Origin DevelopmentandMeaningofthePra l}idhiPaintings
Contents
1. LAL a 15 ED B PUREO EGE 15 20 f CLE DED HP UBEROEOOSE 15 20 HL2. 11 I 12 4
3. 1008 a
4. AR 2 2 20 7 Mah vastu vol III pp 224 250
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7. 1 Ah pranidhicara 3 J Avadanasataka AXAR 2 WREMA 3 81
8. KI TYOR EAI AA 20 LIVE 1 1 1 2 pranidhi vyakaranaM 5E S amp YY ATV vy bOpranidhi CER Lt D Ba Cd Spranidhanaky v5
9. 10 11 14
10. ARITA BEER o 15 a 15 HOARY LAV DOLE AB 83
11. 5 38 2 3 38 Suzuki 1955 1961 Dulbage 25526 khyodsnonbyan chub spyad pa na sans rgyas ji shied dus gan du Ji Ita bur ni bsfien bkur mdzad mi mchog de ni bdag la gsuns Wievielen Buddhas Du Deinen Respekt erwiesen hast als du fr her nach dem Erwachen strebtest und zu welcher Zeit und auf welche Weise das H chster der
12. MDI ZTDHAINZFEIZILTERNDTT 20 FAO SRA OSZICIZ 10 ENO BiH
13. 1 v vows pranidhi paintings COUR 1902 1903 Albert Gr nwedel BAHIA I y 7 Hh 0 4m EEEF
14. 66 cat no catalogue number Divy Divyavadana Cowell Edward B Neil Robert A eds Cambridge The University Press 1886 i e id est inv no inventory number KiS Hi oV UB BERE 1983 1985 KuS She ARE eh ON i Dre A RHE EARS Il lines T Taisho Electronic Tripitaka CBETA Chinese Buddhist Electronic Text Association http www cbeta org Allon Mark 2007 A Gandhari Version of the Simile of the Turtle and the Hole in the Yoke In Journal of the Pali Text Society 29 229 262 Ehlers Gerhard 1982 Ein alttGrkisches Fragment zur Erz hlung vom T pfer In Ural Altaische Jahrb cher NeueFolgen 2 175 185 Frye Stanley transl 1981 The Sutra of the Wise and the Foolish mdobdzansblun or The Ocean of Narratives liger ndalai Translated from the Mongolian Dharamsala Library of Tibetan Works amp Archives Gr nwedel Albert 1905 Bericht ber arch ologische Arbeiten in Idikutschari und Umgebung im Winter 1902 1903 M nchen Akademie Verlag Abhan
15. Allon 2007 230 ORMEL XE U7 6 Divyavadana Mandhatavadana Divy XVII 226 16 227 20 and 227 21 228 19 transl Rotman 2008 368 371 Bb SIMO RE CBO Dharmarucyavadana Divy XVIII 246 5 254 2 transl Zimmer 1925 42 60 Gerhard Ehlers 1982 180 184 58 BEI SSM OW 2 ERO 1
16. 7 ogalehrbuc 7 yogin 2
17. HT UBREGEUO ELAES Avalokitesvara Sahasrabhuja ABUL 82 DEO 15 20
18. prophecy legend OPPDEMMET dipictions of prophecies 1 Allon 2007 2299 CORIRA RIZ
19. 9 10 11 De 1314
20. 1 2 3 IMECOMMICH A 65 10
21. 15 16 5 1 2
22. 2 14 20 BER ENT 22 lt Spaterm6geesgeschehen da wirmitdem Buddha Maitreyazusammentreffen den Segenf r die Buddhaschaft und die Buddhaschafterlangen Tekin CLS Tekin 1980 52f Il 15 22 Laut 2002 132 gt 1 7 Damit nun ich der an das triratnaGlaubenhabendeLaienbruder Cuu Ta Y e g nTotok und meine Frau T z nmitdemsp terkommenden Buddha Maitreyazusammentreffen 7 10 habenwireinBildnis des Maitreyamalen und aucheine Kopie des Maitrisimit S traabschreibenlassen Kasai 2008 193 197 4 50 53 Wenn der Bodhisattva Maitreya die Buddha W rde erlangt m gen wir alle dort die Weihe f r die Buddhaschaft erlangen Kasai 2008 196f 197 64
23. 34 13 17 2
24. 1905 2 180 HEBEL
25. U ERB T 202 370c 371c the mDzangsblun Schmidt 1843 331 333 Frye 1981 198f 8 MIK IL 7676b 1 Schlingloff 2006 142 148 62 AEC SSOP ogalehrbuch
26. zo Tas Y e gan T6zim 4 sy 7 o 1
27. 34 1 7 40 9 20 B 34 20 40 34 LY AU A 40 2 3 2
28. 20 8 MIK IL 6876 a Yaldiz et al 2000 227 cat no 229 13 34 Kus pl 55 Monika Zin 14 15 20 IB 6884 LeCoq 1913 Taf 19 16 20 IB 6887 LeCoq 1913 Taf 20 70 Origin Development and Meaning of the Pranidhi Paintings on the Northern Silk Road Figures fig 1 King presenting an umbrella to a Buddha Bazaklik 20 left corridor right side wall formerly V lkerkundemuseum Berlin inv no IB 6887 war loss after LeCoq 1913 Taf 21 VUA A fig 2 K z l cave 38 after Kijiru fig 3 King presenting an umrella to sekkutsu 1983 1985 I fig 83 the Buddha K z l 38 cella right half of the ceiling in situ after Tan An 1981 I fig 123
29. 3 10 11 Te 3 EUREMA ECHL IZAR 20
30. 2 10 10 10 10 AB OFA COREL
31. 9 13 10 SBI ARR elo Cb 13 LLT 20 10 TE E AERO TREE 3 B Georges Jean Pinault Pinault 1994 Pinault 1994 175 5 DVD ORES Klaus T Schmidt Schmidt
32. 259 38 259 FO 38 REIS 5 60 FNLA 5 4 1 20 AIA 7 OO FER ATT SBE 7 6 20 7
33. 5 Schlingloff 2000 409 411 6 narendrenamayAnandaSimhasimhaparakramacchatrenarainadandenapijjitonarap u ngavah AlsK nigverehrteich Ananda Simha den l wengewaltigen Mannstier miteinem Schirm dessen Stock auseinem Edelstein bestand Heinrich L ders 1940 1913 266 7 Suzuki 1955 1961 Dulbage 256a1 2 and T 1448 74225f Suzuki 1955 1961 Dulbage25524 6 and T 1448 73c10E 59 SD 3 1
34. ECAP ARUN vyakarana yozz wakarana SBN BE
35. Tan An 19811 fig 128 4 20 IB 6885 LeCoq 1913 Taf 22 5 38 ES AZ Tan An 1981 I fig 114 6 7 ROPE TE TORTEN FR ME SEZI AMR 20 5 IB 6888 LeCoq 1913 Taf 23 7 7 ROTEL ATE SEP SE FOULS 163 BEER H 69 KiS TL fig 173 8 ZANT ARES 34 WARE EER Qi 1995 fig 126 9 RRE VAL LARS 40 MIK III 8917 H rtel Yaldiz 1982 105 10 20 MIK III 6888 LeCoq 1913 Taf 25 11 10 12
36. Ines KONCZAK der Wissenschaften Philosophisch Philologische und Historische Klasse 24 1 Hartel Herbert Yaldiz Marianne 1982 Along the Ancient Silk Routes Central Asian Art from the West Berlin State Museums An exhibition lent by the Museum of Indische Kunst Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz Berlin Federal Republic of Germany held at The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York April 3 June 20 1982 New York NY The Metropolitan Museum of Art Kasai Yukiyo 2008 Die uigurischen buddhistischen Kolophone Tournhout Brepols Berliner Turfantexte 26 Laut Jens P 2002 Gedanken zum altt rkischen Stabreim In Olmez Mehmet Raschmann Simone Christiane Hrsg Splitter aus der Gegend von Turfan Festschrift fiir Peter Zieme anl lich seines 60 Geburtstags Istanbul Berlin Olmez T rk Dilleri Arast rmalar Dizisi 35 129 138 Le Coq Albert von 1979 1913 Chotscho Facsimile Wiedergaben der wichtigsten Funde der ersten k niglichen Preussischen Expedition nach Turfan in Ost Turkestan Reprint of the edition Berlin 1913 Graz Akademische Druck und Verlagsanstalt L ders Heinrich 1940 1913 Die Pranidhi Bilder im neunten Tempel von B z klik In Philologica Indica Ausgew hlte kleine Schriften von Heinrich L ders Festgabe zum siebzigsten Geburtstage am 25 Juni 1939 dargebracht von Kollegen Freunden und Sch lern G ttingen Vandenhoeck amp Ruprecht 255 274 Sitzungsberichte der K niglich
37. Munich 12 The dating of the paintings in cave 38 is highly disputed and ranges from the end of the 3rd century to the mid 7th century AD For an overview of the different datings see Yaldiz 2010 1038 One indication for dating the paintings in my 46 Origin Development and Meaning of the Pranidhi Paintings on the Northern Silk Road of the diamond shaped paintings of mountain scenes that are located on the vault ceiling and depict legends which are reduced to their most climactic event figs 2 amp 3 In contrast to the practice in Turfan the painting of the umbrella presenting king does not form part of a sequence of depictions of prophecies in this case Rather the motif is shown together with representations of legends which are as far as they are identifiable either narratives of former existences of Buddha Sakyamuni i e J takas or narratives of the life of the Buddha Thus the motif in question seems to be part of depictions of jatakas There are a number of other examples of paintings that exhibit known motifs of depictions of prophecies and appear together with j takas as part of the vault ceiling decoration in K z l For instance the motif of a merchant who is offering treasures to a Buddha fig 5 fig 4 shows the motif depicted in B z klik 20 or the motif of a Brahman youth who is offering seven flowers to Buddha Dipamkara fig 7 fig 6 shows the motif depicted in B z klik 20 These paintings in the vault c
