The Creator
ARTIST:Artist Unknown, JapaneseDATE:13th-14th centuryThe Minneapolis Institute of Arts
I don’t understand where epithets like “the creator”, “the arbiter of death” come from.
April 27, 2012
April 6, 2012
Nara Daibutsu
Nara Big Buddha
Constructed 752 AD
Birushana Buddha (Nyorai)
Located at Tōdaiji Temple 東大寺 in Nara, this bronze statue embodies Birushana Nyorai. Over the centuries, the statue (first cast in 752) has been damaged in various fires, natural disasters, and civil disturbances, but it has always been restored. Its appearance today, however, may not accurately represent its earlier magnificence. In the 9th century, an earthquake knocked off its head. In 1180 and again in 1567, its right hand was melted in accidental fires. The body of the statue was reconstructed in 1185, and the head rebuilt in 1692. At 15 meters (without pedestal) and weighing 250 tons, it is reportedly the largest gilt-bronze effigy in the world. The wooden structure that houses the statue — the Daibutsuden 大仏殿 (Great Buddha Hall) — is supposedly the world’s largest wooden building. The present-day hall dates to the early 18th century and is only 66% of its former size. Its rebuilding was completed in 1708 but the repair and replacement of its damaged interior statues was still underway in the 1750s.
picture at:
January 7, 2012
![Among the thousands of manuscripts uncovered from a walled up library cave at Dunhuang, northwest China, at the turn of the twentieth century, were a group of Buddhist scrolls copied by a man in his eighties. The texts are all linked by a similar colophons, identifying the old man as the scribe and documenting his advancing years. One of the scrolls, S.5451, today held at the British Library, shows the man at 83 years old demonstrating his piety by copying out a Buddhist scripture in his own hand, using ink mixed with his own blood. The colophon reads:Copied by an old man of 83, who pricked his own hand to draw blood [to write with], on the 2nd of the 2nd month of ‘bingyin’, the 3rd year of Tianyou (27 February, 906).](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxfcmrG5XJ1qacehho1_500.jpg)
Among the thousands of manuscripts uncovered from a walled up library cave at Dunhuang, northwest China, at the turn of the twentieth century, were a group of Buddhist scrolls copied by a man in his eighties. The texts are all linked by a similar colophons, identifying the old man as the scribe and documenting his advancing years. One of the scrolls, S.5451, today held at the British Library, shows the man at 83 years old demonstrating his piety by copying out a Buddhist scripture in his own hand, using ink mixed with his own blood. The colophon reads:Copied by an old man of 83, who pricked his own hand to draw blood [to write with], on the 2nd of the 2nd month of ‘bingyin’, the 3rd year of Tianyou (27 February, 906).
October 4, 2011
September 22, 2011
August 3, 2011
Head of Buddha Sakyamuni, 4th century. Afghanistan, ancient Gandhara region, probably Hadda. Stucco with traces of pigment, 18 x 10 1 / 2 x 9 3 / 4 in. (45.7 x 26.7 x 24.8 cm) Saint Louis Art Museum,
May 29, 2011
Fan Lung. An Arhat in the forest (12th century). Freer Gallery, Washington DC.
Arhat (Sanskrit: अर्हत arhat; Pali: arahant), in Buddhism, signifies a spiritual practitioner who has realized certain high stages of attainment. The implications of the term vary based on the respective schools and traditions.
May 25, 2011
The pillar set by Asoka at the birthplace of Buddha (Rummindei)…. taken by an unknown photographer for the Archaeological Survey of India Collections: Northern Circle (North-Western Provinces and Oudh) in 1896-97.
May 25, 2011
Key Gompa (also spelled Ki, Kye or Kee) is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery located on top of a hill at an altitude of 4,166 metres (13,668 ft) above sea level, close to the Spiti River, in the Spiti Valley of Himachal Pradesh, Lahaul and Spiti district, India . Kibar village below the monastery is said to be one of the highest village in India It is the biggest monastery of Spiti Valley and a religious training centre for Lamas. It reportedly had 100 monks in 1855. In the architectural definitions given to various monasteries, Ki falls in the ‘Pasada’ style which is characterised by more stories than one and often plays the role of a fort-monastery.
May 12, 2011
Source: en.wikipedia.org Iconographical evolution of the Greek Herakles into the Japanese Shukongoshin.
Kongorikishi are an interesting case of the possible transmission of the image of the Greek hero Heracles to East Asia along the Silk Road. Heracles was used in Greco-Buddhist art to represent Vajrapani, the protector of the Buddha, and his representation was then used in China and Japan to depict the protector gods of Buddhist temples. This transmission is part of the wider Greco-Buddhist syncretic phenomenon, where Buddhism interacted with the Hellenistic culture of Central Asia from the 4th century BC to the 4th century AD.—-Wikipedia.
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In the Woods at Giverny, Blanche Hoschedé at Her Easel with Suzanne Hoschedé Reading, 1887, Claude Monet.
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Julia Gukova. Illustration from The Legendary Unicorn, 2004
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Wingate Paine
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