Research and Exploration An Attempted Interpretation of the Thousand-Eyed Seated Buddha Wooden Tablet Paintings Unearthed in Damagou Township, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Yaozhong Yan Professor, National Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies, Fudan University I f imagery could reflect the exchange between the exploratory spiritual characteristics of Indian religions and the attention of Chinese thought to social reality, the thousand-eyed seated Buddha wooden tablet paintings unearthed in Damagou Township, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region would be an excellent case in point. The paintings represent an important stage in the evolution of a series of images related to this phenomenon by showing how differences in thoughts influenced those images. In 2006, the Xinjiang Archaeological Team from the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences excavated Buddhist Temple No. 2 at Tuopulukedun in Damaguo Township.[1] Based on the remains of manuscripts and coins, the initial stage of construction can be dated to the eighth century CE or earlier. A collection of wooden tablet paintings was found at the site, in- 296 cluding two with drawings of the thousand-eyed seated Buddha (06CDF2:0027 and 06CDF2:0028) (Figures 1 and 2).[2] The “thousand eyes” feature is the main subject of both drawings; this style has not appeared elsewhere in China. The figures do not wear crowns, suggesting that they are portraits of Buddha, not Bodhisattva. If so, the religious presentation of the wooden tablet paintings from Damagou Township has two problems. First, the “thousand eyes” do not blend with the portraits of the Buddha. The two are separate and do not form a single entity. The “thousand eyes” presented here differ from those of later periods that are integrated with images of Buddha or Bodhisattva: They are presented instead as their alternate persona. Therefore, it is difficult to perceive from direct observation that these deity eyes manifest the mighty power of the portrayed Buddha. Second, the “thousand eyes” feature occupies a Thousand-Eyed Seated Buddha Wooden Tablet Paintings Unearthed in Damagou Township Figure 1: Thousand-eyed seated Buddha wooden tablet painting (06CDF2:0027) Figure 2: Thousand-eyed seated Buddha wooden tablet painting (06CDF2:0028) much larger proportion of the wooden tablet paintings than the images of Buddha, covering nearly the entirety of the wooden tablets. This is derived from a stylistic tradition that is different from the thousand-handed and thousand-eyed Avalokitasvara Bodhisattva, which was very popular in China at a later time. In addition, fragments of a mural depicting the thousand-handed and thousand-eyed Avalokitasvara Bodhisattva (06CDKF1:001) were also found at the Damagou Township site. However, its image 297 Chinese Cultural Relics » Issue Number 2-4, 2014 than what we have now,” at least in the Vedas [Feituo 吠陀], “the eye and its ability to gaze or scan are considered a component of rituals and worship,”[7] which itself can be considered the origin of the conceptual basis of the Brahmanical culture represented by the “thousand eyes.” Even though the images on the paintings are not exactly the same, the thousand-eyed seated Buddha wooden tablet paintings are a form of symbolism used by Esoteric Buddhism where it was initially propagated in the East. This also shows that despite simiFigure 3: Fragments of a mural depicting the thousand-handed and lar subject matters, the wooden thousand-eyed Avalokitasvara Bodhisattva (06CDKF1: 001) tablet paintings and murals undiffers from the figures on the two wooden tablet earthed from the Damagou Township site have difpaintings and looks more like the thousand-handed ferent images and designs, suggesting that they may and thousand-eyed Avalokitasvara Bodhisattva that convey different ideas and expressions. The “thousand eyes” is an important image in Inwas popular in China (Figure 3).[3] This also demonstrates the differences in conceptual presentations dian culture. It is to the Indians both an illusion and between the two groups of images unearthed there. a reality. Even though in the Buddhist tradition there “Although most of the doctrines of Mahayana is the story of Kunala (the heir apparent of Ashoka Buddhism appear to be new, they are based on ideas Maurya) who was slandered by his stepmother and from ancient India.”