38. detail Fils Ines KONCZAK fig 5 Merchant presenting Buddha Bazaklik 20 back corridor left treasures to a Buddha K z l 38 fig 4 Merchant presenting treasures to a side wall formerly V lkerkundemuseum cella left half of the ceiling in situ Berlin inv no IB 6885 war loss after after Tan An 1981 I fig 114 LeCoa 1913 Taf 22 detail t p PKI 44 fig 6 Brahman youth offering seven flowers to fig 7 Brahman youth offering seven Buddha Drpamkara Bazaklik 20 back corridor flowers to Buddha Dipamkara K z l 163 left side wall formerly V lkerkundemuseum cella left half of the ceiling in situ after Berlin inv no IB 6885 war loss after LeCoq KiS II fig 173 detail 1913 Taf 23 272 Origin Development and Meaning of the Pranidhi Paintings on the Northern Silk Road fig 8 Depictions of prophecies Kumtura fig 9 Depictions of prophecies Simsim 34 cella left side wall upper register in 40 cella right side wall Museum f r situ after Qi 1995 fig 126 Asiatische Kunst Berlin inv no MIK III 8917 after H rtel Yaldiz 1982 105 fig 10 A princly person and a monk offer lamps to Buddha Ratnasikhin B z klik 20 back corridor right side wall formerly V lkerkundemuseum Berlin inv no IB 6888 war loss after LeCoq 1913 Taf 25 73 Ines KONCZAK fig 11 Uigur donor couple depicted fig 12 Uigur female donors Bazaklik 20
39. sat 4 2 jumemwasavil ntetk cer Ramasikhimdipam lsfe ekafiiewasa L dessus la fille du roiVasava donna Ratnassikhinl amp quipement de lampe s B George Jean Pinault Pinault 1994 179 71 Moriyasu Moriyasu 2001 162f 63 Maitrisimit R 89 Maitrisimit Boz Bay Tirak HER Yidlak 11 Maitrisimit
40. 2008 16 r jnasut hamabh vanp rvamany suj tisubhr ta ramRatnasikhisamdipatailaupasthitah prathamasamkheyavasana 61 7 ST
41. FH8BlX geradezu st ndige Dekoration Gr nwedel 1905 61 57 EREC
42. Menschen sage mir Melzer 10 Suzuki 1955 1961 Dulbage 255a6 258a3 and T 1448 73c12 75b26 Suzuki 1955 1961 Dulbage 258a3 4 nanibyan chub sems dpa il tshe sans rgyas mchog ni de rnams mchod na ni de dag thams cad kyis Jig rten mdun du lun bstan to Als ich ein Bodhisattva war habe ich die besten Buddhas verehrt Sie alle haben mich in Gegenwart der ganzen Welt als Buddha prophezeit Gudrun Melzer 38 3 7 Yaldiz 2010 1038 439 34
43. Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 2 Berlin 1913 864 884 Moriyasu Takao 2001 Uighur Buddhist Stake Inscriptions from Turfan In Bazin Louis Zieme Peter ds De Dunhuang Istanbul Hommage James Russell Hamilton Turnhout Brepols Silk Road Studies 5 149 224 Pinault Georges Jean 1993 94 Une nouvelle inscription koutch enne de Qumtura L gende de scenes bouddhiques de Pranidhi In Bulletin d tudes indiennes 11 12 171 220 Qi Xieyu ed 1995 Zhongguo Xinjiang bihua quanji 4 Kumutula Complete edition of the wall paintings from Xinjiang 4 Kumtura Wulumuqi Zhongguo meishu fenlei quanji Rotman Andy transl 2008 Divine Stories Divyavadana Part 1 Boston Wisdom Publications Classics of Indian Buddhism Schlingloff Dieter 2000 Ajanta Handbuch der Malereien 3 B nde Band 1 Erz hlende Wandmalereien Wiesbaden Harrassowitz Schlingloff Dieter Hartmann Jens Uwe R llike Hermann Josef Hrsg 2006 Ein buddhistisches Yogalehrbuch Unver nderter Nachdruck der Ausgabe von 1964 unter Beigabe aller seither bekannt gewordenen Fragmente M nchen ludicium Buddhismus Studien 5 Schmidt Isaak J Hrsg 1843 Der Weise und der Thor 2 B nde St Petersburg Leipzig Voss Schmidt Klaus T 2008 Westtocharische berschriften zu den Pranidhibildern der Ritterh hle in Kiris In Huber Brigitte Volkart Marianne Widmer Paul Hrsg Chomolangma Demawend und Kasbek Festschri
44. Rather it is said that the chance of meeting a Buddha as a human being and of listening to his teachings is very rare To illustrate this fact a Buddhist parable recounts that meeting a Buddha as a human being is just as rare as the chance that a one eyed turtle who lives on the ground of a sea and surfaces once every hundred years will stick its head on its ascent through the hole of a wooden yoke that is floating on the surface of the sea However Buddha Sakyamuni in his countless previous existences met several Buddhas ofthe past On these occasions he worshipped the Buddhas with donations and formulated the pranidhi that he by the virtue of his merit earned by the performance of meritorious acts may become a Buddha in a future age Thereupon he received the vyakarana from the Buddha of the past that he will become Buddha Sakyamuni Thus in this context the pranidhi is the explicitly formulated resolution to become a Buddha according to the texts it can be expressed in words or composed in the form of thoughts And the vy karana is the prediction of the future Buddhahood by a Buddha Although in these legends the vyakarana is frequently linked to a previously formulated pranidhi the two do not always appear as a pair There are also narrations according to which Buddha Sakyamuni in a previous birth indeed formulated a pranidhi but did not receive the vy karana because his accumulated merit was not yet sufficient Alongside this there are na
45. lamps the princely figure here is offering a lamp to the Buddha The monk is kneeling to the Buddha s left and also offers him a lamp In addition other figures are depicted for example deities the one in the upper left portion is throwing a flower monks from the order of the Buddha and Vajrap ni next to the flower throwing deity who is recognizable by the fly whisk in his left hand and the vajra weapon in his right Let us now turn to the detail because of which the painting is of note In the lower right part of the picture the donors of the painting are represented fig 11 They are an Uigur couple and the woman is clearly of noble descent she is wearing a winged hairstyle the so called Fl gelfrisur and a dress which is also worn by a princess who was depicted inside the cella on the right of the door and whose title and name is given in the inscription to her left fig 12 Thus it seems that paintings of this type were mainly financed by members of the Uigur nobility 16 rajfia sutaham abh van p rvam anyasu jatisu bhr ata ram Ratnasikhi samdipataila upasthitah prathamasamkheyavasana 17 Xianyu jing T 202 370c 371c In the Tibetan and Mongolian translation of this text however the princess does not change her sex after receiving the prophecy For the Tibetan translation the mDzangs blun see Schmidt 1843 331 333 For the Mongolian translation see Frye 1981 198f 18 The painting is now preserved in t
