statue.

In the room, place a statue of Buddha . . . and face the west. The

statue raises the right hand, and his left hand is draped with a five

colored silk banner. The tip of the banner hangs down to the floor.

The dying should be eased . . . and his left hand holds the tip of

the banner .... The statue faces the east, and the dying person

stays in front of it.27

In Genshin's description, exacdy as in Monk Kihwa's, the

statue's hand is draped with a banner, and the dying person holds its tip. Furthermore, the deathbed rite focused on

Amit?bha image continued to exist into the sixteenth

century in the Chos?n dynasty, when it was called

Tosang'yombur (C: Tuxiang nianfo; J: Zus?nenbutsu; y?mbur with icon). An image of Amit?bha was brought to a dying believer so that he could recite the last y?mbur and prayer for

rebirth while contemplating the image of the Buddha.28

A deathbed ritual using an image had existed in China

even before the tenth century, and in Japan by the fourteenth

century. And a documentary source attests the existence of

the ritual in Korea at the beginning of the fifteenth century. Then is it not reasonable to suppose that the rite had

existed at least as early as the fourteenth century (the late

Kory? dynasty) in Korea, which is closer to the continent

than Japan?

7

The Cleveland triad (see Fig. 4), made in Monk Kihwa s

lifetime or even earlier, would have been a perfect image for

use in such a rite. Amit?bha, in frontal stance, faces the dying believer, Avalokit?svara presents the vehicle of salvation, and

trailing clouds suggest the deities'journey from the Western

Paradise.The painting's size (119.1 X 53.3 cm) and hanging scroll format would have made it easily portable. If a paint

ing of this type was made in or imported to Kory?, it could

have been mainly for the use in the rite.

I believe that iconographically less specific Amit?bha

paintings had a similar use in the Kory? dynasty. The

previously mentioned Amit?bha painting from the former

Shimazu collection (Fig. 9) bears an inscription of 1286 that

states the nobleman Y?m S?ng-ik's wish for the afterlife:

I wish that, at the time of dying, I will be able to remove all hin

drances and my body will not encounter any difficulties. I further

wish to meet with the Buddha Amit?bha and be reborn in the

temple of comfort and joy.29

This painting was made as a votive image to assure rebirth

in paradise after death. Clearly, Amit?bha images of this kind

had a strong association with wishes for afterlife.

This painting has also been related to the chapter of

"Samantabhadra's Conduct and Vow" in the Avatamsaka

Sutra.30 Seinosuke Ide interestingly argues that Amit?bha

as shown here, even though not exactly frontal, still faces

the viewer, inviting the viewer into his presence. This

seems valid, especially when we compare this painting with the more typical three-quarter?view Amit?bha

images such as the one in the MOA Museum (see Fig. 1). The viewer, facing Amit?bha, becomes him- or herself the

agent of Samantabhadra's Vow in the Avatamsaka S?tra. The

viewer sees the lotus pedestal below the right hand of

Amit?bha and imagines being transported on it and meet

ing with Amit?bha to receive Enlightenment, exactly as

the bodhisattva Samantabhadra wished. Ide's observation

appears to further corroborate my thesis that frontal

Amit?bha images (Figs. 6, 10) were made to serve devo

tional needs at that time.

An Amit?bha image, especially one completely frontal, would have had powerful emotional effect in the

deathbed rituals recounted in Monk Kihwa's description or in Honens story (see Fig. 7).The monumental figures of Amit?bha and the bodhisattvas in the Amit?bha triad at

Senjuji (see Fig. 6) and the Amit?bha at Tokai-an (see

Fig. 10), lacking any more specific iconographie detail, could be perceived either as the vision of the Welcoming

Descent or as a pre-enactment of the sugi after rebirth in

the Western Paradise. Moreover, the simple composition

occupying the whole pictorial space could help the

viewer to concentrate on the figures of the deities and the

hope for salvation they represented. Their hanging-scroll format and their size, respectively (168.5 x 92-4 cm) and

(116.4 X 54.5 cm), further suggest their functionality.

