| The debate between Vimalakirti and Manjusri was a popular theme in Chinese art from at least the fifth through the twelfth centuries. This thesis identifies 162 extant examples of this theme and through typological examination and analysis explores the development of the Vimalakirti image over the entire period of its use. In addition, reasons for the popularity of Vimalakirti in China, textual and pictorial sources for the imagery, and the role of Vimalakirti in Chinese Buddhism are explored.; The popularity of the Vimalakirti theme in Chinese Buddhist art is a manifestation of the popularity of the Vimalakirti Sutra and Vimalakirti in Chinese Buddhism generally. Although a number of reasons for this popularity are uncovered, the most powerful is seen to be the analogy between the Buddhist layman Vimalakirti and the traditional Chinese concept of the superior man or junzi. This analogy was used by Buddhists in Six Dynasties China to demonstrate the compatibility of Buddhism and Chinese culture, demonstrations made very necessary by frequent criticism of Buddhism as a foreign religion.; In addition to revealing the great popularity of the figure of Vimalakirti over seven centuries in China, this study finds in the Vimalakirti theme strong proof of the invention of new Buddhist themes in China. The first and primary source of this invention was the sutra text, to which artists, their patrons and advisers constantly returned over the course of the image's evolution. Because this theme was never represented in Central Asian or Indian art, no Buddhist models were available to aid in the development of the Vimalakirti image. The earliest extant works, and even works of the Sui and early Tang, show the struggles of the artists to interpret the text and to convey the significance of Vimalakirti in Chinese Buddhism. The final resolution of this struggle is seen in Vimalakirti images created at Dunhuang during after the High Tang. These combined the sutra's stories with various pictorial and cultural sources, including the native Chinese Seven Sages theme, the fashionable attributes of Six Dynasties aristocrats, and the traditional image of a Buddhist bodhisattva. |
