The Shadow Image in the Cave: Discourse on Icons

25. The Shadow Image in the Cave Discourse on Icons eugene wa ng B uddha images appeared in China as early as the Han dynasty (206 b.c.e.–220 c.e.), according to some accounts, but it was not until around 400 c.e. that the making of Buddhist images became a widespread practice there. The movement was accompanied by serious theoretical inquiries into the nature of images, and the body of writings inspired by a shadow image in a proverbial cave best epitomized this new interest. At the same time, around 400, the lore of the “Shadow Cave,” allegedly located in the region of Nagarahāra (west of present-day Jalalabad, Afghanistan), was circulating in China. The interior wall of the hillside grotto was said to display a “[Śākyamuni] Buddha’s shadow image” 佛影 or reflection,1 visible from a distance and invisible upon closer look. It apparently captured the Chinese imagination, for the Chinese monk Faxian 法顯 (ca. 337–ca. 422) visited the cave in 402, followed by other Chinese monks around 520 and thereafter. Faxian’s report is corroborated by the contemporary Chinese translations of Buddhist texts, most notably those by Kumārajīva 鳩摩羅什 (343–413) and Buddhabhadra 佛陀跋陀羅 (359–429).2 Born in Kuchā, Kumārajīva studied in Kashmir and Kashagar and established his reputation as an eminent Buddhist master and a specialist in mantic arts. Brought to northwestern China in 383, he arrived in Chang’an in 402, where his authority in Buddhism remained unrivaled until the arrival of Buddhabhadra. 54214_1P_02_swar15986_text.indd 405 —-1 —0 —+1 4/12/13 3:27 PM 406 -1— 0— +1— imag ing s e l f a nd oth er A master of meditation from Kapilavastu in northern India, Buddhabhadra arrived in Chang’an in 406. His translation of the Sutra of the Oceanic Samādhi of Visualizing the Buddha (Guanfo sanmei hai jing 觀佛三昧海經) contains the most comprehensive account of the Shadow Cave.3 Skeptical about its status as a translated Indian sutra, modern scholars are inclined to regard it as an apocryphal text mixing Chinese and Indian elements.4 A fallout between Buddhabhadra and the Buddhist establishment in the North headed by Kumārajīva led to the exile of Buddhabhadra to the South, and his visit to Mount Lu was instrumental in the making of a shadow cave there. On Mount Lu, Huiyuan 慧遠 (334–416), an eminent Chinese Buddhist scholar, led a faithful community in the mountain retreat that practiced Buddhist meditation. Buddhabhadra may have informed Huiyuan about the details of the Shadow Cave in Nagarahāra. Likely inspired by the proverbial shadow image, Huiyuan and his followers constructed a replica cave on a hillside of Mount Lu. A Buddha image painted in delicate colors on a piece of silk was hung on the interior wall of the cave as the “Shadow Image.” Although the replica cave no longer exists as such, the eff usive hymns that Huiyuan and his followers wrote in response to the shadow image are just as significant. Together with the contemporary accounts of the Shadow Cave at Nagarahāra, they form a cogent body of what amounts to the Chinese theory of images “before the era of art.”5 Canonical Chinese art theory typically favors texts that speak to our modern notion of “art” involving aesthetic principles and creative processes, and it tends to prioritize the agency of individual artists as world-making forces. In early medieval China, however, the notion of “art” that owes its existence to the originality of creative artists had relatively little currency. The efficacy of images was the primary concern; perception trumped creation. Therefore, the writings on the Shadow Image are chosen here over the better-known works of “art theory,” on the grounds that the theory of images better captures the cultural dynamics of the time. The medium of representation remains at the forefront of this period. To Huiyuan and his contemporaries, the Buddha’s presence amounts to an apparition accessible largely as a dream image or a reflection in a mirror. To this end, a shadow image in a cave provides the best possible medium to materialize the Buddha’s accessibility. The imaginary scenario of a Buddha leaping into the grotto wall and staying on it as an image amounts to an ideal model of representation. The situation then points to the Buddha image as a medium. Here, “medium” has two senses. On the one hand, it denotes the material support of an image, in the sense of a pictorial and sculptural medium. On the other hand, it suggests a stopgap, an abode, or a vehicle that hosts the otherwise transcendent being, such as a buddha. The text does not pretend that the image on the wall is the Buddha. It is merely the Buddha’s shadowy reflection that signals both his presence and his absence. The Buddha was here but has now departed. The 54214_1P_02_swar15986_text.indd 406 4/12/13 3:27 PM t h e sh ad ow image in t h e c ave 407 shadow image on the wall is a trace of that erstwhile presence, what used to be but no longer is here. The shadow image is therefore a model of all visual representations of the Buddha: the material support—the configuration on the rock surface—is a medium in the same way that a human being can act as a medium of which a deity may take possession. Once possessed, he is beside himself. Likewise, once the wall surface is believed to host a spiritual being, it is seen as more than just a wall. This image-as-medium theory spoke to a society caught up with both traditional concerns involving ancestral spirits and new glimpses into an alternative mode of existence as Buddhism gained popularity. The vexed relationship between body and spirit became increasingly a point of contention. The traditional Chinese scheme of human body and spirit regards human life as a combination of two parts: heaven endows one part with a certain animating spirit, and earth gives the part a bodily frame. Both the spirit and the body are made of pneuma or vapor, their difference lying in the varying degrees of refinement. Dispersion of the pneuma or vapor means death, the cessation of the individual existence. That is, what follows in the hereafter is often lost in a nebula. This idea did not square with the Buddhist notion of transmigration and reincarnation that was newly gaining ground in early medieval China. One potent metaphor inherited from the early Chinese discourse on human life was the dependence of fire on burning wood.6 The body is to the spirit what wood is to fire. The fire (“spirit”) is extinguished when the log (“bodily form”) burns out. To argue for the continued existence of the postmortem spirit, therefore, Huiyuan and his contemporaries reinvented the wheel. They envisioned the “spirit” 神 (shen) as capable of inhabiting different bodies. To them, the “spirit” meant the de-individualized World Soul permeating the universe, ready to lodge in any medium and manifest itself. They thereby gave an ingenious twist to the same fire–wood analogy: the fire and the wood need not be in a fi xed oneto-one relationship. Instead, the fire can continue to burn and avoid extinction by moving to a different log. The flexible unlinking and relinking of the spirit and bodily form informed the image theory fashioned by Huiyuan and his contemporaries. The invisible World Soul or spirit (shen) roams around in the numinous realm. The humanmade image is a physical medium that allows the spirit to inhabit it. Much as the physical medium of the image has a fi xed form, it amounts to a placeholder that allows for the arrival and departure of the invisible “spirit.” The image thus conceived makes the potential problems of idolatry or iconolatry a moot issue in the Chinese context. The image commands attention and