Buddhist Art

Chinese, 12th – 13th century, male.

Painter. Figures.

Song dynasty.

Bo Liangyu was a member of the academy of painting during the reign of Emperor Ningzong (1195-1225). He devoted himself to painting Taoist and Buddhist figures.

Chinese Zen master and calligrapher, active in Japan. He was the first recognized Chinese Chan (Jap. Zen) teacher to reach Japan. He became a major figure in the transmission of the doctrines and spirit of Rinzai (Chin. Linji) Zen and the introduction of Chinese Song-period (...

Japanese Zen Buddhist monastery of the Sōtō sect, in Fukui Prefecture. Eiheiji’s significance derives largely from the place in the history of Japanese Buddhism of its founder, Dōgen (1199–1253), and to his interpretation of Sōtō Zen monastic practice. After 1217 Dōgen joined the dominant Tendai school of Buddhism, but he grew disillusioned with Japanese Buddhism as a feasible human soteriology, although he was much attracted to the practice of Zen meditation. In ...

Buddhist temple complex at Ikaruga, Ikoma District, Nara Prefecture, Japan.

Hōryūji is one of the oldest temples in Japan and is the head temple of the Shōtoku sect. Founded in the late 6th century ad by the regent, Prince Prince Shōtoku, and refounded in the late 7th century, it became a leading centre for Buddhist scholarship and the focus of the cult of its founder. Since the early 8th century Hōryūji has been listed as the most ancient of the Seven Great Temples of Nara (Nanto Shichidaiji). The complex occupies ...

Chinese painter . He was a painter of Buddhist and Daoist figures, ghosts and landscapes, who was well respected as a painter by the literati by the end of the Song period (960–1279). Of some 35 paintings attributed to him, only a few can be considered to be genuine; among these, the best known are those mounted as a pair of hanging scrolls (ink and colour on silk; Kyoto, Chion’in) depicting two Daoist immortals, Li Tieguai and Liu Haichan, both of which are executed in the extremely realistic style for which Yan is known. There is special attention to physiognomy—to the point of grotesqueness—to volume and to modelling of the body, and to the strong contrast between light and dark areas. Both works also include a misty landscape that serves as a background to the figures, a feature derived from landscape painting of the Southern Song period (...

Japanese, 13th century, male.

Active at the end of the 13th century.

Sculptor.

Injo was a Buddhist sculptor who received the title of Hoin (an ecclesiastical title conferred on sculptors). In 1295, he executed the Jizo Bosatsu (Sanskrit: Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha) of the Umegahata cemetery in Kyoto....

Japanese, 13th century, male.

Active at the beginning of the 13th century.

Sculptor.

Inken, the son of Incho, was a Buddhist sculptor at the beginning of the Kamakura period. He was a member of the In School, founded by the sculptor Inson in Kyoto. In the twelfth month of ...

Japanese, 13th century, male.

Active during the second half of the 13th century.

Sculptor.

Inno was a Buddhist sculptor and holder of the title of Hokkyo (‘bridge of the law’, an ecclesiastical title conferred on sculptors). On the first day of the eleventh month of ...

Japanese, 13th century, male.

Active at the end of the 13th century.

Sculptor.

Inshin was considered a Buddhist master sculptor ( dai busshi). From the twelfth month of 1251, he took part in the preparations for the assembling of the Buddhist statues in the Kofuku-ji temple in Nara. In ...

Japanese, 13th century, male.

Active at the end of the 13th century.

Sculptor.

Inshu was considered a Buddhist master sculptor ( dai busshi). He bore the honorary title of Ho-in (‘seal of the law’, the highest of the Buddhist ecclesiastical titles conferred on an artist). He took part in the restoration of the statues in the reading room of the Kofuku-ji temple in Nara. In ...

Japanese, 13th century, male.

Active before 1295.

Died 1295.

Painter.

Joga was a priest at the Koraku-ji Temple in Shinano (Nagano district) who specialised in painting Buddhist themes. The scroll Biography of the Priest Shinran is attributed to him.

Japanese sculptor. He is associated with the Kei school of Buddhist sculpture and is thought to have been a disciple of Kōkei. The first reference to Kaikei occurs in the Lotus Sutra (Jap. Hokkekyō or Myōhō renge kyō; 1183; Ueno priv. col.), transcribed by Unkei...

Korean dynasty that ruled from ad 918 to 1392. The Koryŏ kings were lavish in their patronage of Buddhist art of the major groups such as Sŏn and Kyo (see Buddhism, §III, 9). Wang kŏn, posthumously known as King T’aejo (reg ad...

Chinese, 13th – 14th century, male.

Activec.1270-1300.

Born in Zhongshan (Hebei).

Painter.

Liu Guandao painted landscapes, portraits and religious (Buddhist and Taoist) figures. In 1279 he was commissioned to paint the portrait of Kublai Khan.

Beijing (Palace Mus.): Immortals Celebrating the Birthday of Xi Wangmu...

Chinese, 12th – 13th century, male.

Active at the end of the Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279), in Ningbo (Zhejiang).

Painter.

Lu Xinzhong, a painter of Buddhist figures, is not mentioned in the Chinese texts but is referred to in a Japanese work, the Kundaikan Sayuchoki...

Chinese painter and Chan (Jap. Zen) Buddhist monk. Muqi’s family name (xing) is not known; his monastic name was Fachang; the name Muqi was a sobriquet (hao).

Muqi originated from Sichuan Province; it is assumed that he was born there. His most famous surviving painting, ...

Capital of the first kingdom of Burma from the 11th to the 14th century. Famous for its temples and other religious monuments, Pagan was probably founded in the 9th century ad. The city’s official Pali name, meaning ‘crusher of foes’, appears in contemporary stone inscriptions. The name Pagan is first mentioned (as Pukam) in Chinese sources ...

Site in western Tsang, Tibet, on the banks of the Sakya Tramchu River, c. 150 km south-west of Shigatse (Chin. Xigazê). It is the principal headquarters of the Sakyapa school of Tibetan Buddhism. Sakya originally consisted of two separate monasteries: the Northern Monastery, founded in ...

Japanese, 13th century, male.

Active at the end of the 13th century.

Monk-painter.

Shinkai was a painter of Buddhist subjects, many of which are preserved in the Daigo-ji temple, Kyoto.

Japanese, 13th century, male.

Born 1179; died 1261.

Monk-painter.

Shinken was a priest of the Shingon Buddhist sect and a disciple of the monk Seiken. He founded the Jizo-in sanctuary in the Daigo-ji temple, Kyoto, where a number of his Buddhist paintings are preserved.