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Elements of Buddhist Iconography c8: Plates

Elements of Buddhist Iconography c8

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Plates

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PLATE I

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FIGURE 1. The Buddha (Amitāyus) as the Tree of Life. Sāñcī, north torana, left pillar, outer face, 100–50 B.C. India Office photograph.

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Above, *triśūla*, *vajra*, or "*nandi-pada*" symbol forming a head; middle, a column of superimposed lotus palmettes (cf. *skandhāt skandham*, Maitri Up., VII, 11) forming the trunk; below, the *pādukā*, feet, "firmly established," *supratiṣṭhā*; cf. Figs. 13, 14. Above the "head" will be observed the umbrella (*chatra*, *uṣṇīṣa*) of the Cakravartin; corresponding to the prescription *uṣṇīṣa-śīrṣa* proper to the Buddha's anthropomorphic likeness. The triple division may be compared to that of the cosmic (*lokavat*) aspect of Prajāpati as described in *Maitri Up.*, VI, 6, where the "Three Worlds" constituting this "body" are *svar*, *bhuvas*, and *bhūr*, celestial, spiritual, and chthonic.

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The whole is to be regarded as a "support for contemplation" (*ārambaṇa*, *Aṣṭasahasrikā Prajñāpāramitā*, passim; *dhīyālamba*, *Maitr. Up.*, VII, 11, see p. 9; *ālamba*, *Yoga Sūtra*, I, 10).

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For a description from other points of view, see text, pp. 8–10.

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FIGURE 2. The Buddha as Supernal Sun. Amarāvatī, in the Indian Museum, Calcutta, ca. 200 A.D. India Office photograph.

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Above, the Dharmacakra or Principial Wheel, supported by four lions of which two only are visible in the frontal view.

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The nave is lotiform, the eight petals representing directions; there are sixty-four spokes; the triple felly is fringed with twelve *triśūla* symbols, representing solar "months." At this level also are dancing apsarases, supported by lotuses (of the "upper waters"). Above the wheel are "cherubim." For the solar significance of the addorsed animals cf. Roes, *Greek Geometric Art*, 1933, pp. 94–122. The wheel is supported by a column, the Axis of the Universe, corresponding to the trunk of the Tree of Life, and the "one leg" of the Sun, when alluded to as *eka-pād*. At the base level there are a throne and footstool, with wheel-marked feet (*pāduka*, *pada*, Buddha-pada), as in Figs. 1, 13, 14. These, his "traces" (*dhātu*) on earth, are adored by human worshippers.

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FIGURE 3. The Buddha as Supernal Sun. Amarāvatī, ca. 200 A.D. British Museum (?). India Office photograph.

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Similar to Fig. 2, but the pillar is differently treated and the paired riders are replaced by flying angelic types, except at the top, where two riders take the place of the apsarases. The pillar has three lotiform nodes. The segments (*parva*) between the three nodes are octagonal, and geometrically patterned, with human worshippers at the base level. Such arrangements, indeed, as those of Figs. 2 and 3 correspond exactly to such representations of superimposed worlds as may be seen at Sāñcī, east *torana*, right pillar, front face (Bachhofer, *Early Indian Sculpture*, Pl. 59), where the *Brahmaloka* is sharply differentiated from the *kāmarūpa* lokas below.

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Cf. the similar examples, Burgess, *Buddhist Stūpas of Amarāvatī and Jaggayyapeta*, Pl. XXXVIII, Figs. 1 and 7. In one of these the Dharmacakra symbol is combined with that of the Cross with equal arms.

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Figure 4. The Buddha as Pillar of Fire. Amarāvatī, 3rd century A.D. Madras Museum. India Office photograph.

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The head and base as in Figs. 1-3, the pillar segmented and fringed with flame. See descriptions in text, p. 10.

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Figure 5. Scene from a Jātaka (?) Amarāvatī, ca. 200 A.D. Madras Museum. India Office photograph.

