Best regards, Andrew Stewart
Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <[email protected]> > Date: January 14, 2021 at 8:30:26 PM EST > To: [email protected] > Cc: H-Net Staff <[email protected]> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-Buddhism]: Zhou on Wang, 'Maṇḍalas in the Making: > The Visual Culture of Esoteric Buddhism at Dunhuang' > Reply-To: [email protected] > > Michelle C. Wang. Maṇḍalas in the Making: The Visual Culture of > Esoteric Buddhism at Dunhuang. Leiden Brill Academic Publishers, > 2018. xvii + 318 pp. ISBN 978-90-04-35765-5. > > Reviewed by Zhenru Zhou (The University of Chicago) > Published on H-Buddhism (January, 2021) > Commissioned by Jessica Zu > > _Maṇḍalas in the Making_ is the first English-language academic > monograph that comprehensively treats the eighth- to tenth-century > Buddhist maṇḍalas that were produced in the area around Dunhuang, > a Silk Road town located at the margins of Tang China and the Tibetan > empire. Methodologically, Wang examines the esoteric Buddhist > visuality at Dunhuang through the three lenses of historical, > performative, and representational spaces. Theoretically, Wang > generalizes the term "maṇḍalization" to describe the > transformation of Dunhuang visual culture and the lasting impact on > the visual and material art of Buddhism.[1] > > Maṇḍalas, a topic of Buddhist art and architecture substantially > developed in the past three decades, are believed to be biaxial, > symmetrical, map-like images that instantiate the realms and beings > of enlightenment and organize ritual practices.[2] In contrast to the > conventional approach that sees a maṇḍala as a fixed set of > iconography and a point in a certain transmission lineage, Wang > reassesses it from the perspective of image-making process and hybrid > sources.[3] Building upon earlier scholarship on Sino-Japanese > maṇḍala paintings and that on Indo-Tibetan maṇḍalic > monuments,_ Maṇḍalas in the Making_ destabilizes the border > between the distinct cultures and that between different art > media.[4] Furthermore, critical hermeneutics that emerged in the > studies of Chinese art and religion, such as modularity and > hybridity, adopt new senses in _Maṇḍalas in the Making_.[5] > > In order to accomplish her aim, Wang judiciously chooses the subject > matter and the historical context that are characterized by their > _in-betweenness_ and carefully investigates them through three kinds > of _space_: historical, performative, and representational. The focus > of her analysis--the Maṇḍala of Eight Great Bodhisattvas--is a > kind of early maṇḍala that was not only widely transmitted across > India, the Himalayas, and the Tarim Basin but also arguably preluded > the Two Realms Maṇḍala in Japan. The site--Dunhuang--is a > miraculously preserved context in which political turmoil and > religious autonomy under the Tibetan occupation of Dunhuang (786-848) > and the succeeding local regime, called Guiyijun (lit. Return to > Allegiance Army, 848-1036), allowed hybridized and localized > productions of maṇḍalas. Wang not only masters iconographical and > stylistic studies of well-selected works of mural and portable > paintings, diagrams, and caves in Dunhuang, but also contextualizes > them in the shifting political and religious landscapes of the > Sino-Tibetan borderlands. Wang further conceptualizes the > maṇḍalas produced in Dunhuang through the lenses of historical, > performative, and representational _spaces_--a historical meeting > place of the Chinese and Tibetan esoteric Buddhist traditions, a > setting for performing meditative visualization and repentance > rituals, and a spatial template for staging the Buddha's > enlightenment as well as composing pictorial images and cave shrines. > In this way, _Maṇḍalas in the Making_ sheds new lights on how > maṇḍalas took form and what they could look like. > > _Maṇḍalas in the Making_ makes three major claims. First, > Guiyijun-period Dunhuang felt the lingering impacts from both the > Tang (618-907) and the Tibetan empires (618-842) as well as the > continuing political negotiations; locally produced in this context, > the Dunhuang maṇḍalas reveal a historical association