"Bodhisattva Like Flowers" - Mr. Feng Jicai's painting album "Dunhuang Bodhisattva" by Fan Xingru

2024-05-14

The beauty of Dunhuang lies first and foremost in the beauty of Bodhisattvas. Among the images of tens of thousands of Bodhisattvas in the Dunhuang Grottoes, there are countless famous beautiful Bodhisattvas. It can be said that the extraordinary talent of Dunhuang painters for a thousand years has mainly been reflected in the Bodhisattvas. In the Buddhist kingdom, although the Buddha's position is supreme, his expression is always solemn, and there are strict regulations on the Dharma and hand prints, which do not give the painters much room for expression. As for the bodhisattvas who serve and support the Buddha in front and behind, they are naturally kind and have many responsibilities, providing infinite space for people's imagination and creation. However, this creation originated from Buddhism itself. As early as the process of Buddhism's eastward spread, the Chinese nation entrusted their human ideals to Bodhisattvas with trust, and gradually transformed the originally male Bodhisattva into a kind woman, even creating a female Avalokitesvara who saved lives and was extremely good and beautiful. This is a very important aspect of the sinicization of Buddhism, and also a successful transformation of foreign Buddhism by the Chinese people. As a result, the painters let go of their most brilliant imagination and transformed into various Bodhisattvas like flowers on the walls of the grottoes. The painter Fan Xingru, who aspires to showcase Dunhuang murals from the pitch black grottoes to the world, is well aware of the significance of Bodhisattva and the essence of Dunhuang. With decades of effort, he has presented us with this heavy work, "Dunhuang Bodhisattva.". The collection of paintings by Fan Xingru can be regarded as a carefully selected collection of Dunhuang Bodhisattvas. From a vertical perspective, it can be clearly seen that from the robust and upright male body of Bodhisattva in the early Dunhuang period of Northern Wei, to the gentle and gentle male and female body with a beard on the lips before and after the Sui Dynasty, and even to the evolution into a female body during the Tang and Song dynasties - this culturally beautiful assimilation process. From a horizontal perspective, one can see the brilliance and boundless nature of Bodhisattva's heaven and earth. Here, there are not only famous attendant bodhisattvas such as Manjushri, Samantabhadra, Guanyin, Dazhi, Sunlight, and Moonlight, but also various offerings such as offering flowers, holding plates, playing music, singing and dancing, listening to Dharma, and thinking, as well as various images of Tantric Guanyin. Its form and posture are ever-changing and unimaginable; Clothes and clothing are magnificent, wonderful, and extremely romantic. Worshipers always push their idols to the extreme, which is the supreme beauty and vast richness of bodhisattvas in the Dunhuang Grottoes. The first thing Fan Xingru needs to do is to make a choice in Cave 320 of the Mogao Caves, which is the Four Flying Heavens of the Tang Dynasty. He selected the most representative bodhisattvas from over 40000 square meters of Buddhist paintings and tens of thousands of bodhisattvas, and then embroidered and reproduced them one by one. This choice needs to be considered simultaneously from three aspects: history, Buddhism, and art, none of which is indispensable. So, the first step in copying Dunhuang murals is research. This also demonstrates the vastness and profundity of Dunhuang. No matter from which perspective you enter Dunhuang, the prerequisite is the necessary knowledge and research attitude. Chinese painting has always attached great importance to copying. It is not only a method of learning painting, but also an art imitation. In the history of painting, before the emergence of painters who emphasized originality, imitation painting was very popular. Many ancient paintings have lost their original works and survived to this day through imitations. For example, Gu Kaizhi's "Ode to the Goddess of Luo" and "Illustrations of Women's History", Zhang Xuan's "Spring Tour of the Lady of Guo", Wu Daozi's "Farewell to the Heavenly King", and Gu Hong's "Night Banquet of Han Xizai", among others

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