[4] Therefore, the origin of the blinded after his eyes were plucked out, and “later conception and presentation of this type of image used the tears of young men and women to wash could alternatively be attributed to thoughts and his eyes and regain his sight,”[8] the concept of the ideas from India, “where the expression of abstract “thousand eyes” has its origin in Brahmanism. The thoughts with images was commonly noted.”[5] And Rigveda [Liju Feituo 梨俱吠陀] records that the om“the use of symbolism, which represents one of the nipresent, greatest emperor in the universe, Varuna, many elements of Buddhism, became the self-image “is a thousand-eyed deity”;[9] that “Purusa has a thouof Buddhist doctrine in the third century BCE. It sand heads, a thousand eyes and a thousand feet”;[10] early on possessed the characteristics of mystery re- and that “among the many deities of Hinduism, the ligions, and was developed substantially in Northern great god of the universe has a thousand eyes, which Mahayana Buddhism and Lamaism.”[6] Religious im- is a symbol for the ability to perceive all things.”[11] agery is the manifestation of religious doctrines; it “Some of the earliest Indian artwork appears after transforms ideas and sermons into images. “Since the the production of various texts of the Vedas,”[12] and vocabulary for ‘eye’ in ancient India was far richer thus would naturally be influenced by the Vedas. The 298 Thousand-Eyed Seated Buddha Wooden Tablet Paintings Unearthed in Damagou Township thousand-handed and thousand-eyed Avalokitasvara Bodhisattva was also connected to early Hinduism. “In the Esoteric School of Hinduism, Shiva’s power (Sakri, the female companion for spiritual cultivation) is represented by the “eye” (Netra). The shape of the eye is similarly another characteristic of Bodhisattva’s appearance in its thousand-handed and thousand-eyed image (every palm has a round, wide-open eye). This image occasionally overlaps with the figure of the 11-headed Bodhisattva and is presented as one entity or is considered the same kind of image.”[13] Regarding the Purusa deity in the Rigveda, mentioned earlier in this article, Zhongyi Rao points out that “this deity has a thousand hands, a thousand eyes, a thousand feet; he fills heaven and earth, and is the master of all things. This is the same as ‘the Chinese myth of the so-called Julinghu, who attained utmost virtue and had the ability to create mountains and valleys, and build rivers.’ The saying appeared later that it has only appeared since the Eastern Han Dynasty.” Rao further considers this Chinese saying a result of the introduction of Brahmanical thought to China.[14] Because early Brahmanical culture lacked visual expression, its influence in China was limited. Images corresponding to this belief did not exist or were at least inferior to the kind of “thousand eyes” affixed to the body of Bodhisattvas in later periods. Considering that “the god who has a thousand heads has eyes everywhere,”[15] the arrangement of the “thousand eyes” on the thousand-eyed seated Buddha wooden tablet paintings from Damagou Township closely resembles the stylistic portrayal of “Ramayana” in the Upanishads [Aoyi shu 奥义书]. Since the “thousand eyes” fills heaven and earth, it has to transcend all iconographic structures, including images of Buddha and Bodhisattva. The presentation of the “thousand eyes” has to fill all voids, as portrayed on the wooden tablet paintings, in order to satisfy the masses. However, this kind of expression is even more akin to “the symbol of god’s kingdom,” men- tioned by Zongsan Mou, “and not schema”[16] – i.e., more of the meaning of the symbolism represented by the symbols. Such an abstract means of conveying iconography, however, makes it difficult for Chinese people to understand the doctrines in the Vedas. From the perspective of the origin of consciousness, the style of combining the “thousand eyes” and deities during the spread of Indian religious culture to China is reflected in the Khotanese text, Incantations for Exorcizing the Fifteen Ghosts [Dui zhi