Reshaping the Jataka Stories
from Jatakas to Avadanas and Pranidhanas in Paintings at Kucha and Turfan
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/bsrv.v29i1.57Keywords:
jātaka stories, avadāna, praṇidhāna, Kucha, Turfan, Buddhist artAbstract
Kucha was the major Buddhist center on the Northern Route of the Silk Road, and well known for being dominated by the Sarvastivada school for most of its history. Replacing the jataka story, the avadana story (story of causation) became the major theme depicted on the ceiling of the central-pillar caves in this area (fifth–seventh centuries). Turfan is another important cultural center in Central Asia where Buddhism once flourished. The pranidhana (or ‘vow’) painting, which was based on the Bhaisajyavastu, a vinaya text of the Mulasarvastivada school, was a unique subject normally appearing on the walls of Buddhist caves in Turfan (ninth twelfth centuries). Both the avadana and pranidhana stories are derived from jataka stories, with significant shifts of focus, as well as of the format of the narrative. In this paper, through studying the avadana and vow paintings at Kucha and Turfan, and comparing them with jatakas in early Buddhist art, I attempt to show how jataka stories were transformed for different doctrinal messages of Buddhist teaching in some late ‘Hinayana’ schools, namely Sarvastivada and Mulasarvastivada, and how the visual representations mirror the narrative styles in Buddhist texts.
References
T 152 Liudu jijing (*Sat-paramita-samgraha-sutra). Trans.*Sanghapala, third century.
T 200 Zhuanji baiyuan jing (Avadana-sataka). Trans. Zhiqian, 222–280 CE.
T 202 Xianyujing (The Sutra of the Wise and the Foolish). Trans. Dharmasiksa or Prajñabodhi (Huijue), 424–452 CE.
T 1448 Mulasarvastivada Bhaisajyavastu. Trans. Yijing, 695–713 CE.
T 1451 Mulasarvastivada Vinayaksudrakavastu. Trans. Yijing, 695–713 CE.
Bechert, Heinz. 1973. ‘Notes on the Formation of Buddhist Sects and the Origins of the Mahayana’. In German Scholars on India: contributions to Indian studies, edited by F. Max Müller, vol.1, 6–18. Varanasi: Chowknamba Sanskrit Series Office.
——— and Yuyama Akira. 1979. Systematische Ubersichtuber die buddhistische SanskritLiteratur (A systematic survey of Buddhist Sanskrit literature).Wiesbaden: Steiner.
Chattopadhyay, Jayanti. 1994. Bodhisattva Avadanakalpalata: A Critical Study. Calcutta: Atisha Memorial Publication Society.
Dayal, Har. 1932. The Bodhisattva Doctrine in Buddhist Sanskrit Literature. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Dutt, Nalinaksa. 1930. Aspects of Mahayana Buddhism and its Relation to Hinayana. London: Luzac.
Feer, L. 1891. Avadada-çataka, cent légendes (bouddhiques) traduites du sanskrit (Annales du Musée Guimet, vol. 18). Paris: Leroux.
Frauwallner, Erich. 1956. The Earliest Vinaya and the Beginnings of Buddhist Literature. Translated from the German by L. Petech. Rome: Is. M. E. O.
Grünwedel, Albert. 1912. Altbuddhistiche Kultstätten in Chinesisch Turkestan. Berlin: Georg Reimer.
Hahn, Michael. 1992. ‘The Avadanasataka and its Affiliation’. In Proceedings of the XXXII International Congress for Asian and North African Studies, Hamburg 25th–30th August 1986, edited by A. Wezler and E. Hammerschmidt, 170–171. Stuttgart: F. Steiner.
Hartmann, Jens-Uwe. 1999. ‘Buddhist Sanskrit Texts from Northern Turkestan and their Relation to the Chinese Tripitaka’. In Buddhism Across Boundaries: Chinese Buddhism and the Western Regions, edited by Erik Zürcher et al., 107–136. Taipei County: Foguang Cultural Enterprise Co.
Hdul-bagshi, Sman-gyigshi no. 1030, vol. 6, 222b–223c [Tibetan text].
Hirano, Shinkan. 1961. ‘Bezeklik dai 9 go kutsuji yu meibun no seiganga no kosatus’ (Investigation of the Inscriptions and Paintings of Bezeklik Cave 9). Bijutsu Kenkyè no.218 .9: 27–44.
Hiraoka, Satoshi. 1998. ‘The Relation between the Divyanadana and the Mulasarvastivada vinaya’. Journal of Indian Philosophy 26: 419–434. http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1004352408955
Howard, Angela. 1991. ‘In support of a new chronology for the Kizil mural paintings’. Archives of Asian Art 46: 68–83.
Jia, Yingyi. 1992. ‘Bezeklik Shiku Chutan (A Study of Bezeklik Caves)’. In Xinjiang Shiku— Turfan Bezeklik Shiku. Ed. by Xinjiang Museum. Shanghai: Shanghai renmin meishu chubanshe & Xinjiang Uighur zizhiqu bowuguan. [Unpaginated book].
Kumagai, Nobuo.1962. ‘Otani korekusion no seiganga shiryo’. Bijutsu Kenkyu no. 218, 9: 83–108.
Le Coq, Albert. 1913.Chotscho: Facsimile-wiedergaben der wichtigeren Funde der ersten Königlich preussischen Expedition nach Turfan in Ost-Turkistan, im Auftrage der Generalverwaltung der Königlichen Museen aus Mitteln des Baessler-Institutes. Berlin: D. Reimer.