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The Buddha as Pillar of Fire, with human worshippers. The feet are very clearly lotus-supported (padma-pīṭha), and are turned in the direction of movement or response.

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Figure 6. Cult of the Buddha as a Pillar of Fire. India Office photograph.

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Type as before, but the pillar is spirally marked. Amarāvatī, ca. 200 A.D. British or Madras Museum. Cf. Fig. 10, upper centre, where the seated Buddha is surrounded by a flaming glory.

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Figure 7. Scene from a Jātaka (?) Amarāvatī, as Fig. 6.

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The feet are padma-pīṭha, and seem to be turned in the direction of movement or response.

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Figure 8. Relief from Amarāvatī, as Figs. 6 and 7.

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Perhaps the Offering of Sujātā, and Assault of Māra or that of Aṅgulimāla (cf. relief from Nāgārjunikoṇḍa, reproduced by Bachhofer in OZ., NF. 10, Abb. 5, a similar scene with the Buddha in human form). In any case, the Buddha, as before, is represented by a Pillar of Fire, with triśūla “head” and lotus-supported (padma-pīṭha) feet. For Sujātā = Apālā = Uṣas, see my “The Darker Side of Dawn” in the press (Smithsonian Miscellaneous Publications).

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Figure 9. The same scene as Fig. 8, in an older style. Amarāvatī, ca. 100 B.C. Madras Museum. India Office photograph.

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FIGURE 10. Above, possibly the same as Figs. 8 and 9; in any case, the Buddha seated with a flaming aura completely surrounding him. Below, Worship of the seated Buddha as a Pillar of Fire (as in Fig. 6), beneath the Bodhi-tree. Amarāvatī, *ca.* 200 A.D. Madras Museum. India Office photograph.

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There is some reason to suppose that the Pillar of Fire type is in a special way connected with the Māra Dharṣaṇa and Mahāsambodhi, *cf.* Burgess, *Buddhist Stūpas of Amarāvatī and Jaggayyapeta*, Pl. XXI, Fig. 2, where the Assault of Māra is taking place immediately to the right of the Bodhighara, the Buddha being represented by a throne and Pillar of Fire.

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For two other representations of fiery auras or pillars, see *ibid.*, Pl. XXVI, Figs. 1 and 2.

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FIGURE 11. Cult of the Bodhi-tree; part of an early enclosing wall (*pākāra*) from Amarāvatī, *ca.* 100 B.C. Madras Museum. India Office photograph.

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This representation may not be in fact, but could be regarded as, an illustration of the Kālinga-bodhi Jātaka.

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FIGURE 12. Cult of the Buddha as Supernal Sun. Amarāvatī, *ca.* 200 A.D., as before.

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The pillar is represented as in Fig. 3, abbreviated. Note again the octagonal form of the lower part; the worshippers may be angelic or human.

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The fragment is perhaps part of another composition not identified, but similar in character to that of Fig. 7.

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The paired deer right and left of the throne designate the scene as a representation of the "Final Turning of the Wheel" or "First Sermon."

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FIGURE 13. Buddha-*pādukā*, with Dharmacakra and other symbols. Amarāvatī, ca. 100 B.C. Madras Museum. India Office photograph.

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The Dharmacakras are as usual lotus-centred: the number of spokes is evidently intended to be sixty-four in each case. The central symbol on the heel is the same as that within the *triśūla* in Fig. 23, and which I regard as *śrīvatsa* “Notes on Indian Coins and Symbols,” O.Z., N.F. IV, 1927/28, p. 183), but which Mr Johnston identifies as *vardhamāna* (J.R.A.S., October, 1931, April, 1932, and July, 1933); it is the “shield” or “nāga” symbol of numismatists. The position of the feet shows that the Buddha is thought of as facing the worshipper, as in Figs. 1, 5, 7, 15, etc.

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FIGURE 14. An *āyāgapaṭa*, similar to Fig. 13, but fragmentary and with additional symbols. Amarāvatī, ca. 200 A.D. Madras Museum. India Office photograph.

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The position of the feet is reversed, and should have been as in Figs. 13, 15, etc.

