Cakrasaṃvara or Trailokyavijaya: Ascertaining the Identity of a Tantric Deity at Phimai through Sanskrit Manuscripts จั กรสั งวร หรื อ ไตรโลกยวิ ชั ยะ: ค้ นหาและยื นยั นประติ มานลั กษณะ ของเทพเจ้ าพุ ทธตั นตระที ่ พิ มายโดยคั มภี ร์ สั นสกฤต (original) (raw)
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Before Siam: Essays in Art and Archaeology, 2014
The beautifully carved sandstone temple at Phimai on the Khorat Plateau is the first tantricBuddhist sanctuary built on a royal scale in the ancient Khmer empire. It was built between 1080 and 1108 CE in the reign of Jayavarman VI (r. 1080-1107 CE) who founded the Mahīdharapura dynasty that took Angkor to its apogee of power in the twelfth century. Jayavarman VI was crowned in Angkor, but he did not build a state temple there. The great work of sacred architecture of his reign was Phimai with its powerful new message from the gods of tantric Buddhism. Phimai is the only major temple in the Khmer empire to be adorned with tantric Buddhist imagery before Jayavarman VII (r. 1181/2-1216 CE) made tantric Buddhism the “state religion” in Angkor at the end of the twelfth century. This paper presents a new English translation of a key tantric Buddhist inscription found at Sap Bak, near Phimai, and argues that the tradition of tantric Buddhism had long thrived on the Khorat Plateau. Tantric beliefs cross several generations and have links to both the tantric Buddhist history of tenth century central Cambodia as well as to the birth place of Buddhism in India. A discussion of these links paves the way for a new reading of Phimai’s famous inner lintels showing that one of their key functions is to symbolise the unity of body, speech and mind, as a central idea of this tradition. It takes the maṇḍala of the Guhyasamāja Tantra and of the Cakrasaṃvara Tantra to be primary influences on its iconography.
The beautifully carved sandstone temple at Phimai on the Khorat Plateau is the first tantric Buddhist sanctuary built on a royal scale in the ancient Khmer empire. It was built between 1080 and 1108 CE in the reign of Jayavarman VI (r. 1080-1107 CE) who founded the Mahīdharapura dynasty that took Angkor to its apogee of power in the twelfth century. Jayavarman VI was crowned in Angkor, but he did not build a state temple there. The great work of sacred architecture of his reign was Phimai with its powerful new message from the gods of tantric Buddhism. Phimai is the only major temple in the Khmer empire to be adorned with tantric Buddhist imagery before Jayavarman VII (r. 1181/2-1216 CE) made tantric Buddhism the “state religion” in Angkor at the end of the twelfth century. This paper presents a new English translation of a key tantric Buddhist inscription found at Sap Bak, near Phimai, and argues that the tradition of tantric Buddhism had long thrived on the Khorat Plateau. Tantric beliefs cross several generations and have links to both the tantric Buddhist history of tenth century central Cambodia as well as to the birth place of Buddhism in India. A discussion of these links paves the way for a new reading of Phimai’s famous inner lintels showing that one of their key functions is to symbolise the unity of body, speech and mind, as a central idea of this tradition. It takes the maṇḍala of the Guhyasamāja Tantra and of the Cakrasaṃvara Tantra to be primary influences on its iconography.
2013 The tantric roots of the Buddhist pantheon of Jayavarman VII
Materializing Southeast Asia's Past, 2013
The state Buddhism adopted by the ancient Khmers in the late 12th century under king Jayavarman VII has generally been taken as a form of Bodhisattvayāna, focused on a cult of the Avalokiteśvara samantamukha (‘facing-all-directions’) of the Lotus Sutra. George Coedès saw such a cult in large multi-armed icons of the ‘radiant’ Bodhisattva as well as in the giant faces on the towers of the Bayon state temple. This paper challenges the consensus view that Khmer Buddhists followed a mainstream Mahāyāna from the seventh century until the imposition of the Buddhist state and argues for seeing their Buddhism as predominantly tantric throughout the ancient period.
Trinakirana mudra in Buddhist iconography of Myanmar and Thailand (English translation)
Orientalistica, 1(3-4), 2018
It is considered to be that the iconography of Theravada embodies the real or legendary events of the life of the Buddha Gautama (Gotama). Using the episode of the Bodhisattva (Bodhisatta) meeting with Sotthiya as an example, the article analyzes the stability of the iconographic code that reflects the life of the founder of Buddhism. The development of the episode in Buddhist iconography is traced from the art of Gandhara through the samples of Dvaravati Mons, Burmese Pagan, temple wall paintings of Burma and Siam 17-18th centuries up to the modern iconography of Myanmar and Thailand.
Categories of objects, catesories of rnotif.s Althoush the ste la is the medium lnost c()mlnonly metwith in the art of Eastern Inclia' images were also carved on other types of media, particularly on Budclhist sites. Reside the slabs being the female deity from Sirpur preser-ved at the Los Anseles County Museurn of Art.'; These observations can be briefly summarized. AtAjanta, the monks and the layfblk are intesrated within an iconographic scheme, although their exact relation to the Buddha cannot always be properly determined. At Kanheri, the motif develops the function of sustaining or r,vorshipping the Buddha ancl at Ellora, the worshippers gain some independence and look fiom the outside towards the Buddha. This survey also sholvs the introcluction of cult objects held by rnonks, already at Ajanta on the can,ed panels of cave z6 and in the wall-paintings, e.g. in the upper cave 6.'3 These objects are also seen at Kanheri.'i) The monk presents in the lef t hand a florver and in the right one the incense burner.
Influence of Tantric Iconography in Ancient Bagan Monuments
This paper explores the possibility of the existence different Buddhist philosophical schools in Bagan. As hints of this existence, the co-existence of the iconography of what we now consider as different schools in Bagan period is examined through the mural paintings found in Apèyadana Temple in Myinkabar and Payathonzu Temple in Minnanthu. These mural paintings suggest the cultural blend of Theravāda (Pāli tradition) and Mahāyāna-Tantric Buddhist (Sanskrit tradition) iconography and symbolism existed in ancient Bagan civilization. It is probable that the people of Bagan might not have taken a serious distinction to the philosophical differences as we do nowadays. Even so these different schools of Buddhism might have arrived Bagan at one time or another continuing to influence art and culture of Bagan civilization.