The Representation of the Lotus SËtra in the Mogao Caves

Christine Kontler

As well as being one of the founding texts of the Great Vehicle, theLotus SËtra is also one of the oldest to be illustrated. Universally
recognised, the first representations focus like a ‘freeze frame’ on thefigure of two Buddhas sitting side by side on a throne or in a stËpa, byway of illustrating Chapter XI of the text in its Chinese version, ‘Visionof the Pagoda of Precious Materials.’
Very stable in its composition, the scene shows Íåkyamuni expounding the Lotus, seated at the right (on the left when you face the picture)of PrabhËtaratna (‘Many Treasures’ Buddha), the Buddha from the distant past, who had come to his wonderful pagoda to attest to theexcellence of his preaching. In line with the lessons in the text attributed
to an immensely magnified vision of the Buddha, they are depicted as‘glorious bodies’ or as ‘shared bodies’ (sambhoga-kåya 三菩枷迦耶) as
per the nascent iconography of the Great Vehicle.

‘Sūtra of Transformation’ Paintings
Using the beautiful Japanese term of ‘One StËpa, Two Venerables’, thesubject appears to be a creation of art known as ‘Gandhåra’. It appears
in the first centuries of our era in this ancient Buddhist land on thenorthwest edge of the Indian subcontinent (present-day Pakistan) andspreads to Central and Eastern Asia to form the kernel of illustrations
developed in China between the 5th and 10th centuries, in the period of
the formation and the blossoming of Chinese Buddhism.
Chinese scholars were able to identify some forty painted illustrationsof the Lotus at the Mogao shrine-cave in the Dunhuang oasis, a testament to how remarkable this place is. These pictures belong to a major
genre of Buddhist painting, called ‘SËtra of transformation’ (bianjing 變經) or ‘transformation of images’ (bianxiang 變相) within the meaning ofthe Buddhist nirmåna of ‘appearance’ of ‘fictional creation’ or of ‘metamorphosis’ of which art is the major means of transmission.
Portrayed either in 3D (modeled statues of Cave 259) or on painted61

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the representation of the lotus sutraˉin the mogao caves

No ImageÍåkyamuni Buddha (on the observer’s left) and Many Treasures
Buddha. Cave 259, Dunhuang Magao Caves; Northern Wei period, 5thcentury (Dunhuang shiku quanji, Vol. 7, Shanghai Renmin Chubanshe,2000)

surfaces (Cave 285), the vision of ‘One StËpa, Two Venerables’ dominates the arts of Mogao in the 5th and 6th centuries, thereafter
integrating into compositions as varied as they are complex.
Dating from the Sui Dynasty (581–619), Cave 420 is entirely devoted
to the Lotus with statues and painted groups of disciples and bodhisattvas around a preaching Íåkyamuni. On the walls are small figures ofBuddhas in meditation, known as the ‘thousand Buddhas’, showing theradiant presence of these countless Buddhas emanating from the glorious body of Shakyamuni, or those arising from the ten directions ofspace to participate in his sermon.
On the ceiling, the introductory chapter of the sutra or ‘Prologue’ isportrayed with its multiple assemblies centered around a scene of timeless Extinction (west and north sections). The south section is dedicatedto Chapter III, called ‘The Parable’, which tells the story of the burning
house, a metaphor for our world of impermanence and suffering. Like abenevolent father, the Buddha saves his children by sending three carts
which, in fact, are revealed as unique, reflecting the supreme doctrine hetaught in the Lotus.
As for the images on the east side, they describe the succession of