reverence not because of its inherent special property but because of its role as a medium to be possessed and inhabited by the spirit. Without the lodging spirit, it is purely physical stuff. The theory provides a convenient solution to the dilemma faced by the Chinese Buddhist community. For the Chinese to feel connected to a supernatural 54214_1P_02_swar15986_text.indd 407 —-1 —0 —+1 4/12/13 3:27 PM 408 -1— 0— +1— imag ing s e l f a nd oth er god that never set foot on Chinese soil, such a medium, with both noumenal and phenomenal properties, effectively reconciles the fiction of presence and the reality of absence. That is, it serves as a refutation of the hard-nosed empirical quest for the verity of the Buddha’s existence on Chinese land.7 The pictorial medium best reifies this image theory. Buddha images recorded in early historical sources appear to be mostly freestanding statues,8 and the widely circulated early medieval image lore also gravitated toward the medium of sculptural icons.9 But the physicality of freestanding Buddhist statues made of bronze, wood, or clay was susceptible to skepticism about whether the statues could truly embody divinity.10 It certainly did little to assuage the anxiety or subdue the bewilderment felt by the medieval Chinese about the nature of the disembodied beings transcending time and space and being manifested to the living in bodily forms. Painting, by contrast, can have it both ways. It has the efficacy of conjuring up the visual illusionism of a presence, and at the same time, it remains a physically impenetrable surface. Painting therefore became a compelling medium with which the medieval Chinese could come to terms with the elusiveness of the “body” of the eternal Buddha and the bodhisattvas. The “shadow of the Buddha” strongly suggests a model of painting. Although primarily a spatial structure, the center of gravity of the Shadow Cave is the luminous reflection on the wall or an image registered on a flat surface. Faxian, the first known Chinese pilgrim to visit the cave in Nagarahāra, noted that “the kings of the neighboring countries sent skillful painters to copy the Buddha’s shadow, but to no avail.”11 Consequently, Huiyuan’s construction of the mountainside shrine to replicate the Shadow Cave was oriented toward a painted image.12 The eulogies on the “shadow of the Buddha” by Huiyuan and his followers therefore established a model of perceiving and conceptualizing the pictorial medium. They registered an interest in a new pictorial mode, as opposed to the traditional surface-oriented curvilinear painting. Chiaroscuro, a formal quality that had hitherto held little interest to the Chinese, now appeared to be of primary concern to Huiyuan’s circle. Much was invested in indistinct optical and atmospheric conditions such as “darkness,” “dimness,” “obscurity,” and “void” to offset the luminous forms of “manifestations.” Attention was drawn to the interplay between background and foreground, “darkness and light,” brilliance and obscurity. There was a decided interest in visual illusionism. In grappling with the ontological implications of the shadow image, Huiyuan and his contemporaries were in fact finding ways of coming to terms with the formal property of a new type of pictorial form thriving on unstressed edges rather than on stressed ones, as well as formulating their own perceptions of such images. Their responses show a clear awareness of the dual qualities of the pictures of this kind: the illusionistic depth and the material surface. The pictorial images, as the poet Xie Lingyun 謝靈運 (385–433) puts it, “manifest 54214_1P_02_swar15986_text.indd 408 4/12/13 3:27 PM the sh ad ow image in t h e c ave 409 appearances if looked from afar, and become smudges once one comes close [to them]. They are neither substance nor void.”13 In other words, they are neither entirely a palpable surface nor a real space. This motif is reiterated in medieval accounts of the shadow image, which insist on the distinction between the success of viewing the image from afar and the failure to do so if examining it up close to the wall. The spectator’s shuttle back and forth in relationship to the wall is tantamount to the proper steps taken to obtain the desired illusionistic effect in viewing murals: moving close, one sees only the material surface; stepping back, one sees the figures being pictured. By extension, the yearning for such an image entailed the actual making of pictures in this manner, which required the painter to step back to enact the experience of his implied spectator. The perceptual experience involved here is what modern theorists describe as the “twofoldness” of the “seeing in.” One is “visually aware of the surface” one looks at, and one discerns something standing in front of oneself and receding behind the wall’s surface.14 The beholder’s share and the optical experience are key aspects of this image theory. It is notable that the alleged efficacy of the image depends on the topography of the grotto. A comparison of the accounts of the same topography by Buddhabhadra and by the Chinese authors reveals shared concerns as well as different interests. Buddhabhadra’s story of the cave is animated by a narrative description of Buddha’s dramatic subjugation of the dragons in the cave. The allegorical scenario of the transcendent Buddha taking over the lair of a local naga (dragon) is a familiar narrative scenario in the Indian tradition. It enacts the symbolic process of localizing the translocal Buddha.15 The Chinese authors, however, had little use for it but were instead drawn to the optical theater facilitated by the grotto setting. The interiority creates a condition of sensory deprivation inducive of a heightened state of “viewing,” which amounts to the half seeing and half imagining of an image. The purpose of such an illusionism is to facilitate the contemplative visualization of the Buddha. The key meditation guide for Huiyuan and his contemporaries was the Banzhou sanmei jing (or the Pratyutpanna Sutra), which offers instructions for ways of obtaining a vision “as if [all buddhas] were standing before one’s eyes.” The devotee is advised to concentrate and work himself into a trance so that he may obtain a dreamlike vision of the Buddha analogous to “a reflection in the mirror.” The hallucinatory mode of perception and oneiric quality of the vision are encouraged. Such a visual encounter reinforces the illusionism of presence and fosters the sense of the image inhabiting a virtual realm that transcends the quotidian plane of experience and constraints of time and space. The way that Huiyuan and his peers conceived of the painted icons as “the Buddha’s shadow” is resonant with this teaching. The numinous realm (“the Void”) in which “the Buddha’s shadow” lodges takes on properties of virtual and spatial illusionism that allow the devotee’s mind to enter, dwell, and roam: “Deeply cherish the mystic refuge and, at night, think of letting your spirit roam.”16 54214_1P_02_swar15986_text.indd 409 —-1 —0 —+1 4/12/13 3:27 PM 410 imag ing s e l f a nd oth er A dialectic notion of image emerges from this penumbra of perceptual experience. The shadow image has two inextricably linked properties. It resides in both the physical medium of the painting on the wall and the mind’s eye of the beholder. It is both a physical trace and a mental image, visible and invisible, present and absent. The shift in locales or domains in the Sutra of the Oceanic Samādhi of Visualizing the Buddha therefore comes as no surprise: the instruction on visualization starts with the proverbial physical grotto in the distant land with its shadow image; it then careens to