Buddhist art

Buddhist painting. Much of Buddhist art has been preserved in monasteries, although little survives of the early Buddhist pictorial art made on wood or other perishable materials.

Buddhist painting. Buddhist iconography, painting, and architecture spread from northwestern India to China and East Asia from the 1st century onwards. Different styles and techniques emerged, as the older Indian traditions were modified by local influences.

The ancient Buddhist stupa of Swayambhunath, Kathmandu, Nepal. Situated on a hill and visible for many miles from all sides of the valley, it is one of the most important Buddhist sites in Nepal. Although its origins pre-date the arrival of Buddhism in Kathmandu, the stupa was already a major Buddhist pilgrimage destination by the 5th century.

Art and design of the Buddhist world, since the foundation of Buddhism, a philosophy that seeks enlightenment, by the Buddha Sakyamuni in the 5th century BC. The earliest Buddhist art developed in India to accommodate the new religion, including pillars and stupa, domed reliquary shrines that became the focus for pilgrims. Images of the Buddha in human form first appear in the sculptures of the Mathura tradition (2nd century BC) and the Gandhara (2nd–6th centuries AD), the latter showing elements of Greek style, and being exported with the religion to Korea, China, and Japan. Buddhism embodies many different strains and forms, and artwork associated with Buddhism is equally varied in style and focus, from rounded Gandharan sculpture to the angular forms of Chinese Buddhism from the 6th century AD. Carvings, paintings, and illustrated scrolls may depict scenes from the life of the Buddha and his previous incarnations, or demonstrate different states that the mind and body may achieve. The rapidly executed black ink paintings of Zen Buddhism are a medium for the spiritual contemplation of nature.

Indian Buddhist art When the Buddha died in 489 BC, his bodily relics were sent to different parts of India in stupa, domed shrines decorated with symbols representing the Buddha. These stupa became the focus for pilgrims, and were later decorated with elaborate stone railings and relief carvings. An early convert to Buddhism was Emperor Asoka (reigned c. 268–232 BC) of the Mauryan dynasty, who built a series of pillars at sites associated with the Buddha's career.

As Buddhism grew, monasteries were founded which were also highly decorated, their walls carved with scenes from the life of Buddha and his previous incarnations. The images were also intended to embody beauty and physical well-being, this being highlighted by the use of more generous, rounded carving than the shallow relief work of earlier monuments.

The first images of the Buddha in human form were in the sculptures of the Mathura tradition (2nd century BC) and those of Gandhara (2nd–6th centuries BC). The extreme depth of relief of the Mathura work was followed by the gentler sculptures of Gupta (about 5th century AD). Gandhara sculpture – possibly the greatest school of Buddhist sculpture – shows Greek influence and its style was exported with the Buddhist religion to China, Korea, and Japan.

Artwork of the Gupta dynasty of AD 320 demonstrates the varying forms and styles associated with Buddhism, and differences of focus. The dynasty was established on the Ganges plain, where the Buddha lived and preached. Early Gupta art developed from the Mathura tradition. Painted sculptures of Buddha, usually flanked by two assistants known as the Bodhisattvas, were intended to inspire a condition of peace while the devotee meditated on its smooth, painted surface. Gupta art was further developed with the painting of exotic tableaux of sculpted and painted masculine and feminine figures. These were intended to demonstrate the states of mind and body that could be achieved by the Tantrika, followers of a form of Buddhism that claims that life offers experiences that can be maximized through complicated, mystical systems. Images of brightly coloured figures with many arms and legs are intended to symbolize the different incarnations of Buddhist wisdom and to assist meditation.

Chinese Buddhist art When missionaries brought Buddhism to China from Gandhara in the 1st century AD, the religion became the chief inspiration of figurative art.

Chinese Buddhist art was particularly influenced by two Buddhist sacred texts, the Lotus Sutra and the Amitayus Sutra. Chinese artists built Buddhas on a colossal scale. At first they were similar to the smoothly rounded style of the Gandharan sculptures, but by the beginning of the 6th century, the style had grown much more angular and severe. In the Han and Tang dynasties ceramic ‘spirit figures’ of people and animals became a popular tradition and were buried with Buddhist followers.

Japanese Buddhist art Buddhism was introduced to Japan from Korea in approximately AD 552, and with it came different art forms and influences including sculpture, metalwork, and embroidered silk. In the 6th century, during the Asuka period (AD 552–794), Prince Umayado embraced Buddhism and his court became an important focus for the advancement of the arts in general, although with a Buddhist focus in particular. Works in lacquer and religious portraits flourished as well as painted scrolls, murals, and narrative paintings. Some paintings, known as jataka, depicted stories of Buddha's previous lives. During the Heian period (794–1185) the wider population, not just court members and the rich, began to practise Buddhism. Consequently Buddhist statues started to be mass-produced, largely out of wood. The statues were formal and idealized in style, but later, in the Kamakura period (1185–1392), they become more realistic, intending to create a physical likeness and to give the subject a more believable ‘spiritual’ quality. Zen Buddhism, an intensely meditative form of Buddhism, also grew in popularity during this period and by 1392 had begun to influence the art of Japan in a particular way. Following the code of the Samurai warriors, who were famed for their prowess and strength in the martial arts, art influenced by Zen Buddhism imitated the sweeping strokes of the swords in the brushstrokes of their artwork. These spontaneous and immediate black ink paintings were drawn from the landscape and required the observer to be sensitive to nature, in an almost meditative contemplation of beauty and form.