Another image that I associate with the deathbed rite is

the Amit?bha and Ksitigarbha in the Metropolitan Museum of

Art (Fig 11). In this portable hanging scroll (94.5 X 55.6 cm) both divinities face the viewer, though their stances differ

slighdy. As mentioned in connection with the Ho-am

Museum's Welcoming Descent (see Fig. 3), in the Kory?

period Ksitigarbha was identified with Inro'wang, the

bodhisattva who leads dead souls to paradise.31 Thus, two

monumental figures?Amit?bha, Lord of the Western

Fig. 9. Amit?bha. Dated to 1286. H. 203.5 cm> w- 105.1 cm. Former

Shimazu collection, Japan.

8

Fig. io. Amit?bha. 14th c. H. 116.4 cm, w. 54.5 cm.Tokai-an, Kyoto,

Japan.

Fig. ii. Amit?bha and Ksitigarbha. H. 94.5 cm, w. 55.6 cm.

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Paradise, and Ksitigarbha, who guides the soul to that

paradise, both looking benignly down at the viewer, could most effectively appease the anxiety of the dying. In par ticular, Ksitigarbha's slighdy turned stance, as if about to walk

into the empyrean, coupled with his gesture, appears to urge the viewer along on the impending journey to paradise.

IV ENVISIONING THE HOLY

Frontal Amit?bha images were not only useful for the last

rite, but could also be a most effective focus for contem

plation of the deity, since they simulate the moment of

meeting with Amit?bha face-to-face. The Meditation S?tra

lays out a systematic method of visualization that could

accommodate even an individual without deep theological

understanding. The text leads the reader through sixteen

stages of envisioning the panoramic features of the Western

Paradise and contemplating them in sequence.32 The

ninth, tenth, and eleventh contemplations focus on the

numinous physical features of Amit?bha, Avalokit?svara, and Mah?sth?mapr?pta. The Meditation S?tra asserts the

9

spiritual benefit of contemplating the physical manifesta

tion of these deities:

Therefore, when you perceive a Buddha in your mind, it is your mind that possesses the thirty-two prominent features and the

eighty secondary attributes. Your mind becomes a Buddha, your mind is a Buddha, and the wisdom of the buddhas?true, univer

sal, and ocean-like?arises from this mind.33

It starts with very specific details of their physical attributes

and unleashes readers' imaginative capacities with hyper bolic language:34

There is a twist of white hair between his [Amit?bha's] eyebrows,

curling gently to the right like five Sumeru mountains. The

Buddha s eyes are pure like the waters of the four great oceans, the

blue and the white are clear and distinct, and like Mount Sumeru,

the pores of his body emit rays of light.35

On his [Avalokit?svara s] head is a heavenly crown made of jew

els, and within this heavenly crown stands a miraculously created

Buddha .... This bodhisattvas arms, the color of the red lotus, are adorned with ornaments made of eighty kotis of exquisite rays of light. Within these ornaments, the majestic works [of the

Buddha] are reflected in their entirety.36

This Bodhisattvas [Mah?sth?mapr?pta's] heavenly crown has five

hundred jeweled lotus flowers; each jeweled flower has five hun

dred jeweled pedestals, and within each pedestal the breadth and

extent of the pure and exquisite lands of the buddhas in the ten

quarters are reflected in their entirety.37

This kind of visually oriented contemplation appears to

have been widely practiced among the Pure Land Buddhists

in Kory?, as its illustrations (Meditation Sutra Bianxiangtu) made at the time testify.38

Another s?tra of Pure Land Buddhism teaches the vision

of Buddha as a blissful reward. The Sutra on the Sam?dhi of the Manifestation of Buddha (K: Panjusammaekyong) is

believed to have originated, like the Meditation Sutra, in

Central Asia, and was introduced into Korea during the

Three Kingdom period (before 668).39 It refers to dream as

one kind of visionary experience.

