What sculpture art influenced the Buddha statue art in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties?

The art of Buddha statues in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties was influenced by Gandhara sculpture.

The main contribution of Gandhara art lies in the creation of Buddha statues. After the rise of Buddhism at the end of the 6th century, there were no statues of Buddha for hundreds of years. Footprints, thrones, bodhi trees, stupas and other symbols are used whenever the image of the Buddha himself needs to be carved. 1 century later, with the popularity of Mahayana Buddhism, worshipping Buddha statues by believers gradually became a trend, and then Buddha statues came into being.

At first, the Buddha statue was transformed from Indian folk statues of ghosts and gods. In Gandhara area, the production of Buddha statues absorbed more Greek statues and relief styles. The earliest existing Buddha statue in Gandhara art was made in the middle of 1 century. This is a relief depicting the Sakyamuni Garden donated by businessmen. The images of Buddha statues, businessmen and believers are all expressed in the local popular Greek style, and only the Buddha's head is carved with a light wheel to show sacredness.

Later, there were more and more reliefs of Buddha from birth, lecture to nirvana, and there were round carved Buddha statues. The earliest extant carved Buddha statue of Gandhara was unearthed in Mardam. The face and clothes of the Buddha statue have strong Greek characteristics, but they are solemn and have Buddhist spirit.

/kloc-0 From the end of the 20th century to the middle of the 2nd century, the production of Gandhara Buddha was mature. At this time, the styles of India, Greece, Persia, Rome and Central Asian grasslands were successfully integrated into one furnace, forming a unique Gandhara style.

It is characterized by an oval face, dignified eyes, a long and tall nose, curly hair and a bun, wearing a Greek robe, with folds hanging from the left shoulder, revealing the right shoulder, and sometimes there are bearded Buddha statues and Bodhisattva statues.

Buddha statues and reliefs unearthed from Shiro site in Rakhine and Fulousha site in the capital of Guishuang Kingdom near Peshawar, Pakistan are typical representatives of this style.

At the same time, the pagoda architecture of Gandhara has also made great progress. The original circular pagoda in India (see the Three-Foot Pagoda) has been greatly changed, and the base level has been increased. The round tower itself became a layer of the base, and the umbrella cover on it was also enlarged, which became a towering pagoda.

Extended information: the development of Buddhist art;

Qizil Thousand Buddha Cave, built in Baicheng, Xinjiang, is the first cave temple in China. From this time on, Buddha statues began to be generally enshrined in Buddhist Galand. From Dayue family to Shule, Gaochang, Khotan and Qiuci, it gradually spread to four counties in Hexi (Dunhuang, Zhangye, Wuwei and Jiuquan) and the mainland of China.

At that time, the image of Buddha was characteristic of Aryans: high nose, narrow eyes and thin lips. This seemingly foreigner's facial features are obviously different from the typical Mongolian faces of the indigenous people in ancient Xinjiang, indicating that Buddhism in China is a foreign religion.

Buddhism entered Yangguan in the east and was gradually integrated by Han culture. With the gradual China of Buddhism, the Buddha's face has gradually become a Han Chinese, the shape of the bridge of the nose has gradually decreased, and the helix has become bigger and bigger. The image of Buddha has been transformed into a blessing in the eyes of Han people, appearing in front of good men and women. This transformation process is very obvious in Dunhuang, Yungang and Longmen Grottoes.

During the Northern Zhou Dynasty (A.D. 557-589), the spread of Buddhism was mainly based on the Theory of Practice. This 25-meter-long comic book covers the period from the night dream of Mrs. Moyev, when Bodhisattva descended from the sky with a white elephant, to music, so she got pregnant, to the time when Sakyamuni sat at home under a bodhi tree and practiced penance.

