Week 6-7 Period of Division%2FNorthern Wei PDF

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The Period of Division (220-581 CE) → Huns tear apart Han, China remains divided ruled by Mongol kingdoms A. 3 kingdoms (Wei, Shu, Wu) 220-265 B. Jin Dynasty (Western and Eastern) 265-420 C. Southern and Northern Dynasties 420-589 D. Northern Wei 386-584 (Toba people from Mongolia take over - considered barbarians) E. Buddhism takes over - began in Han dynasty along silk road with small foreign groups; well established after fall of Han → confucianism declines, daoism is popular 1. Creation of one wealthy man → questioned why he was well off and others suffering a) Believed people go through many lives → cycle of rebirth and suffering b) People suffer because of desire (even most beautiful thing comes with pain) 2. Act without attachment, without desire, selfless → transfer of goodness to others (transfer of merit) a) Trapped in cycle of rebirth - actions have consequences (karma) → act with awareness and eliminate suffering and eliminate rebirth (nirvana - done path) 3. Enlightenment - when you understand what to do; reachable through actions and thoughts without attachment or desire → 8 fold path 4. Dharma - buddha’s law; his teachings 5. Monks - convert other people, no job, spread the Buddha’s words 6. No prescribed ritual unlike Chinese confucianism, no immortality → very radical a) Translate sanskrit to chinese → huge enormous process b) Some can’t be fully translated → fake translation 7. From India to top of Han (pilgrims travel to Gandhara → Northern Pakistan and Afghanistan) → popular among merchants along silk roads → enters Yellow and Yangtze Basin 8. One king persecuted religion but others put lots of money to support Buddhism 9. Carved images of Buddha and spaces in caves → carved temples in cliff a) Dunhuang - major Buddhist cave site established along the silk road 10. Transferred by monks and merchants (supported monks financially, good karma) a) Monasteries were key locations 11. Chinese monks would make pilgrimages to ancient region of Gandhara and India to bring back the religious texts known as sutras → translated in China a) Buddha = fo (in Chinese) b) Buddhist doctrine/dharma = fa c) Sutra written on dried palm leaves, birch bark 12. Cult of Buddha Amitabha of infinite light and his mythical land acquired great popularity in China, developing in the so-called “Buddhism of the Pure Land” 13. Elite Buddhism → give scholarship to monks to learn in Gandhara 14. Stupa - solid dome; center there is a box of relic from Buddha (pinch of ash/gold/precious stones) buried underneath a) Art representing life of Buddha on Stupa 15. Buddha has special marks on body (India idea → king must of special markings) → represented as spiritual king a) Webbed fingers b) Bun hair c) Long earlobes 16. Bamiyan - monks live in caves in Afghanistan → carved images on mountain F. 338 → first dated image of Buddha made in China; portable made of metal G. Gandhara Buddha → stone, both have same posture, folds of fabric, hair style H. Gupta Dynasty (5th century) 1. India changed style of Buddha → standing posture → adapted to Chinese bronze buddha I. Yungang (ended in 495)

1. Colossal Buddhas carved in living rock (Tanyao (patron) cave) - rock cut temples a) Public, very monumental → a statement b) Lots of money, skilled army c) In the pure land for your parents → combining Chinese Confucian ideology d) State sponsored e) Vaguely Indian style (1) Eyes with inset stones (jewel) (2) Circular spot in between eyes (not third eye) - tuft of hair 2. Facade with holes 3. Cosmological Buddha - folds of fabric had many smaller buddhas on it 4. Other caves have rooms with pillars from ceiling to floor (not colossal Buddha) a) China doesn’t have domes → built pillars/towers (pagodas) represent Stupa (walk around it) over relics (placed in basement) (1) Modeled after watchtowers in Han dynasty J. Dunhuang - must pass through because of mountains; along silk road Gansu Province 1. All roads go through site → lots of traffic and money; where Great Wall ended → gateway to Western world 2. Big cave monasteries for monks to live, worship, meditate → one of the biggest ancient library (central buddha with two monks meditating beside) 3. No one king sponsoring it → 700 caves 4. Very dry climate → dessert a) Not good for carving very sandy, couldn’t sculpt → painted instead (1) Mineral pigments (not local) (2) Blue from lapiz stone from Iran/Afghanistan → from silk road trade → expensive (a) Rich person paid for cave (3) Almond shaped halos on Buddha (4) Monks can sit on either side of Buddha around niches (5) Five Hundred Robbers; Hungry Tigress - horizontal narrative of scenes