46. postponed to the future 3 In particular this is the time in which Maitreya the future Buddha will appear In this future time it will be possible to invite Maitreya and his community to a meal and to receive the prophecy of Buddhahood from Maitreya The fact that several copies of such sermons were found in the Turfan area indicates that the receipt of the vy karana was regarded as an important requirement on the way to Buddhahood Therefore it can be assumed that the numerous large scale depictions of prophecies that emerged from the 10th century onward in the Turfan area resulted from the essential meaning of the vy karana or attaining Buddhahood The paintings gave the Buddhists confidence that they would have the chance to meet a Buddha namely Maitreya who would prophesy their future Buddhahood to them like Sakyamuni who had been given this opportunity numerous times in his past existences 5 Conclusion To conclude The so called pranidhi paintings are generally depictions of Buddha Sakyamuni in one of his former existences as he receives his prophecy of Buddhahood the vyakarana from a Buddha of the past Sequences of such depictions of prophecies are not known from India but they can be found in Buddhist temples situated along the Northern Silk Road They appeared at the latest in the 7th century in the Ku a region where Tocharian Buddhism prevailed However some of the motifs can already be found in small scale in the vault ce
47. pranidhi or pranidhana and the religious experience of vyakarana are the fundamental for the origin and development of Mahayana s tra movement as a whole This is my personal opinion so I may be wrong but both pranidhi and vyakarana have long been known as everybody knows So the real question may be why these sets of pranidhi paintings are revived at the time of the 10th century or under the Uyghur control There must be some religious background for this recovery of the pranidhi and vyakarana paintings at Bezeklik and other caves You suggested that the Yogalehrbuch is one of the sources for this inspiration but Yogalehrbuch is just one possibility and I would think that there must be some other further religious background of this new predominance Konezak Thank you very much for your suggestion At first to Heinrich L ders As I understood him Heinrich L ders supposed that there is a recension of the Mahavastu that we don t know and that the inscriptions were taken from this recension It was only a guess by him that they were taken from a lost recension but only 1 year later it has been discovered that these inscriptions were the T Ines KONCZAK same verses as in the M lasarvastivada Vinaya Of course there are pranidhis in the Mahavastu and in this text there is also the pranidhic rya mentioned but I don t know whether we can say that this text is the source because there are also pranidhis and Avadanasataka Even the M l
48. und meine Frau T z n mit dem sp ter kommenden Buddha Maitreya zusammentreffen 7 10 haben wir ein Bildnis des Maitreya malen und auch eine Kopie des Maitrisimit Siitra abschreiben lassen See Kasai 2008 195 Uigur text 197 translation 50 Origin Development and Meaning of the Pranidhi Paintings on the Northern Silk Road Buddhahood there The inscriptions not only prove that at least some of the Buddhists of the Turfan region aspired to Buddhahood but also that the vyakarana was regarded as an essential requirement for the aspired salvation that is Buddhahood in each inscription the donors ask for the receipt of the prophecy As is the case in the Ku a area it seems probable that the depictions of prophecies of Turfan were of particular importance as they exemplarily depict how Buddha Sakyamuni received his prophecy of Buddhahood Furthermore paintings of this type show meritorious acts that can be imitated by Buddhists for example by offering gifts to the Buddhist community Therefore the paintings possess a high identification value for the recipients In addition it is possible that the depictions of prophecies of the Turfan region may have served another purpose My analysis of all accessible examples showed that the later Buddha Sakyamuni was frequently depicted as a king in the Turfan area fig 14 The following two paintings from the left corridor of temple 20 in B z klik serve as examples The first was loca
49. Origin Development and Meaning of the Pranidhi Paintings on the Northern Silk Road Ines KONCZAK Post Doctoral Fellow Asian Art Museum Berlin 1 Introduction The so called pranidhi paintings are generally depictions of the prediction of S kyamuni s Buddhahood by a Buddha of the past They can be found especially on the Northern Silk Road Since little is known about the origin development and meaning of this particular type of painting I decided to study this subject in the frame of my PhD thesis In the following I would like to present some of my results The pranidhi paintings were discovered in the winter of 1902 1903 by the first German Turfan expedition which was carried out under the direction of the Indologist Albert Griinwedel They were mainly found in the Turfan area where they were arranged in sequences on the walls of Buddhist buildings and were so numerous that Albert Griinwedel described them as almost ool omnipresent decoration of the temples All these murals are large scale up to 4 meter high and exhibit an almost stereotype composition in an Uigur influenced Tang style They depict two successive scenes of a legend one on each side of the painting and both refer to the large scale Buddha in the centre The first scene shows a person who is performing a meritorious act in front of the Buddha for instance the donation of a gift and the second scene generally shows the same person once more addressed b
50. aning and function of the depictions of prophecies on the Northern Silk Road 3 Depictions of prophecies Depictions of the prophecy of Sakyamuni s Buddhahood are not known in India The only exception is the well known representation of Buddha Dipamkara where he predicts a flower offering Brahman youth that he will become Buddha Sakyamuni in a future existence In order to find the earliest depictions of prophecies on the Northern Silk Road I have searched for representations with comparable motifs on the basis of sequences of inscribed depictions of prophecies known from the Turfan and the Kucha area The depiction of a king s donation of an umbrella to the Buddha which was part of a sequence of depictions of prophecies in the corridor of temple 20 of the complex B z klik in the Turfan area fig 1 may serve as an example It was brought to Berlin by the second German Turfan expedition together with the other paintings of the corridor in the year 1905 but is now lost and only known from publications Like the other paintings of the corridor it bore a Sanskrit inscription in verse form that was written in Northern Turkestan Brahmi characters The inscription reads When I was a king Ananda I worshipped Simha the chief of men who had the strength of a lion with an umbrella that s handle was made of jewels A narrative text that refers to this verse has not survived but there is a parallel to this 5 For an overview