shiwu gui hushenfu 对治十五鬼护身符], discovered in Khotan Prefecture, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. According to Qing Duan’s translation and interpretation, Incantations for Exorcizing the Fifteen Ghosts is one of Esoteric Buddhism’s consecration rites (sima-bandha), wherein the terms “Avalokitasvara Bodhisattva” and “Shaykamuni Buddha” confirm its Buddhist character. But the nickname of the Brahmanical deity, Sakra devanam indrah (“thousand-eyed Mahadeva”), also appears in the text. And since “ ‘thousand-eyed Mahadeva’ appears in the Sanskrit segment of the long scroll,” this suggests that “at least during the formation of this long scroll of talismanic tantra, the help of the traditional Indian great deity Sakra was needed for the Bodhisattva to bring the gift of conception and childbirth. At this point, Bodhisattva was not called ‘thousand eyes,’ because the ‘thousand eyes’ images still belonged to Sakra. At least at this stage, the interweaving of Bodhisattva and Sakra is clearly observed, and it may have been this kind of interweaving that propelled the emergence and maturation of various images of Bodhisattvas, whereas elements of Hindu deities slowly faded away.”[17] Similarly, these materials also illustrate the artistic forms of Khotan Prefecture at the time, which were influenced to varying degrees by various thoughts and ideas. This suggests that the concept of the Buddhist “thousand eyes” originated in Brahmanism but became the thousand-handed and thousand-eyed Bodhisattva commonly seen in Chinese Buddhism 299 Chinese Cultural Relics » Issue Number 2-4, 2014 construction also became more explicit, lineal and tangible. The thousand-handed and thousandeyed Bodhisattva painting unearthed from the Hongfo Stupa in Helan County, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region could be considered a stylistic transition: “The head of the Bodhisattva in the image is damaged and missing; the nirmanabuddha is still there; a countless number of hands can be seen, their gestures natural and varied, with different handprints; an eye is drawn in the middle of each palm, encircled by Figure 4: Illustrations in the Astasahasrika Prajnaparamita Sutra red flames.”[20] The distribution of the thousand-eyed palms across through a process of change and assimilation. If the the entire painting is noteworthy. These hands with thousand-eyed seated Buddha wooden tablet paint- eyes do not have a lineal connection with the body ings unearthed in Damagou Township belong to an of the Bodhisattva, and do not indicate clearly or hint early style, then the prince with his body covered in at the presence of arms between the hands and the eyes that appears on the illustrations of the Bengali body. This makes it similar in conceptual expression miniature painting Astasahasrika Prajnaparamita Su- to the Damagou Township seated Buddha wooden tra [Baqian song banruo boluomiduo jing 八千颂般 tablet paintings. The unvarying correspondence be若波罗蜜多经] (circa eleventh century CE) would tween the eyes and the hands, however, reveals a be a manifestation of another kind of artistic style of sense of regularity in a limited space, which agrees Buddhistic Brahmanism (Figure 4).[18] This kind of with the common trait of Chinese thought. Furthericonography was no doubt increasingly influenced more, the excavators also followed the thought patby Brahmanical ideas, because “the thousand eyes tern when they named the wooden tablet paintings pattern” on the palms or the body “is very well-known unearthed from Damagou Township “thousandin Hinduism.”[19] What is common between this illus- eyed seated Buddha”; they used the term “thousand” tration and the thousand-eyed seated Buddhas on the to convey “extensive” or “infinite,” the former being wooden tablet paintings from Damagou Township a numeric expression derived from the literature, is that they all “cover the full board [with eyes]” to the latter an iconographic expression. This kind of express the concept of “infinity.” This further demon- cognitive connection also comes from India. strates the genesis of the latter from India. Of course, Wooden tablet paintings with such a composithese paintings will not be found east of the Yumen tion may have appeared because