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Maitreya descending to be born, Niche 176, Beishan Rock Carvings (北山石刻)

From the Ground Up: Buddhism & East Asian Religions (FROGBEAR Project)

This niche is located in Beishan Rock Carvings (北山石刻), Fowan (佛灣), Dazu (大足) District, Chongqing. In the Middle wall, Maitreya Buddha in a double-collar drooping cassock is seated with crossed legs on a lotus throne, his left hand touching his left knee and the right one placed in front of his belly. The lotus throne is placed on an octagonal altar, decorated with lion motifs on the front and either side and musician images between the lions. The bottom of the altar is trimmed with lotus petals. Two sets of small standing figures are depicted on either side of the altar. The images are severely eroded. A screen is depicted behind Maitreya Buddha’s circular halo. The upper part of the screen is adorned with six small Buddha motifs and a pair of birds. In addition, the edge of the upper screen is decorated with a pair of dragons with heads facing opposite sides. Besides, a pair of figures kneeling on lotus pedestals are depicted on either side of the lower screen. A canopy with a pagoda in the middle is carved on top of Maitreya Buddha. Images of small Buddha, various birds, illuminating lights and a pair of feitian (Chinese: 飛天; Sanskrit: apsaras) are depicted surrounding the canopy. A pair of standing disciples is also shown on either side of Maitreya Buddha. Their palms join together to form Añjali Mudras (Chinese: 合十). The upper part of the left side wall contains the outline of a mountain landscape adorned with small Buddha and pagoda motifs. The middle part depicted a bodhisattva seated on a lion associated with about thirty standing figures. Most of them form Añjali Mudras. The lower part of this wall contains four sets of depictions formed by architecture, trees and standing figures. The middle set seems to depict the episode of clothes available from trees. The setting of the right side wall is similar to that of the left side wall. However, the bodhisattva is riding an elephant. The lower part has an episode of a figure riding a horse. Three sets of inscriptions dated to the Southern Song Dynasty are found inside the niche. Source: Dazu shike yanjiuyuan 大足石刻研究院. Dazu shike quanji 大足石刻全集 [Dazu Rock Carvings] Edited by Li Fangyin 黎方銀. 10 vols. Vol. 2-1, Chongqing: Chongqing chubanshe, 2018, pp. 439-440. Descriptions of the photos: Signage board of the niche [1]. 2977 Surrounding environment of the niche [2]. Overview of the niche [3]. Close-ups of middle wall [4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]. Close-ups of left side wall [10, 11, 12, 13, 14]. Close-ups of right side wall [15, 16, 17]. Close-up of canopy [18]. Metadata created by: Sau Ling Wendy Yu.

Chongqing (China)); Dazu Qu (Chongqing, China); 29.71282; 105.71016

chi; eng

Cluster 3.4: Typologies of Text-Image Relations

Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library

10.14288/1.0433180

Non UBC

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