Material objects and Spirituality

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Material objects and Spirituality

• Humans search for spirituality or spiritual
  development through religions ties closely to
  material objects
• Often found in rituals
• Material objects associated with Buddhism
  proliferated in the course of Chinese dynastic
  history

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• The numerous Buddhism-related material objects
  produced in China also bespeak the sinification
  of Buddhism
• There is, however, an inherent paradox in the
  use of materials objects when one practices
  Buddhism

A golden Casket used to store sarira, 1043, the
Song Dynasty
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The Paradox of Renunciation

• Renunciation is a fundamental element of
  Buddhism, the beginning of the path
• Renunciation of the world of sensory desire
• Renunciation of the world of material things
• Enter the order, living in a life of simplicity
  in a monastery
• All dharmas are empty all realities are illusions

Asokas Stupa, Five Dynasty
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• But a monastery cannot sustain itself without the
  support of lay persons
• Monastery solicits funds for its basic
  infrastructure and for making images and
  devotional objects
• The result
• Renunciation of material things goes hand in
  hand with promotion of the use of material
  things
• Illusions and realities emerge
• Simplicity is compromised for complexity

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Material Aspects of Buddhism

• A wide array of material objects exist in Chinese
  Buddhism
• These objects range from the Buddhas relics to
  things that may have only tenuous connection with
  Buddhism

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• Objects inherited with sacred power and imbued
  with symbolism are most reverenced
• Relics
• Icons
• Monastic uniforms, including robes and
  accessories
• Tools for living, traveling and other activities
• Ring-staff, rosary, ruyi sceptor etc.

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Three types of relics

• Bodily relics (of the Buddha)
• Bone
• Hair
• Teeth
• Flesh
• Contact relics
• Everything the Buddha had touched
• Things he had used, placed he had lived and
  preached etc.
• Reminder relics
• scriptures
• images

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Relics in Buddhist Culture

• The Buddhas relics
• Legends say that the Buddhas relics were divided
  into eight equal parts and distributed among
  eight regions where stupas were built to house
  them
• King Asoka collected all the relics and
  redistributed among 84,000 stupas all over the
  world
• The cult of relics is as old as Buddhism itself

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The Veneration of relics

• Reasons for the veneration
• The presence of sacred power in relics
• Capable of answering prayers to heal illness or
  to bring children to the barren
• Functions and outcomes of the Veneration of
  relics
• A distinguishing feature of Buddhism and a useful
  medium for proselytizing
• accounted for the success of Buddhism
• Worship of relics brought merit to the devotee,
  assuring a better rebirth

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Indian Relics Introduced to China

• Legends tell that relics appeared in China in the
  third century
• Story-tellers said that relics appeared in a vase
  due to monks ability to produce or summon
  them.
• Some Chinese rulers tried to destroy them, only
  to help reaffirm their numinous power
• The thirst for relics, among other things,
  prompted Chinese monks to make pilgrimage to
  India
• Chinese pilgrims often claimed that they saw the
  Buddhas relics or brought back some of them
• Faxian (5th century) and Xuanzang (7th century)
  were two examples
• Faxian saw the skull bone of the Buddha

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Chinese Rulers Venerated Relics

• Emperor Wendi of the Sui dynasty ordered the
  distribution of relics throughout the empire
• Emperors of the Tang paid reverence to relics of
  the Buddha housed in monasteries
• A tooth relic
• A finger-bone relic
• The finger-bone relic remains in the Dharma-Gate
  Monastery in China today.

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Indigenous Relics

• While relics of the Buddha continued to be
  worshiped, relics of eminent Chinese monks
  emerged as respectable sacred objects.
• These relics were remains of monks cremated
  bodies
• Teeth, bits of bone, flesh
• They possess magical properties
• They may emit light
• When burned, they leave behind hard relic grains
• Capable of producing miracles (curative
  properties)

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• Other forms of relics
• Mummified corpses of eminent monks covered with
  lacquered cloth and stored in big urns
• Gilded mummy

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Icons in Chinese Buddhism

• Icons Images and statues of buddhas,
  bodhisattvas, arhats,
• Who made icons?
• Sculptors, painters, metal workers, embroiderers,
  potters,.

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• Early Buddhism was aniconic Icons were not
  objects of worship, but became a significant part
  of Buddhism when it was spread to China
• Early Chinese called Buddhism Teaching of the
  Icons (xiangjiao)
• The Chinese continued to celebrate and worship
  Images of buddhas, bodhisattvasthroughout
  history

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Image-Making

• Buddhist Images were considered sources of sacred
  power
• Image-making was perceived as creation of
  Buddhist art
• It tied disparate social groups, from nobles to
  commoners, to the same rope.
• It inspired and facilitated material culture
• It gave the faithful opportunities to enter the
  presence of a buddha or bodhisattva, taking
  refuge in the one of the three jewels.

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• Images are made from clay, stone, wood, bronze,
  gold
• Yielded different arts sculptures, paintings,
  cave reliefs, murals
• Developed independently from the art of literati

One of thousands of stone sculpture in the
Longmen Caves near Luoyang, Henan Province
(Northern Wei, 492 AD)
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Social Functions of Images

• Images, once made, appeared everywhere, used by
  people from all walks of life, and became an
  integral part of the devotional life of all
  Buddhists.
• Images were objects of worship, repositories of
  powers capable of rewarding the pious and
  punishing the disrespectful

Guanyin (Song Dynasty)
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• Often used in rituals (such as confession
  rituals)
• Contemplation exercise (as objects of
  visualization)
• Image decoration
• Objects of prayers for pregnancy, cure from
  sickness, success in an examination or business
  venture, general well-being

Bodhidharma
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Rituals Connected to Images

• Confession ritual
• Monks/nuns confess their faults before an image
  of the Buddha
• Visualization ritual
• Monks/nuns attain a state of samadhi

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• Rituals bringing life to images
• Ceremony called open the vision (kaiguang or
  dotting the eyes) took place when a new image of
  the Buddha or bodhisattva was almost completed.
• This is said to bring life and power to the
  image
• Images given life include ash icons

Clam-dwelling Guanyin
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The Proliferation of Images

• Massive image-making resulted in the
  proliferation of images
• Artisans created a wide variety of forms of
  buddhas and bodhisattvas
• Most basic form a buddha/bodhisattva faces a
  devotee/viewer, gazing at one who pays obeisance
  to Him/Her.

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• Popular perception of images
• Body of the law dharmakaya
• Living entities with distinct personalities
  rather than emanations of the transcendent
  Buddhist images described in scriptures
• Literary representation of images
• Compassionate but can be deceptive, violent, and
  vengeful

Clam-dwelling Amitabha
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Iconoclasm and Iconophobia

• Skepticism and hostility toward the Buddhist icon
  occurred alongside the tradition of image
  reverence
• Anti-Buddhism Suppression of Buddhism entailed
  the burning and destruction of Buddhist images,
  showing a contempt for the Buddhism and a
  rejection of the divine power of Buddhist images

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• The falsity of image Chan monks in late Tang and
  Song times refuted the veneration of image as
  part of their emphasis on the limitations of
  languages, images
• Some went so far as to burn images of the Buddha
  Danxia Tianran of the Tang (see p.76)
• The destruction of images is a metaphor for the
  destruction of delusion

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Confucian Iconoclasts

• Opposed the practice of representing Confucius
  and his disciples with statues/images in
  Confucian shrines
• Recognized that the practice was the result of
  Buddhist influence
• Confucian objections were translated into action
  images were destroyed or removed from Confucian
  shrines