the imaginary cave conjured up in the practitioner’s mind. As the instruction coaxes the mind into the cave, it also places the cave in the mind, with the elusive shadow image oscillating between the cave and mind. The physical cave thus gives way to the cave as a mental topography for the visualizer. Much as the Shadow Cave provides a new model of perception, Huiyuan and his contemporaries also relied on cognitive frameworks and habitual imaginary resources drawn from their own tradition. The long-standing notion of a shadow as an energetic-ethereal extension of the body from which it can be disengaged certainly availed itself to the medieval imagination. Furthermore, there was no lack of Chinese precedents of shadow images. The most illustrious case is the shadow image conjured up by a Han magician, repeatedly described in Han sources and then elaborated in a fourth-century source.17 Pining for his departed consort Lady Li, the Han Emperor Wu (r. 141–87 b.c.e.) is said to have repeatedly dreamed of her in his sleep. He sought help from a magician named Shao Weng, who had a statue carved out of a dark stone obtained from the sea. The statue was then placed behind a gauze curtain as a shadow image. When the emperor asked if he could take a close-up view, Shao explained that the image was comparable to a “dream one had during a noon nap.” It could be viewed only from a distance instead of at close range.18 The fourth-century inflection of the Han story anticipates Huiyuan’s shadow image. The oneiric quality of the image resulting from the light projection, the distant viewing, and the inaccessibility are precisely the motifs attending the Buddha’s image in the proverbial shadow cave. The narrative context of Shao Weng’s shadow image provides another layer of relevance: after all, the projected shadow image of Lady Li was a device to register the presence of an absence, the illusive manifestation of the deceased’s likeness. The medium of the shadow image on a curtain projected from a statue speaks further to the complicity of the corroborative role of the mind in creating the image. further reading -1— 0— +1— For studies of the shadow image in the proverbial Shadow Cave, see Alexander Soper, “Aspects of Light Symbolism, Part 1,” Artibus Asiae 12 (1949): 252–83; “Part 2,” Artibus Asiae 12 (1949): 314–30; “Part 3,” Artibus Asiae 13 (1950): 63–85, 54214_1P_02_swar15986_text.indd 410 4/12/13 3:27 PM t h e sh ad ow image in t h e c ave 411 and Literary Evidence for Early Buddhist Art in China (Ascona, Switzerland: Artibus Asiae, 1959), 265–68; Erik Zürcher, The Buddhist Conquest of China: The Spread and Adaptation of Buddhism in Early Medieval China (Leiden: Brill, 1972); Marylin Martin Rhie, Early Buddhist Art of China and Central Asia: The Eastern Chin and Sixteen Kingdoms Period in China and Tumshuk, Kucha, and Karashahr in Central Asia (Leiden: Brill, 1999–2002), 2:112–37; and Eugene Wang, Shaping the Lotus Sutra: Buddhist Visual Culture in Medieval China (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2005), 245–55. For textual studies of the Sutra of the Oceanic Samādhi of Visualizing the Buddha 觀佛三昧海經 (Guanfo sanmei hai jing), which contains the most comprehensive account of the Shadow Cave and the issue of its authorship, see Nobuyoshi Yamabe, “The Sutra on the Ocean-Like Samadhi of the Visualization of the Buddha: The Interfusion of the Chinese and Indian Cultures in Central Asia as Reflected in a Fifth Century Apocryphal Sutra” (Ph.D. diss., Yale University, 1999); and Jinhua Chen 陳金華, “Fotuobatuo gong Huiyuan gou foyingtai shi zaikao” 佛陀跋陀共慧遠 構佛影臺事再考, in Guoxue yu foxue: Lou Yulie jiaoshou qizhi jinwu songshou wenji 國學與佛學樓宇烈教授七秩晉五頌壽文集, ed. Li Silong 李四龍 (Beijing: Jiuzhou chubanshe, 2009), 55–64, and “Meditation Tradition in Fifth Century Northern China: With a Focus on a Forgotten ‘Kashmiri’ Meditation Tradition Brought to China by Buddhabhadra (359–429),” in Across Asia: Networks of Material, Intellectual, and Cultural Exchange, ed. Tansen Sen (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2010), 1–27. See also a related article, Jinhua Chen, “Buddhabhadra’s (359–429) Collection {{Connection?}} with Huiyuan (334–416) in Transplanting the Nagarahāra Image-cave to China: A Reexamination,” in Chūgoku Indo shūkyōshi, tokuni Bukkyō shi ni okeru shomotsu no ryūtsū denpa to jinbutsu idō no chiiki tokusei 中国印度宗教史とくに仏教史に おける書物の流通伝播と人物移動の地域特性, ed. Funayama Toru 船山徹 (Kyoto: Institute for Research in Humanities, Kyoto University, 2011), 177–91. For a modern investigation of the Shadow Cave in Central Asia, see E. Caspani, “The Cave of the Shadow of the Buddha at Nagarahāra,” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal 11 (1945): 47–52. For Huiyuan’s theoretical reflections on Buddhahood, body, and spirit, see Walter Liebenthal, “Shih Huiyüan’s Buddhism as Set Forth in His Writings.” Journal of the American Oriental Society 70, no. 4 (1950): 243–59. ❖ Fa x i a n 法顯 The Record of Faxian 法顯傳 (excerpt) Half yojana or so south of the Nagarahāra city is a rock cavern amid rolling hills, facing southwest. Here the Buddha left his shadow. Inside the cave, one 54214_1P_02_swar15986_text.indd 411 —-1 —0 —+1 4/12/13 3:27 PM 412 imag ing s e l f a nd oth er views the [shadow] as if it were the Buddha’s true form, a radiant golden image in full splendor. Upon close inspection, one finds the image fading into a tantalizing obscurity. Kings of various regions have sent skillful painters to make copies of the image, but none succeeded. People of the land say: The Thousand Buddhas all must have left their shadows here.19 [Faxian zhuan, T 51:859a] Buddhabhad r a 佛陀跋陀羅 Sutra of Oceanic Samādhi of Visualizing the Buddha 觀佛三昧海經 (excerpt) g uanfo sanmei h ai j ing (skt. buddha-dhyāna - sa mā d h isā ga r a - sū tr a ) -1— 0— +1— At that time, the dragon king knelt down, with his palm closed, pleaded with the World-Honored One: “It is my wish that the Thus-Come One [Tathāgata] reside here for eternity. If the Buddha is absent, I may entertain evil thoughts that would prevent me from attaining the supreme enlightenment. It is my devout wish that the Thus-Come One leave his spirit here and turn his thought here forever.” Thus he pleaded three times in earnest, unceasing. At that time, the Brahman king came again to pay homage to the Buddha with closed palms and enjoined the Buddha to stay: “We wish that the World-Honored stay, not just for this small dragon, but for the masses of the sentient beings of the future generations.” Thus the kings of the Brahman heaven pleaded in the tens and thousands in a uniform chorus. At that time, the Thus-Come One smiled. His mouth issued tens and thousand radiant rays populated by countless Buddha manifestations, each attended by zillions of bodhisattvas. Then the dragon king in the pond presented a Seven-Treasure Tower to the Buddha: “Please, Lord, accept this tower of mine.” The World-Revered told the dragon king: “The tower is unnecessary. You may give me the ogres’ grotto.” Then the Brahman king and his princes fi rst entered the cave. The dragon king festooned the cave with a variety of treasures. The Buddha told Ananda: “Go and request the dragon king to sweep clean the grotto.” Upon hearing this, all the celestial kings hastened to take off their precious garments to sweep the cave. The Thus-Come One recollected his bodily radiance, the myriad Buddha manifestations, and all into his head excrescence [Skt. usnīsa]. Bidding all the monks to stay outside the cave, the Buddha alone went in and spread his sitting mat. In doing so, he turned the rocky hill into a Seven-Treasure [Mountain]. The ogre and the dragon then produced five caves for the Buddha’s four disciples and the Venerable Ānanda. 