——— and E. Waldschmidt. 1923–1933. Die Buddhistische Spätantike in Mittelasien. 7 vols. Berlin: Reimer.
Leidy, Denies P. 2001. ‘Bezeklik Temple 20 and Early Esoteric Buddhism’. Silk Road Art and Archaeology 7: 201–222.
Lesbre, Emmanuelle. 2001. ‘An Attempt to Identify and Classify Scenes with a Central Buddha Depicted on Ceilings of the Kizil Caves’. Artibus Asiae vol. LXI: 305–354. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3249912
Li, Chongfeng. 2003. Zhongyin fojiao shikusi bijiao yanjiu. Beijing: Beijing daxue chubanshe.
Liu, Hongliang. 1986. ‘Bezeklik shiku niandai shitan—genju Huihu gongyang renxiang dui dongku de duandai fenqi’. Dunhuang yanjiu 3: 61–70, 106–108.
Liu, Yongzeng. 2001. ‘Bezeklik di 32 ku shiyuan tu jianshu’. Dunhuang yanjiu 1: 43–49.
Ma, Shichang. 1996. ‘Kizil zhongxinzhuku zhushi quanding yu houshi de bihua. ‘ In Zhongguo shiku— Kizil shiku II, 174–226. Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe.
Mair, Victo H. 1999. ‘The Khotanese Antecedents of The Sutra of the Wise and the Foolish (Xianyujing)’. In Buddhism Across Boundaries – Chinese Buddhism and the Western Regions Collection of Essays 1993, edited by E. Zürcher, 361–420. Taipei County: Foguangshan Foundation for Buddhist & Culture Education.
Meng, Fanren. 1981. ‘Xinjiang Bezeklik kusi liushi yu wai bihua xu lue’ (A Survey of the Bezeklik Paintings in the Foreign Collection). Kaogu yu wenwu 4: 43–61.
———, et al. eds. 1995. Gaochang bihua jiyi. Urumuqi: Xinjiang Renmin chubanshe.
Nagai, Evelyn Naruye. 1977. Iconographic Innovations in Kuchean Buddhist Art. Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Berkeley.
Nakamura, Hajime. 1980. Indian Buddhism: A Survey with Bibliographical Notes. Hirakata.
Ohnuma, Reiko. 2007. Head Eyes Flesh and Blood: Giving Away the Body in Indian Buddhist Literature. New York: Columbia University Press.
Qiuci Shiku Yanjiusuo et al. eds. 1993. Kezi’er shikuzhi. Shanghai: Shanghai renmin meishu chubanshe.
Sander, Lore. 1979. ‘Buddhist literature in Central Asia’. In Encyclopaedia of Buddhism, edited by Jotiya Dhirasekera, 4: 52–75. Colombo: the Government of Sri Lanka.
Sarkar, Sadhanchandra. 1981. C. A Study on the Jatakas and the Avadanas: Critical and Comparative. Calcutta: Saraswat Library.
Schopen, Gregory. 2004. ‘Deaths, Funerals, and the Division of Property in a Monastic Code’. In his Buddhist Monks and Business Matters: Still More Papers on Monastic Buddhism in India, 91–121. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press.
Sharma, Sharmistha. 1985. Buddhist Avadanas: Socio-political Economic and Cultural Study. Delhi: Eastern Book Linkers.
Speyer, J. S. ed. 1958. Avadadaçataka: a Century of Edifying Tales Belonging to the Hinayana. 2 vols. The Hague: Mouton. Orig. pub. 1902–1909.
Su, Bai.1989. ‘Kizil bufen dongku jieduan huafen yu niandai deng wenti de chubu tansuo’. In Zhongguo shiku— Kizil shiku I, 10–23. Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe.
Takahata, Kanga, ed. 1954. Ratnamalavadana, A Garland of Precious Gems or a Collection of Edifying Tales, Belonging to the Mahayana. Oriental Library, series D, vol. 3. Toyo Bunko.
Vignato, Giuseppe 2004: Kizil dongku zuhe diaocha yu yanjiu—dui Qiucifojiao de xintansuo (An Archaeological Study of Groups of Caves in Kizil: A New Perspective of Buddhism in Kucha). PhD Dissertation, Beijing University.
Waldschmidt, Ernst, Walter Clawiter and Lore Sander et al. eds. 1965. Sanskrithandschriften aus den Turfanfunden. Verzeichnis der Orientalischen Handschriften Handschriften in Deutschland, vol.1. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner.
Willemen, Charles, and Bart Dessein. 1998. Sarvastivada Buddhist Scholasticism. Leiden: Brill.
Yao, Shihong. 1987–88: ‘Kizil shiku bensheng gushigua de ticai zonglei’. Dunhuang yanjiu 3(1987): 65–74; 4(1987): 19–25; 1(1988): 18–21.
———. 1997. ‘Kizil shiku bufen dongku zhushi zhengbi suhui ticai’. In ZhongguoshikuKizil shiku III, edited by Xinjiang Weiwuer Zizhiqu et.al., 178–186. Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe.
Zhao, Li. 1993. ‘Xianyujing yu Kezi’er shiku benyuan gushi bihua (The Sutra of the Wise and the Foolish’ and the stories of Jatakas and Avadanas in the Wall Paintings of Kizil Caves)’. Xiyu yanjiu 2: 97–103.
Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan kaogu yanjiushsuo shiyanshi. 1991. ‘Xinjiang Turfan he nanjiang diqu bufen shiku niandai ceding baogao’ (Test Report of the Dates of Some of the Caves at Turfan and Southern Region in Xinjian). Kaogu 11: 1039– 1045.