Do not breach the commandment, and focus your mind on call

ing upon Buddha the whole day and night. After seven days and

nights, you will behold Him, not awake, but in a dream ....

If a bodhisattva yearns to hear Buddha's name, yearns to behold

Buddha, he certainly will see Him as if he holds a jewel on

glass ....

Buddha goes anywhere and comes anywhere .... One sees what

one conceives; if the mind conceives Buddha, it shall see Buddha.

The Mind is Buddha . . . .4?

By fixating on the figure of Amit?bha, one will be able to

see him in this very life, first in a dream and eventually awake.

Contemporary literature in Kory? also reflects such an

idea. The hymn Sung'won'ga, attributed to the Son monk

Hyek?n, contains the concept of fixating the mind on the

deity, as taught in the above-mentioned two sutras, but is

composed as a plain incantation suitable for lay use:

In every thought, let there be Amit?bha

In every time, let there be Amit?bha

In every place, let there be Amit?bha

In everything to do, let there be Amit?bha

If one does this one's whole life long, Can it be difficult to go to Paradise?41

Instrumental to the attainment of paradise is the practice of mental fixation.42 Given that this hymn was written for

the laity rather than for ecclesiastics, such fixation was most

likely to occur in the visual imagination. Exposure to

Amit?bha images could only facilitate such a process, since

believers could visualize more easily something they had

already seen.

The Chinese Tiantai school also had a long tradition of

appropriating the Meditation Sutra. The idea of Zhiyi

(538-597), founder of the Tiantai school, was adopted by the monkYose (1163?1245) of Kory?, who regarded him

self as Zhiyi's spiritual successor and often lectured on his

writings.43 Zhiyi had written in The Great Calming and

Contemplation:

For ninety days do not cease to behave properly with your body, for ninety days do not cease to call upon Amit?bha's name with

your mouth, for ninety days contemplate Amit?bha Buddha in

your mind .... Take Amit?bha alone as the focus of your perse verance. In your walking, listening, thinking, let there be nothing but Amit?bha Buddha.44

Here "contemplate Amit?bha in your mind" refers directly to the method of envisioning the deity that is laid out in the

Meditation Sutra. Zhiyi used the character guan for "contem

plate," which is also the first character of the Meditation Sutras

Chinese title and means "see," "behold," and "meditate."45

Since Yose is known to have been deeply concerned with

the spiritual well-being of the laity, he must have eagerly

taught this appealing and accessible meditative method.

Monk Mugi also proposed a similar devotional practice in the Hymns on the Life of S?kyamuni:

If one concentrates on reciting the name of Buddha or one bod

hisattva, Enlightenment is easily achieved. That person would behold

the true body [of Amit?bha], and hear the Law, and realize the true

path. That person would see an infinite number of Buddhas gather from the ten quarters of the universe, and also many bodhisattvas.46

The Sutra of the Dh?ranX of Supreme Bliss,47 a Pure Land trea

tise heavily influenced by Esoteric Buddhism, also refers to

the vision of Amit?bha as a blissful reward for devotion:

If one recite this dh?ranT a hundred thousand times with firm res

olution, in this lifetime he will meet with Maitreya; with two

hundred thousand times, he will meet with Avalokit?svara; with

three hundred thousand times, he will meet with Amit?bha.48

The idea that one could meet with Amit?bha "in this life"

reflects the Esoteric Buddhist teaching that achieving

10

buddhahood in this life is possible. And it resonates very

closely with the aforementioned Sutra on the Sam?dhi of the

Manifestation of the Buddha.

In this religious atmosphere, filled with yearnings to

"encounter" Amit?bha, paintings would have aided the

practice of meditative envisioning. Contemplating images

prepares one to conceive a vision, be it a dream or a more

substantive experience. Indeed, many writings of the period allude to the use of images for devotional purposes.