54214_1P_02_swar15986_text.indd 412 4/12/13 3:27 PM t h e sh ad ow image in t h e c ave 413 At that time, the World-Honored One sat in the dragon king’s cave without changing his spot. At the king’s request, he entered the city of Nagarahāra. Grdhrakūta, Śrāvastī kingdom, the city of Kapilavastu, and other populated places all have the sightings of the Buddha. The space is filled with countless Buddha manifestations on lotus thrones. All the world is filled with Buddha manifestations. Overjoyed, the dragon king made a great vow: “May I have the Buddhas in my future lives.” At the king’s request, the Buddha spent seven days thus. The king sent a man riding on an eight-thousand-league elephant, carrying with him offering paraphernalia to visit all the kingdoms to support the monks. There are sightings of the Buddha everywhere. The messenger reported back to the king: “Not only does this kingdom have the Buddha, so do all other kingdoms. Moreover, in all these kingdoms, the Buddhas all preach the [doctrine of] suffering, emptiness, inconstancy, nonself, and the Six Perfections.”20 Upon hearing this, the king had the epiphany, realizing that all things are beyond birth and decay. Then the World-Honored One exited the grotto on his supernatural feet and roamed with the monks. Recalling his former lives as a bodhisattva, [the Buddha took the monks to visit] the place where he had given away his two sons, the spot where he had forfeited his life to feed the hungry tigress, the site where he had donated his head, the location where he had had his body maimed to light up a thousand lamps, the venue where he had gouged out his eyes for charity, and the venue where he had allowed his flesh to be cut in order to ransom the dove. The dragons followed the Buddha’s steps in all these stops. Then, learning that the Buddha had gone back to his home state, the dragon king broke into tears and said: “World-Honored One, pray thee, stay for eternity. Why do you abandon me so that I do not see the Buddha? I may commit crimes and relapse into evil ways.” The World-Honored One then consoled the dragon king: “I accept your request to sit in your cave for a thousand and five hundred years.” At this, all the junior dragons closed their palms and crossed their arms, and pleaded with the Buddha to return to the cave. The dragons then saw the Buddha sitting in their grotto. From his body, water shot up and fire issued down, creating eighteen kinds of transformations. The sight of this reinforced the junior dragons’ conviction in following the [Buddhist] way. Śākyamuni Buddha then leaped into the rock [wall] where it appeared as a bright mirror that reflected one’s visage. The dragons all saw the Buddha inside the rock and manifested outward [on the rock surface]. At this, the dragons all clasped their hands and rejoiced. They could constantly see the Buddha Sun without going out of the pond. At that time, the World-Honored One sat with legs crossed inside the rock. The way the sentient beings saw [the image], they could catch sight of it only at a distance. Drawing closer, they could not see it. Celestials in the tens and thousands made their offerings to the Buddha’s image, which in turn preached the dharma law. With their palms closed, the kings of the Brahman heaven venerated [the image], and praised it in verse: 54214_1P_02_swar15986_text.indd 413 —-1 —0 —+1 4/12/13 3:27 PM 414 imag ing s e l f a nd oth er Thus-Come resides in the grotto, Having leaped into the rock. Like the sun unblocked, Full golden light and all the marks. I hereby pay my homage, O, Śākyamuni, the world-saving Lord. -1— 0— +1— 如來處石窟 踊身入石裏 如日無障礙 金光相具足 我今頭面禮 牟尼救世尊 At that time, the World-Honored One conjured up five hundred treasure carriages. The Buddha in each carriage split into five hundred bodies. The treasure carriages moved and turned in the air with total ease, their drums and spokes illuminated with tens and thousands of radiant rays, each showing myriad Buddha manifestations. Neither moving nor turning, the Buddhas arrived in the Kapilavastu. Sitting on lion thrones, the Buddhas appeared to have entered the perfect absorption [samādhi]. Each pore had a Buddha exiting and a Buddha entering. They filled up the entire space—those Buddha manifestations, sitting cross-legged. This is called the state of the seated Buddha. After the Buddha’s extinction, all Buddhist disciples should heed this. To know the seated Buddha, one should visualize the Buddha’s shadow. To do so, one first visualizes a Buddha image through the mental conception of [a statue of ] one zhang and six [in height], sitting with crossed legs on a grass mat.21 One invites the statue to be seated and sees to it that it indeed does so. One then conceives a grotto, one zhang and eight chi in height and twenty-four in depth, made of resplendent rocks.22 Having formed this thought, one indeed sees a seated Buddha in the air, whose feet are raining flowers. One then thinks of entering the grotto. Having entered, one rehearses the thought of the grotto as a seven-treasure mountain. With the formation of this thought, one once again sees the Buddha statue leaping into the rock surface, which appears transparent like a bright mirror. Succeeding in this conception, one then contemplates the Buddha’s thirty-two distinguished features in the foregoing manner. Each feature ought to be made distinct in one’s visualization. Having formed this thought, one then sees myriad Buddha manifestations, sitting cross-legged on big precious flowers, their radiant bodies illuminating all. Each seated Buddha’s pores rain incalculable seven-treasure canopies whose tops anchor tens and thousands of banners each. Even the smallest of the banners is the size of Mount Sumeru. Each treasure banner contains hundreds and thousands of Buddha manifestations, all leaping into the navel of the Buddha shadow of this grotto. Once this thought presents itself, it is what is said about the Buddha’s heart. This is the proper mode of visualization. Any departure from this is a devious mode. This way of visualizing the Buddha shadow after the Buddha’s extinction is called the true vision of the seated Buddha, which is tantamount to seeing the Buddha body. [This vision] can eliminate the crimes accumulated in life-and-death cycles of hundreds and thousands of eons. If one fails to have this vision, one should enter the stupa tower to contemplate all the seated im- 54214_1P_02_swar15986_text.indd 414 4/12/13 3:27 PM th e sh ad ow image in t h e c ave 415 ages. Seeing the seated images, one repents one’s sins of karmic hindrances. The person’s visualization of the Buddha image earns him causes of good destiny in anticipation of Maitreya’s arrival. He then sees Maitreya sitting crosslegged under the dragon-flower trees from the very beginning. Having seen this, he is overjoyed. He thus accomplishes the three resolves,23 and all his wishes are met.24 [Sutra of Oceanic Samādhi of Visualizing the Buddha 觀佛三昧海經, T 15:680c–681c] M on k S h i H u i y ua n 釋慧遠 of J in Inscription on Buddha’s Shadow 佛影銘 Buddha’s Shadow is located in the stone chamber of ancient immortals in the south mountain of the west Nagarahāra kingdom.25 If one follows the footpath across the Flowing Sand, it is 15,850 li from here. Previous accounts have elaborated on the manifestations of its miraculous responses. Entrenched in superficial habits, one is unlikely to acquire the rare Word.26 Following the mundane routine to while away time, one rarely harbors transcendent sentiments. Therefore, worldly thoughts fall short of metaphysical aspirations; the firmament net caps the inspired ideals. If one chooses to spend one’s