Signs of a
revival
TEXT & PHOTOGRAPHS: BENOY K.
BEHL
In the middle of the expanses of Siberia, it is most
interesting to come across monks, all of whom speak Hindi as they
have received their Buddhist education in India.
SAMYE MONASTERY, CENTRAL TIBET, 8TH CENTURY C.E. This was
the first monastery to be established in Tibet. It was founded by
Shantarakshita, who was from Nalanda University in present-day
Bihar. The monastery building is designed on the model of the
Odantapuri Mahavihara, which was close to Nalanda. This is the only
surviving representation of what ancient Indian mahaviharas looked
like.
Traders in caravans of ancient times connected China, Europe and
India. On these routes, besides the exchange of goods there was the
sharing of ideas about the meaning of life and the eternal truths.
The concepts that took the deepest root were those of Buddhism,
which Indian traders spoke about. They included the concepts of
“samsara” and “maya”, the illusory nature of the material world
around us. They spoke about the many temptations of the natural
world that always led to dissatisfaction and pain and explained
that the way to remove the pain of existence was to do away with
the desires that caused it. Indic philosophy did not really speak
of gods or external forces, but was a science of life.
THOLING MONASTERY, ZANDA, NGARI, WESTERN TIBET, 996 C.E. In
the 10th century, King Yeshe Od sent Rinchen Zangpo to Kashmir to
acquire knowledge of Buddhism and also bring artists to decorate
the 108 monasteries that were built in the trans-Himalayas. The
earliest two of these monasteries were Tholing in Tibet and Nyarma
in Ladakh, India. These 108 monasteries became the backbone of
Buddhism in the trans-Himalayas.
These ideas must have struck deep chords in those who heard them
because by the beginning of the First Millennium C.E. many great
Buddhist stupas and temples stood in Central Asia and China.
Kumarayana from Kashmir was one of the greatest Buddhist teachers
of the 4th century. He became the guru of the king of Kucha and
later married his daughter, Jiva. Their son was named
Kumarajiva.
GUGE CASTLE REMAINS, TSAPARANG, TIBET. The ruins in the
barren landscape of western Tibet bring alive the time when Guge
was at the heart of a flourishing kingdom. Guge stretched across
western Tibet and the Indian territories of Ladakh, Lahaul-Spiti
and Kinnaur.
Princess Jiva took Kumarajiva to Kashmir, the land of his father.
There the young boy studied Sanskrit and the Buddhist scriptures
for 13 years. On their return to Kucha, Kumarajiva became famous as
the finest-ever translator of the Buddhist scriptures. It is
believed that China attacked and annexed Kucha as the ruler was
keen to take Kumarajiva to his own court. Today, there is a
beautiful sculpture of Kumarajiva installed by the Chinese
government in front of the Kizil Caves near Kucha. There also
stands a large temple dedicated many centuries ago to the white
horse that Kumarajiva rode.
JOKHANG TEMPLE, LHASA, TIBET, FOUNDED IN THE 7TH CENTURY.
This temple was founded during the reign of King Songsten Gampo.
According to tradition, the king had two Buddhist brides, Princess
Wencheng of the Chinese Tang ynasty and Princess Bhrikuti of Nepal.
Both wives are said to have brought important Buddhist statues and
images from China and Nepal.
Lotus Sutra and other translations of Kumarajiva remain extremely
popular in China. Others too have translated the same sutras, but
it is said that there is a poetic quality and charm in Kumarajiva’s
writings which the later translations do not have.
DUNGKAR CAVES, WESTERN TIBET, C. 10TH CENTURY C.E. Caves
with extensive wall paintings were discovered at this remote site
in the early 1990s. These paintings are possibly the oldest and the
most untouched murals in all of Tibet. Dungkar is approximately 40
kilometres north of Zhada town.
In the 8th century, Santaraksita from Nalanda University in Bihar
built the first monastery in Tibet. However, he found that the
people of the Tibetan plateau continued to live in fear of evil
spirits and would not easily take to Buddhism. In 747 C.E., at his
suggestion, Guru Padmasambhava, also of Nalanda University, was
invited to help spread the Buddhist faith in Tibet. The story of
Padmasambhava’s conversion of the people of the trans-Himalayan
lands is the greatest epic story of the entire region. The Guru
swept across the mountains, performing the Cham, or the monastic
dance of the lamas, with which he purified the land and established
Buddhism. The faith continues to flourish in the lands he visited,
including Ladakh, Spiti, Kinnaur, Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan and
Arunachal Pradesh.
PAINTED INTERIOR, SOUTH FACING CAVE 1, DUNGKAR. These
murals were made during the 10th and 11th centuries by Kashmiri
painters or those who were trained by them. This was during the
period of "The Second Great Coming of Buddhism" in the
trans-Himalayas initiated by King Yeshe Od of Guge.
When King Yeshe Od (947-1024) came to the throne of Guge, his
kingdom consisted of the present Indian territories of Ladakh,
Spiti and Kinnaur and Guge and Purang in western Tibet. By then,
Buddhism had declined in the trans-Himalayas.
