Nov 12, Sun-ah Choi

Sun-ah Choi
Ph.D. Candidate, Art History
University of Chicago

Friday, November 12, 4- 6 pm
CWAC 156

From the True Visage to a Miraculous Image: Medieval Chinese Reception of the Buddha Image at the Mahabodhi Temple of Bodhgaya, India

Abstract

This talk examines ways in which medieval Chinese received the famous Buddha image of the Mahabodhi temple at Bodhgaya, India, through the examination of two different modes of reception, the verbal description and the act of replication. Witnessed by seventh-century Chinese pilgrims like Xuanzang and Yijing, the Buddha statue enshrined at the Mahabodhi temple was, on one hand, referred to as the “true visage (zhenrong),” an unusual term whose implication requires further investigation. On the other hand, the Indian effigy, because of its great regard, became the model for many replications in seventh- and eighth-century China, and some of them are labeled as the “Miraculous Image of Bodhi Tree (puti ruixiang).” Focusing on these two seemingly related, but remarkably different notions—zhenrong and ruixiang, I will discuss why medieval Chinese copies of the famous Indian icon look the way they do, (as well as why they look different from those made in other Buddhist countries like Korea, Nepal, Indonesia, and Tibet), a question that has been shunned by many art historians for the sake of their conventional methods and interests.