lifetime thus, how can one possibly have a chance for change?27 If one is content with life as such, then enlightenment is forever out of reach. Thus determined, I work day and night, forgoing meals.28 My feeling [for the Buddha] has grown by the day. Purifying my thoughts deep in the night, my inner thought harmonizes with the Buddha mind. I have therefore gratefully received the Buddha’s myriad blessings.29 Thrice I was able to see the compassionate [visage] of the unattached [Buddha]; accordingly, I have been searching for the reasons behind the dharma body’s manifestations [and come to appreciate that] divinity shows but does not speak; the Buddha’s manifestation does not hinge on how we feel; his compassion does not necessarily stem from our causal conditions—we will feel it through quiet meditations.30 The sun and moon hang in the sky, ever so bright. Accordingly, myriad things flourish; sentient beings all go by them. All are delighted in being bathed in luminance from the high, little aware that here lodges the [divinity’s] ever varying adaptations to [myriad things].31 The discourse on the scheme of things can only go thus far. One may wish to measure the depth of the mystical universe so as to speak of its ways. However, its seeming existence is ultimately ineffable. Why do we say so? The dharma body has its way of setting things in motion. Instead of driving them, it signals itself through them. Instead of diagramming their end, it intimates the finality. It models the metaphysical on the surface of the myriad transformations. Its destiny resides in the unnamable. If one speaks of its lodging, then the Way is everywhere. Therefore the Thus-Come One [Tathāgata] 54214_1P_02_swar15986_text.indd 415 —-1 —0 —+1 4/12/13 3:27 PM 416 imag ing s e l f a nd oth er may obscure his former traces on elevated altars or manifests himself in the living world as a definite body. He either singularly hails from the unfathomable noumenal realm or avails himself [to the beholder] in the domain of the phenomenal existence. Accordingly, the noumenal singularity amounts to his bodily frame; his interactive relationship [with the beholder] amounts to a shadow. Consider the profound implication of this—does his existence depend or not depend [on our perception]?32 The way I see it: this is a matter of mediated or direct experience. The dharma body ultimately comes down to nonduality. Where do we draw the dividing line between its bodily frame and its shadow image? Those seeking the Way nowadays all depict the [image] of the divine body as if it were in a distant past. Little do they realize that the divine response is right here. Even though they know the supreme transformation takes no specific bodiless form, they still gauge his physical traces through his whereabouts [literally, movement and arrest]. Is this not misguided? I, [Hui]yuan, used to seek out the late master and attended him for years.33 Even though I was enlightened by the generous teaching and immersed myself in the Buddhist sutras, every now and then I have always pictured in my mind the Buddha’s miraculous deeds to solidify my conviction. From the encounter with the itinerant monk from the Western Region, I learned about the Buddha Shadow [Image]. However, my informer was vague on this. Later, a meditation master from Kaśmīra, a vinaya monk of the south state, confirmed what I heard on the basis of his own visit to the site. I pressed them more on the matter and found that many miracles had been verified. The divine Way is unfathomable except through its lodging in images. The insight results from prolonged contemplation instead of a momentary impulse. I have thus come to believe firmly in the truthfulness of what I have been told and share the same conviction.34 I have therefore convened a group of like-minded [people], and together we shall broadcast the Buddha’s true flavor. In a worthy effort to spread the joy of inclusionary wholesome practice, we have thus made the picture. I hereby make the inscription: I -1— 0— +1— Boundless is the Great Image, Its principle and mystery remains ineffable. [Buddha’s] body and spirit have merged into evolving nature, His shadow cast, his body gone. His lingering light brightens the layered peaks, Illuminating the hillside pavilion. Residing in obscurity, the image does not dim; 54214_1P_02_swar15986_text.indd 416 廓矣大象 理玄無名 體神入化 落影離形 迴暉層巖 凝映虛亭 在陰不昧 4/12/13 3:27 PM th e sh ad ow image in t h e c ave The darker its location, the brighter its radiance. Gracefully it walks,35 in a cicada-like transcendence, Commanding the audience of myriad spirits. Manifestly responsive in different ways, It remains traceless and obscure. 417 處暗逾明 婉步蟬蛻 朝宗百靈 應不同方 跡絕而冥 II Murky and nebulous is our vast cosmos, Nothing here persuades and inspires [us]. Bland and light touches suffice to bring out Buddha’s visage, Out of nowhere is born the image . Displaying [the Buddha’s] marks, its frame is subtle, Its transcendent manner is self-apparent.36 The white tuft of hair [between the Buddha’s eyebrows] radiant, Bright even in the deep night. Deep contemplation solicits its response, Utter devotion causes it to resonate. As the lingering echo in the valley, it remains Apprehensible only to the cleansed mind in quietude. Contact with it produces epiphany, The achievement outgrows all that past. 茫茫荒宇 靡勸靡獎 淡虛寫容 拂空傳像 相具體微 沖姿自朗 白毫吐曜 昏夜中爽 感徹乃應 扣誠發響 留音停岫 津悟冥賞 撫之有會 功弗由曩 III Turning around, [one may] instantly forget reverence. Thereby forgoing contemplation and cognitions. The Three Luminaries [sun, moon, stars] may thus be obscured. Myriad appearances reduced to one appearance. A dark haze envelops the courtyards; One loses the way to return. Buddha enlightens us by means of calm, And rescues us with power. Now this zephyr of wisdom has grown distant, Only the worldly dust settles there. Without this mystic mirror,37 How can this dust be swept from afar? 54214_1P_02_swar15986_text.indd 417 旋踵忘敬 罔慮罔識 三光掩暉 萬象一色 庭宇幽藹 歸塗莫測 悟之以靜 挹之以力 惠風雖遐 維塵攸息 匪伊玄覽 孰扇其極 —-1 —0 —+1 4/12/13 3:27 PM 418 imag ing s e l f a nd oth er IV The precious sound reaches afar, Now to the east it casts regard. Delighting in the trend and aspiring to the Way, We revere and follow the bright moon. Its wonder hangs on the tip of the brush, As its subtlety courses along the light silk. Light and delicate are the colors deployed, They fairly illuminate the nocturnal fog. Images register the [divine] trace, Resonant with profound conceptions. The extraordinary revelations open up one’s mind. The auspicious wind guides the way. The pure vapor encircles the lofty chamber. Opacity and clarity merge before the dawn, [The image] appears to mirror the divine visage, Vaguely discernible as if face to face. 