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FIGURE 15. Worship of the Buddha-*pādukā*. Amarāvatī, ca. 200 A.D. Madras Museum. India Office photograph.

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The *pada* are represented as usual on the footstool of the throne. Behind the throne must have stood a Tree or pillared Wheel.

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FIGURE 16. Jaina *āyāgapaṭa*, from the Kankālī Ṭilā, Mathurā, now J 55 in the Lucknow Museum. Photograph by the Archaeological Survey of India.

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Figure of a Jina (Mahāvīra?) in the centre of a fourfold *triśūla*. The symbol occurs again in single form in the lower margin. The “shield” symbol discussed in the description of Fig. 13 occurs in the upper margin. To left a solar pillar supported by a lotus pedestal; to right an elephant pillar of similar type.

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See discussion of the symbols in the literature cited under Fig. 13.

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FIGURE 17. Lotus birth of the Brahmanical Trinity, Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Śiva. Thaton, Burma, about 8th century. Phayre Museum, Rangoon (?).

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The stem of the lotus rises from the navel of the recumbent Nārāyaṇa. More often Brahmā (-Prajāpati) alone is thus represented as lotus-born. Cf. p. 17 and Fig. B. Cf. Temple, “Notes on Antiquities from Ramannadesa,” *Ind. Ant.*, 1894, Pls. XIV, XIVa; Ray, *Brahmanical Gods in Burma*, Calcutta, 1932, Pls. 4, 5; my “Stem of Jesse and Indian Parallels or Sources,” *Art Bulletin*, XI, 1932; “The Stem of Jesse and Oriental Parallels,” *Parnassus*, January, 1935; and my *Yakṣas*, I and II, Washington, 1928 and 1931.

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FIGURE 18. Cult of the Buddha as Dharmacakra, Principial Wheel, i. e. as Supernal Sun, cf. Figs. 2 and 3. Bharhut, ca. 175 B.C. Freer Gallery, Washington. Photo by same.

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Above the Wheel is an umbrella of Lordship (as in Fig. 1, above the "head" of the Tree). A heavy floral garland hangs from the nave, which is of lotus form.

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FIGURE 19. Cakravartin, surrounded by the Seven Treasures. Part of an early enclosing wall (pākāra) from Jaggayyapeṭa, 2nd century B.C. Madras Museum. India Office photograph.

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According to the Mahāsudassana Sutta (S.B.E., XI, S.B.B., III) and Lakkhaṇa Suttanta (S.B.B., IV) the treasures of a Cakravartin consist of a Wheel (cakra, explained by one commentator as representing the solar disk), an elephant, horse, light-giving jewel, queen, treasurer, and minister. In the present relief the latter is represented by a boy, evidently the Crown Prince; according to Buddhaghosa, the king's eldest son in fact officiated as pariṇāyaka, and the Jaggayyapeṭa relief shows that this was not "a mere putting back into the (Mahāsudassana) Sutta a later idea," as was surmised by Rhys Davids, S.B.E., XI, 259, note 1. That the Emperor's hand is raised to the clouds, from which falls a rain of coins, corresponds to ancient conceptions of Varuṇa and others as givers of wealth; Varuṇa or Agni as mīḷhuṣa; Indra's designation as Maghavat; Ṛg Veda, X, 19, 7, rayyā saṃ sṛjantu naḥ, "pour down wealth upon us"; and later passages in the Mahābhārata where Indra is spoken of as "raining gold" on a favorite king, and where Bhīma addresses Yudhiṣṭhira with the words "Thy hand can rain gold"; and even more striking a passage of the Prabandhacintāmaṇi (Tawney, p. 76), "O king! when the cloud of your hand had begun its auspicious ascent in the ten quarters of the heavens, and was raining the nectar flood of gold, with the splendor of the trembling golden bracelet flickering like lightning"; cf. also Buddhacarita, I, 22, "Like a range of clouds she relieved the people about her from the sufferings of poverty by raining showers of gifts."