The Tiantai monk Mugi is known to have painted Amit?bha as a devotional practice:

Finally he settled down at T'ak'il chapel in Sih?ng mountain,

recited the Lotus S?tra, and called Amit?bha's name, painted his

images, and transcribed surras daily for almost twenty years.49

Though he regarded y?mbur as the most important practice, he also cited the making of images as equivalent to alms

giving, meditation, singing of hymns, and incense burning.50 A similar idea was expressed by the literatusYi Saek. He

quoted a certain Buddhist called Hyusang'in, who had said:

The figure of Buddha as well as His words are essential to

beginninig the practice [of devotion] . . . therefore with the

donation for my sermon, I had Amit?bha and eight bodhisattvas

painted . . . .5I

Making images as a devotional act suggests that, whether in

painting or in imagination, visual imagery played a significant

part in the religious practice of Kory? Pure Land Buddhism.

Monk Mu'oe discussed this issue more theologically in a

writing celebrating the ritualistic painting in of the pupils of the eyes in an Amit?bha image, a process roughly com

parable to consecration of images in Catholicism.

Ordinary minds rely on figures and images; thus, if we do not shape an image out of truth, how can the mind reach truth through an

image? For this reason, the Buddhas of Three Ages and Bodhisattvas

of Ten Quarters, although bodiless, reveal bodies and show all

colors and forms.... Thus, through worshipping [the images of

Buddha], five pains and burning anxieties can be eliminated.52

About the same ritual performed on an Amit?bha Triad

image, he said:

When even the miraculously created bodies are not the true

body of Buddha, would a painting be His true body? . . . But

without borrowing the simulacrum, how could one perceive the true body?53

These writings are significant, since they justify the use of

images as preparation to behold or understand the true exis

tence, or body, of Buddha.

Monk Kihwa further suggested the use of images in an

address to a certain Ch ong Sang'guk:

"If you fail in taking the way [to Enlightenment]," with his

[Kihwa's] finger pointing to [an image of] Amit?bha, "face the

infinite light of Amit?bha and turn your body into it."54

In language terse and delphic, typical of Son teaching, Kihwa's suggestion to "turn your body into" the light of

Amit?bha appears to mean "contemplate Amit?bha's body." The Meditation Sutra asserts that "the pores of his body emit rays of light." For those who had lost the way to

Enlightenment, whether due to accumulated sin or to

ignorance, Kihwa was recommending a direct and intu

itive way to access the holy. Most of all, by pointing at

Amit?bha's image in this address, Kihwa seemed directly to recommend the use of an image in this devotional

contemplation.

Indeed, Kory? frontal images of Amit?bha, whether

alone or with attending bodhisattvas, appear strongly asso

ciated with the Meditation Sutra and its visualization

methodology. MariYu has suggested that the iconographie

types of frontal Amit?bha images in Kory? might have been

derived from depictions of the eighth to thirteenth stages of meditation as illustrated in the Meditation Sutra Bian

xiangtu.55 Yu further observed that in China the eighth to

thirteenth contemplations were separately depicted in small

format, probably for portability and convenient use in

meditation.56

In the Meditation Sutra Bianxiangtu owned by Saifukuji

(see Fig. 2), a little medallion (Fig. 12) illustrates the thirteenth

of the meditative stages, called Composite Contemplation (K: Chabsangkwan).57This is a comprehensive visualization

of the Amit?bha triad, with Amit?bha's miraculously mani

fested bodies in the background. Significantly, the standing

figures in this triad closely resemble frontal Amit?bha images such as the Senjuji painting (see Fig d).The inscription on

the painting of the thirteenth stage reads:

If one truly yearns to be reborn in paradise, He should behold the gigantic deities standing on the pond.

