The eternally flourishing stronghold: An iconographic study of the Buddhist sculpture of the Fowan and related sites at Beishan, Dazu, ca. 892--1155

The religious sculpture of Sichuan has become increasingly recognized as an important resource for the study of the development of Buddhist sculpture in China. One of the most important centers of Buddhist sculpture in Sichuan is the area of Dazu county where there are dozens of cliff sculpture sites. This dissertation focuses on the sculpture of Beishan (North Hill), which is one of the two primary sites with Buddhist sculpture in Dazu and the site with the longest chronology in the local area. The principal location for cliff sculpture at Beishan is an approximately quarter mile long sandstone cliff near the summit of Beishan, which is known as the Fowan (Buddha Cove). The cliff sculpture at this site consists of some two-hundred seventy odd image niches and small excavated caves that were carved over a period of roughly two-hundred sixty years from the late ninth to mid twelfth centuries.;In this dissertation an attempt is made to provide an iconographical analysis of the Buddhist imagery found at the Fowan site and to show their significance within the developments in Chinese Buddhist art and the Buddhist art of the region, as well as to reveal something of the local society and Buddhist practices that underpinned the sponsorship of this imagery. The most significant iconographic subject matter that occurs at the Fowan site is discussed under the broad categories of Esoteric and Pure Land Buddhism. These include many conventionalized Buddhist iconographies from the Tang and Song Dynasties, but also feature a number of unique iconographic variations. Accordingly, the iconography of the imagery at the site is presented in light of scriptural sources, historical documents, and related imagery elsewhere, particularly within the region. The general history and chronology of the site is discussed in relation to the historical setting of the Sichuan Basin and its broader cultural environment. Description and interpretive accounts of each niche/cave, as well as transcriptions and tentative translations of a significant portion of the relevant epigraphy found at the site are also provided.