51. asarvastivada Vinaya is not the source for the verses because the order ofthe Buddhas is different in this text In the inscriptions is mentioned that Buddha Ratnasikhin was the last Buddha of the first immeasurable aeon Dipamkara was the last Buddha of the second and K syapa the last Buddha of the third This order is not known in the M lasarv stivada Vinaya In this text there is a totally different order However the order of the Buddhas mentioned in the inscriptions is known from the Sarvastivada school Therefore it is impossible for me to say what is the source for the verses Aramaki I am not concerned with the question what text of what school the inscriptions were taken from but rather what religious movement the motive for these magnificent paintings was The original manuscripts of Yogalehrbuch come maybe from the fifth or sixth century CE but a similar practice of yoga must be traced very early in the first century in the Greater Gandhara area So this tradition has long been known and does include the pranidhi and vyakarana as religious experiences But why in Bezeklik or other central Asian caves around the tenth CE this particular series of paintings become predominant need a little bit more explanations I have no positive suggestion but I would have more reasons than Yogalehrbuch That s all Thank you Mori Could you give us further explanation on your second point concerning Yogalehrbuch Aramaki My point is as follow
52. by the aspiration for Buddhahood that was at least widespread among a certain segment of the local population Thus foundation inscriptions from the Turfan area document that donors financed temples monasteries and images in order to meet the future Buddha See Schlingloff 2006 142 148 2 fumem wasavi lante thacer Ratnasikhim dipam ls e ekafifie wasa L dessus la fille du roi Vasava donna Ratnassikhin l quipement de lampe s Translated from Tocharian B by George Jean Pinault 1994 179 49 Ines KONCZAK Maitreya by their resulting merit and to receive the prophecy from him One example of such an inscription is an Uigur stake inscription dated to the year 1008 from Ko o which was the capital of the Uigurs in the Turfan area This stake was found in the so called ruin a and is now preserved in the Asian Art Museum Berlin inv no MIK III 4672 The inscription contains amongst other things a request of an Uigur princess and a man who is probably her husband to receive the prophecy of their Buddhahood from Maitreya by virtue of the meritorious act of establishing the monastery It reads When we heard all these kinds of very good things we two together had an impartial mind and ventured to drive a stake of Sat to build this monastery By the strength of this meritorious deed may we meet the superb Maitreya Buddha at a later period and obtain a wonderful prophecy for reaching the Buddhahood from the Maitre
53. cella at the lower right part of fig 10 right wall of the entrance Museum f r Asiatische Kunst Berlin inv no MIK III 6876 a after Yaldiz et al 2000 227 cat no 229 fig 13 Prophecy of Sakyamuni by Buddha Ratnasikhin Kumtura 34 cella left side wall upper register in situ after KuS pl 55 detail with drawing by Monika Zin 74 Origin Development and Meaning of the Pranidhi Paintings on the Northern Silk Road king 43 monk ME 10 Brahman Saaz 14 merchant MEE 7 Brahman youth Dipamkara motif JJ o Brahman youth other motifs E 5 unidentified motifs li 2 destroyed depictions of prophecies 18 fig 14 Statistic distribution of the various former existences of Buddha S kyamuni shown in the depictions of propecies in B z klik fig 15 King entering the order of the Buddha B z klik 20 left corridor left side wall formerly V lkerkundemuseum Berlin inv no IB 6884 war loss after LeCoq 1913 Taf 19 oS B z klik 20 left corridor right side wall formerly V lkerkundemuseum Berlin inv no IB 6887 war loss after LeCoq 1913 Taf 20 Question and Answer Session Question and Answer Session Irisawa Thank you Dr Konczak We have some questions here The first one is from professor Zieme Why did Uyghur use Sanskrit for the inscriptions of Pranidhi scenes Konczak I don t have really an answer but I have a guess The inscriptions were in the corridor of te
54. denhoeck amp Ruprecht 255 274 Sitzungsberichte der K niglich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 2 Berlin 1913 864 884 Moriyasu Takao 2001 Uighur Buddhist Stake Inscriptions from Turfan In Bazin Louis Zieme Peter ds De Dunhuang Istanbul Hommage James Russell Hamilton Turnhout Brepols Silk Road Studies 5 149 224 Pinault Georges Jean 1993 94 Une nouvelle inscription koutch enne de Qumtura L gende de sc nes bouddhiques de Pranidhi In Bulletin d tudes indiennesll 12 171 220 Qi Xieyu ed 1995 Zhongguo Xinjiang bihua quanji 4 Kumutula Complete edition of the wall paintings from Xinjiang 4 Kumtura Wulumuqi Zhongguomeishufenleiquanji Rotman Andy transl 2008 Divine Stories Divyavadana Part I Boston Wisdom Publications Classics of Indian Buddhism Schlingloff Dieter 2000 Ajanta Handbuch der Malereien 3 B nde Band 1 Erz hlende Wandmalereien Wiesbaden Harrassowitz Schlingloff Dieter Hartmann Jens Uwe R llike Hermann Josef Hrsg 2006 Ein buddhistisches Yogalehrbuch Unver nderter Nachdruck der Ausgabe von 1964 unter Beigabe aller seither bekannt gewordenen Fragmente M nchen ludicium Buddhismus Studien 5 Schmidt Isaak J Hrsg 1843 Der Weise und der Thor 2 B nde St Petersburg Leipzig Voss Schmidt Klaus T 2008 Westtocharische berschriften zu den Pranidhibildern der Ritterh hle in Kiri amp In Huber Brigitte Volkart Ma
55. dhistischer Legendenkranz M nchen Bruckmann 1 Eel OO BILE SUI A PURAEELA BORA Ch 20 BILE MORN A PURE CHES CY temple 20 VAR 2 1984 3 4 31 32 1991 8 gt 1 ACR BEAT SE MME NEZI ZAAR 20 IB 6887 LeCoq1913 Taf21 2 KUN EHER 38 RE 1983 3 38 ES AIAA
56. dlungen der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften Philosophisch Philologische und Historische Klasse 24 1 Hartel Herbert Yaldiz Marianne 1982 Along the Ancient Silk Routes Central Asian Art from the West Berlin State Museums An exhibition lent by the Museum of IndischeKunst Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz Berlin Federal Republic of Germany held at The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York April 3 June 20 1982 New York NY The Metropolitan Museum of Art Kasai Yukiyo 2008 Die uigurischen buddhistischen Kolophone Tournhout Brepols Berliner Turfantexte 26 Laut Jens P 2002 Gedanken zum altt rkischen Stabreim In lmez Mehmet Raschmann Simone Christiane Hrsg Splitter aus der Gegend von Turfan Festschrift f r Peter Zieme 67 anl lich seines 60 Geburtstags Istanbul Berlin lmez T rk Dilleri Arast rmalar Dizisi 35 129 138 Le Coq Albert von 1979 1913 Chotscho Facsimile Wiedergaben der wichtigsten Funde der ersten k niglichen Preussischen Expedition nach Turfan in Ost Turkestan Reprint of the edition Berlin 1913 Graz Akademische Druck und Verlagsanstalt L ders Heinrich 1940 1913 Die Pranidhi Bilder im neunten Tempel von B z klik In Philologica Indica Ausgew hlte kleine Schriften von Heinrich L ders Festgabe zum siebzigsten Geburtstage am 25 Juni 1939 dargebracht von Kollegen Freunden und Sch lern G ttingen Van