When simply thinking of Amit?bha procures infinite luck, What would beholding His figure bring?58

With this inscription in mind, how is the monumental triad

(see Fig. 6) to be perceived? It could be a vision conjured up from the small medallion in the s?tra illustration (see

Fig. 12). Significantly, the figures stand on lotus flowers, which could refer to the lotus pond of the Western Paradise

(Fig. 6) or to the flowers that spring up under the feet of

the divinities wherever they walk. Likewise, a single Amit?bha image (see Fig. 10) could be used to practice the ninth stage of meditation, that of concentrating on the

Buddha's features.

The extreme detail typical of Kory? Buddhist paintings was probably intended to aid in imprinting the image on

the viewer's visual memory. For example, the exquisite

design on Amit?bha's red robe in Figure 13 consists of a

myriad of lines and repeated pattern units. Gazing at these

patterns as they repeat, transform, and expand creates, like

the repetition of y?mbur, a trance-like state, which often

accompanied the contemplation of images. The Meditation

II

Fig. 12. Detail of Fig. 2.

Fig. 13. Amit?bha. Detail. 14th c. H. 177.9 cm, w. 106.9 cm. Zenrinji,

Kyoto, Japan. From Judith G. Smith, ed., Arts of Korea (New York:

Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1998, pl. 76.)

Sutra also recommends starting with one small detail of

Buddha's body; once that detail has been absorbed into

consciousness, the whole image will naturally follow:59

In order to perceive the Buddha of Immeasurable Life, begin with

one of the physical features; that is, you should perceive just the

twist of white hair between his eyebrows until it becomes very clear and distinct. Once you have seen the twist of white hair

between his eyebrows, the eighty-four thousand features appear of

their own accord.60

By right concentration, then, the devotee's mind can trans

form this small pattern unit on Amit?bha's robe (see Fig. 13) into the whole robe draping the body of Buddha and

eventually into the very image of Amit?bha.

V CONCLUSION

Even though Amit?bha paintings of the Kory? dynasty have

been much praised for their exquisite detail, and represent one of the best-known genres of Korean art, their functions

as religious objects have not received much attention. In

this essay I have attempted to demonstrate how these paint

ings could have served the devotional needs of Kory? Pure

Land Buddhists.To this end, I have looked into contempo

rary s?tras and other writings that suggest the employment of visual imagery and images in devotional practices, and

drawn comparisons with the functional dimensions of

painting in Kamakura Japan, which have been fully studied.

Many religions, seeking to convey pure, abstract truth or

divinity, have used forms as pathways to or metaphors of

those transcendants. Pure Land Buddhist art in Kory?

dynasty is a vivid case in point.

12

Notes

i.Jun'ichi Kikutake, "Special Features of Buddhist Paintings of the

Kory? Dynasty," in Kory? Sidae ?i Purhwa, ed. Han'g?k MisulY?n'guso

(Seoul: Sigongsa, 1997), pp. 10-14. Kikutake interprets this tendency as

a conscious effort to adhere to a set of chosen iconographie types. 2. My?ng-dae Mun, catalogue text in Korp Purhwa (Buddhist Painting

in the Kory? Dynasty), ed.Yi Dongju (Seoul:Joongang Ilbosa, I98i),p. 244.

3. My?ng-dae Mun, Kory? Purhwa pp. 243-45.

4. See Kikutake Jun'ichi, "On a Work of Raig?-zu of the Kory?

Dynasty?Painting of standing Amit?bha of Hagiwaradera in Kagawa

Prefecture," Yamato Bunka, vol. 72 (December 1983): pp. 15-24; Woo

thak Chung, "Transformation of Paintings of Amit?bha and Eight Great

Bodhisattvas of the Kory? Dynasty," Yamato Bunka, vol. 80 (September

1988), pp. 1-16.

5. Luis O. Gomez, Land of Bliss: the Paradise of the Buddha of Measureless

Light (Honolulu and Kyoto: Univ. of Hawaii Pr., 1996), p. 168.

6. My?ng-dae Mun, Kory? Purhwa, cat. no. 7; Kory? Sidae ?i Purhwa, ed. Han'g?k MisulY?n'guso (Seoul: Sigongsa, 1997), cat. no. 26.

