A Study Of The Disciples’ Dress In The Cave-temples Of The Northern Dynasties

If we glance at the dress of the Buddha s disciples in the rock-cut caves of the NorthernDynasties, we might easily take it to be a sleeved gown, in fact very much the same sort ofgarment as literati so often wore in traditional Chinese art. But if we look more closely, we shallfind that the disciples sleeves in the rock-cut caves of the later Northern Dynasties prove to besomething else, and that they art not wearing a gown at all, but a freely-draped untailoredcostume.According to my reconnaissance to the famous sites of the rock-cut temples in north China,such as the cave-temple complexes at Yungang and Longmen, the dress of the Buddha s disciplesis a sleeved robe which was much influenced by the loose sleeved gown with wide girdle of theHan nationality in south China. It was the result of the political and cultural reformation ofEmperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty. The dress of the Buddha s disciples in thecave-temple complex at Xiangtangshan, however, seems to be traditional garments ofTheravādin monks. On the basis of the Chinese version of Buddhist vinaya as well as records bythe Chinese pilgrims, we find that the dress of the Buddha s disciples in the cave-temples of thelater Northern Dynasties is the Three Garments (tricīvara) of Hinduca, i.e., an under-cloth(antarvāsaka), an upper garment (uttarāsa ga) and a big robe or garment (sa ghā ī), whichare oblongs of cloth without any tailoring, neck-holes, sleeves or trouser-legs, in addition to anaccessory vest (samkak ikā). This change of the disciples dress should be a result of theHunization of the Northern Qi Dynasty which upheld and advocated the cultures of non-Hannationalities of the Chinese Central Asia.As to the identification of these two disciples, they are confirmed to be Mah-k yapa and nanda, who are twos of kyamuni s ten disciples and the first two successors of the Buddha in the light of some inscriptions of the Buddhist artifacts and Fu fazang yinyuan zhuan (A Historyof the Buddha’s Successors) translated by Kinkara and Tanyao, though they are commonly calledthe same.