Essay name: Buddhist iconography in and outside India (Study)
Author:
Purabi Gangopadhyay
Affiliation: University of Calcutta / Department of Ancient Indian History and Culture
This work aims to systematically present the development and expansion of Mahayana-Vajrayana Buddhist iconography from India to other countries, such as China, Korea, and Japan. This study includes a historical account of Indian Buddhist iconography and the integration of Brahmanical gods into the Mahayana-Vajrayana phase.
Chapter 4: Japanese Buddhist Iconography (a Comparative Study)
66 (of 101)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
Download the PDF file of the original publication
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
-
150.
The Chinese Buddhist Tripitaka contains the descriptions
Here the goddess is described as the consort
if Kichij艒-ten
of Bishamon-ten.
These two deities are known as Kichijo-tennyo
and Bishamon-tennyo.
The goddess looks like a chinese lady. Her dresses
and ornaments are also like that of the dresses and ornaments
of a Chinese lady. She sits on a stool-like seat and her
legs are pendent. A hosh奴 (a pregious jewel), her recognition
symbol, is placed on her left palm, while her right hand
exhibits boon-giving posture (varada mudr膩).
Curiously enough, there appears a boldly drawn figure
of an elephant above the image of the goddess. Kichij艒-tennyo
is accompanied by her two attendants. They appear to be
standing in the midst of the clouds..
'Bishamon-tennyo is placed towards the left of the
goddess Kichij艒-tennyo. He is depicted as seated over the
heads of two demons. A small pagoda, a hobo (jewelled bar)
which are the common attributes of the deity, are held by
Bishamon in his right and left hands respectively.
狈腻谤腻测补峁嘺/狈补谤补别苍-迟别苍
N膩r膩ya峁嘺, or Vis峁噓-N膩r膩ya峁嘺 of the Brahmanical
religion is another notable deity in Japanese Buddhism. In
The Asaba-sho虩 compiled by Shocho (1205鈥�1282) included in
the Chinese Buddhist Tripitaka.