57. e rule of the Uigurs 9th 13th century AD The paintings were large scale and mainly fixed on the side walls opinion is provided by the garland arches depicted above the musicians on the side walls and above the figure of Maitreya in the lunette These garland arches form a niche around the figures and are characterized by the fact that they rest on two pillars and end in rolled acanthus leaves A similar but stylised type of such niche framing garland arches can be found in cave 259 in Dunhuang which is assigned to the Northern Wei period 439 534 AD If the assumption is true that the type of garland arches as it can be found in K z l 38 served as a pattern for the stylised one in Dunhuang 259 the paintings of cave 38 in Kizil may be dated to the 5th century AD or slightly earlier P These paintings were identified and dated on the basis of their inscriptions by Georges Jean Pinault 1994 Pinault 1994 175 S These paintings were identified on the basis of their inscriptions by Klaus T Schmidt 2008 47 Ines KONCZAK of the cave temples or in the case of brick temples in the corridors There were numerous representations of this type of painting In the complex of Bazaklik alone thirteen buildings bear sequences of depictions of prophecies The high number of corresponding motifs especially in the complex of B z klik indicate that a canon of the Buddhas of the past who predicted the coming of Buddha Sakyamuni must ha
58. ed in the caves There the Buddha looks always to the king who s receiving the tonsure So it looks to me as if the depictions in the caves are earlier than the depictions in the brick temples So I would say that because of the similar style in Chotscho ruin a and cave 15 the buildings are nearly contemporaneous Maybe the paintings from Bezeklik are a little older because those from Chotscho have a very stylized hairdo I think the pictures of caves are the oldest Irisawa Unfortunately we are behind schedule We will talk about the rest of the questions during the discussion session Thank you very much Dr Konczak 79 2 BHM I ORB EF 20 1
59. eilings seem to be the earliest depictions of prophecy legends on the Northern Silk Road At the latest in the 7th century AD depictions of prophecy legends seem to have become increasingly important in the Ku a area and sequences of this type of painting were developed Inscribed examples are known from the side walls of the cella in cave 34 in Kumtura fig 8 where the inscriptions are dated on palaeographic grounds to the 7th century AD and in cave 40 in Simsim fig 9 Like the known examples from B z klik temple 20 in Turfan the inscriptions of both caves are written in Northern Turkestan Brahmi characters Their language however is not Sanskrit but Tocharian B the spoken language of the Ku a region Nevertheless the composition of the inscriptions in cave 34 of Kumtura are similar to that of B z klik temple 20 and mention the existence in which Buddha Sakyamuni was born the name of the Buddha who was worshipped by him and the type of worship By contrast the inscriptions in cave 40 from Simsim explicitly mention the receipt of the prophecy It is striking that there is hardly any accordance of the depicted motifs in the two caves Therefore we may conclude that at the time of their creation a canon of Buddhas of the past who predicted the existence of Buddha Sakyamuni had not yet been established 3 2 Depictions of prophecies in the Turfan area In the Turfan area depictions of prophecies emerge in the 10th century under th
60. ft f r Roland Bielmeier zum 65 Geburtstag Band II 54 Origin Development and Meaning of the Pranidhi Paintings on the Northern Silk Road Demawend und Kasbek Halle Saale ITTBS International Institute for Tibetan and Buddhist Studies GmbH Beitr ge zur Zentralasienforschung 12 2 513 524 Suzuki Daisetz T ed 1955 1961 The Tibetan Tripitaka Peking Edition 168 Volumes Reprint under the supervision of the Otani University Kyoto Tokyo Suzuki Research Foundation Tan Shutong An Chunyang eds 1981 Shinkyo no hekiga Kijiru senbutsud Murals for Xinjiang The Thousand Buddha caves at Kizil 2 Volumes Beijing Zhongguo waiwen chubanshe Tekin Sinasi 1980 Maitrisimit nom bitig Die uigurische bersetzung eines Werkes der buddhistischen Vaibhasika Schule 1 Teil Transliteration bersetzung Anmerkungen Berlin Akademie Verlag Berliner Turfantexte 9 Yald z Marianne 2010 Evaluation of the Chronology of the Murals in Kizil Kucha Oasis In Franco Eli Zin Monika eds From Turfan to Ajanta Festschrift for Dieter Schlingloff on the Occasion of his Eightieth Birthday Lumbini Lumbini International Research Institute 1029 1044 Yaldiz Marianne et al 2000 Magische G tterwelten Werke aus dem Museum f r Indische Kunst Berlin Potsdam UNZE Verlags und Druckgesellschaft Zimmer Heinrich 1925 Karman Ein buddhistischer Legendenkranz M nchen Bruckmann 55
61. he Asian Art Museum Berlin inv no MIK III 7676b 48 Origin Development and Meaning of the Pranidhi Paintings on the Northern Silk Road 4 Meaning and function The creation of sequences depicting prophecies in the Ku a area around the 7th century AD seems to indicate a change in the Buddhist faith in the region A faith emerges which is characterized by an increasing importance of the prediction of Buddhahood Traces of such a faith are recorded in the so called Buddhist Yoga manual a text of which several manuscripts were found in the Ku a area and that palaeographically can tentatively be dated to the 7th century AD although its content seems to be much earlier This text contains meditation instructions with which a meditating practitioner yogin can formulate a pranidhi in front of a Buddha and receive the prediction of his future Buddhahood This text indicates that Buddhahood and particularly the receipt of the prophecy were regarded as attainable by at least some Buddhists of the Ku a area and that the prophecy of Buddhahood was desirable for them The importance of the receipt of the vyakarana could be a reason for the emergence of sequences of depictions of prophecies using the example of Buddha Sakyamuni these paintings demonstrate how devout worship of the Buddha and the performance of meritorious acts such as offering gifts result in the prediction of Buddhahood Moreover the flower offering deities who are ofte
62. ilings of the earlier cave temples of K z l Here they formed part of the numerous depictions of jatakas The emergence of sequences of depictions of prophecies on the side walls of Buddhist temples in the Ku a region indicates a specific development in Tocharian Buddhism that was characterized by an increasing importance of the receipt of the vyakarana which was illustrated in the paintings The concept of depicting prophecies of Buddhahood spread from the Ku a area along the 52 Origin Development and Meaning of the Pranidhi Paintings on the Northern Silk Road Northern Silk Road to the Turfan area in the East where paintings of this type appeared in the 10th century under the rule of the Uigurs Perhaps the idea of depicting prophecies was brought to the Turfan region by Tocharian Buddhists who fled from the invading Muslims This is likely because the Turfan area remained Buddhist up to the 14th century while the Ku a region was dominated by the Islam faith at the latest in the 1 1th century In the Turfan area the prediction of Buddhahood was of particular importance for at least some of the Buddhists in that region Thus in addition to numerous depictions of prophecies inscriptions of donors are also attested in which the donors ask to receive their vyakarana from the future Buddha Maitreya as well as sermons which remind the hearers that they can possibly receive the prediction of their Buddhahood from Maitreya if they perform
