appeared during the late ninth to early tenth centuries.
The CHAN SCHOOLhad become one of the major
movements of Buddhism in China from the seventh
century. The Luohan paintings by Guanxiu are the ear-
liest works related to what came to be known as a Chan
interpretation. In some paintings Guanxiu used a
broken-ink technique that, along with the individual-
istic styles of Shike of the tenth century, was destined
to make a lasting impact on Chinese painting.
During the Five Dynasties, a formality appeared in
the sculptures at Dunhuang, and wall paintings tend to
repeat in minute detail the depictions of various sutras,
a development that had become popular during the
later years of the Tang. In the numerous large caves of
this time the effect is astounding for its detail. In cave
61, for example, there are large female donor figures
of the Cao family, and the entire back wall is occupied
by a mythical “map” of Wutaishan as a sacred place.
At this point, a real geographic place in China was
treated as an icon itself, thus merging the concept of
Pure Land with sacred spaces on earth. In general, the
art of the Five Dynasties period prolonged the styles of
Tang into its final, more formalized stage.
Northern Song (960–1127), Liao (907–1125),
Xixia (late tenth–1223), Jin (1115–1234),
Southern Song (1127–1279), and Dali in Yun-
nan (937–1253)
Though a culturally high period in China, the eleventh
to the thirteenth centuries were not without fragmen-
tation. In the South, at the Yanxiadong during the mid-
tenth century in Hangzhou there is an early example
of the group of sixteen (or eighteen) Luohans with
Guanyin, a theme that came to pervade this period.
Guanyin is sometimes shown garbed in a robe cover-
ing the head and body, a depiction that came to be
known as the “white-robed” Guanyin. Various forms
of Guanyin had been growing in popularity since the
sixth century, but the blossoming and expanding of
these forms became a major factor in Chinese Buddhist
art of this period. For example, the independent king-
dom of Wuyue in the South produced a distinctive bo-
dhisattva portrayal with prominent jewel-encrusted
ornamentation and a stiff and quiet body with a gen-
tle face. Throughout the Song period Dazu in Sichuan
developed into a major site of impressive reliefs that
connote a great mandala for PILGRIMAGEbased in large
part on the plans of the founding monk, who con-
sciously incorporated local popular, as well as esoteric,
themes into the Buddhist tableaux. In addition, Mai-
jishan in Gansu produced numerous stucco images at
this time.
The Xixia kingdom in the northwest emerged as a
major state from the late tenth century until its defeat
by Genghis Khan’s troops in 1223. In addition to Bud-
dhist art in a variant of the Song mode, from the late
twelfth century the Xixia produced a major body of art
in Tibetan style, especially paintings, probably intro-
duced by the BKA’ BRGYUD(KAGYU) and possibly also
by SA SKYA(SAKYA) lamas who came to the Xixia court
from central Tibet. Many of these remains, which are
also recognized as a major branch of early central Ti-
betan style painting, now reside in the Khara Khoto
collection in the Hermitage Museum in Saint Peters-
burg, Russia. Dunhuang is dominated by the Xixia,
which not only did extensive renovation of the site, but
also opened important new caves, as it also did at
Yulin, where esoteric Tibetan style imagery exists side
by side with Song style imagery.
Much of the Buddhist art during the Northern Song
period survives in the Shanxi, Hebei, and Manchuria
regions; most of it was produced under the Khitan
Liao. Great temples such as the Duluosi of 984 in
northern Hebei, the Fengguosi in Manchuria, and theCHINA, BUDDHISTART INAvalokites ́vara, the bodhisattva of compassion, seated in a pos-
ture of royal ease. (Chinese wood sculpture, Liao dynasty,
907–1125.) The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Mis-
souri. Reproduced by permission.