國立虎尾科技大學 |

Paths to Paradise : = Buddhist Heavens and Pure Lands in Early Medieval China (3rd- to 6th Century).

Record Type:	Language materials, manuscript : Monograph/item
Title/Author:	Paths to Paradise :/
Reminder of title:	Buddhist Heavens and Pure Lands in Early Medieval China (3rd- to 6th Century).
Author:	Zhao, Yi.
Description:	1 online resource (262 pages)
Notes:	Source: Dissertations Abstracts International, Volume: 85-03, Section: A.
Contained By:	Dissertations Abstracts International85-03A.
Subject:	Art history. -
Online resource:	click for full text (PQDT)
ISBN:	9798380314190

Paths to Paradise : = Buddhist Heavens and Pure Lands in Early Medieval China (3rd- to 6th Century).
Zhao, Yi.

Paths to Paradise :Buddhist Heavens and Pure Lands in Early Medieval China (3rd- to 6th Century). - 1 online resource (262 pages)

Source: Dissertations Abstracts International, Volume: 85-03, Section: A.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Kansas, 2023.

Includes bibliographical references

This dissertation examines how four types of artworks, namely "soul urns (hunping)," "pensive bodhisattva," and two groups of early illustrations of the Sukhavati, embody shifting beliefs in the paradise held by people in early medieval China, when the foreign religion Buddhism reshaped Chinese imagination of paradise. Chapter One argues that hunping embodies the Chinese theme of "ascending to Heaven through the axis mundi" and those with Buddhist images embody a proselytization strategy devised by early clergy to identify the Chinese axis mundi Mount Kunlun with its Buddhist counterpart Mount Sumeru. In Chapter Two, I propose that although the iconography of pensive bodhisattva was derived from the narrative illustration of Siddhartha's first meditation, it was reconstructed as a visual sign to symbolize the pursuit and attainment of Buddhahood. It was incorporated into the iconography of Maitreya's palace in Tusita Heaven in 470s, to elevate the latter into a quasi-Pure Land by displaying the connection between attaining rebirth there and achieving Buddhahood. Chapter Three suggests that fifth century Sukhavati illustrations were often combined with Lotus Sutra tableaux. I argue that the designers invented several visual devices to direct the viewers' gaze from the Lotus Sutra tableau on the bottom to the illustration of Sukhavati depicted above, indicating the efficacy of Lotus Sutra in granting admissions to Sukhavati. In Chapter Four, I reconstruct the meditational experience conditioned by the pictorial program in Toyok Cave Twenty, which features one of the two earliest illustrations of Sukhavati created based on the apocryphal Visualization Sutra. I argue that the contemplation on the impure was designed as a preparational meditation practice to improve the karmic merit and spiritual purity of the meditators who would perform each of the "Thirteen Visualizations" separately and successively in the cave, until entering the Western Pure in meditational concentration.

Electronic reproduction.
Ann Arbor, Mich. :
ProQuest,
2024

Mode of access: World Wide Web

ISBN: 9798380314190Subjects--Topical Terms:

1180038
Art history.
Subjects--Index Terms:

HeavenIndex Terms--Genre/Form:

554714
Electronic books.

Paths to Paradise : = Buddhist Heavens and Pure Lands in Early Medieval China (3rd- to 6th Century).
LDR:03399ntm a22004097 4500 001 1142229
005 20240416125332.5
006 m o d
007 cr mn ---uuuuu
008 250605s2023 xx obm 000 0 eng d
020 $a 9798380314190
035 $a (MiAaPQ)AAI30524448
035 $a AAI30524448
040 $a MiAaPQ $b eng $c MiAaPQ $d NTU
100 1 $a Zhao, Yi. $3 1466505
245 1 0 $a Paths to Paradise : $b Buddhist Heavens and Pure Lands in Early Medieval China (3rd- to 6th Century).
264 0 $c 2023
300 $a 1 online resource (262 pages)
336 $a text $b txt $2 rdacontent
337 $a computer $b c $2 rdamedia
338 $a online resource $b cr $2 rdacarrier
500 $a Source: Dissertations Abstracts International, Volume: 85-03, Section: A.
500 $a Advisor: McNair, Amy.
502 $a Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Kansas, 2023.
504 $a Includes bibliographical references
520 $a This dissertation examines how four types of artworks, namely "soul urns (hunping)," "pensive bodhisattva," and two groups of early illustrations of the Sukhavati, embody shifting beliefs in the paradise held by people in early medieval China, when the foreign religion Buddhism reshaped Chinese imagination of paradise. Chapter One argues that hunping embodies the Chinese theme of "ascending to Heaven through the axis mundi" and those with Buddhist images embody a proselytization strategy devised by early clergy to identify the Chinese axis mundi Mount Kunlun with its Buddhist counterpart Mount Sumeru. In Chapter Two, I propose that although the iconography of pensive bodhisattva was derived from the narrative illustration of Siddhartha's first meditation, it was reconstructed as a visual sign to symbolize the pursuit and attainment of Buddhahood. It was incorporated into the iconography of Maitreya's palace in Tusita Heaven in 470s, to elevate the latter into a quasi-Pure Land by displaying the connection between attaining rebirth there and achieving Buddhahood. Chapter Three suggests that fifth century Sukhavati illustrations were often combined with Lotus Sutra tableaux. I argue that the designers invented several visual devices to direct the viewers' gaze from the Lotus Sutra tableau on the bottom to the illustration of Sukhavati depicted above, indicating the efficacy of Lotus Sutra in granting admissions to Sukhavati. In Chapter Four, I reconstruct the meditational experience conditioned by the pictorial program in Toyok Cave Twenty, which features one of the two earliest illustrations of Sukhavati created based on the apocryphal Visualization Sutra. I argue that the contemplation on the impure was designed as a preparational meditation practice to improve the karmic merit and spiritual purity of the meditators who would perform each of the "Thirteen Visualizations" separately and successively in the cave, until entering the Western Pure in meditational concentration.
533 $a Electronic reproduction. $b Ann Arbor, Mich. : $c ProQuest, $d 2024
538 $a Mode of access: World Wide Web
650 4 $a Art history. $3 1180038
650 4 $a Religion. $3 555020
650 4 $a Asian studies. $3 1179577
653 $a Heaven
653 $a Hunping
653 $a Paradise
653 $a Pensive bodhisattva
653 $a Tusita
653 $a Western pure land
655 7 $a Electronic books. $2 local $3 554714
690 $a 0377
690 $a 0318
690 $a 0342
710 2 $a ProQuest Information and Learning Co. $3 1178819
710 2 $a University of Kansas. $b History of Art. $3 1466506
773 0 $t Dissertations Abstracts International $g 85-03A.
856 4 0 $u http://pqdd.sinica.edu.tw/twdaoapp/servlet/advanced?query=30524448 $z click for full text (PQDT)