Artist: Tan Yao (patron)
Title: Cave 20 , Amitabha Buddha, detail
Material: sandstone
Site: Yungang, Shansi
Current Location:
Period/Date: Ca. 460-475 C.E. Northern Wei
Iconography/Iconology: The mask-like appearance of the Buddha is intended to display his superior beauty in comparison to humans. In the Han dynasty version of the Longer Sukhavativyuha text, it is stated that the Buddha is ten times more beautiful than the gods, who are themselves ten times more beautiful than humans. The idealized appearance is intended to convey the perfections that a Buddha has attained through many transmigrations. For example, in the remote past Amitabha as the youth, Dharmakara, vowed before the Buddha Lokeshvara Raja that he would not attain his own Buddhahood until his land, Buddhakshetra, would be a place where all beings, once born there, would not be reborn in any other form except as a Buddha. In essence, Dharmakara's meritorious attainments were such that he could provide benefaction to multitudes through the process of merit transfer.
Other features of the Buddha's countenance are the ushnisha at the top of the head, the urna on the forehead, the elongated earlobes and the rings of flesh around the neck. These are the special marks that characterize the qualities of a Buddha. The ushnisha, literally "crown," undoubtedly originated as a mound of hair around which a turban would have been wrapped in traditional India. Over time, in some Buddhist traditions, the ushnisha came to be interpreted as a "cranial bump," implying superior intellect. Other Buddhist traditions expanded the mound of hair into two and three layer with other iconographies being implied. The urna, literally meaning "wool," was originally conceived of as tuft of white hair in the center of the forehead. Over time, it became interpreted as a mark demonstrating a Buddha's transcendental insight and was understood as emitting rays of golden light. This has led to various physical objects including crystal and other semi-precious stones being inset into the forehead of a Buddha image. In the case of the Cave 20 Amitabha image, some such material was probably inset into the hole seen in the forehead. The extended earlobes reflect the custom of Indic royal princes wearing large and heavy jewelry, including gold earrings. Because the human earlobe stretches over time and does not contract once the weight is removed, a prince who had renounced his royal position, and thus the rich jewelry, would still retain the extended earlobes. The earlobes of a Buddha thus became an important mark to indicate his birth as a princely Kshatriya, one of the highest human births in the progression towards Buddhahood. Although often called lakshana, or "[prognoticator's] marks [of potential enlightenment]," the rings of flesh around the Buddhas neck are simply an East Asian convention to depict prosperity and success.
Stylistic Comments: The image's eyes are inset with black glass orbs, nearly a foot in diameter. In the dark cave that originally enclosed this image, the eyes would have glinted with the "spark of life" at the viewer who, standing thirty feet below the face of the image. This provided a sense of vitality and living presence to the large figure of the Buddh Amitabha.
