Tung Lin Kok Yuen Online Lecture Series on Buddhist Art
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| Speaker: | Professor Tianshu Zhu |
| Time: | 18:30-20:30 pm (HKT) | 8 & 15 Jul 2022 |
| Language: | English |
| Type: | Free admission | All are welcome |
| Organized by: | HKU Centre of Buddhist Studies |
| Sponsored by: | Tung Lin Kok Yuen |
| Enquiry: | hkucbs@hku.hk | (852) 3917 0094 |
Join the Online lectures via Zoom webinar (Zoom ID：956 0050 9821) or Youtube:
About the Speaker
Professor Tianshu Zhu
Associate Professor, Department of History, University of Macau
Tianshu Zhu is Associate Professor in the Department of History at the University of Macau. She holds a MA and a PhD in art history from the Ohio State University. Her research focuses on Buddhist art in Central Asia, China, and India with a emphasis on studying visual representations in the context of religious practices, and cultural transmission and transformation. She also dabbles in Chinese popular religion of the Canton area. In addition to over thirty articles on a wide range of topics on Buddhist art, popular religion and material culture, she is author of Liaodai Jinyinqi 遼代金銀器 (Wenwu, 1998), and her recent work, entitled Emanated Buddhas in the Aureole of Buddhist Images from India, Central Asia and China, was published by Cambria Press in 2019.
Lecture Summary
Lecture 1
Placing the Cosmos Worlds inside a Buddha’s Body — The Iconographies of Dharmadhatu 法界 Buddha Images
Date：8 July, 2022 (6:30-8:30 pm [HKT])
One of the most fascinating and complex iconographies of Buddha images in China is a type of images depicting Buddhist cosmological structures and various type of beings on the Buddha’s body. This is the so called “cosmological Buddha,” in Sanskrit the dharmadhātu (Dharma-realm) Buddha image, or “fajie da xiang” 法界大像 (“a large image of the dharmadhātu”) by the Chinese inscription. In central China, such iconography thrived after the middle of the sixth century and did not fade away until the Liao (907-1125) and Song (960-1127) Dynasties around the twelfth century. From my incomprehensive survey, over fifty images of such representations in the east part of Central Asia and central China survived to the present day. Which Buddha is this dharmadhātu Buddha? It has be a hot debate for decades on this iconography. Most scholars in the past identified it either as a representation of Vairocana or Śākyamuni Buddha. Whether Vairocana or Śākyamuni, ultimately we need to explain why the cosmos worlds were placed inside a Buddha’s body. In this talk, I will tour you through those fantastic representations of the dharmadhātu Buddha with clear typology analysis, untangle the controversy among scholars, and reveal the true meaning of this iconography. Actually, this iconography was developed in strong association with the Tathāgatagarbha (womb of the Tathāgata, 如來藏) thought, which is fundamental to the Mahayana doctrine.
Lecture 2
Placing Gods in the Iconographic Program of Buddhist Temples — a Comparison Study of Early India Buddhist Sites and Chinese Temple Design
Date：15 July, 2022 (6:30-8:30 pm [HKT])
Depictions of various gods are essential in the iconographic plan of Buddhist temples in both India and China. Which deity was chosen and where to place the image of this deity in a temple, ultimately, is about how the Buddhists perceive the nature and function of the deity. For example, why did the Chinese set up the earth god shrine and image of Guan Yu in Chinese Buddhist temples? Would you be surprised if I tell you that they did not violate the original Buddhist tradition? This talk for the first time discuss systematically the placement of images of gods in Buddhist temples. This issue also reveals the intricate relationships between Buddhism and non-Buddhist religions.