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perils from which Bodhisattva Guanyin saves his devotee and also theforms he borrows to approach him and bring him to liberation, in a very
detailed illustration of Chapter XXV, ‘The Universal Gateway of theBodhisattva Perceiver of the World’s Sounds’. Often copied, recited anddepicted independently, the chapter is most beautifully portrayed inCave 45, dating from the Tianbao era (742–755) of the Tang Dynasty(619–907) eras where the south wall is devoted entirely to the salvation
performed by the Giant of compassion.
It was in fact from the 7th to the 9th centuries that the paintings ofMogao reached their peak. Dating from the Shenlong era (705–707), thesouth wall of Cave 217 shows Íåkyamuni preaching the Lotus and setting in motion the turning of the wheel of the Law; above him appears
his chosen land or his field of salvific action, which is none other thanour fully transfigured world.
In the large central frame with its hieratic figures ranked in order ofspiritual importance, small scenes are juxtaposed, forming multiple portions of space in a more free composition, with backgrounds oflandscapes or architecture. Among them is ‘The Parable of the Phantom
City’ from Chapter VII where the Buddha, like a wise guide, magicallycreates a city for those exhausted from their journey to stop and rest sothat they can resume their trek to the unique treasure of authentic andreal extinction.

Rich Imagery Brings Teachings to Life
Illustrations of parables, predictions and wonders… “scènes de genre”
show, often in a highly elliptical way, the methods or expedient means(upåya), employed by the Buddha of the Lotus to invite living beings
into the Way of perfect Enlightenment. They are an opportunity for rural
depictions, such as the labourer from Chapter V under the beneficial rainof ‘The Parable of The Medicinal Herbs’; they recount the life of a poorson who is kept busy sweeping the stables at a luxurious residence
before being entrusted with his father’s inheritance in the edifying story
from Chapter IV, ‘Belief and Understanding’. Or they show battle
scenes, evoking the parable of the pearl without price, bestowed to hismost valiant soldiers by the great king of Chapter XIV ‘Peaceful Practices’.
Chapel-Cave 61 is the most prestigious in the sanctuary due to its
grandeur and to the noble lineage of its sponsor and donor, Lady Zhai,
wife of Cao Yuanzhong, Imperial Commissioner of the Dunhuang areain the early 10th century. On the south wall, which you can discover in64

the representation of the lotus sutraˉ
in the mogao caves

this exhibition, a large vertical panel depicts the preaching of the Lotus,
surrounded by twenty-two of its chapters. Thinking in terms of symmetry along a central axis—in other words the central elevation, theillustration shows, from bottom to top, the burning house—our world—with the reclining Buddha of final extinction and Shakyamuni
preaching, and above him the Vision of the wonderful pagoda.
Thanks to their richness, sketched in this lecture in broad strokes, therepresentations of the Lotus at Mogao reveal the harmonic functions ofimagery in the Great Buddhist Vehicle, as an ‘offering’ or ‘meritorious
act’ accomplished by the disciple making a virtuous gift, as an ‘icon’ forthe devotee in their religious or liturgical practices, as the subject andobject of contemplation for the meditating follower. Just like reciting atext, imagery instructs and teaches, updates and brings to life teachings
that are beyond all worldly scope, while remaining tangible to humanity.
Bibliography
He, Shizhe 賀世晢 and Shi, Pingting 施萍婷 “Dunhuang bihua zhong of Fahuajingbian
chutan 敦煌壁畫中的法華經變初探” in Dunhuang Mogaoku 敦煌莫高窟 (Zhongguoshiku 中國石窟), vol. III, Beijing, Wenwu Press, 1987 pp. 177–191.
Wang, Eugene, Shaping the Lotus Sutra: Buddhist Visual Culture in Medieval China,Seattle, University of Washington Press, 2005.
Author Biography
Christine Kontler is a Sinologist with a Ph.D. in Religious Studies. She is a teachingassistant at the Theologicum of the Catholic Institute of Paris and a member of CREOPS(the Centre for Far Eastern Research at Paris-Sorbonne). Her courses and main publications focus on the religious and artistic traditions of China and the sacred arts ofBuddhism. She is the author of Sagesses et religions en Chine (Wisdom and Religions inChina, Bayard, 1996), Les voies de la sagesse, Bouddhisme et religions d’Asie (Ways ofWisdom, Buddhism and religions of Asia, Picquier, 1996, 2nd edition 2005), and L’art
chinois, une histoire culturelle (Chinese Art, a Cultural History, CNRS pub. 2016).