Essay name: Buddhist iconography in and outside India (Study)
Author:
Purabi Gangopadhyay
Affiliation: University of Calcutta / Department of Ancient Indian History and Culture
This work aims to systematically present the development and expansion of Mahayana-Vajrayana Buddhist iconography from India to other countries, such as China, Korea, and Japan. This study includes a historical account of Indian Buddhist iconography and the integration of Brahmanical gods into the Mahayana-Vajrayana phase.
Chapter 4: Japanese Buddhist Iconography (a Comparative Study)
3 (of 101)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
Download the PDF file of the original publication
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
i 87 From Northern China Buddhism entered into Korea where
the Koreans accepted it not merely as an Indian Religion but
as an embodiment of Chinese civilisation. The northern
kingdom of Korea accepted this religion in 372 A.D. while the
southern kingdom received it in 384 A.D. Buddhism established
its stronghold in Korea that was instrumental in introducing
Buddhist culture in Japan.
The coming of Buddhist monks from Korea with the image
of Sakyamuni had a great impact on the Japanese people who
at that time could not conceive of any divinity superior to
mankind. Thus the message of the Buddha had a great impact
on the people of Japan.
The Japanese found the Chinese civilisation much more
superior to their own culture and thought themselves to be
culturally poorer than the Chinese. Therefore, they tried to
improve their ideas of art and other objects of culture by
adopting the Chinese culture. They set themselves to modify
and absorb the Chinese culture according to their own ideas
and also social needs. Japan' accepted the Far-eastern culture
in its own land. Gradually the Chinese civilisation influenced
the entire nation and the life of the Japanese people was
moulded by the higher culture with the dissemination of
Buddhism 篓篓 throughout Japan, the Japanese art and architecture
took a new shape and form. Many temples were erected. Buddhist
philosophy and ethics were preached and these had a great