希音遠流 乃眷東顧 欣風慕道 仰規玄度 妙盡毫端 運微輕素 託采虛凝 殆映宵霧 跡以像告 理深其趣 奇興開襟 祥風引路 清氣迴於軒宇 昏明交而未曙 彷彿鏡神儀 依俙若真遇 V Inscribing and picturing the [shadow image], What do we seek after all? If spiritual beings hear this,38 They would heed this endeavor. We wish to use the practice of this world, To reflect the mystic stream yonder. The spirit pond purifies our heart— Drinking from it makes one lithe and lissome. It illuminates the void and responds to simplicity, Rounding up the seat of wisdom. Profound is our reverie, lodged in nebulae, Oneiric yearnings power out-of-body roaming. All our lives are condensed into this one encounter, That frees us once for all from myriad vexations. -1— 0— +1— 銘之圖之 曷營曷求 神之聽之 鑒爾所修 庶茲塵軌 映彼玄流 漱情靈沼 飲和至柔 照虛應簡 智落乃周 深懷冥託 宵想神遊 畢命一對 長謝百憂 On the first day of the fifth month, the renzi year [412], Jinxi the eighth year of Jin, together we set up this platform. We have made an image in our mountain, in which we lodge our sincerity. Even though this image is man-made, its merit is unsurpassed. When the Year Star reached the Stellar Sequence,39 Chifengnuo pointed to the ruin of the Great Yin [i.e., the twelfth year of the Jovian 54214_1P_02_swar15986_text.indd 418 4/12/13 3:27 PM th e sh ad ow image in t h e c ave 419 cycle].40 On the third of the ninth month, I have carefully gone through others’ texts. Hereby they are inscribed on stone. From the day when the project was planned and commenced, people’s sincerity has multiplied. The sanga and the laity all have delighted in the endeavor, as their contact with the leftover trace speak to them directly. Our feelings have welled up from the within; thereby we have become tireless. All the guests who took up the brush eulogized in harmony. Our thoughts all turned to the goal ahead. The image is based on what we have heard variously. We hope it will serve as a template for future wisdomseekers.41 Therefore we have gathered people of the time at the shadow image in an assemblage of the Great Pervader.42 This is indeed beyond what the conventional wisdom can expect.43 Standing still and marveling at the distant Buddha, we have already transcended the spirit realm. [T 52:197c–98b; the Gaoseng zhuan also contains the inscription, T 50:358–59] X i e L ing y un 謝靈運 Inscription on Buddha’s Shadow (with Preface) 佛影銘 (并序) The great compassionate Buddha blesses beings through sympathetic sentience. The causes of his communication with the beings vary. These are less amenable to being registered in forms, as they are better deduced conceptually. Much of this has been documented and discussed in scriptures and commentaries. Though things of the world come and go,44 the [dharma] way of the images endures. Lamenting the way of the world, our Buddhist faith has grown by the day. The Buddha’s Shadow, as reported in detail by the monk Faxian, who has arrived from Jetavana,45 is truly marvelous and extraordinary. Fixed on the stone wall of a grotto, the image appears to be there, with its elegant visage and manners, complete in all the marks and features. Its manifest cycle is beyond our grasp, yet its calm repose remains constant. Having heard about it with delight, the dharma master of Mount Lu [Huiyuan] excavated a quiet dark chamber out of a grotto to joyfully involve others in [his wholesome imagemaking practice].46 Nestled in a steep hill to the north, it fronts a rapid to the south. He made an image based on proportions given to him and decorated it with green colors. All this is not done for mimetic verisimilitude but to convey his deepest feelings. Monk Daoping came all the way to convey [Huiyuan’s] request for a votive text to be inscribed [on the rock at the cave site]. The intent behind the stone inscription is to spread virtues, though it can hardly match the magnitude of the Buddhist way. Likewise, my shallow thinking and skindeep learning can hardly capture [Master Huiyuan’s accomplishment]. [Huiyuan’s image-making] event is already a thing of past. However, it has always stayed on my mind. I therefore exhaust whatever meager talent I have to fulfill 54214_1P_02_swar15986_text.indd 419 —-1 —0 —+1 4/12/13 3:27 PM 420 imag ing s e l f a nd oth er my long-cherished wishes. The plenitude of the mystery and wonder is hard to capture in depiction. We hope that our sincere intent can touch the sentient beings. The flying owls can be expected to reform their ways.47 The icchantikas will find their salvation path on their own.48 All shall seek the Pure Land and brighten at the site of practice. The Buddha does not fail me; our uttermost effort will be rewarded. Wielding the brush to express in words, my feelings grow, and I can only sigh. -1— 0— +1— The sentient beings defi le and afflict one another, All caught in the Six Paths. The Seven Consciousnesses arise in succession;49 The transmigration among the Nine Abodes unceasing.50 The Five Aggregates are overworked,51 The Four Worldly Senses wearing thin,52 Driving the wheel of existence. The root of suffering causes us to trip along, Tripping along we go, All because of the turning of the wheel. The Four Worldly Senses are like thin clouds, The Five Aggregates are enflamed. Full of activities, this enlightened being. Perfect and well reasoned, It remains active, with tranquillity undisturbed. Moving, without disrupting the stillness. You dawn on us through our protracted dreams, And correct our transgressions Let my spiritual illumination, Round off your divine intelligence. That I have no self, Is thus derived from the above You have no self either, Thereby dispelling the falsehood. Pretensions have their various ways; Meanings have their loose ends. Through sound they become rhymes, Through forms they acquire visages. Viewing the shadow image makes cognition easy; Searching for the voice no longer difficult. Beyond the form and sound, There is still something to behold. Looking afar, the image takes shape; Viewed close-up, it is all but an optical blur. Neither substance nor emptiness, 54214_1P_02_swar15986_text.indd 420 群生因染 六趣牽纏 七識迭用 九居屢遷 劇哉五陰 倦矣四緣 遍使輪轉 苦根迍邅 迍邅未已 輪轉在己 四緣雲薄 五陰火起 亹亹正覺 是極是理 動不傷寂 行不乖止 曉爾長夢 貞爾沈詖 以我神明 成爾靈智 我無自我 實承其義 爾無自爾 必祛其偽 偽既殊塗 義故多端 因聲成韻 即色開顏 望影知易 尋響非難 形聲之外 復有可觀 觀遠表相 就近曖景 匪質匪空 4/12/13 3:27 PM t h e sh ad ow image in t h e c ave It is at once inscrutable and unfathomable. Backing against the hill, it illuminates the woods; Fronting a pond, it mirrors the well. Across space it conveys the verdure; Sparking and radiating, it brings in light. Its gold thrives on dim surroundings, Its white tuft of hair shines in dark obscurity. O sun, O moon,53 Why should I have this stirred thought? It is all because of this eminent monk, In all earnestness, attends the [image] Following the venerable style and time-honored convention,54 He brings the elusive image to the broad daylight. With reverence he pictures the trace of [the Buddha], Chiseling and piercing the hillside. Arcaded walks stretch around.55 Secluded is the chamber The rippling waves reflect the stair ways The moon is thus included in the window frame. Clouds depart, skirting the hilltop. Winds arrive, passing the pine trees. Exquisite is the topography. Faithful is the image. The reserved colors brings forth a floating appearance, Sustained gaze prompts deep contemplation, The [Buddha] appears to border on distinction and absence; It nevertheless exists through the simulation and emulation. Its pure and crystal essence Resonates with distinct holiness Sincerity amounts to transcendence; Munificence likewise steadily flows Ah, you who practice the Way Take care not to relax your guard. There is the youthful waywardness And the icchantika’s bondage. Now we have seen the returning route The view here dispels ignorance. It inspires the heart, While time goes on and things change. I venture here to inscribe this in view of the spirit cosmos. In reverence I inform the fellow staff holders. 54214_1P_02_swar15986_text.indd 421 421 莫測莫領 倚巖輝林 傍潭鑒井 借空傳翠 激光發冏 金好冥漠 白毫幽暧 日月居諸 胡寧斯慨 曾是望僧 擁誠俟對 承風遺則 曠若有概 敬圖遺蹤 疏鑿峻峰 周流步櫩 窈窕房櫳 激波映墀 引月入窗 雲往拂山 風來過松 地勢既美 像形亦篤 采淡浮色 詳視沈覺 若滅若無 在摹在學 由其潔精 能感靈獨 誠之云孚 惠亦孔續 嗟爾懷道 慎勿中惕 弱喪之推 闡提之役 反路今睹 發蒙茲覿 式厲厥心 時逝流易 敢銘靈宇 敬告振錫 [T 52:199b–c] —-1 —0 —+1 4/12/13 3:27 PM 422 Au: Are these in their books in the 1. readings? Please add sources 2. imag ing s e l f a nd oth er notes Alexander Soper translates the term 影 as “shadow.” Other scholars have argued for different translations. Erik Zürcher, who initially also phrased it as “shadow,” later preferred “reflection.” Kumārajīva translated the Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra 大智度論 (Da zhi du lun) between 402 and 405. See Taishō shinshū daizōkyō 大正新修大藏經, ed. Takakusu Junjirō 高楠順次郎 and Watanabe Kaigyoku 渡邊海旭 (henceforth abbreviated as T) (Tokyo: Taishō issaikyō kankōkai 大正一切經刊行會, 1924–1932), 25:57c–756b. The work is attributed to the authorship of Nāgārjuna 龍樹 (150–250), an influential Indian Buddhist logician. 