shape. The two side panels depict the story of
Ajatas ́atru, a prince who puts his father, King Bimbi-
sara, and his mother, Queen Vaideh, under house ar-
rest. In response to the queen’s appeal, the Buddha
appears and teaches her sixteen ways of visualization.
This royal family drama and the scenes of visualization
often occupy two side columns that flank the central
paradise scene in triptychs. The side vignettes set the
Guan Wuliangshou jing tableau apart from the
Amitabha tableau. Their identification on the basis of
sutra(s) is in fact tenuous since the Guan Wuliangshou
jingdoes not include the description of the Western
Pure Land that appears in the Amitabha sutras.
Other pure lands
Pure land tableaux are not limited to the Western
Paradise. In MAHAYANAcosmology, there are “pure
lands of ten directions.” Tableaux depicting other
pure lands include those of the Medicine Buddha
(Bhaisajyaguru) of the East; Maitreya, often associated
with north; and those described in sutras not per-
taining to particular pure lands. There is even a
tableau of pure lands of the ten directions as identi-
fied by its cartouche in cave 158 at Dunhuang. The
tableau of the Pure Land of the Bhaisajyaguru of the
East features scenes of lamp-lighting, “Nine Violent
Deaths,” and “Fulfillment of Twelve Great Vows”PURELANDARTA bas-relief in limestone representing Amitabha’s Western Paradise. (Chinese, Northern Qi dynasty, sixth century.) Freer Gallery of Art
Library. Reproduced by permission.