Interestingly, the costumes of the characters in this painting are all in Han and Pu styles, and Sakyamuni's father, Sudoku King, was painted in the image of Emperor China. His mother, Mrs. Moyev, put on the clothes of the Han and Jin empresses. When Sakyamuni returned to the palace, he rode in a dragon car, which was copied according to the cloud car in the Ode to Luoshen painted by Gu Kaizhi, a great painter in the Jin Dynasty.

This shows that the image of Sakyamuni is only the image of Buddha in the minds of Buddhist believers, folk sculptors and painters, who describe and shape it according to their own imagination. At the same time, due to different production years and regions, the needs and quality of producers are also different. The same Buddha or Bodhisattva has many different images, which is the origin of the so-called reincarnation of Buddha and Bodhisattva.

In Dunhuang, Yungang, Longmen and other grottoes, we can see that the worshippers and craftsmen condensed their spiritual sustenance, yearning for the afterlife and their sacred image on the Buddha statues. This is also evident in Yungang Grottoes.

In the twentieth cave, there is a huge sitting Buddha with sharp eyes overlooking the world and an unfathomable smile on his mouth. This Buddha statue is as high as 13.46 meters, which is a rare giant Buddha in China.

This Buddha has completely taken off the Greek costume worn by Gandhara, and he praised the belt as if it were the costume of a scholar-bureaucrat after the Han Dynasty. Of course, this is not because the Buddha wants to pursue fashionable dress, but because the producer's religious consciousness and aesthetics are reflected in art.

Since Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty moved to Luoyang, he has carried out the policy of sinicization politically, which is also reflected in the carving of Buddha statues and bodhisattvas. The Buddha statues made in this period are all short shirts and long skirts, just like the costumes of the Han people.

The reason is that the Xianbei nationality to which Tuoba, the ruler of the Northern Wei Dynasty belongs, is a branch of Donghu nationality. During the Qin and Han Dynasties, he was nomadic between the Xilamulun River and Taoer River and belonged to the Xiongnu. After the northern Xiongnu moved westward, the Xianbei nationality occupied the original area of Xiongnu and became powerful.

In 398 AD, Tuoba GUI, the leader of Tuoba Department of Xianbei nationality, made Pingcheng (now Datong City) its capital, and proclaimed himself emperor the following year, that is, Emperor Daowu of the Northern Wei Dynasty. Due to the backward culture and small number of Xianbei people, Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty moved the capital from Pingcheng to Luoyang in 493 A.D., and issued a decree prohibiting wearing and talking nonsense, changing Xianbei's surname to Han's.

These sinicization measures of Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty are also reflected in the short shirts and long skirts worn by Buddhas and Bodhisattvas shaped in this era. In order to use Buddhism to ensure the long-term national luck of this solemn land in the Northern Wei Dynasty, many emperors in the Northern Wei Dynasty devoted themselves to promoting Buddhism, building temples and pagodas, and granting various privileges to monks.

However, the national luck of the Northern Wei Dynasty was not passed down from generation to generation because of a large number of statues. In 557 AD, the Northern Wei Dynasty was divided into the Eastern Wei Dynasty and the Western Wei Dynasty, and was later destroyed by the Northern Qi Dynasty and the Northern Zhou Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty, the Longmen Statue in Luoyang reached its climax. The Rushena Buddha in Fengxian Temple is a masterpiece.

The height of the Buddha statue is17.14m, the head height is 4m, and the ear length is1.9m.. The head is perfect and beautiful, with both the dignity of men and the kindness of women. This is no longer like the Buddhist idol of Purdue sentient beings, but the incarnation of the emperor of the Tang Dynasty. In order to praise herself, Wu Zetian built a large number of temple Buddha statues. The monk who presided over the construction project beautified Wu Zetian with Buddha statues.

When Buddhism spread to Han areas in China, the traditional concept of China culture was also reflected in the appearance and costumes of Buddha statues through the sculptures of Buddha statues, so there were many statues of Buddha and Bodhisattva with plump cheeks, ears hanging over their shoulders and hands on their knees in temples in the Han Dynasty.

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