A Study Of The Images Of Buddhas In The Five Directions In China

Five Buddhas are the core gods of the Esoteric Buddhism belief system that include Garbhadhatuh Five Buddhas and Vajradhatu Five Buddhas.The formation of Five Buddhas’ structure marked the systematization of Esoteric Buddhism’s huge deity organization.The foundation of both Conception of Mahavairocana’s Dharma-kaya and Five Buddhas and panca jnanani signaled the theorization of Esoteric Buddhism philosophy.Five Buddhas-Mandala are high symbolization and ritualization of Esoteric Buddhism belief.Affected by Han’s culture,the Five Buddhas images in Chinese Han areas produced complex and diverse changes.They had distinctive characteristics of the times and regional cultural characteristics.This paper is aimed to interpret the Five Buddhas images in Chinese Han areas,including the statues of Mahavairocana remained and changed the most,and appeared in other forms in Han statues.So we can explore the statue features,evolution process and ideological connotation of Han Five Buddhas images.This paper consists of five chapters.Chapter One mainly discussed the formation of Five Buddhas’ organizational structure.It examined the origin of Five Buddhas from Azimuth Buddha’s angle and inquired into Four Buddhas’ prevalence contributed by Mahayana classic which was related to Esoteric Buddhism and publicized pure land belief and thereby Four Buddhas drew Esoteric Buddhism’s attention and were absorbed by Esoteric Buddhism.Mahavairocana and Four Buddhas joined Esoteric Buddhism’s divine system in early Esoteric Buddhism’s scriptures.And then they developed and entered the important position of Mandala.Vairocanabhisambodhitantra established the exclusive status of Mahavairocana.Based on inheriting Four Buddhas of ekaksara-buddhosnisa-cakra-raja-sutra.Five Buddhas in Garbhadhatuh was eventually formed.Vajrasekhara-sutra finally formed Five Buddhas in Vajradhatu based on inheriting Four Buddhas of both Vairocanabhisambodhitantra and Amogha-pasa kalpa-raja.Chapter Two untangled the image data of Five Buddhas in Chinese Han areas.The search scope mainly focused on the Five Buddhas statues of Esoteric Buddhism in Han.It also collected similar statues from Tibetan Esoteric Buddhism in Chinese Han areas and the Bai Esoteric Buddhism in Dali,Yunnan Province.The age range is from Tang Dynasty to Qing Dynasty.In chronological order,this chapter divided the remaining spread of Five Buddhas images in Chinese Han areas into three phases.Each phase corresponds to the development of the middle term and late term of Mantra Tantra,Yoga,and Supreme Yoga Tantra.This chapter also untangled the distribution and characteristics of Five Buddhas images in Chinese Han areas remained in different phases.Chapter Three mainly studied the modeling characteristics and image evolution of Five Buddhas images in Chinese Han areas.In modeling aspect,this chapter analyzed the headstream and characteristics of the hairstyle,crown shape,clothes type,accessories,and Buddha seat of Five Buddhas images in Chinese Han areas,and also analyzed the image relation with other ethnic groups or regions.The integrated modeling’s overall characteristics divided Five Buddhas images in Chinese Han areas into Bodhisattva Form and Tathagata Form.The former was divided into Half Bodhisattva and Bodhisattva.The latter was divided into Decorated Tathagata and Unadorned Tathagata.According to this,the chapter probed into the evolution process and characteristics of Five Buddhas images in Chinese Han areas.Chapter Four detailedly studies the mudra changes of Mahavairocana image in Chinese Han areas which is the most notable difference between Five Buddhas images in Chinese Han areas and those in other nations or regions.This chapter analyzed the fixed mudra of Five Buddhas of Mahavairocana in Garbhadhatuh,the connotation of both intelligence-fist-mudra and dharmacakra-mudra.This chapter researched the headstream,connotation and distribution of the bodhyagri and visible-in-mind-jnanani body mudra,which is the new style of Mahavairocanas mudra of Five Buddhas images in Chinese Han areas.In the end,this chapter compared Five Buddhas’ statues in India,Japan and Tibet in China with Han Five Buddhas’ statues.This chapter concludes those 3 kinds of combinatorial images in both Vajradhatu and Garbhadhatuh during their formation process,including Mahavairocana in Garbhadhatuh and the Eight Great Bodhisattvas,Mahavairocana in Garbhadhatuh and Four Buddhas in Vajradhatu,Vajradhatu Five Buddhas statues which take one-face or four-face Mahavairocana as the middle statue.This chapter explained three new types appeared in Chinese Han areas,including Mahavairocana in Garbhadhatuh and the Eight Great Bodhisattvas in Vajradhatu,Mahavairocana in Vajradhatu and the Eight Great Bodhisattva portrait,Mahavairocana in both Garbhadhatuh and Vajradhatu the Eight Great Bodhisattvas and the Eight Great supported Bodhisattvas’ composite images.This chapter also analyzed the internal relationship between image theme and the development of Esoteric Buddhism.