PAKISTAN, LAND OF MEETING, I - VI century Gandhara
ARTS
ARTS
exhibition at the Guimet Museum (April 21 to August 16, 2010)
A Graeco-Buddhist
Apotheosis Buddhist (Guimet Museum)
While contemporary art is the witness of the encounter of Buddhism and the West (1), an exhibition reminds us that in ancient art Western and Dharma have already met. Indeed, the Guimet Museum is currently organized an exhibition presents a Buddhist art (for its themes, its iconography and its aim liberating), speaking in a visual vocabulary borrows heavily from Greek art (2). It was in Gandhara that occurred this amazing cultural mix and spiritual. It is an ancient region located in northern Pakistan and southern Afghanistan. Its long history and its geographical position made it a crossroads of great civilizations are mutually fruitful. This region was conquered by Darius the Great in the sixth century BC. JC and incorporated into the Persian empire. In the fourth century BC. JC is Alexander the Great seized it, this latest conquest marked the end of its expansion eastward. The country discovered Buddhism in the third century BC. JC when missionaries were sent there by the Indian emperor Asoka. In the first century AD. JC., Gandhara is the center of the Kushan empire, in which culture can be described as Greco-Buddhist-Iranian. The exhibition presents sculptures from the art, which are remarkable for their aesthetic significance, cultural and spiritual, but also because of their presence in Europe, these works are usually found in various museums of Pakistan.
The main topic Gandhara art is the representation of the Buddha and his life: his life as Siddhartha Gautama, but also preceding the Jatakas being an important source of the iconography of the art of Gandhara. This may sound expected of a Buddhist art, but it was not always the case. Indeed, this art, along with that of Mathura, is the first to break with tradition aniconic of Buddhist art which represented the Buddha by his absence and / or symbolically. In the next few lines, I would like to revisit this question of the representation of Buddha, what is shown when Buddha is represented? This reflection will be an attempt to better understand the exhibits and, more broadly, the role of images in Buddhist practice.
The descent of the 33 heavens (Guimet Museum)
The aniconism
A aniconic example of Buddhist art is visible in the exhibition: a bas-relief representing "The descent of the 33 heavens" (see illustration above). It shows the characters at the foot of a staircase bow with respect, but to whom or what? The attentive visitor will discover at the bottom of the stairs leading to the divine world the Buddha's footprints, footprints marked with the seal of Dharmachakra. Here the Buddha is not represented, but its presence is signified symbolically. Indeed, the Buddha does show that the imprint of his feet symbolizes his rule over the whole universe the wheel, in turn, refers to the universality of the Dharma. Why not be the Buddha? Why stick with symbols? Because the Buddha does not be reduced to its human appearance. Even a divine appearance would be inappropriate because always belonging to samsara, the endless cycle of rebirth and the perpetuation of suffering. This cycle is precisely what the Buddha has transcended in its wake. What form could it show that escapes all forms? The Buddha became identical to the Real immutable which contains all the phenomena without ever being identified or limited to any of them. It is similar in this space. In Buddhism the space is designed as akasa, inobstrué (3). The Buddha will be represented inobstrué as pure space, that is to say, as an absence in the image. This absence does not indicate a lack, a nothing but a transcendence: the Buddha is beyond samsara. There is a relationship of analogy. The lack of representation of the Buddha in the image indicates something beyond the image: nirvana where stands the Buddha and is beyond samsara. Our next guest is not to restrict that supply image in its visibility, but to see beyond the visible, like the Buddha by his very being to us a way out of samsara.
Why and how to represent the Buddha?
Yet the work that I just described is not representative of what we find in this exhibition. There are indeed a plethora of representations of the Buddha standing or sitting pensively or currently teach, surrounded by his disciples or enthroned in the center of a paradise, etc.. These are sculptures that reflect the best of Greek influence.
The deployment of figurative art very seriously may seem to contradict everything that has been said above. What can explain this important change that occurred in both the Gandhara and Mathura? It seems that the development of Mahayana Buddhism that is the origin of the first representations of Buddha. Indeed, Gandhara is a land where the Mahayana has grown dramatically. For example, Asanga and Vasubandhu, very important figures in the development of Mahayana were born Purusapura (modern Peshawar), while that city was the capital of Gandhara (4).
With the Mahayana faith takes an important place in Buddhist practice. It asks the Buddha or the Buddha (a feature of the Mahayana is to design the Buddha Sakyamuni is not unique, but a link in a procession that crosses many Buddhas the eons). For this it is necessary to have images of those we pray. We must be able to approach them and feel their presence in a living and vibrant. These paintings and sculptures become like a bridge between the condition of wandering and suffering beings caught in samsara and the absolute size of awakening. See these images, pray to them, use it as a medium of display, etc.. All these practices are becoming powerful skilful means to attain enlightenment. According to Buddhism, consciousness is not defined in absolute terms, but always in relation to an object, consciousness is always consciousness of something. Also, ask her attention on a sacred image, showing the Buddha represents enlightenment, is a way to immerse yourself in the awakening. Careful contemplation of such an image becomes, the time of its duration, suspension beyond the world of samsara. This experience, repeated, become subject, allows the mind to explore wider than he thought at first, the familiar and awake with his essence (5).