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This and other representations of the Cakravartin are illustrated and discussed in my "A Royal Gesture, and Some Other Motifs," in Feestbundel K. Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen, I, 1929. T. N. Ramachandran (in Papers published by the Rao Sahim G. V. Ramamurthi Pantulu's 70th Birthday Celebration Committee, which I know only in an offprint) has recently connected the Cakravartin types of Jaggayyapeṭa, Amarāvatī, and Goli with the Māndhātu Jātaka.

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FIGURE 20. Cakravartin, similar to Fig. 18, but later style. Amarāvatī, about 200 A.D. Madras Museum. India Office photograph.

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FIGURE 21. Indus Valley seal, *ca.* 3000 B.C. Archaeological Survey of India photograph. The cult of the deity (Yakṣa?) of the *pippala* (*Ficus religiosa*, the Bodhi-tree of Buddhism) is represented. The deity wears a three-pointed (*triśūla*? symbol, *cf.* the Vedic conception of Agni as Vanaspati, and as latent or nascent in vegetation, etc. *Cf.* Marshall, *Mohenjodaro*, London (Probsthain), 1931, Pl. XII, Fig. 18, and p. 65 f.

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FIGURE 22. Indus Valley sealing, *ca.* 3000 B.C. India Office photograph. The deity seated cross-legged as in the later iconography is three-faced, and has been identified, probably rightly, with Śiva. He has as before a three-pointed, *triśūla*-like headdress. *Cf.* Marshall, *Mohenjodaro*, London (Probsthain), 1931, Pl. XII, Fig. 17, and p. 53f.

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FIGURE 23. Part of the inner face of the north *toraṇa*, Sāñcī. Early 1st century B.C. India Office photograph. Above, the *triśūla* symbol as discussed in the text, pp. 13 f. Combined with this is the "shield" symbol discussed under Fig. 13. The supporting column is eight-sided. Below, the *abhiṣeka* of Śrī-Lakṣmī, here perhaps regarded as Māyā-devī, the Mother of the Buddha, see text, p. 22. Between, Śrī-Lakṣmī or Māyā-devī represented aniconically by the lotus. On the left, two *yakṣīs* with their trees.

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FIGURE 24. Coping detail from Amarāvatī, *ca.* 200 A.D. Madras Museum. In the bend of the lotus-rhizome is represented the cult of the Dharmacakra, the Buddha as Supernal Sun. Below this is a fourfold *triśūla* or *vajra*; *cf.* Figs. 16, 18.

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FIGURE 25. *Rimbō*, dharmacakra, used in Shingon ritual. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, No. 22.527. Lotus centre; eight spokes of the single-*vajra* type.

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FIGURE 26. *Kongō-sho*, vajra, used in Shingon ritual. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, No. 22.509. The "single" type, *tokkō* at each end.

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FIGURE 27. *Kongō-sho*, vajra, used in Shingon ritual. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, No. 22.510. The usual "*triśūla*" type, *sankō* at each end.

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FIGURE 28. *Katsuma-kongō*, karma-vajra, used in Shingon ritual. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, No. 22.505. *Cf.* Ishida, *A Study on the Excavation of Buddhistic Remains at Nachi*, Tokyo Imperial Household Museum Investigation Series, No. 5, Tokyo, 1927, p. 55.

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FIGURE 29. The Buddha preaching to Bodhisattvas on Mt Gṛdhrakūṭa. Kārli, ca. 500 A.D. Photograph by Johnston and Hoffman, Calcutta. See the detailed analysis in the text, pp. 53–54.

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FIGURE 30. Hokke Mandara. Bronze, work of the monk Dōmyō, in the year Hakuhō 2, equivalent to A.D. 673. Owned by the Hasedara Monastery, Nara. From a photograph lent by Professor Langdon Warner.