3. T 15:654–79. There is no surviving original Indian text. The reconstructed title is Buddha-dhyāna-samādhisāgara-sūtra, or Buddhānusmrti-samādhi-sāgara-sūtra. 4. A number of Japanese scholars regard the text as a conglomerate of Indian and Chinese traditions. Yamabe Nobuyoshi even questions Buddhabhadra as the “translator” of the text. For a scholarship review and the most recent study of this issue, see Yamabe Nobuyoshi, “The Sutra on the Ocean-like Samadhi of the Visualization of the Buddha: The Interfusion of the Chinese and Indian Cultures in Central Asia as Reflected in a Fifth Century Apocryphal Sutra” (Ph.D. diss., Yale University, 1999). 5. Here I am taking cues from Hans Belting, “Image, Medium, Body: A New Approach to Iconology,” Critical Inquiry 31, no. 2 (2005): 302–19. 6. Authors holding this position include Huan Tan 桓譚 and Wang Chong 王充. See Huan Tan, Xinlun 新論, “Body and Spirit” 形神; and Wang Chong, Lunheng, “Chapter on Death” 論死篇. 7. Eugene Wang, Shaping the Lotus Sutra: Buddhist Visual Culture in Medieval China (Seat- 8. Omura Seigai 大村西崖, Shina bijutsu-shi: Chōsōhen 支那美術史彫塑篇 (Tokyo, 1922), tle: University of Washington Press, 2005), 245–47. 116–32. 9. Gaoseng zhuan, in T 50:352b, T 50:358c; Guang Hongming ji, in T 52:202. 10. Buddhist apologetic literature often cites the opponents’ charge about the unreliability of the “clay and wood” to stand for Buddhahood and includes arguments in defense of their symbolic functions. See, for example, T 52:175a. 11. Gaoseng Faxian zhuan, in T 51:859a. 12. Huiyuan’s eulogy on the “shadow of the Buddha” includes the line: “Its wonder hangs on the tip of the brush / As its subtlety courses along the light silk. / Colors reside in the virtuality. This leads Erik Zürcher to conclude that the image was “a painting on silk and not a mural” (The Buddhist Conquest of China: The Spread and Adaptation of Buddhism in Early Medieval China [Leiden: Brill, 1972], 224). 13. 14. Xie Lingyun, “Foyingming,” in T 52:199c. Richard Wollheim, Painting as an Art (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1987), 46. -1— 0— +1— 15. Richard Cohen, “Nāga, Yaksinī, Buddha: Local Deities and Local Buddhism at Ajanta,” History of Religions 37, no. 4 (1998): 360–400. 54214_1P_02_swar15986_text.indd 422 4/12/13 3:27 PM th e sh ad ow image in t h e c ave 16. 17. 423 Cohen, “Nāga, Yaksinī, Buddha,” 243. HS 97.3952; 25.1219; Records of the Historian, 28.1387; Gan Bao 干寳 (f1. 317–322), Soushen ji 搜神記, in Han Wei Liuchao biji xiaoshuo daguan (Shanghai: Shanghai guji, 1999), 292; Wang Jia 王嘉, Shiyi ji 拾遺記, in Han Wei Liuchao biji xiaoshuo daguan, 525. 18. Wang Jia, Shiyi ji, 525. 19. For alternative translations, see James Legge, A Record of Buddhist Kingdoms Being an Account by the Chinese Monk Fa-hien of His Travels in India and Ceylon (a.d. 399–414) in Search of Buddhist Books of Discipline (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1886), 39; and Marylin Martin Rhie, Early Buddhist Art of China and Central Asia: The Eastern Chin and Sixteen Kingdoms Period in China and Tumshuk, Kucha, and Karashahr in Central Asia (Leiden: Brill, 2002), 2:127. 20. The Six Perfections 波羅蜜 (pāramitās) are charity 布施 (dāna), precept abiding 持戒 (śīla), forbearance 忍辱 (ksānti), zealous effort 精進 (vīrya), meditation 禪定 (dhyāna), and wisdom 智慧 (prajñā). 21. Without the subject, the ambiguous line could be taken to mean either the Buddha or the practitioner sits cross-legged. On the basis of the semantic overflow, the first alternative is probably the stronger reading. 22. A literal translation would be “pure and white rocks” 清白石, or, alternatively, according to different editions, “blue-and-white stone” 青白石. See T 15:681n.16. 23. The phrase “three resolves” is defi ned variously. One possible glossing concerns the three assured ways of reaching the Pure Land: (1) perfect sincerity, (2) deep resolve, and (3) resolve on demitting one’s merits to others. See Foguang da cidian 佛光大辭典, ed. Ciyi 慈怡 (Gaoxiong: Foguang chubanshe, 1989), 532. 24. Guanfo sanmei haijing, in T 15:680c–81c. 25. Nagarahāra is an ancient kingdom and city on the southern bank of the Cabool River about thirty miles west of Jalalabad. See William E. Soothill and Lewis Hodous, A Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms (Taibei: Foguang, 1994), 247. 26. The phrase 稀世之間 is considered a variance of 稀世之聞 in the Taishō edition. See T 52:197n.35. 27. The character 過 is corrected as 遇, making possible the reading of “how can one have a chance for change?” See T 52:197n.36. 28. Variations of 忘寢 are 忘寢食 and 忘食. See T 52:197n.37. 29. The phrase 思澤 is rendered as 恩澤 in one edition. See T 52:197n.39. Here I follow the latter. 30. If we follow the one edition that renders 宴懷 as 冥懷 (T 52:197n.42), the line would read: “we will feel it through calm meditations.” 31. The phrase 曲成 is a shorthand reference to the idiom 曲成萬物 in the Great Treatise on Classic of Changes: “[A sage] properly encompasses the transformations of heaven and earth; with flexibility, he unfailingly rounds off the myriad things.” See Duanju Shisanjing jingwen 斷句十三經經文 (Taibei: Taiwan Kaiming, 1991), 22. 32. Here Huiyuan borrows the notions of “that for which one waits” 有待 from the Zhuangzi: “The same holds true for myriad things. They have that for which they wait, —-1 —0 —+1 whereby they die; they have that for which they wait, whereby they live” (Zhuangzi jishi 54214_1P_02_swar15986_text.indd 423 4/12/13 3:27 PM 424 imag ing s e l f a nd oth er 莊子集釋, comp. Guo Qingfan 郭慶藩 and annot. Wang Xiaoyu 王孝魚 [Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1995], 707). He also borrows the concept of “independence” 無待 from the traditional Chinese classical language. 33. The “late master” refers to Dao-an. 34. I follow the “Three Editions” and the “Old Song edition” (1104–1148) (in the Library of the Imperial Household of Japan) by choosing the variance 信 (conviction) instead of 位 in the Taishō edition. See T 52:198n.2. 35. This suggests the image as a standing Buddha. Huiyuan describes the “one zhang and six–tall Golden Image at Xiangyang” in similar terms: “It takes divine steps to respond to its contemporaries” or “it takes graceful steps” (“Jin Xiangyang zhangliu jinxiang xu” 晉襄陽丈六金像讚序, in T 52:198bc). 36. The Guang hongming ji version gives the 中姿, while the Gaoseng zhuan version has 沖姿. The phrase 沖姿 makes more sense. 37. On the notion of “mystic vision” 玄覽, see Wang, Shaping the Lotus Sutra, 292–310. 38. The line “spirit beings shall hearken to you” derives from the Classic of Poetry (Shijing 詩經). The “Xiao Ming” in the “Minor Odes of the Kingdom” 小雅 contains the line: “Quietly fulfi ll the duties of your offices, / Associating with the correct and upright. / So shall the Spirits hearken to you, / And give you good” (James Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 4, The She King or the Book of Poetry [Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1970], 366). “Felling the Trees” 伐木 of the “Minor Odes of the Kingdom” in the Classic of Poetry contains the line: “Spiritual beings will then hearken to him; / He shall have harmony and peace” (Legge, Chinese Classic 4:254). 39. The Year Star (suixing 嵗星 [i.e., the planet Jupiter]) reaching the Stellar Sequence (xingji 星紀), the initial Jupiter station. 