63. meritorious acts such as supporting the Buddhist community Abbreviations cat no catalogue number Divy Divyavadana Cowell Edward B Neil Robert A eds Cambridge The University Press 1886 i e id est inv no inventory number KiS Shinkyo Uighur Jichiku Bunbutsu Inkai and Haikiken Kizil Senbutsudo Bunbutsu Hokanjo ed Kijiru sekkutsu K z l Grottoes 3 Volumes Tokyo Heibonsha 1983 1985 Chugoku sekkutsu The Grottoes of China KuS Xinjiang weiwu er zizhiqu wenwu guanli weiyuanhui ed Kumutula shiku The Grottoes of Kumtura Beijing Wenwu chubanshe 1992 Zhongguo shiku The Grottoes of Chinas Il lines T Taisho Electronic Tripitaka CBETA Chinese Buddhist Electronic Text Association http www cbeta org Bibliography Allon Mark 2007 A Gandhar Version of the Simile of the Turtle and the Hole in the Yoke In Journal of the Pali Text Society 29 229 262 Ehlers Gerhard 1982 Ein altt rkisches Fragment zur Erz hlung vom T pfer In Ural Altaische Jahrb cher Neue Folgen 2 175 185 Frye Stanley transl 1981 The Sutra of the Wise and the Foolish mdo bdzans blun or The Ocean of Narratives liger n dalai Translated from the Mongolian Dharamsala Library of Tibetan Works amp Archives Gr nwedel Albert 1905 Bericht ber arch ologische Arbeiten in Idikutschari und Umgebung im Winter 1902 1903 M nchen Akademie Verlag Abhandlungen der Bayerischen Akademie 53
64. mple 20 and this corridor is very narrow I think about one meter wide and it was very dark inside it For one who enters the corridor it should be nearly impossible to read the inscription Also I think that only educated monks were able to read the Sanskrit inscriptions I don t think that ordinary Uyghur people know Sanskrit or could read Northern Turkestan Brahmi Therefore I guess the inscriptions were only written on the paintings to give them more holy character because Sanskrit was regarded as a holy language Irisawa Thank you Regarding languages we are looking forward to hearing Mr Kitsudo s presentation Next question is from professor Aramaki Professor Aramaki Could you please ask directly in English Aramaki Ihave been thinking about the same problem you are now discussing Heinrich L ders who was the first to work on the inscriptions of the Pranidhi Paintings from Bezeklik cave 20 has already pointed out that the Brahmi Sanskrit inscriptions are written in the similar style as the verse in Mahavastu I think this is very important fact Please examine L ders point My own point is that from the view of L ders suggestion and my own study on the Mahavastu and Prajnaparamita and others I would think the religious practice of pranidhi or pranidhana and the religious experience of vy karana have been experienced for a long time since the very early time of Mahavastu and throughout Mahayana movement I would also think the practice of
65. n depicted in the paintings are also described in the Buddhist Yoga manual Here it is said that deities full of joy about the prophecy of a future Buddha shower flowers from the sky Thus it can be assumed that these kinds of texts were known to the painter of the depictions of prophecies One example for the representation of flower throwing deities can be found in a painting from Kumtura cave 34 in the Ku a area fig 13 which depicts a legend that is already known from Turfan It is the prophecy of Sakyamuni by Buddha Ratnasikhin The inscription reads 9920 Thereupon the daughter of king Vasava offered Ratnasikhin equipment of lamp s Compared with the depiction of the legend in the Turfan area mentioned above here the princess is shown as a woman She is kneeling to the Buddha s left with both hands respectfully placed together in afijalimudra The depiction closely follows the known texts according to the legend the princess does not offer lamps to the Buddha but supports the monk by providing him with the required equipment for the lamps in honour of the Buddha The monk is depicted kneeling to the Buddha s right and offering five oil lamps he carries one on his head one on each shoulder and one in each hand These five lamps seem to signify the many lamps that the monk offered to the Buddha As is the case with paintings of this type in the Ku a area the depictions of prophecies of the Turfan area can be explained
66. of depictions of the Dipamkara story in India see Schlingloff 2000 409 411 narendrena mayAnanda Simha simhapar krama cchatrena ratnadandena p jito narap u ngavah Als K nig verehrte ich Ananda Simha den l wengewaltigen Mannstier mit einem Schirm dessen Stock aus einem Edelstein bestand Translated from the Sanskrit by Heinrich L ders 1940 1913 266 45 Ines KONCZAK inscription in the Tibetan and Chinese translation of the Milasarvastivada Vinaya This parallel is part of a metrical passage in which Buddha Sakyamuni is asked by his attendant monk Ananda how many Buddhas he had worshipped to attain awakening Ananda addresses the Buddha How many Buddhas did you pay respect to when you in former times aspired enlightenment and at what time and in what way this supreme among men tell me In response Sakyamuni explains his way of aspiration for Buddhahood to Ananda by listing several Buddhas mostly by name whom he worshipped during three immeasurable ages in various former existences He then recounts that all of the Buddhas gave him the prophecy of his future Buddhahood When I was a Bodhisattva I worshipped the best Buddhas All of them prophesied my becoming a Buddha in front of the whole world This passage from the Milasarvastivada Vinaya clearly proves that the verse written on the painting refers to a prophecy of Sakyamuni s Buddhahood 3 1 Precursors On my search for
67. om the second half of the 10th century onward and its complete disappearance in the 11th century One strategy for obtaining the support of the Uigur nobility could have been the creation of depictions of prophecies These depictions illustrate how a supporter of the Buddhist community 4 50 53 Wenn der Bodhisattva Maitreya die Buddha W rde erlangt m gen wir alle dort die Weihe f r die Buddhaschaft erlangen See Kasai 2008 196f Uigur text 197 translation 51 Ines KONCZAK can become a Buddha himself If this assumption is true the depictions of prophecies located in the Turfan area would have fulfilled the same function as the Uigur vyakarana poems known from the Mongolian period 13th and 14th centuries These poems are indigenous sermons composed in the Turfan area and their content was adapted from Buddhist narratives and linked to contemporary persons and events Their structure is always consistent 1 At first a legend from a past time is told in which a virtuous person invites the Buddha and his community to a meal and thereupon receives the prophecy of Buddhahood from the Buddha 2 A reference to the present time follows by admonishing the hearers to behave as equally virtuously as that person in the past and to support the monks community so that the hearer will also be given the possibility to obtain Buddhahood But since it is not possible to obtain Buddhahood in the present time for different reasons it is