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In the middle panel, the Manifestation and Teaching on Mt Gṛdhrakūṭa, as described in the *Saddharma Puṇḍarīka*, Jap. *Hokke-kyo*, Chs. XI and XX. On the left, the Tathāgata, Śākya-muni, in teaching pose (cf. Fig. 29), attended by Ānanda and Rāhula and four Bodhisattvas. In the centre, the stūpa (Jap. *taho-tō*) of Prabhūtaratna ("Then arose a stūpa from the place of the earth (*pṛthivīpradeśāt*) . . . its *chatra*-spire rose up so high as to reach the Four Great Kings; therein exists the very-Self (*ātma-bhāva*) of the Tathāgata (the former Buddha Prabhūtaratna) . . . and according to his solemn vow, the stūpa is opened and shown . . . and there was seen sitting the Tathāgata Prabhūtaratna on his throne . . . and yielded to the Lord Śākya-muni the half of the throne . . . so that both Tathāgatas were seen sitting on the throne within the great Jewel-stūpa . . . (Ch. XI) . . . the Tathāgata, Śākya-muni, and the altogether extinguished (*parinirvṛtta*) Tathāgata Prabhūtaratna, both seated on the lion-throne within the stūpa, smiled at each other, and from their opened mouths gave tongue, so that their tongues extended to the Brahmaloka, and from those two tongues there issued countless myriads of rays, and from each ray countless myriads of Bodhisattvas, of golden body, with the thirty-two particular marks of a Mahāpuruṣa, and seated on lion-thrones in lotus-calices . . . who, stationed in every quarter, preached the Law (*dharma*) . . . so that every existence in every Buddha-field heard that voice from the sky . . . (Ch. XX)").

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On the right, in all respects a replica of the Buddha Śākya-muni, except as regards the costume and throne, is seated the Bodhisattva Maitreya, who is the principal speaker on behalf of the assembled Bodhisattvas, and in response to whom the Buddha utters the all-important fifteenth Chapter of the text.

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It will be seen that the stūpa, which "rises from the earth," is accordingly represented as supported by a lotus, combined with which are the four "adamantine lions" (*kongō shishi*) mentioned in the inscription.

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On the lowest level, representing the terrestrial plane (and corresponding to the lower level in Fig. 29), are placed only the dedicatory inscription and the figures of the guardian Yakṣas (*niō*).

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FIGURE 31. Taizō-hō mandara, Garbha-kośa (-dhātu) maṇḍala, central portion. Japanese original in the Tōji Monastery, Kyotō. After Ōmura Seigai, Sanbon Ryōbu Mandara, Tokyō, I, 1913.

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This Japanese original, painted in A.D. 1693, is the third copy of the Chinese original brought to Japan by Kōbō Daishi in A.D. 806, the first and second copies having been made in 1195 and 1292.

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The Persons (Hypostases) are as follows:

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Hoshō Nyorai (Ratnaketu Tathāgata)

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Miroku Bosatsu (Maitreya Bodhisattva)

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Fugen Bosatsu (Samantabhadra Bodhisattva)

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Tenkoraion Nyorai (Divyaduṇḍubhimeghanirghoṣa Tathāgata)

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Birushana Nyorai (Vairocana Tathāgata)

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Kaifukeō Nyorai (Saṃkusumita-rāja Tathāgata)

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Kwanjizai Bosatsu (Avalokitēśvara Bodhisattva)

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Monjushiri Bosatsu (Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva)

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Muryoju Nyorai (Amitāyus Tathāgata)

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The Buddhas occupy the centre and four petals of the lotus, Bodhisattvas the four remaining petals. Vairocana is the primordial (Ādi-) Buddha identified with the Supernal Sun; the four other Dhyāni Buddhas represented being those of the four quarters, the orientation in the diagram being

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East South North West

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The exact equivalent of the maṇḍala as here illustrated may be seen in the Shuji (seed-letter) form in the central field of Fig. 32.

