ARTH 215 Lecture 15: Picturing “Paradise” in Japan
6 Dec 2016
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Document Summary
Amitabha (buddha of limitless light: main buddha in the buddhist sect called pure land. Raigo: welcoming descent of amida, freer compositional structure, more color, not completely symmetrical, dieties more humanlike, genshin, famous monk artist that popularized raigo paintings, wrote ojo yoshu. Descriptions of corruptions of human life, horrors of hell, eternal bliss of western. Conversation btwn historical buddha shakyamuni amitabha buddha. Shakyamuni buddha describe appearance of pure land to ananda, faith, chanting name of amitabha ensures salvation. Amitahbha"s pureland, mt. xiangtang cave temple (6th c: stone carving, lotus pond w/ ppl sitting on flower, que pillars funerary connotation like wu liang shrine. Portrait sculpture of priest kuya (13th c: roku-hara-mitsu temple, kyoto, wood monk- shaved head, staff, robe, priest kuya (903-972, many inidivual monks adopted pureland buddhism, appeal widespread bc. Existing buddhism too arduous, only available to highly educated aristocrats.