this kind of iconoPass (aka Jade Gate or Pass of the Jade Gate). graphic structure used to express ideas is represented The popular “thousand eyes” in China gradually best in paintings, especially when conveying the conobtained a stronger Buddhist flavor, and its visual cept of infinity. It is more difficult to communicate 300 Thousand-Eyed Seated Buddha Wooden Tablet Paintings Unearthed in Damagou Township symbolic meaning using other artistic forms, such as sculpture. The seated Buddha image on the two wooden tablet paintings unearthed from Damagou Township can be considered the ultimate form of expressing ideas such as infinity. When the ideas conveyed by the images are relatively demarcated, regular and rendered tangible, the artistic form can be more diverse and is not limited to painting. Obviously, there must have been a transition. The north wall of Grotto K54 and the east wall of Grotto K361 in the Mogao Grottoes, etc., built in the Tang Dynasty, are painted with the image of the thousand-handed and thousand-bo-bowled Manjusri. Even though the relationship between the eyes and the hands has become standardized, illustrations remain that suggest the notion of infinity. It is difficult to draw a linear connection between the thousand hands carrying bowls and the body of the Manjusri inside the aura of Manjusri Bodhisattva. The thousand-handed and thousandeyed Bodhisattva figure in Grotto K8 at Dafowan at Baoding Mountain in Dazu District of Chongqing Municipality has a similar composition. Yet these more abstract expressions are not as palpable as the sculptures of the common thousandhanded and thousand-eyed Bodhisattva that later became popular. Because three-dimensional figures instill a more mysterious and majestic religious appeal, and the area of Damagou Township was already at the time part of the territory of the Tang Empire and within the sphere of Han cultural influence, the “thousand eyes” image that entered China through the Hexi Corridor (aka Gansu Corridor) was more easily accepted[21] and transformed into a materialized impression when the expression of the infinite with the finite was used as a “divination” approach. Therefore, after the zenith of the Tang Dynasty, the popular thousand-handed and thousand-eyed Bodhisattvas were commonly portrayed in visual terms by uniting the eyes, hands and body, and furnishing it with the symbolism of representing the infinite with finite “numbers.” Especially after the Avalokitasvara Samadhi Sutra [Qianguan yanguan zizai Pusa mimi fajing 千光眼观自在菩萨秘密法经] was translated into Chinese by Sobara (aka San Mei Su Fu Lou), the so-called “forty methods” – i.e., using forty arms with palms adorned with eyes to express the number “thousand” – became popular. Because the number “forty” can give a visual impression of “many,” representing the presence of “many” hands and eyes, and since the design is relatively simple, it became the main image for thousand-handed and thousand-eyed Bodhisattvas in China. Lastly, the discovery of the Damagou Township thousand-eyed seated Buddha wooden tablet paintings as a manifestation of a fusion with Indian religious culture is not by accident. In 1990, Sven Hedin discovered three pieces of wooden tablet Figure 5: Depiction of Shiva on wooden tablet paintings unearthed from the Dandan Ulike site 301 Chinese Cultural Relics » Issue Number 2-4, 2014 paintings in a Buddhist-styled D.VII house at the Dandan Ulike (aka Dandanwulike) site, adjacent to the Damagou Township site. Among them was a piece numbered D.VII.6 with a painting of the Brahamanist Shiva (Figure 5)[22] on its front side: “three heads, four arms, riding two bulls.”[23] In 2002, a Sino-Japanese expedition revisited the Dandan Ulike site and reexamined D.VII, and discovered several images associated with Brahmanism in the Buddhist temple CD4. For example, the second deity from the left portrayed at the lowermost part of Mural CD4:05 has a “child face; three heads and four arms; one hand supporting the sun, one the moon and one holding a bird at the same time; in front of the seat is a peacock looking backward with its head raised,” which the excavators thought to be congruent with the image of Karthikeya (Pancika recorded this in the tantric commentaries).