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A maṇḍala in all respects like that of Fig. 31 is reproduced by Getty, Gods of Northern Buddhism (2nd ed.), Pl. XVI. A corresponding representation of Vairocana (as Ichijikinrin) in Vajra-dhātu form, No. 09.387 in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, is reproduced by Anesaki, Buddhist Art (1st ed.), Pl. XIV. Here “the fingers of the right hand clasp the forefinger of the left . . . the gesture symbolises the unity of the cosmic and the individual souls in the final spiritual enlightenment” (ibid., pp. 34, 35¹), whereas in the Garbha-dhātu form the two hands hold the Dharmacakra, implying their distinction on the plane of operation.

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¹ Cf. “Si-do-in-dzou, gestes de l’officiant dans les cérémonies mystiques des sectes Tendai et Shingon,” Annales du Musée Guimet, VIII.

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In the original, panels immediately above and below the central area here reproduced contain each five representations, as follows, reading from left to right:

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Above, Shishigute-butsumoson (Cuṇḍā-bhagavatī, Saptakoṭi-buddha-mātṛ), Butsugen-butsuno (Buddha-locana), Issai Nyoraichi-in (Sarvatathāgata-jñāna-mudrā), Daiyūmō Bosatsu (Mahāvīra), Daianrakufukūshinjitsu (Vajrāmogha-samayasattva, Mahāsukhâmogha-vajrasattva), also smaller figures above the central symbol, viz. on the left Kaya-kasho (Gayā Kāśyapa), and on the right Urubinra-kasho (Uruvilva Kāśyapa). Below, Shosanzeson (Trailokya-vajra), Daiitokuson (Yamāntaka), Hannya-haramitsu (Prajñāpāramitā), Gōsangeson (Vajra-hūṃkara), and Fudōsan (Acalanātha).

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See also Supplementary Notes, p. 95.

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Ryōbu mandara, viz. the Garbha-kośa-dhātu and Vajra-dhātu maṇḍalas represented as Shuji ("seed-letter") mandaras. "Diagrammatic representations in which Sanskrit letters are substituted for figures of the deities in the two Cycles. These letters, called Shuji (Sanskrit, Bija) or seed, are regarded as efficacious symbols of the Shingon deities" (Anesaki, *Buddhist Art*, Pl. XVI). Japanese, late 17th century. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Nos. 11.7114 and 7113. The latter bears the signature "Siddha (characters) written by Kwaien in his latter years," Kwaien being alias the Shingon monk Chōzen, who was famous for his workmanship in this kind.

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FIGURE 32. Garbha-kośa-dhātu maṇḍala, in which the *tattvas* (Quiddities or Principles) are shown in their sensibly manifested forms. The central field corresponds to the whole area shown in Figs. 30 and 33. Vairocana is represented by the syllable (seed-letter) "AḤ:" with which may be compared a representation (Fig. 40) of Vairocana by the syllable A upon a lotus throne, supported by a *vajra* "stem," which rests in turn upon a lower lotus.

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FIGURE 33. Vajra-dhātu maṇḍala, in which the *tattvas* (Quiddities or Principles) are shown in intellectually manifested forms. Here Vairocana is represented by the syllable (seed-letter) "VAṂ."

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Compare the great density of the elements of order represented in this figure with the notion *prajñāna-ghana* in *Bṛhadāraṇyaka Up.*, IV, 5, 13, and *Māṇḍūkya Up.*, 5. On Shingon symbolism see also Getty, *Gods of Northern Buddhism* (2nd ed.), 1928, pp. 28 ff., and under *trikoṇa* and *vajra* in Index. In Anesaki, *Buddhist Art* (1st ed.), 1915, Pl. XVI, reproducing our Figs. 32, 33, the relative positions of the *mandaras* on the Plate are reversed.

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34. The Buddha (Amida, Amitâbha), accompanied by the Bodhisattvas, Padmapāṇi on the proper right, Mahāsthāmaprâpta on the proper left. Amida Trinity of Tachibana Fujin. Japanese, early 8th century. Owned by the Hōryuji Monastery, Nara. From photographs lent by Professor Langdon Warner.

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Each member of the Triad is supported by a lotus, the stems of the flowers rising from the rippled waters which form the horizontal base of the shrine.

