illustrations were interspersed between sections of the
text. In both cases the text and picture were more
closely interwoven than in frontispiece illustrations,
and therefore these paintings were often more literal
renditions of the text.
Finally, there were sutra illustrations that had no re-
lationship to the text. These illustrations were linked
to the sponsor or copyist of the sutra and thereby em-
phasized the person to whom merit accrued for copy-
ing the sutra. It is believed that the fan-shaped booklets
from the twelfth century at Shitennoji are examples of
a sutra written over paper painted with genre, courtier,
and landscape scenes that once belonged to the spon-
sor of the copied sutra.
Regardless of format or material, sutra illustrations
functioned in many ways: as illustrations and evoca-
tions of the sutra’s content, as protective talismans of
the text, as emblems of the sponsor, and as pure
adornment to an object of reverence.
See also:Scripture
Bibliography
Egami, Yasushi, ed. Sôshkugyo (Nihon no Bijutsuno. 278).
Tokyo: Shibundo, 1989.
Oyama, Ninkai, ed. Shakyo(Nihon no Bijutsuno. 156). Tokyo:
Shibundo, 1979.
Pal, Pratapadtya, and Meech-Pekarik, Julia. Buddhist Book Illu-
minations.New York: Ravi Kumar, 1988.
Tanabe, Willa Jane. Paintings of the Lotus Sutra.New York:
Weatherhill, 1988.
WILLAJANETANABE
SUVARNAPRABHASOTTAMA-SUTRA
A MAHAYANAsutra likely compiled in northern Indic
or Central Asian regions between the first and third
centuries C.E., the Suvarnaprabhasottama-sutra(Sutra
of Golden Light) is rich and varied in content. The nine-
teen chapters of the Sanskrit version preserved in the
Nepalese tradition include a confession ritual, several
chapters that prescribe rituals surrounding the preach-
ing or hearing of the sutra, two chapters dealing with
medicine, and three tales of the Buddha’s past lives (JA-
TAKA), including a distinctive telling of the well-known
“Tigress Story.” Most of the sutra’s seemingly disparate
parts share an emphasis upon the transformative
power of the sutra itself, represented as golden light
that infuses its preachers and auditors. The role of the
sutra in protecting and sustaining the kingdom of the
ruler who accords it appropriate respect is another
dominant theme.
The transmission history of the text is particularly
complex. The sutra is partially or wholly extant in
seven languages other than Sanskrit (Chinese, Tibetan,
Khotanese, Sogdian, Tangut, Mongolian, and Old
Uighur), in versions ranging from eighteen to thirty-
one chapters in length. Both the Chinese and the Ti-
betan canons preserve several different versions of the
sutra. Many of the translations are based not on the
Sanskrit sutra but on YIJING’s thirty-one chapter Chi-
nese translation of the early eighth century. The Mon-
golian translations are based on the versions in the
Tibetan canon. In both China and Japan the sutra was
a central text in imperial rituals and was the subject of
several commentaries. In Tibet, the text was sometimes
classified as a TANTRArather than a sutra.See also:Sanskrit, Buddhist Literature inBibliography
Emmerick, R. E., trans. The Sutra of Golden Light, Being a Trans-
lation of the Suvarnaprabhasottama-sutra,2nd edition. Ox-
ford: Pali Text Society, 1992.NATALIED. GUMMERSUZUKI, D. T.Daisetsu TeitaroSuzuki (1870–1966) was one of the
most important individuals involved in the twentieth-
century spread of Japanese Buddhism, particularly
Zen, to the West. A lay popularizer of Japanese spiri-
tuality, Suzuki resided in the United States for two ex-
tended periods, in the early twentieth century and
again in the 1950s. Through his distinctive lectures and
voluminous, though idiosyncratic, writings in English,
Suzuki sparked an interest in Zen and Japanese culture
among many influential Western scholars, intellectu-
als, artists, and writers.See also:Chan School; Japan; Zen, Popular Concep-
tions ofRICHARDM. JAFFESUVARNAPRABHASOTTAMA-SUTRA