Entering the Dharmadhatu
Subtitle: a study of the Gandavyuha reliefs of Borobudur
By: by Jan Fontein
Series: Studies in Asian art and archaeology -- v. 26; Studies in Asian art and archaeology -- v. 26.
Publisher: Brill
Published: 2012
Place of publication: Leiden; Boston
Language: eng
Number of pages: 272
ISBN-13: 9789004211223
Subjects: Tripiṭaka; Bas-relief; Themes, motives; Borobudur (Temple : Magelang, Indonesia); Buddhist relief (Sculpture)
Description: "The Gandavyūha, a sacred text of Mahāyāna Buddhism, is an allegorical tale of the pilgrimage of a youth named Sudhana, who visits fifty-three spiritual mentors to receive their instruction in the Conduct of the Bodhisattva. His miraculous journey on the path towards Enlightenment inspired the sculptors of Borobudur (9th century C.E.) to illustrate the tale in 460 bas-reliefs on the higher galleries of this great Javanese monument. During the 1920s N.J. Krom and F.D.K. Bosch identified many of the panels, but most of their findings, written in Dutch, remained unnoticed. Entering the Dharmadhātu compares the complete set of panels with three early Chinese translations of Central Asian and Indian Sanskrit manuscripts of the Gandavyūha. This first identification of the entire series in English concludes with a discussion of the new perspectives on the meaning, symbolism, and architecture of Borobudur that a reading of the Gandavyūha suggests."--Publisher's description.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.