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35. The Waters, from which rise the stems of the lotus-thrones supporting the Trinity, as shown in Fig. 34.

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FIGURE 36. Reredos of the Amida Trinity, Figs. 34, 35. From a photograph lent by Professor Langdon Warner.

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The nimbus is represented with a central lotus, of which the supporting lotus must be regarded as a reflection in the Nether Waters.

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FIGURE 37. The Buddha preaching to Bodhisattvas on Mt Gṛdhrakūṭa; or perhaps, more exactly, Amida. attended by the Bodhisattvas Padmapāṇi (?) and Maitreya. Chinese, A.D. 678. Collection of the Marquis Osokawa. After Ōmura Seigai, *Shina Bijutsushi Chosohen*, Tokyo, 1915, Pl. 777.

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Double lotus-throne, the lower flower with lions, forming the usual lotus- and lion-throne.

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FIGURE 38. Above, the Buddha preaching to Bodhisattvas on Mt Gṛdhrakūṭa; below, the monastic manifestation on the earth-plane.

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The Buddha is represented as teaching on two "levels," cf. Fig. 29. The supporting lotus and its stem forms a kind of "Jesse Tree." The feet of the Buddha at the lower level are supported by two separate lotus flowers.

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A monument in the Wu Ting Village, China, A.D. 678. After Ōmura Seigai, *ut supra*, Pl. 778.

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FIGURE 39. The Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī. Japanese, 14th century. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, No. 17.748.

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The Angel of Wisdom. He holds in his right hand the flaming sword of Understanding (with a *vajra*-handle), and in his left a lotus spray, the flower supporting a book (*Saddharma Puṇḍarīka*), upon which stands erect a flaming *vajra*, cf. Fig. H.

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FIGURE 40. Garbha-dhātu form of Vairocana. Japanese, early 15th century. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, No. 11.6296.

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Vairocana is represented by the seed-letter A, supported by an encircled lotus (of the Primordial Waters), above a second lotus (of the Upper Waters), separated by an erect *vajra* (Axis of the Universe), which rests upon a third lotus (of the Nether Waters). Cf. description of Fig. 32.

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FIGURE 41. Front face of the pedestal of the Yakushi (Bhaiṣajyaguru Vaidūrya) Trinity. Japanese, dedicated in A.D. 697. Yakushiji Monastery, Nara; kept in the Kondo, Nara. See text, pp. 54–55.

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FIGURE 42. Fukū-Kenjaku, Amoghapāśa, a form of Padmapāṇi (Avalokiteśvara) chiefly in Tendai usage. Japanese, probably Kamakura. Kanchi-in Temple, Kyotō. Photo by Institute of Art Research, Tokyō.

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The Bodhisattva is eight-armed, the lower (normal) hands in namaḥkāra position, second right and left holding a rod (daṇḍa) and noose (pāśa), third right and left in varada mudrā, upper right holding the staff (khakkara, Jap. shakujō) with six rings. A standing Dhyāni Buddha in the crown. The central ornament of the chan-navīra is a Dharmacakra (Jap. rimbō) which rests immediately over the navel (cf. Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, V, 7, 1, 9, and Hiraṇyakeśin Gṛhya Sūtra, I, 6, 24, 1, as cited in my Yakṣas, II, 24). The lotus-seat is supported by an eight-sided column or axis, with eight protuberances, which axis rises from a pedestal representing four earth-planes. In the Zenith hangs the Supernal Sun (Amitābha), of which the lotus-seat is the reflection, ābhāsa.

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The form of the shaft should be compared with that of the Axis of the Universe (vajra) represented in Figs. 2, 3, 12, 40, 41, E.

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FIGURE 43. Śiva-liṅgam. 1st or 2nd century B.C. In pūjā, Guḍimallam, Indra. Photograph by the Archaeological Survey of India.

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Another "Axis" type. The Atlant Yakṣa may be compared with the supporting Yakṣa of Fig. 41.

