THE IMAGE AND WORD: TO THE QUESTION OF THE “BHAVACAKRA” PLOT EVOLUTION IN THE TRADITION OF BUDDHIST PAINTING

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  О. Ohnieva

Abstract

The article deals with the interplay between the text and its visualization in the tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. Such texts are the canonical works (Divyāvadāna; Vinayakshudrakavastu, Bhikshuni-vinaya-vibhanga) translated in Tibetan (end VIII–IX centuries), literary compositions (Bodhisattvāvadānakalpalatā of Kashmiri writer Kshemendra, 990–1066), Tibetan (Buddha Shakyamuni’s Namthar of the famous historian Taranatha, 1575–1634) and a thangka with the image of “Bhavachakra”, which was created on the periphery of the Buddhist world in Kalmykia (482 ЖВ, The Bogdan and Varvara Khanenko Museum of Art, Kiev). Comparison of the “Bhavacakra” thangka’s plot with the corresponding plots in the mentioned works made it possible to identify and clarify the features that arise as a result of the interaction of text and image. The appearance of the visual “Bhavacakra” occurs in the context of the obligatory creation of images “Risen from the water” (chu-longs-ma) and “Shining” (tib.‘od-zer-сan-ma, skr. rasmimuni). These two Buddha Shakyamuni’s images in Tibet are considered his first representations in painting, preceding his sculpture. In Tibetan tradition there is the development of the iconography of Mara. The text can be replaced by an image accompanied by a commentary, which becomes one of the effective ways to further spread the doctrine and appeal to its new followers, and in the conditions of the physical absence of the Teacher, both on the new territories and in a different cultural milieu. The images under external influences change, which is reflected in the reproduction of the given compositions, as is the case in the museum thangka with the image of Bhavacakra (changes in the drawing of the 2nd and 12th links in Pratītyasamutpāda, or the Twelve-fold chain of the Dependent Origination, the World of People). Yuri Roerich’s definition of the Bhavachakra thangka as Mongolian in origin, in the context of the identified changes, is not contradictory, since it clearly goes back to the Mongolian recession, but needs clarification – “in Kalmykia”. Practically, nothing is known about how was created and distributed the plots with Buddha Shakyamuni images in the context of Bhavacakra in the Tibetan sacred art. Also, we do not know much about the further spread of these plots on the lands that were in the zone of influence of the Tibetan civilization.

How to Cite

OhnievaО. (2017). THE IMAGE AND WORD: TO THE QUESTION OF THE “BHAVACAKRA” PLOT EVOLUTION IN THE TRADITION OF BUDDHIST PAINTING. The World of the Orient, (1-2 (94-95), 131-142. https://doi.org/10.15407/orientw2017.01.131
Article views: 146 | PDF Downloads: 44

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Keywords

Bhavacakra, Buddha Shakyamuni, Buddhist Painting, Kalmykia, plot

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