b) Pillar cave → copied idea of pagoda 5. Maitreya Buddha - bodhisattva (dressed like prince - necklace, jewelry) a) relic (Buddha) comes out from it → sitting in European way (not Chinese/Indian) → sitting on throne cross legged b) Future Buddha that will come 6. Stories of life of Buddha painted (Jatakas), previous life (had many lives) a) Merchant on silk road from Gansu (made it Chinese and local) b) Jataka of tiger - show people can be converted, must do big generous acts for good life → moral stories (1) Pants invented by nomads; the ones who rode horses (Huns) (2) Feed tiger with human sacrifice → shouldn’t even be attached to life 7. Represented “Pure Land” on earth → Buddhist paradise 8. Figures on ceiling honoring Buddha 9. Scented environment (burn incense) K. Longmen (495-675 CE), Luoyang (started in Northern Wei, finished in Tang) 1. Standing Buddha Maitreya

a) Made of gilt bronze b) Commissioned in honor Dowager Empress, controlled for 3 decades c) Believed to be reborn as future Buddha 2. Binyang Cave - Sakyamuni Buddha and disciples around him 3. Emperor and His Court as Donors Worshiping Buddha → direct royal patronage and support a) Major royal involvement in worshipping of Buddhism b) Buddhism becomes state religion c) Empress Wu donated money in 672 (20,000 yuan) - huge Buddha image placed next to Northern Wei King d) Project completed in 675 AD (clerical advisors and bureaucrat) e) Dunhuang 360 caves added - all about paintings f) Buddha associated with court → assistants, people who follow him (1) Vairocana Buddha carved; monk (first disciple) is on his left (2) Bodhisattva - figures with crowns next to monks, being that is going to be Buddha → has reached enlightenment but postpones it to help everyone else → selfless figure (3) More accessible than Buddha → more popular (4) Buddha always wear monastic robes, special marks, become totally Chinese round faces, three folds, long ears, long eyes (5) Bodhisattva dressed in crowns (princes) → like our world (jewels, connected eyebrows and noses, full lips) L. Practice of scholarly traditions become important 1. Confucian classics 2. Calligraphy - writing in beautiful manner; original form of self expression (poetry, individual unique handwriting) a) Art of the intellectuals, elite, confucian scholars b) Write without lifting the brush on silk; wrist moves c) Control of speed and pressure → ink spreads, brush and silk is soft d) Solid ink → dilute it with water e) Wang Xi Zhi (307-365) - famous calligrapher f) Confucian tradition is the glue that keeps the court together (1) Emperor Xuanzhong - uses calligraphy for classic texts in carved stone (a) Example for public steely g) Autobiography of Buddhist Monk Huaisu - cursive calligraphy; difficult to read, art h) Red stamps - collector’s seal of ownership → added value (1) Part of history of appreciation of art (2) History of piece is as important as piece itself → masterpiece (a lot of seals) M. Painting - birth of aesthetic discourse (from calligraphy) 1. Landscape has both material existence and reaches out into realm of spirit 2. Admonition of the Instructress to the Court Ladies - Gu Kaizhi 3. Well known painter of time, but only copies of his work survive a) Earliest painting that survives is painting by Gu Kaizhi (period of division) b) Tons of copies of old paintings → when painter is learning painting c) Can distinguish by artist’s brush stroke d) Story of court lady - asked to ride palanquin by Emperor (1) About appropriate behavior e) All about people, no landscape or background f) Very little color → ability of painter lies in brush stroke g) Very confucian - didactic function and sets moral example

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h) Lines represent swirling movements and angular figures Figural painting on silk scroll a) Hand scroll - Use jade pieces to hold down rolled silk b) Vertical scroll - shorter, hung Xie He (500-535) - 6 principles of good painting a) Must capture the true spirit of nature (qi) - daoist tradition; idea of energy and flow through things → not static (1) recreation of nature; artist = creator → must be master at brushwork (2) Silk also rots, hard to keep for a long time b) Importance of brush work as structure of the painting (also see importance of calligraphy) (1) Brushwork is skeleton of figure → take brushwork away there is nothing (2) Skill is same in writing and painting c) Fidelity (faith) to object in portraying forms d) Conformity to nature in colors e) Proper planning in placing the various elements in a painting f) Ancient models should be perpetuated (carried on) Nymph of the Lou River - Gu KaiZhi a) Story occurs in landscape b) Perspective is unsettling → small trees in front (1) Not priority, also impossible to have 1 vanishing point in a long scroll c) Realized 3 horizontal areas with scroll - foreground, midground and background Illustration of Luo Shen Verses - Gu KaiZhi a) Representation of luoshen verses Seven Scholars and Rong Qiqi Lady Ban - painting on lacquer screen a) Found in tomb of Sima Jinlong, Northern Wei government official b) Story of Lady Ban declining emperor’s request to ride palanquin because she feared she would distract him from his matters of state...