Open Collections

Amitabha Buddha with two disciples and two bodhisattvas, Niche 35, the southern cliff (南岩), Yuanjue Cave (圓覺洞)

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

Niche 35 is located in the southern cliff (南岩) of Yuanjue Cave Cliff Sculpture Scenic Area (圓覺洞摩崖造像風景區), Yujishan (雲居山), situated in the northeast of Anyue County (安岳縣), Ziyang City (資陽巿), Sichuan. The southern cliff contains fifty-eight niches (Niches 15 to 72) of rock carvings, mostly dating from the Tang Dynasty 唐 (618-907) to the Five Dynasties 五代 (907-960). The central wall depicts a seated Amitābha Buddha flanked by two standing disciples and two bodhisattvas. All of the statues’ heads are missing. Their halos, with black fret patterns and the blue pigments on their costumes, were painted in later periods. Amitābha Buddha, wears a cassock covering both shoulders and is seated on a lotus throne with crossed legs. Both hands form a mudra that symbolizes taking rebirth in the “upper grade of the superior class”. The left disciple holds an unidentifiable object, while the right one forms an Añjali Mudra (heshi 合十) with both hands. The two bodhisattvas are heavily damaged, and they appear to hold unidentified objects in their hands. The upper part of the central wall is adorned with leaves representing the bodhi tree. Seated figures are depicted on each of the two side walls. However, they are severely eroded, and their identities are unknown. Metadata created by: Sau Ling Wendy Yu.

Anyue Xian (China); Sichuan Sheng (China); 30.11723; 105.3504

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Cluster 3.4: Typologies of Text-Image Relations

Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library

10.14288/1.0438591

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