Encyclopedia of Buddhism

made by the Bodhisattva Bhais
ajyaguru before he be-
comes a buddha. The tableaux of Maitreya Pure Land
(a somewhat misleading term since Maitreya’s do-
main is considered by some scriptures as an impure
land) are of two types: Maitreya’s ascent to Tus
ita
Heaven, and Maitreya’s descent into Jambudvpa to
preach under the dragon-flower trees. Gaining popu-
larity in the Tang dynasty, the tableau of Maitreya’s
descent includes miracle scenes, such as “Seven Har-
vests after One Sowing,” “Clothing Growing Out of
Trees,” “Five-Hundred-Year-Old Women Getting
Married,” and so on. Regardless of the kind of pure
land being depicted, most of the tableaux largely fol-
low the compositional model of Amitabha’s Pure
Land, with the exception of certain distinctive features
associated with a particular buddha realm.

Pictorial programs of pure land tableaux
During the seventh and eighth centuries, tableaux of
pure lands were integrated into larger pictorial pro-
grams. The documented set of pure land tableaux in
the five-story pagoda at the Kofukuji in Japan is a typ-
ical example current in the eighth century (Figure 1).
A temporal scheme, mapped out by way of spatial op-
position, underlies the iconographic program. The
Bhais
ajyaguru tableau suggests the present, the
Amitabha tableau the future (afterlife); the S ́akyamuni
land signals the present, the Maitreya land the future
(afterlife). Thus, the entire program maps out a sym-
bolic cosmos for the spirit of the deceased to cross the
boundary between this and the other world. The topo-
graphic continuum may also underlie the spatial op-

position between different pure land tableaux. Placing

the Lotus Sutratableau opposite the Western Pure

Land scene may imply a progressive transition from

the wilderness of the earthly terrain to the order of the

afterlife domain. It is therefore misleading to identify

these pure land tableaux on the basis of the sutras they

appear to “illustrate.”

Pictures of the Buddha’s welcoming descent

A significant detail of the Guan Wuliangshou jing

tableau forms the basis of a new development. The last

three of the sixteen visualizations, as exemplified by

seventh-century vignettes in cave 431 at Dunhuang,

show the descent of the Buddha or his delegates to dy-

ing devotees to escort their spirits to the Western Par-

adise. These vignettes anticipated the pictures of the

Buddha’s welcoming descent (raigo), which became

popular in Japan beginning in the twelfth century. The

early descent paintings, exemplified by a set of three

hanging scrolls in Juhakka-in at Mount Koya, show the

frontally seated Amitabha, surrounded by his en-

tourage on a swirl of clouds, descending toward the

implied viewer. A compositional variation of this im-

age gained popularity, especially in the Kamakura pe-

riod. In this variation, Amitabha and his heavenly

attendants on streaming clouds sweep down diagonally

from the upper left to the lower right toward the

dwelling of the dying devotee. Their swift movement

is dramatized by sharp-angled trailing clouds blazing

through space, often set against precipitous peaks, as

shown in a scroll at Chion-in. Amitabha’s seated pos-

ture also changes to an upright stance to reinforce the

PURELANDART

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Pure land tableaux

North: Tableau of Maitreya's Pure Land

West: Tableau of Amitabha's Pure Land East: Tableau of Bhaisajyaguru's Pure Land

South: Tableau of Sakyamuni's Buddha Land

SOURCE:Author.

FIGURE 1