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Cf. Rao, Elements of Indian Iconography, Pt. I, Vol. II, 65–69, and my History, p. 68. For the Paraśurāmēśvara temple, in which, where the liṅgam is in pūjā, see Indian Antiquary, XL, 1911, 104–114, and Mem. A.S.I., No. 40, p. 24, and for the dating, my note in I.H.Q., VII, 750 (830).

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For other Indian examples of the Yakṣa type, see Burgess, Stūpa of Bharhut, Pl. XXII, Fig. 1, and Vogel, "La sculpture de Mathurā," Ars Asiatica, XV, Pl. XVII, Fig. b. See also above, pp. 54–55.

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41

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42

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43

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Figure 44. The Bodhisattva Padmapāṇi, six-armed and supported by a lotus. From Bāzäklik, Murtuq, Turkistan, ca. 9th century. After Grünwedel, Altbuddhistische Kultstätten in Chinesisch-Turkistan, 1912, Fig. 590.

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The lotus support is double. The lower stem, rising directly from the Waters, corresponds to the earthly or Nirmāṇakāya level of manifestation; its flower supporting Mt Meru, as the skambha or sthauros that pillars-apart Heaven and Earth. This sheaf-like and fasciated column is on the one hand formed like a vajra, and on the other corresponds in shape to such representations of Mt Meru as may be seen in Grünwedel’s Figs. 243, 482. The knotted dragons or nāgas about the “waist” correspond to the many dragons that girdle the Meru “waist” in Grünwedel’s Fig. 243, and also to the paired dragons attached to the trunk of the Tree of Life (aśvattha) in the well-known Indus Valley seal, Fig. 6 in my History of Indian and Indonesian Art. The upper lotus stem and flower, corresponding to the heavenly and Sambhogakāya level of manifestation, rest upon the plane summit of Meru. The Bodhisattva seated on the crowning flower is an aspect of the “Boundless Light” indicated by the Amitābha of the headdress. The lateral branches of the upper lotus bear unidentified nimbate figures.

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This representation, like our Fig. 17, is one of those that has been compared to the Tree of Jesse formula as it appears in Christian art from the eleventh century onwards (see Kingsley Porter, “Spain or Toulouse? and other questions,” Art Bulletin, VII, 15 f.; Coomaraswamy, “The Tree of Jesse and Indian parallels or sources,” ibid., XI, 217–220; Watson, Early Iconography of the Tree of Jesse, 1934, pp. 58–66; Coomaraswamy, “The Tree of Jesse and Oriental Parallels,” Parnassus, VI, Jan., 1934). Without assuming any contemporary borrowing or influence, it may be safely asserted that all these are cognate forms, having an ultimately common origin and the same fundamental significance. This common significance is most apparent in the fact that the Christian virga (often hermeneutically assimilated to virgo) is identified with the Virgin, as being the ground of the divine manifestation that flowers above (St. Bernard of Clairvaux, “The Virgin Mother of God is the stem, her Son is the flower. . . . O Virgin! stem of the highest, to what a summit thou liftest on high thy holiness! even to Him that sitteth on the throne”) the Indian lotus, as “earth,” being in precisely the same manner the support and ground of manifestation.

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As explained in our text, the lotus can be distinguished logically from the Tree of Life and Axis of the Universe in its various other aspects, at the same time that it is coincident with these and extends from base to summit of the manifested universe, with branches proceeding to right and left like those of the Cross; which branches are the supports or “nests” of individual principles, and the means of their connection with the centre, as may be seen in most examples of the Tree of Jesse, as well as in the upper half of the present figure. When there are doves on the branches, this corresponds exactly to RV., I, 164, 21, yatra suparṇā amṛtasya bhāgam . . . abhi svaranti, “There the Fairwings chant their share of aeviternity,” X, 91, 2 where Agni “as a bird finds a home on every tree,” Bṛhadāraṇyaka Up., IV, 3, 2, “The haṃsa, the Golden Person, by the Spirit wards His lower nest,” and many analogous texts.

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| Borrower No. | Date of Issue | Date of Return |
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