between the > Maṇḍala of Eight Great Bodhisattvas promoted in the Tibetan > empire and the Vajradhātu Maṇḍala--one of the Two Realms > Maṇḍala flourished in the Japanese Shingon tradition. Second, > maṇḍalas brought new spatial concepts to preexisting Chinese > Buddhist practices, such as devotion to _dhāraṇī_ (a genre of > incantation) and repentance rituals, and a new perspective toward the > Buddha's enlightenment, which alternatively pinpoints his coronation > in Akaniṣṭha Heaven, one of the thirty-three-level heavens in > Buddhist cosmology. Third, in addition to an eightfold structure in > plan, maṇḍalas prompted a three-dimensional spatial template in > Dunhuang portable paintings and cave designs as they did elsewhere. > This template is a vertical, tripartite composition that signifies > the cosmological, ritual, and human realms. Thus, it evokes, in the > minds of medieval Buddhist practitioners, a progression through the_ > trikāya_ (the three modes of being of the Buddha). Through a series > of careful analysis of the textual, pictorial, and architectural > evidence from Dunhuang and beyond, Wang arrives at a generalization > about these claimed patterns, which she dubs "the maṇḍalization > of Dunhuang" (p. 274). > > Wang's narrative of "maṇḍalization" begins with the introduction > of maṇḍalas to dhāraṇī in eighth-century China, which > resulted in a new conception of bounded ritual space. Despite the > lack of maṇḍala images from this period, chapter 1 offers a > detailed textual analysis of two ritual manuals related to one of the > most popular dhāraṇī in Tang China. Through a theoretical > reconstruction of early maṇḍala altars and Buddha icons used > during the rituals, Wang unpacks the new ritual techniques and > spatial concepts promoted by contemporaneous esoteric Buddhist > masters in the Tang capital city, Chang'an. > > Chapters 2 and 3 examine the maṇḍala images in the Tibetan empire > and Dunhuang. They investigate key images of the Maṇḍala of Eight > Great Bodhisattvas in Tibetan- and Guiyijun-period Dunhuang as well > as the ideologies and social conditions that prompted the art > productions. Chapter 2 relates the emergence of the maṇḍala in > Dunhuang to the rise of the Tibetan empire. The Tibetan empire > popularized the art of maṇḍala, whose imperial metaphor and > narrative of enlightenment became integral to empire-building. The > Tibetan empire also played a crucial role in transmitting artistic > styles from Kashmir and Nepal to Dunhuang. When zooming into local > art production in Tibetan-period Dunhuang, Wang highlights the > juxtaposition of Tang and Tibetan artistic styles in mural and silk > paintings, which she characterizes as "artistic bilingualism" (p. > 121). > > Chapter 3 continues to observe the bilingual mode in Guiyijun-period > Dunhuang cave shrines and portable paintings and unpacks the > historical memory and political legitimacy visualized by maṇḍala > images. Here one may find some of the finest visual studies in the > book. For instance, Wang convincingly pinpoints the Tibetan artistic > legacy in murals at less obvious positions in a cave owned by an > anti-Tibetan Guiyijun ruler (pp. 134-135). Wang also highlights the > central role of a maṇḍala diagram in structuring and connecting a > tripartite space in a devotional silk painting (pp. 180-185). > > Chapters 4 and 5 further contextualize the maṇḍala images in the > iconographic and ritual programs of selected cave shrines. What Wang > treats as a culmination of esoteric Buddhist visuality at Dunhuang is > the Guiyijun-period Mogao Cave 14. Wang argues that a uniquely rich > combination of maṇḍalas and iconographies in this cave is tied to > different programs of repentance. Chapter 4 examines the relevance > between discrete mural paintings featuring five Buddhas and eight > bodhisattvas and repentance rituals that are prescribed in some > Dunhuang manuscripts to require a conjunction of such iconographies. > Chapter 5 investigates the relationships between a mural circle of > bodhisattva images in the same cave, a separate set of repentance > rituals, and pictorial programs of tripartite monuments in Indonesia > and western Tibet. In this way, Wang proposes to understand the > Dunhuang cave as a new kind of maṇḍalic architecture and decodes > its sophisticated creation in ritual contexts. > > While most of the analyses are conducted in a meticulous manner, a > few questions remain in the reviewer's mind. First, since Wang > emphasizes the Tibetan impact on the art and visual culture of a > multiethnic Dunhuang to a degree more than is common, one expects a > justification of the fact that no Tibetan patronage is known to the > nearly two hundred caves from the Tibetan and Guiyijun periods.