7.Yun-sik Hong, Korf? Purhwa UiYorigu (Studies on the Buddhist Painting

of Korf? Dynasty) (Seoul: Tonghwach'ulp'an'gongsa, 1984), pp. 157-58;

Kyu-won Kim, "Kory? Buddhist Painting and Amit?bha Worship"

Festschrift for Professor Yun-sik Hong (Seoul: publication committee for

Festschrift for Professor Yun-sik Hong, 2000), pp. 312-13. 8. Meiji Yamada, ed., The S?tra of Meditation on the Buddha of

Immeasurable Life as Expounded by S?kyamuni Buddha, trans. Ry?k?ku

University Translation Center (Kyoto: Ry?k?ku University Press, 1984),

p. 83.

9. Concerning this painting, see a recent study by Tohwa Park, "The

Iconographie Relation between Kory? and Xixia (Tangut) Buddhist

Painting," Komunhwa, vol. 52 (1998), pp. 65-83. 10. Meiji Yamada, Meditation on the Buddha of Immeasurable Life, p. 81.

11. HongYunsik, Kory? Purhwa UiYon'gu, p. 1630e. 12. Hong provides this painting as fig. 45 in his book (1984). On the

Ksitigarbha images of Kory?, and his role as a savior from hell, seeTeruo

Nakano,"OnTwo Paintings of Ksitigarbha with the Ten Kings of Hell,"

Bijutsu Kenkyu, vol. 356 (1993.3), pp. 38-41.

13. Kyu-won Kim, "Kory? Buddhist Painting," pp. 312-13.

14. It was first identified as a Korean work by Marjorie Williams in

Korean Culture, vol. 3, no. 4 (December 1982),pp. 4-17.Earlier,Wai-kam Ho indicated that this painting (1961.135) was not Chinese, and hence

excluded it from the exhibition catalogue Eight Dynasties of Chinese

Painting (Cleveland Museum of Art, 1980); see its no. 48. I owe these

observations to Ms. Nancy Grossman, curatorial assistant of Asian art at

the Cleveland Museum of Art. More recently it was regarded as Korean, in Latter Days of the Law, ed. Marsha Weidner (Lawrence: Spencer

Museum of Art, University of Kansas, 1994), no. 3.

15. For example,Takeda Kazuaki did not include this painting in the

list of early Chos?n Buddhist painting in his article "Early Chos?n

Amit?bha and Eight Bodhisattvas, owned by Zenby?ji," Misulsa Nontan, vol. 3 (1996), p. 346.

16. Author's article,"The Face-to-face Advent of the Amit?bha Triad:

a Fifteenth-century Welcoming Descent," Cleveland Studies in the History

of Art, vol. 6 (Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001), esp. pp. 34-35.

17. By?ngmo Chong,"A Comparative Study on Buddhist Painting of

Ningbo and Kory?," Kangjwa Misulsa, vol. 9 (1977), pp. 105-26; Hwijoon

Ahn, "Importation of Chinese Painting into Korea during the Kory? and

the EarlyYi Dynasties," Yamato Bunka, vol. 62 (July 1977), esp. p. 2ff.

18. ??:*&a:B# ^#?f i??BHtk acAifrifcfcSH #???g| ?M^^ % ^Wlti. g mm A m%mm *g*f?* From his Hymns of S?kya muni Buddha's Life WMtUM^l^M %~?, in Han'gukpulgyock?ns? ^t?{?&?fcie:ll (Seoul: Dongguk Univ. Pr., 1984), vol. 6, p. 531; also see

Yun'gil So, "Tiantai Y?mbur of Monk Unmuk (Mugi)", in Han'guk Ch'?nt'ae SasangYon'gu (Seoul: Dongguk Univ. Pr., 1983), pp. 275-365.

i9. xf?m<m?mw???.sh?mm from mmmnwm, m

Han'gukpulgyoch?ns? ^Mi%>%k?=?M, vol. 6, p. 742. 20. Koj?ng So, Tongmuns?n (Selected Writings from the Eastern Kingdom),

1478, vol. 111, modern Korean translation by Minchokmunhwach'ujinhoe

(Seoul: Minchokmunhwach'ujinhoe, 1998), vol. 8, p. 449. 21. Tongmuns?n, vol. 119 (1998), vol. 9, p. 179. 22. Tongmuns?n, vol. 121 (1998), vol. 9, p. 246.