68. possible precursors of the depictions of prophecies in Turfan I discovered that some of the motifs sporadically appear in older wall paintings that decorate the Buddhist cave temples of the Ku a area which are from the period of Tocharian rule Thus for example the representation of a king who is worshipping the Buddha with an umbrella can already be found in cave 38 of K z l probably dating to the 5th century AD The motif is shown in small scale in one 7 See Suzuki 1955 1961 Dul ba ge 256a1 2 and T 1448 74a25f 8 See Suzuki 1955 1961 Dul ba ge 255a4 6 and T 1448 73c10f Suzuki 1955 1961 Dul ba ge 255a6 khyod shon byan chub spyad pa na sans rgyas ji sted dus gan du Ji lta bur ni bsfien bkur mdzad mi mchog de ni bdag la gsuns Wievielen Buddhas Du Deinen Respekt erwiesen hast als du fr her nach dem Erwachen strebtest und zu welcher Zeit und auf welche Weise das H chster der Menschen sage mir Translated from the Tibetan by Gudrun Melzer Munich whom I wish to thank here 10 See Suzuki 1955 1961 Dul ba ge 25526 25823 and T 1448 73c12 75b26 Suzuki 1955 1961 Dul ba ge 238a3 4 na ni byan chub sems dpa il tshe sans rgyas mchog ni de rnams mchod na ni de dag thams cad kyis Jig rten mdun du lun bstan to Als ich ein Bodhisattva war habe ich die besten Buddhas verehrt Sie alle haben mich in Gegenwart der ganzen Welt als Buddha prophezeit Translated from the Tibetan by Gudrun Melzer
69. rianne Widmer Paul Hrsg Chomolangma Demawend und Kasbek Festschrift f r Roland Bielmeier zum 65 Geburtstag Band II Demawend und Kasbek Halle Saale IITBS International Institute for Tibetan and Buddhist Studies GmbH Beitr ge zur Zentralasienforschung 12 2 513 524 Suzuki Daisetz T ed 1955 1961 The Tibetan Tripitaka Peking Edition 168 Volumes Reprint under the supervision of the Otani University Kyoto Tokyo Suzuki Research Foundation Tan Shutong An Chunyang eds 1981 Shinkyo no hekiga Kijirusenbutsudo Murals for Xinjiang The Thousand Buddha caves at Kizil 2 Volumes Beijing Zhongguowaiwen chubanshe 68 Tekin inasi 1980 Maitrisimit nom bitig Die uigurische bersetzungeinesWerkes der buddhistischenVaibh sika Schule 1 Teil Transliteration bersetzung Anmerkungen Berlin AkademieVerlag Berliner Turfantexte 9 Yaldiz Marianne 2010 Evaluation of the Chronology of the Murals in Kizil KuchaOasis In Franco Eli Zin Monika eds From Turfan to Ajanta Festschrift for Dieter Schlingloff on the Occasion of his Eightieth Birthday Lumbini Lumbini International Research Institute 1029 1044 Yaldiz Marianne et al 2000 Magische G tterwelten Werke aus dem Museum f r Indische Kunst Berlin Potsdam UNZE Verlags und Druckgesellschaft Zimmer Heinrich 1925 Karman Ein bud
70. rrations according to which he received the vyakarana without formulating a pranidhi in advance In order to differentiate those narrations which only know the pranidhi of the future Buddha without receiving the vyakarana from those which do contain the receipt of the vyakarana I will designate the latter in the present article as prophecy legends The so called pranidhi paintings are solely visual representations of such prophecy legends Therefore in the following I will not refer to them as pranidhi depictions as it was introduced by This parable which illustrates the rareness of the emergence of ideal conditions for attaining Buddhahood is known from one s tra in Gandhari and one sutta in Pali According to the Gandhari s tra these ideal conditions are the presence of a Buddha in the world his teaching of the Dharma and one s existence as a human being See Allon 2007 229f The parable itself is based on a well known narrative motif that is also used for instance in a Jaina text to illustrate the rareness of the existence as a human being See Allon 2007 230 3 Pranidhis of the later Buddha Sakyamuni without a following vyakarana can for example be found in the Divy vad na In this text the later Buddha Sakyamuni formulates a pranidhi as a son of a guildmaster in front of Buddha Sarvabhibh and in another existence as the merchant Otkarika in front of Buddha Vipasyin but receives the vyakarana from neither of them Mandhatavadana Div
71. s If we want to understand the religious background of these some 15 pranidhi or vyakarana paintings asking why or for what purpose they have been painted just in ther order then the Yogalehrbuch which in fact may explain the religious experience of pranidhi or vy karana cannot be the only exclusive motive but there must have been the development of some other religious cults to be performed with these paintings in tenth century CE under the Uyghur control Please investigate how these some 15 paintings have been living in tenth century CE among the Uyghurs Mori Thank you Irisawa Mr Kitsudo our last speaker today will talk about the Pranidhi paintings Also it will be one of the main topic at the round table discussion Since attaining buddhahood was mentioned in Tocharian Buddhism yesterday too we will discuss it again later There is one last short question from Mr Kitsudo Which Pranidhi paintings do you think are older those in ruin a in Chotscho or those in Bezeklik Konezak At first I have to say that there are regional styles in Turfan The depictions of prophecies in Sengim differ from those in Chotscho and from those in Bezeklik But nevertheless we have similarities in style between the depictions of prophecies in ruin in Chotscho and 78 Question and Answer Session depictions of prophecies in Bezeklik temple 15 In Bezeklik there are different styles For instance in the caves we can see in the depiction
72. s of prophecies that the proportions of the figures are somehow compressed This is not the case in the brick temple So there are different styles between the brick temples I mean temple 20 and 15 and the caves Even the styles in the caves are not the same Furthermore the pictorial program is different because in the brick temples the depictions of prophecies are located in the corridors and in the cella the main figure is a depiction of the thousand armed Avalokitesvara Sahasrabh ja However in the caves the depictions of prophecies are located on the sidewalls of the cella and the main figure is for instance a depiction of Indrasailaguha which is known from Kizil or the first sermon or the Parinirvana of the Buddha This means in the caves the depictions of prophecy were related or connected with pictures of Buddha Sakyamuni and not with an esoteric image as is the case in the brick temples In my opinion there is another difference For instance in the brick temples 15 and 20 there is a motif of a king who receives a tonsure by a monk That means the king is becoming a monk However the Buddha does not look at the king who is receiving the tonsure but he looks at the king to his other side That means it seems as if the Buddha gives the prophecy to the king and after that the king is becoming a monk That s not a logical sequence It would be more logical that at first the king becomes a monk and then gets the prophecy This is depict