ELEVEN-HEADED AVALOKETISWARA, MURAL, DUNGKAR CAVES. The
figures and motifs rendered on the walls of these caves retain a
spontaneous joy and grace characteristic of the early Indian and
Indian-influenced art. The art is similar to that in monasteries of
the 10th-12th centuries in India, including Alchi, Mangyu, Sumda,
Tabo, Lhalung and Nako.
What troubled the king most was that even the little religion that
was practised in small pockets was a decadent and corrupted form of
the original faith. Around 975 C.E., the king sent 21 young
scholars to Kashmir, at that time one of the greatest centres of
Buddhism, to learn about the pure faith and to bring back that
knowledge and the scriptures. These young men, full of zeal, set
out on what was a long and difficult journey. Nineteen of them died
in the travel to and from Kashmir.
SHIVA AND PARVATI, MURAL, KIZIL CAVES, KUCHA, CHINA, C. 6TH
CENTURY. Hindu deities are commonly seen in the art of the Buddhist
caves in India and other countries across Asia. We are reminded of
the cosmopolitan culture of the ancient times when Hindu kings
often patronised Buddhist caves and art. Ancient inscriptions also
show that the wives of Hindu kings in India often worshipped the
Buddha or a Jaina Tirtankara.
One of the two scholars who survived the journey and returned after
17 years, Rinchen Zangpo (958-1055), became famous as Lohtsawa,
“The Great Translator”. He supervised the construction of many
monasteries and temples, exquisite and brilliant jewels of the
faith set in the midst of the vast spaces of the trans-Himalayan
desert.
INTERIOR OF MOGAO CAVE NO. 45, DUNHUANG, CHINA. Buddhist
cave art, which originated in India in the 3rd century C.E.,
travelled to Bamiyan, Kucha-Kizil, Turfan and Dunhuang. Buddhist
caves were excavated for meditation and as retreats for monks.
Around 492 Mogao caves survive as repositories of the artistic
traditions of ancient and medieval China. Approximately 25,000
square metres of wall paintings and more than 3,000 painted
sculptures make this one of the most valuable sites of Buddhist
art.
As many as 108 monasteries were believed to have been constructed
in this period in the kingdom of Guge. King Yeshe Od and the
subsequent kings who continued his work invited artists from
Kashmir to build the monasteries and make the marvelous paintings
and sculptures inside them. The painters and sculptors brought with
them a highly sophisticated form of art deeply rooted in the
classical Sanskrit texts of India. They also trained local artists
as can be seen in the marvelous blending of the local idioms with
the developed styles of Kashmir.
BEZEKLIK CAVES, CHINA. The 77 Bezeklik Caves date from the
5th to the 14th century. The site lies between the cities of Turfan
and Shanshan (Loulan), north-east of the Taklamakan desert. It
would have been on the northern Silk Route.
The earliest surviving paintings in Tibet, of perhaps the 11th
century, are found in the Dungkar Caves, in a very remote part of
western Tibet. These paintings were made either by Kashmiri
painters or by those trained by them.
KIZIL CAVES, KUCHA. Kucha was one of the greatest Buddhist
centres in Central Asia in the first half of the first millennium.
There are 236 caves at Kizil, with paintings that date from the 3rd
to the 9th century. Stylistically, they are a blend of Indian,
Iranian and Chinese influences. These are among the best early
paintings that survive in present-day China.
The northernmost lands that Buddhism reached were Buryatia in
Siberia and Mongolia. By the 13th century, Vajrayana Buddhism had
taken deep root in Mongolia. The greatest Buddhist king of Mongolia
was Zanabazar, of the 17th century. Besides being the builder of
many temples, he was himself a great artist. The finest Buddhist
art that survives in Mongolia was made by him. He was deeply
devoted to the deity Tara, and many of the finest images he made
were of her.
STATUE OF KUMARAJIVA, KIZIL CAVES. Kumarajiva (4th century)
was the son of Kumarayana, a Pandit from Kashmir and the royal
teacher at Kucha, who married Princess Jiva of Kucha. At a very
young age Kumarajiva was taken to Kashmir, the land of his father,
to learn Sanskrit and the Buddhist scriptures. He returned to Kucha
to become the greatest translator of Buddhist texts into
Chinese.
Buddhism came to Buryatia in the middle of the 17th century from
Mongolia and Tibet. By 1741, Buddhism was recognised as one of the
national religions of Russia. Buddhist temples became centres of
learning where Sanskrit, Tibetan and Mongolian languages and
manuscripts were studied. In Soviet times, these Buddhist temples
were all destroyed.
COLOSSAL BUDDHA, BINGLING SI, CHINA. Bingling Si is a
series of natural caves and caverns in a canyon along the Yellow
River, with Buddhist sculptures. It lies just north of where the
Yellow River empties into the Liujiaxia reservoir in Gansu
province, some 100 km south-east of Lanzhou. The caves were
sculpted over a period of more than a millennium, beginning around
420 C.E.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Buddhism is being
revived in Buryatia. In the middle of the expanses of Siberia, it
is most interesting to come across monks, all of whom speak Hindi
as they have received their Buddhist education in India. It is
wonderful to see the revival of this vision of life, of the search
for the truth beyond the illusory nature of the material world, in
these lands so distant from where Buddhism was born.