23. Pure Land rituals in general have been thoroughly studied by Yun-sik Hong. See "Pure Land Devotion in Korean Buddhist Rites,"

Pulgyo Hakbo, vol. 13 (1976), pp. 191-205; also his book published in

Japan, Kankoku Bukky? Girei no KenkyU (Tokyo: Ry?bunkan, 1976).

24. The Pure-Land M?ndala, Nara National Museum (Nara: Nara

National Museum, 1983), p. 233.

25. Ibid. p. 233.

26. tern -ft??? ?sis? ??jw nmim ftmm&*kzm

?m???H^A^#?KAjr:ib_j^?# mutm fflt??, m&m ISO^AtF, 1940) pp. 21 H-22 BU. (No publication information other

than this)

27. Genshin (Mf?), ???^ft, THOife^ PH (Tokyo: n. p., 1937) *?, P. 299 ff. ?S^If-??... Sf^ffiS K?H^m ??+31-2

28. Chikwan Yi, "Early Chos?n Pure Land Ideas Revealed in

Documents," in Hanguk Ch?ngto Sasang Y?n'gu (Studies on Korean Pure

Land Buddhist Ideas), hereafter HCSY, ed. Pulkyo MunhwaY?n'guw?n,

Dongguk University (Seoul: Dongguk Univ. Pr., 1985), p. 234.

29. mnm&?mm mm-mmmm ?et r-m^w m^&mn mt?m&^mm Mun (i98i),pp. 243-44.

30. Seinosuke Ide, "A Kory? Painting of Amida and the Fugen

Gyogan-bon," Bijutsu KenkyU, vol. 362 (1995.3), esp. pp. 2, 18-19.

31. Yun-sik, Hong, Kory? Purhwa ?i Y?n'gu, p. 164.

32. The use of images in Buddhist meditation has been widely stud

ied. Wu Hung, "Reborn in Paradise: a Case Study of Dunhuang S?tra

Painting and its Religious, Ritual, and Artistic Context," Orientations, vol. 23, no. 5 (May 1992), pp. 52?60, discusses in detail how the mural

in Dunhuang Cave 172, illustrating the Meditation S?rtra, conveys the

methodology of meditation expounded in that s?tra. Stanley Abe, "Art

and Practice in a Fifth-century Chinese Buddhist Cave Temple," Ars

Orientalis, vol. 20 (1991), pp. 1?31, has fully discussed methods of visu

ally oriented meditation, including that of the Meditation S?tra, and the

murals in Dunhuang Cave 254 as instruments to that end.

33. Meiji Yamada, (Meditation on the Buddha of Immeasurable Life,) p. 51.

34. Wu Hung observes that such a hyperbolic rhetoric found in

s?tras cannot possibly be illustrated and represented in painting. Rather, the images were supposed to be stimuli that trigger the envisioning

process of the viewers. See Wu Hung (1992), p. 57.

35. Meiji Yamada (Kyoto, 1984), p. 57.

36. Ibid., pp. 65, 67.

37. Ibid., p. 71.

38. For the sixteen stages of meditation in the Meditation S?tra, as

illustrated in Kory?, see an excellent study of Un-sok Song, "A Study on The Paintings of Sixteen Visions of Amit?yur-dhy?na-s?tra in the Late

Kory? Dynasty" (M.A. thesis, Seoul National University, 1995).