73. ted on the left side wall of the corridor fig 15 and shows a king worshipping the Buddha on his left hand side To the Buddha s right the king receives the tonsure from a monk which indicates that he is becoming a monk himself The second painting was located on the right side wall of the corridor fig 16 and shows a kneeling king on the Buddha s right side The king invites the Buddha by pointing with both hands to his yurt behind him On the Buddha s left side the king together with his queen offers the Buddha a meal The numerous depictions of the later Sakyamuni as a king offered particularly members of the nobility the possibility of identification with the later Buddha The creation of such paintings might result from two crucial factors 1 On the one hand these paintings may have been made to pay respect to the upper class who mainly financed them 2 On the other hand it is very likely that these paintings with their high identification value were deliberately designed by monks to encourage the upper class to make donations to their monasteries When the Uigurs came to the Turfan area in the 9th century and took power the Uigur nobility was Manichaean in belief and therefore supported Manichaeism in the region Thus the local Buddhist communities had to strive actively for support from the Uigur upper class to ensure their own survival The fact that they were ultimately successful is attested by the decline in Manichaeism fr
74. ve existed here Various depictions of donors prove that the paintings were mainly financed by the Uigur upper class One example can be found in a painting from the back corridor of temple 20 in B z klik fig 10 Its inscription reads Long long ago in another existence I was a princess and offered oil of a lamp to my brother Ratnasikhin End of the first immeasurable era The inscription is based on a legend that is known from Buddhist narrative literature In this story the daughter of a king and half sister of Buddha Ratnasikhin supports a monk in providing lamps in honour of the Buddha by procuring the required equipment Because of this meritorious act both the monk and the princess receive the prophecy of their Buddhahood the monk as Buddha Dipamkara and the princess as Buddha Sakyamuni According to a Chinese version of the legend the princess changes her sex after receiving the prophecy and becomes a man Furthermore it is said that this was Buddha Sakyamuni s last existence as a woman Depicted in the centre is the large scale Buddha with his right hand raised in the gesture of speech He turns to the kneeling princely figure to his right who is offering a lamp to the Buddha Thus the giving of the prophecy to the princess is shown here and the princess has already changed her sex and become a man In contrast to all known versions of the legend which agree that the princess only supports the monk in providing the
75. y XVII 226 16 227 20 and 227 21 228 19 transl Rotman 2008 368 371 The later Buddha Sakyamuni receives his first vyakarana only at the end of the first immeasurable era asamkhyeya from Buddha Dipamkara Dharmarucyavadana Divy XVIII 246 5 254 2 transl Zimmer 1925 42 60 One example is the Old Uigur version of the story of Buddha Kasyapa who predicts that the Brahman youth Uttara will become Buddha S kyamuni This text was translated and analysed by Gerhard Ehlers 1982 180 184 44 Origin Development and Meaning of the Pranidhi Paintings on the Northern Silk Road Albert Gr nwedel but as depictions of prophecies For the identification of depictions of prophecies I have developed three criteria at least one of which has to be fulfilled by the respective painting 1 It has to be part of a sequence of pictures where the included inscriptions either explicitly mention the prediction of Buddhahood or refer to prophecy legends 2 It has to agree in motif and composition with depictions from sequences of other depictions of prophecies as defined under point 1 3 The visual context has to correlate clearly with known prophecy legends Regarding their size and frequency depictions of prophecies were especially important in the Turfan area under the rule of the Uigurs in the 10th and 11th centuries AD In order to clarify when and for what reasons this type of painting emerged I have analysed the development distribution me
76. y the Buddha In one example from temple 20 of the temple complex Bazaklik in the Turfan area fig 1 the first scene shown on the right half of the picture depicts a king who is presenting an umbrella to the Buddha The second scene on the left half of the picture shows the same king worshipping the Buddha who is turning toward the king with his right hand raised in the gesture of speech In addition further persons are depicted on the paintings These can be figures who accompany the protagonist for example the wife of the king as shown in fig 1 as well as monks and deities Why Albert Griinwedel has chosen to classify this type of painting as a pranidhi depiction is not clear from his records geradezu st ndige Dekoration Gr nwedel 1905 61 43 Ines KONCZAK 2 Definition pranidhilvyakarana The Sanskrit term pranidhi and its synonym pranidhana are frequently mentioned in particular legends that belong to the jataka genre i e in stories of the past lives of the Buddha These legends generally narrate how Buddha Sakyamuni in his previous births as a king merchant or Brahman met different Buddhas of the past According to Buddhist belief there are continuously recurring eras in each of which one Buddha exists and teaches the Buddhist law the Dharma Hence there were countless Buddhas in past eras and there will be further Buddhas in future eras But this does not mean that Buddhas are often to be encountered
77. ya Buddha The same wish expressed by donors can be found in copies discovered in the Turfan region of the Uigur Maitrisimit a narrative text on meeting the future Buddha Maitreya At the end of the introduction of the Maitrisimit manuscript from Sanim that is dated to the 8th or 9th century for example the couple who donated the copy lay brother Boz Bay Tir k und lay sister Yidl k wish Later may it happen that we meet Buddha Maitreya attain the blessing of Buddhahood and Buddhahood A similar wish is formulated by the donor couple that is mentioned in the introductory colophon of the Maitrisimit found in Hami dating to the 11th century In order that I lay brother Cuu Ta Y e gan Totok who believes in the triratna and my wife T z n will meet the coming Buddha Maitreya 7 10 we have arranged for the painting of this image of Maitreya and the copying of the Maitrisimit s tra Furthermore the donor couple hopes that When Bodhisattva Maitreya attains Buddha dignity may we all receive the consecration for Translated from the Uigur by Moriyasu 2001 162f Sp ter m ge es geschehen da wir mit dem Buddha Maitreya zusammentreffen den Segen f r die Buddhaschaft und die Buddhaschaft erlangen Translated from the Uigur by Tekin 1980 52f Il 15 22 See also Laut 2002 132 3 1 7 Damit nun ich der an das friratna Glauben habende Laienbruder Cuu Ta Y e g n Totok
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