THREE-EYED GANESA, TANGKHA, LATE 19TH CENTURY, BOGD KHAN
PALACE MUSEUM, ULAANBAATAR. Ganesa, one of the popular deities of
Hindu art, features often in Buddhist art of all
countries.
By the 17th-18th centuries, the Russian region of Kalmykia, south
of the Volga river, had become the first Buddhist part of Europe.
Kalmykia was on a northern branch of the Silk Route. Here, too,
after Soviet times, Buddhism has seen a revival. Lamas from Ladakh
conduct religious ceremonies for the reverential people of
Kalmykia.
AKSHOBHYA, 17TH CENTURY, ZANABAZAR MUSEUM, ULAANBAATAR,
MONGOLIA. These gentle figures have an inward look and lead us on a
journey to the treasure to be found inside us.
DAKINI WITH OFFERINGS, MINERAL PIGMENT ON CLOTH, ZANABAZAR
MUSEUM. Such celestial beings carrying flowers, garlands and other
offerings for the divine are depicted often in Buddhist art. This
tradition is seen from the middle of the first millennium in the
caves of Maharashtra.
WHITE TARA, 17TH CENTURY, MADE BY KING ZANABAZAR, ZANABAZAR
MUSEUM, ULAANBAATAR. The King was a very devoted and skilled artist
in line with the Buddhist tradition, spiritual thought and personal
emancipation being its most important aims.
ATISA, GOLDEN ABODE OF SHAKYAMUNI TEMPLE, ELISTA, KALMYKIA,
RUSSIA. The temple honours 17 great acharyas of the Nalanda
University tradition. Atisa was born in Bengal, studied at Nalanda
and in Indonesia and taught Buddhism in Tibet. His work is regarded
as a cornerstone of Buddhism in Tibet.
ZORIK LAMA, ONE OUT OF MANY WHO STUDIED IN INDIA, AT IVOLGA
MONASTERY, BURYATIA, RUSSIA. It is wonderful to see how, as in
ancient times, India is once again the cradle of Buddhist learning.
Even up to the 12th century, students from many Asian countries
used to study at Nalanda and Vikramshila Universities.
MONGOLIAN GANJUR, SACRED BUDDHIST TEXT, ULAN UDE, BURYATIA,
RUSSIA, 18TH CENTURY. Vajrayana Buddhism spread to Buryatia in
Siberia from Mongolia. This would be the northernmost spread of
Buddhism in Asia.
INTERIOR, KHURUL, A BUDDHIST TEMPLE IN AARSHAAN, NEAR
ELISTA, KALMYKIA, RUSSIA. This vast and beautiful interior follows
exactly the traditions of Buddhist temples in the trans-Himalayan
regions of India and Tibet. It symbolises the spread of the
philosophic and artistic ideas of Vajrayana Buddhism.
PEOPLE OF KALMYKIA RECEIVING BLESSINGS OF A LADAKHI LAMA,
ELISTA. Buddhist traditions know no boundaries. Here, Indian lamas
bless Russian Buddhists. The new temples rely upon these Indian
lamas, mainly from Ladakh.
GOLDEN ABODE OF SHAKYAMUNI TEMPLE, KALMYKIA. By the
17th-18th centuries, the region of Kalmykia, south of the Volga
river, had become the first Buddhist part of Europe. The tradition
was destroyed during the Soviet times. This recently made temple
has become a great symbol of the Buddhist traditions of
Kalmykia.
GINKAKU-JI TEMPLE, KYOTO, JAPAN, 15TH CENTURY. The temple
has many beautiful trees and a variety of mosses. The philosophy
and aesthetics developed in the early Buddhist traditions have been
nurtured best here. More than any other in the world, the culture
of Japan is deeply sensitive to the harmony and beauty in
everything around us.
KINKAKU-JI TEMPLE, KYOTO, 14TH CENTURY. The Kinkaku-ji
Temple, known as the Golden Pavilion, is set in beautiful
surroundings. It is a fine example of the aesthetics integral to
the understanding of the peace and harmony of the whole of
creation. Japan is the most distant land to have made Buddhism its
own and the tradition has flourished there over many
centuries.
Benoy K. Behl is a film-maker, art historian and photographer
who is known for his prolific output of work over the past 34
years. He has taken over 35,000 photographs of Asian monuments and
art heritage and made over a hundred documentaries on art history.
This series carries photographs from his photographic exhibition on
Buddhist Heritage of the World, which is currently on display in
Nara in Japan and in the French Reunion Island. It was also
displayed earlier this year in London, Washington, D.C., Tokyo,
Leh, New Delhi and at the International Buddhist Conclave in
Varanasi. The series has photographs he has taken in 19
countries/regions across Asia and in one part of Europe which has a
300-year-old Buddhist heritage.
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