39. Y?ngt'ae Kim, "The Introduction and Development of Maitreya

Worship in the Three Kingdom Period," in HCSY, p. 14.

40. ^?^$fcH S? ?T?Sp^? T. 418, pp. 904-905.

^m?ujk ?BfiRi?H?* #?0?i?o:?su?.# SB-si.? tm?m

41 mmmnwm, itmmik&m, voi 6 P 752

13

42. A similar type of meditative method is found in the S?tra on the

Sea of Sam?dhi of Buddha Visualization. See Abe, "Art and Practice," p. 5.

43. Sangsik Ch'ae, Kory? Huki Pulkyosa Y?n'gu (Studies on the History

of Buddhism in late Kory? Dynasty) (Seoul: Il'hogak, 1991), pp. 74-75; see

also Ikchin Ko, "The White Lotus Confraternity of W?nmyo Yose and

its Idea," Pulkyo Hakbo, vol. 15 (1977), pp. 109-20.

44. W?5?JL?#^?_bT. i9ii,p. 12

a+ 0 ?nMmtkE* A+ 0 p nmwmmmzmfr?,

45. For etymological and methodological interpretation of this char

acter guan (K: kwan), seeWu Hung,"Reborn in Paradise," p. 56, and Abe,

46. mmummm. #t, mmmik^m voi. 6: P. 524.

47. This s?tra was also circulated in Kory?. See Yun'gil So, "Pure

Land Ideas in Kory? Tiantai and Esoteric Schools," in HCSY, P- 164.

48 ??'M?s-?x? *a#*?? i. m&&m ̂ ??-?xft **

mmMA^m^tmf^m t 934, P. 80. 49. %mt?m\h$-mmm mummm ?mt mmmm n%m%

s-+^?, wMtm'? ?m m*, mm?m^m voi. 6: P. 539.

14

50. Yun'gil So, "Pure Land Ideas," p. 163; Sangsik Ch'ae, Kory? Huki Pulkyosa Y?n'gu, p. 224.

51. Tongmuns?n, vol. 87 (1998), vol. 7, p. 189.

52. Tongmuns?n, vol. 121 (1998), vol. 8, p. 454.

53. Ibid., p. 456.

54. m&mmtt& a^mmmm^ Rfommmmmitw* ?#*&, ws?wa%k p. 13 lu.

55. Mari Yu, "Comparative Study of Chinese Dunhuang Guanqing

Bianxiangtu (Guimet Museum) and Korean Kwanky?ng Byonsangdo

(Saifukuji)," Kangjwa Misulsa, vol. 4 (1992), p. 64; "Painting of the

Sixteen Visions of the Meditation S?tra, Made in April 1323,"

Munhwajae, vol. 28 (1995), p. 47.

56. Mari Yu, "A Study on Chinese Dunhuang Guanqing

Bianxiangtu," Munhwajae, vol. 30 (1997), p. 154.

57. For each meditative stage and its inscription in this Saifukuji

painting, seeUn-s?k Song, "Paintings of Sixteen Visions of Amit?yur

dhy?na-s?tra," n. 38.

58. Ibid., appendix.

59. The Sea S?tra also urges this kind of process, starting from a small

detail and extending to the whole being of Buddha. See Abe, "Art and

Practice," p. 56?. 60. Meiji Yamada, Meditation on the Buddha of Immeasurable Life, p. 63.

Chinese Characters (with Korean transcription)

Chabsangkwan HSffi

Inro'wangbosal ^If??l?S?

Kamrot'aeng'hwa "rt?H???E

Kwanmuryangsukybng ?&3Ril?$S

Muryangsukyong IRA it IS

Nae'y?ngdo ^fflB

Panjusammaekyong ^if}H^M

Puls?lmuryang'gongd?kdaraniky?ng ?#teAIA^??PEil/E??

Sugi Sp5

Tosang'y?mbur H??^f^

y?mbur

15