[24] These prove that “the deities related to Hindu myth discovered at Dandan Ulike still adhere to basic iconographic traditions.”[25] Since “many Buddhists also worship Hindu and Chinese deities, which is different from Christianity and Islam,”[26] it is therefore entirely possible that there was an intersection of Buddhist and Brahmanical ideas and images, which provided an opportunity for the appearance of new images. The author once wrote: “The Silk Road was a major passage of eastwest cultural interaction in medieval times, and it was also the path on which foreign religions entering China must have traveled. Apart from the Mahayana schools of Buddhism, Manichaeism, Zoroastrianism, Nestorianism, Islam, etc., also used this path for their missionary work.” “Brahmanism and Brahmanical culture also entered China via the Silk Road and left traces in its Xinjiang section,”[27] manifested indirectly by the way Buddhist imagery evolved. Therefore, it can be seen that the multitude of Buddhist images inside grottoes and temples along the Silk Road not only facilitated the introduction of Buddhism into China as a “teaching [viz., religion] of images,” but the designs also began to conform more to the Chinese system of thought and further synthesized as the images evolved. They could then more clearly express infinity with a finite number. The thousandeyed seated Buddha wooden tablet paintings from the Damagou Township site are a testament to this transition period. Acknowledgements Ling Li from the National Museum of China once provided the author a similar “painting of eyes,” which is kept in the collection of Guimet Museum in Paris and is included in the Manuscripts Collected by Paul Pelliot. The composition of this image is similar to that of the seated Buddha wooden tablet paintings unearthed from the Damagou Township site: The eyes are concentrated, without delimitation, inside and outside the central figure. According to the artistic style of this painting, it should be dated to the middle Tang Dynasty period, which means there is yet another transitional stage for the introduction of this kind of painting to China. References Cited [1] Xinjiang Archaeology Team, Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. 2007. “Xinjiang Hetian diqu Celexian Damagou fosi yizhi fajue baogao” 新疆和田地区策勒县达玛沟佛寺遗址发掘 报告 (The Excavation of the Buddhist Temple Site at Damagou Township in Cele County, Khotan Prefecture, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region). Kaogu xuebao 考古学报 (Acta Archaeologica Sinica) No. 4. [2] Xinjiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology et al. 2009. Dandanwulike yizhi – Zhongri gongtong kaocha yanjiu baogao 丹丹乌里克遗址—中日共同考察研究报告 (The Site of Dandan Ulike: A Report of the Sino-Japanese Joint Survey). Color edition 78. Cultural Relics Press. [3] See [2] above, Color edition 79. [4] [England] Eliot, Charles. 1982. Hinduism and Buddhism: An Historical Sketch, Vol. 1, p. 21. The Commercial Press. 302 Thousand-Eyed Seated Buddha Wooden Tablet Paintings Unearthed in Damagou Township [5] Jin, Kemu. 1996. “Lüelun Yindu meixue sixiang” 略论印度美学思想 (A Brief Discussion of Indian Aesthetic Thoughts). In Fanfo tan 梵佛探 (An Inquiry into Brahma in Buddhism). Hebei Education Press. [6] [Germany] Uhlig, Helmut. 2003. Das Bild des Buddh, p. 25. Social Sciences Academic Press. [7] [Netherland] Gonda, Jan. 1969. Eye and Gaze in the Veda, pp. 4-5. North-Holland. [8] Rui, Chuanming (trans.). 1995. Datang Xiyu ji quanyi 大唐西域记全译 (A Complete Translation of “The Great Tang Records on the Western Regions”), Vol. 3, account of “the Kingdom of Taxila.” Guizhou People’s Press. [9] Xu, Fancheng. 1981. “Weituojiao shentan yu dacheng pusadao gaiguan” 韦陀教神坛与大乘菩萨道概观 (An Overview of the Shrine of Skanda and the Noble Truths of Mahayana Bodhisattva). Shijie zongjiao yanjiu 世界 宗教研究 (Studies in World Religions) No. 3. [10] Cited from Lin, Yutang. 2006. Zhongguo Yindu zhi zhihui 中国印度之智慧 (The Wisdom of China and India), Vol. 23. Shaanxi Normal University Press. [11] Duan, Qing. 2009. “Yutianyu (dui zhi shiwugui hushenfu)” 于阗语 “对治十五鬼护身符” (The Khotanese “Incantations for Exorcizing the Fifteen Ghosts”). In Dunhuang Tulufan yanjiu 敦煌吐鲁番研究 (Research of Dunhuang and Turpan), No. 11. Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House. [12] [England] Burton, T. Richard. 1992. Hindu Art, p. 25. The British Museum Press. [13] [France] Stein, Rolf Alfred. 1997. “Guanyin, cong nanshen bian nǖshen yili” 观音, 从男神变女神一例 (Bodhisattva: An Example of the Transformation from Male Deity to Female Deity). In Faguo hanxue 法国汉学 (French Sinology), Vol. 2. Tsinghua University Press. He also mentioned in a footnote that, “Visnu and Durga both have ‘thousand eyes.’ Purusa’s thousand heads, thousand eyes, and thousand feet have all appeared in the Rigveda [Liju Feituo 梨俱吠陀], where there is the story of Bodhisattva.” [14] Rao, Zongyi. 1993. “Antulun yu Wujinjian zhi yuzhouguan” 安荼论与吴晋间之宇宙观 (World View between Anda and the Wu Kingdom and the Jin Dynasty). In Fanxueji 梵学集 (Collection of papers on Brahmanism). Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House. [15] Xu, Fancheng (trans.). 1995. “Moke naluo yanna aoyi shu” 摩诃那罗衍那奥义书 (Maha Narayana Upanishad). In Wushi aoyishu五十奥义书 (Fifty Upanishads). China Social Sciences Press. [16] Mou, Zongsan. 1997. Zhongguo zhexue shijiujiang 中国哲学十九讲 (Nineteen Lectures on Chinese Philosophy), p. 342. Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House. [17] See [11] above. [18] Wang, Yong. 2007. Yindu ximihua 印度细密画 (The Miniature Paintings of India). China Youth Publishing Group. [19] [France] Stein, Rolf Alfred. 1997. “Guanyin, cong nanshen bian nǖshen yili” 观音, 从男神变女神一例 (Bodhisattva: An Example of the Transformation from Male Deity to Female Deity). In Faguo hanxue 法国汉 学 (French Sinology), Vol. 2. Tsinghua University Press. [20] Chen, Yuning and Xiaofang Tang. 2010. Xixia yishushi 西夏艺术史 (The Art History of the Western Xia Dynasty), p. 96. Shanghai Sanlian Book Shop. The authors also think that this image is similar to the thousand-handed and thousand-eyed Bodhisattva in Grotto K8 at Dafowan on Baoding Mountain, Dazu District of Chongqing Municipality. “The thousand hands radiating from the Bodhisattva’s top, left and right, resembles a peacock fanning its tail.” [21] Considering Chinese Buddhist images, Foulk T. Griffiths and Robert H. Sharf. think that the philology of the word “xiang” (image) and the way it is used in Daode jing 道德经 (Tao Te Ching) and Yi jing 易经 (The Book of Changes) illustrate the mysteriousness and creativity behind its connection with “lifelike schema copies” in ancient China. See “Lun zhonghiji Zhongguo chanshi xiaoxiang de yishi gongneng” 论中世纪中国禅师肖像的 仪式功能 (On the Ritual Use of Chan Portraiture in Medieval China), in Zhongguo chanxue 中国禅学 (Chan Studies), Vol. 5. China Social Sciences Press. The “lifelike schema copies” refers to the portraits of founders of Buddhist sects, and the use of the finite to convey the infinite is precisely the kind of divination practice found in Yi jing and Daode jing. [22] [Sweden] Hedin, Sven (trans. by Xinhua Wu). 2009. Gudai Hetian-Zhongguo Xinjiang kaogu fajue de xiangxi baogao 古代和田—中国新疆考古发掘的详细报告 (Ancient Khotan – A Detailed Report on Excavations in Xinjiang, China), Vol. 2, p. 60. Shandong People’s Publishing House. [23] See [2], p. 38. [24] Xinjiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology. 2005. “2002 nian Dandanwulike yizhi fosi qingli jianbao” 2002年丹丹乌里克遗址佛寺清理简报 (A Preliminary Report on the Excavation at Buddhist Temple at 303 Chinese Cultural Relics » Issue Number 2-4, 2014 Dandan Ulike in 2002). Xinjiang wenwu 新疆文物 (Xinjiang Cultural Relics). Images with multiple arms, multiple heads or beast heads with human bodies, which might be related to Brahmanism, are mentioned in the text. [25] Li, Ling. 2001. “ ‘Batianshen’ tuxiang zhi wudu” “八天神”图像之误读 (The Misinterpretation of the Image of the “Eight Deities”). In Fojiao yu tuxiang lungao 佛教与图像论稿 (An Examination of Buddhism and Its Imagery). Cultural Relics Press. [26] See [4], p. 63. [27] Yan, Yaozhong. 2012. “Sichou zhilu Xinjiang duan zhong de Poluomen wenhua” 丝绸之路新疆段中的婆罗 门文化 (The Brahmanical Culture on the Xinjiang Section of the Silk Road). In Qiucixue yanjiu 龟兹学研究 (Studies of Ancient Kucha), No. 5. Xinjiang People’s Publishing House. Wenwu (Cultural Relics) Editor: Qian Dai Translated by Annie Chan, PhD candidate, University of Pennsylvania This article was originally published in Wenwu (Cultural Relics) No. 2 (2014), pp. 71-76 304