Synopses & Reviews
This volume presents new research on topics which centers around the question of how Chinese Buddhist art evolved and what characteristics mark it as distinctly Chinese. Touching upon the Indian roots of Buddhism, the authors focus on the transformations that took place once the belief system entered the Chinese political, social and philosophical sphere. Indian architecture, sculpture, and painting transformed indigenous Chinese art by introducing new subject matter, moral ideals, and a novel aesthetics. However, enough native Chinese principles prevailed to inspire the creation of new sutras and legends that, in turn, inspired artists to create new visual means of appealing to Chinese audiences who needed to reconcile Buddhism with their existing beliefs and moral systems involving Confucianism, Daoism, and the highly stratified imperial power structure.
Table of Contents
Introduction / Janet Baker -- Gao Li's discovery of a miraculous image : the evolution of Ashoka image stories in medieval China / Koichi Shinohara -- Monks among laymen : social activities of the Buddhist clergy in medieval China / Judy Chungwa Ho -- Early Chinese Buddhist architecture and its Indian origins / Nancy Shatzman Steinhardt -- Paradise images in early Chinese art / Wu Hung and Ning Qiang -- Foreigners in early Chinese Buddhist art : disciples, Lohans, and barbarian rulers / Janet Baker -- Avalokiteshvara in sixth-century China / Denise Patry Leidy -- Buddhist sites of Gansu / Marylin Martin Rhie -- The development of Buddhist sculpture in Sichuan : the making of an indigenous art / Angela F. Howard -- The development of Buddhist sculpture in Yunnan : syncretic art of a frontier kingdom / Angela F. Howard.