[6] > Second, as Wang tends to contextualize Mogao Cave 14 among > architectural monuments that are located thousands of miles away from > Dunhuang and are not proved to have had any direct contact, one > wonders why she has hesitated to seriously consider the immediate > context, namely, the pre-Tibetan Dunhuang caves. A tripartite > pictorial program had not been uncommon throughout the four-century > cave construction before the Tibetan occupation of Dunhuang. Rather > than "the maṇḍalization of Dunhuang" (p. 274), could one explain > the phenomenon that chapter 5 examines as the diffusion of > maṇḍalas in the visual traditions that had been established > before the introduction of maṇḍala? Just like the classical > debate between the Buddhist conquest of China and the Sinicization of > Buddhism, this question has no clear-cut answer. > > Although a conclusion about some of the core materials in the book > has yet to be reached, it is fair to suggest that _Maṇḍalas in > the Making_ achieves its claimed goals concerning methodology, > namely, reading esoteric Buddhist iconography in specific spatial > contexts, revealing the mutability and adaptability of a spatial > template, and reconsidering an early history of maṇḍalas in > China. > > Due to the frequency of technical terms in Chinese, Sanskrit, and > Tibetan languages and the quantity of meticulous details and > explanatory footnotes, this book is more useful for specialists in > Sino-Tibetan Buddhist art. Nonetheless, any reader will appreciate > the 130 color illustrations and well-crafted diagrams. > > Notes > > [1]. "Maṇḍalization" has been primarily used to discuss esoteric > ritual practice. See Charles D. Orzech, _Politics and Transcendent > Wisdom: The Scripture for Humane Kings in the Creation of Chinese > Buddhism_ (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, > 1998). > > [2]. For a comprehensive literature review, see Heather Blair, > "Maṇḍala," Oxford Bibliographies website, last modified August > 31, 2015, DOI: 10.1093/OBO/9780195393521-0100. > > [3]. For an excellent study of the same topic from the conventional > approach, see Kimiaki Tanaka, _Tonkō: Mikkyō to bijutsu _[Dunhuang: > Esoteric Buddhism and its art] (Kyoto: Hōzōkan, 2000). > > [4]. For examples of the two areas of scholarship, see, respectively, > Chikyo Yamamoto, _Introduction to the Maṇḍala_ (Kyoto: Dōhōsha, > 1980); and Geri Hockfield Malandra, _Unfolding a Maṇḍala: The > Buddhist Cave Temples at Ellora_ (Albany: State University of New > York Press, 1993). > > [5]. For instances of the methodological inquiries, see, > respectively, Lothar Ledderose, _Ten Thousand Things: Module and Mass > Production in Chinese Art_ (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University > Press, 2000); and the workshop "Syncretism & Hybridity in Chinese > Religious History," University of Chicago, April 28-29, 2017, > https://ceas.uchicago.edu/news/april-28-29-syncretism-hybridity-chinese-religious-history > > (accessed December 10, 2020). > > [6]. See, for example, Wang Huimin, _Dunhuang Fojiao yu shiku > yingzao_ [Dunhuang Buddhism and cave construction] (Lanzhou: Gansu > jiaoyu chuban she, 2013). > > Citation: Zhenru Zhou. Review of Wang, Michelle C., _Maṇḍalas in > the Making: The Visual Culture of Esoteric Buddhism at Dunhuang_. > H-Buddhism, H-Net Reviews. January, 2021. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=55814 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#5565): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/5565 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/79692986/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