What, in the Dharma, founded the power of these images? The teaching on the three bodies of Buddha. The Mahayana sutras say that the Buddha remains in essence the Dharmakaya (Truth Body merging with the absolute and beyond any form), but it manifests itself without ceasing for the good of beings through the Rupakaya . The latter term means the formal body that are a visible expression of enlightenment: these events the absolute becomes visible. These forms are available at different types of spiritual beings according to their capacities: the sambogakaya or body of enjoyment to the Bodhisattvas and Nirmanakaya or Emanation Body for ordinary beings. In the Mahayana, if awakening completely transcends samsara, he manifests too much in samsara. It is this view of Mahayana manifestation of infinite goodness and wisdom of the Buddhas may explain the deployment of the sacred art of Buddhism in general and of Gandhara in the present case.
In this perspective, the image of Buddha can be defined as a human form (Rupakaya) but embodying the absolute (Dharmakaya): a being both human and beyond human, a "humanized transcendence" (6).
This may explain why the artists and their sponsors Gandharan represented the Buddha on the model of Greek art (While other models were available). This art has the main subject of human rendering with flexibility, movement and the breath of life, but with perfectly harmonious proportions and a search for ideal beauty is more than human. So what accounted for the Buddha: a human figure, present and alive, while suggesting the afterlife of the human as samsara in general.
is what can be observed with one of the most remarkable works in this exhibition: the stele of Muhammad Nari described in the catalog of the exhibition as an "apotheosis Buddhist" (See illustration below). At the center of what is often described as a paradise or pure land throne the Buddha with a face solar Apollonian. The perfect proportions of her body were wrapped in a beautiful drape. It come from other Buddhas who appear in the sky, characters wear sunshades tribute to him, some in postures of adoration of reflection or contemplation, etc.. The bodies and the expressions of the characters were treated by the anonymous author of this work with infinite grace, recalling the many figures in these people's composite Gandhara that time, but both without contradiction, Buddhist paradise. As if the Buddha, making it visible, transformed the world around him became a reflection of the world awakening.
Thus, the artists of Gandhara by seizing the Greek influence (as well as other more local influences) have been the vehicle of a spiritual expression that did not exist in its original model of a sacred art that can touch us today.
The Oddhyana
Finally (since we are here in a site devoted to Vajrayana and Dzogchen), reading cartels exposure you realize that many of the exhibited works are Original Swat Valley in Pakistan. The valley has been identified by researchers and scholars as the Oddhyana. A region known for the great interest of its people in magic and religion, a region which in the Tibetan tradition, is seen as a major source of the teachings of Vajrayana and Dzogchen. This is where the various kings reigned Oddhyana all known to Indrabhuti and played a crucial role in the transmission of the tantras Mahayoga and Anouyoga. This also is born Garab Dorje, the first human master Dzogchen. Finally, it is definitely in this region as Guru Rinpoche extraordinary (Urgyen Rinpoche: the precious Oddhyana literally) miraculously appears in the middle of Lake Dhanakosha then becomes a prince. This place is often seen in the Tantric tradition as the land of the Dakini thus Düdjom Rinpoche speaks to a vision that transcends time, space and ordinary perception: "Even the palace which hosted the Tantras Djarmaganji Track Vehicle Mantras, can no longer be perceived: people who see it think it's just an ordinary city. But even today it contains the path of tantra secret mantra that does not appear in India: Dakini put them safely in the invisible sphere, as they are not ordinary objects of perception. "(7)
Bibliography:
- Pakistan, Land of meeting, I e - V century, Gandhara arts, NMR.
The exhibition catalog.
- Mario Bussagli, The Art of Gandhara, Le Livre de Poche, Collection The Pochothéque.
A comprehensive book on the subject.
And to deepen the concepts of Dharma discussed in the text:
- Philippe Cornu, Encyclopedic Dictionary of Buddhism, Seuil.
- Stéphane Arguillière, The vocabulary of Buddhism, Ellipses.
- Lilian Silburn, Origins of Buddhism, Fayard.
Notes:
1. As evidenced see these two books: J. Baas, Smile of the Buddha, and University of California Press J.Baas / MJJacob, Buddha Mind in Contemporary Art, University of California Press. In a future article, I will have the opportunity to present them in more depth.
2. Or more specifically Hellenistic, that is to say, the evolution of Greek art after the classical period. Furthermore, it should be noted that this concept of art "Greco-Buddhist" was written by Alfred Foucher. Other researchers emphasize how references to local art and Roman influence later also helped shape this art. See: Mario Bussagli, "The Roman component and local trends" in The Art of Gandhara, Le Livre de Poche, Collection The Pochothéque.
3. "(...) No matter receives the name of Akasa, because things will shine strongly" in Louis de La Vallée-Pousin, The Abhidharmakosa Vasubandhu, Volume I, p. 8.
4. Stefan Anacker, Seven Works of Vasubandhu, Motilal Banarsidass.
5. Buddha nature exists inherently in the heart of all beings is another major theme of Mahayana
.
6. Bussagi, op.cit. , P. 194.
7. Translated Düdjom Rinpoche, The Nyingma School ofTibetan Buddhism, Wisdom, p. 503.
Damien Brohon