40. The Great Yin (taiyin 太陰) is an invisible counter-Jupiter, “an imaginary counterorbital asterism” to track the actual motions of the Year star. See John S. Major, Heaven and Earth in Han Thought: Chapters Three, Four and Five of the Huainanzi (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1993), 74. Chifenruo 赤奮若 is the name of the twelfth year when the counter-Jupiter, or Great Yin, reaches twelfth chronogram in the scheme of twelve chronograms of the Jovian cycle. According to “The Treatise on the Pattern of Heaven” in the Huainanzi 淮南子, “When the Great yin is in chou, the year is called Chifenruo” (Major, Heaven and Earth in Han Thought, 122). 41. The phrase 重軌 in the line 庶來賢之重軌 contained in the Taishō edition here is puzzling. One possible alternative is “halo” 重暉, which appears in the early-fifth-century inscription on the shadow image in cave 169 of Binglingsi: 神儀重暉. For a photograph of the inscription, see Gansusheng wenwu gongzuodui 甘肅省文物工作隊 and Binglingsi wenwu baoguansuo 炳靈寺文物保管所, eds., Zhongguo shiku Yongjing Binglingsi shiku 中國石窟永靖炳靈寺石窟 (Beijing: Wenwu, 1986), pl. 28. 42. Through the notion of the Great Pervader 大通, Huiyuan alludes to the account of a seated meditation in the Zhuangzi: -1— 0— +1— A third day, Hui again saw [the Master], and said, “I am making progress.” “What do you mean?” “I sit and forget everything.” Zhongni changed countenance, and said, 54214_1P_02_swar15986_text.indd 424 4/12/13 3:27 PM t h e sh ad ow image in t h e c ave 425 “What do you mean by saying that you sit and forget [everything]?” Yan Hui replied, “My connection with the body and its parts is dissolved; my perceptive organs are discarded. Thus leaving my material form, and bidding farewell to my knowledge, I am become one with the Great Pervader. This I call sitting and forgetting all things.” Zhongni said, “One [with that Pervader], you are free from all likings; so transformed, you are become impermanent. You have, indeed, become superior to me! I must ask leave to follow in your steps.” See Chen Guying 陳鼓應, Zhuangzi jinyi jinzhu 莊子今譯今注 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1983), 207; and James Legge, trans., The Sacred Books of China: The Texts of Taoism (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1891), 257. 43. Here the phrase 悲現 in the Taishō edition does not quite make sense. I therefore follow the alternative version in the “Three Editions” (Song, Yuan, Ming) as 非理. See T 52:198cn.18. 44. Here the phrase 舟壑緬謝 is derived from the expression “store the boat in the ravine” 藏舟於壑 in the Zhuangzi: We store our boat in the ravine, our fishnet in the marsh, and say it’s safe there; but at midnight someone stronger carries it away on his back, and the full ones do not know it. The smaller stored in the bigger has its proper place, but still has room to escape; as for the whole world stored within the world, with nowhere else to escape, that is the ultimate identity of an unchanging thing. (Chen Guying, Zhuangzi jinyi jinzhu, 178) This translation follows A. C. Graham, Chuang-Tzu: The Inner Chapters (Indianapolis: Hackett, 2001), 86. The metaphor “boat and ravine” therefore refers to the changing circumstances of the world. 45. Jetavana 祇園, a park near Śrāvastī, is said to have been obtained from Prince Jeta by the elder Anāthapindika, in which monastery buildings were erected, and have been the favorite resort of Śākyamuni. It is said to have been destroyed by fire two hundred years later, rebuilt smaller five hundred years after, and again burned down a century later; it was rebuilt on the earlier scale thirteen years afterward, but a century later, entirely destroyed. See Soothill and Hodous, Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms, 310. In this context, it simply stands for India. Xie Lingyun was in the capital city, Jiankang, where Faxian spoke about the shadow image. 46. The term 隨喜 in the Buddhist discourse more specifically means “to rejoice in the virtuous behavior of others.” 47. The “flying owls” 飛鴞 alludes to the “Panshui” 泮水 piece in “Praise Songs of Lu” 魯頌 of the Classic of Poetry: They come flying on the wing, those owls, 翩彼飛鴞 And settle on the trees about the college; 集于泮林 They eat the fruit of our mulberry trees, 食我桑黮 And salute us with fine notes. 懷我好音 So awakened shall be those tribes of the Huai; 憬彼淮夷 54214_1P_02_swar15986_text.indd 425 —-1 —0 —+1 4/12/13 3:27 PM 426 imag ing s e l f a nd oth er They will come presenting their precious things, 來獻其琛 Their large tortoises and their elephants’ teeth, 元龜象齒 And great contributions of the southern metals 大賂南金 See Legge, Chinese Classics, 4:620 (transliteration adapted to pinyin). 48. The phrase “chanti” 闡提 is an abbreviation of “yichanti” 一闡提, a Chinese transliteration of the Sanskrit word icchantika. In general, it refers to a class of beings incapable of reaching enlightenment on their own. The Fanyi mingyi ji 翻譯名義集, for instance, defines an icchantika as a shameless, unfriendly, and unrepentant person lacking faith in cause and effect, karmic retribution, blind to present and future, and indifferent to Buddha’s moral teaching. See T 54:1084a. However, an alternative view, such as voiced in the Dharmaksema 曇無讖 (385–433) version of the Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvānasūtra and the Lapkâvatāra-sūtra, argue that no one, not even the icchantika, is barred from Buddhist enlightenment and eventual salvation. 49. The Seven Consciousnesses are in action in succession. According to Buddhist teaching, the base consciousness, or ālaya-vijñāna 阿賴耶識, generates seven consciousnesses: the mentation (manas) consciousness 末那識, the thinking consciousness 意識, and the five (i.e., visual 眼識, auditory 耳識, olfactory 鼻識, gustatory 舌識, and tactile 身 識) consciousnesses 五識 associated with the five sense organs of eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and skin, corresponding respectively to form, sound, smell, taste, and touch. These seven consciousnesses are believed to cause the affl ictions. See Xuanzang, trans., Yuqie shidi lun 瑜伽師地論 (Yogâcāra-bhūmi-śāstra), in T 30:292c; Chengweishilun 成唯 識論 (Vijñaptimātratāsiddhi-śāstra), in T 31:2a. 50. The Nine Abodes 九居 refer to the nine celestial habitats (Skt. navasu attvāvā) for sentient beings, arranged in an ascending order, as defi ned in the Dīrghâgama 長阿含經. These are (1) the human and deva heavens 天及人天, with mixed bodies and thoughts in the realm of desire (or world of five senses); (2) the three brahma heavens 梵光音天, with mixed bodies but uniform thinking, the first of the four dhyāna heavens; (3) the three pure heavens of light 光音天, with identical bodies and different thoughts; (4) the three pervasively pure heavens 遍淨天, inhabited by identical bodies and thoughts; (5) the thought-free heaven 無想天, the highest of the four dhyāna heavens; (6) the boundless space 空處, the fi rst of the formless realms; (7) the space of boundless thought 識處; (8) the space of nothingness 不用處; and (9) the space beyond thought and nonthought 有想無想處, the fourth of the formless heavens. See Chang a’han jing 長阿含經 (Dīrghâgama), in T 1:56b. 51. The Five Aggregates 五陰 refer to the five components of a sentient being, especially a human being. According to the Buddhist view, an intelligent being possesses (1) physical body with five senses, that is, “form” 色 (rūpa); (2) “feelings” 受 (vedanā); (3) “ideas” 想 (samjñā); (4) “impulse” 行 (samskāra); and (5) “discriminating cognition” 識 (vijñāna). See Rupert Gethin, The Foundations of Buddhism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), 31; and Soothill and Hodous, Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms, 126. -1— 0— +1— 52. The term siyuan 四緣 here does not yet have the sense of the “four conditions” 四緣 of the Yogâcāra discourse, made available through Xuan Zang’s translation in the seventh 54214_1P_02_swar15986_text.indd 426 4/12/13 3:27 PM t h e sh ad ow image in t h e c ave 427 century—that is, the “causal conditions” 因緣 (hetu-pratyaya), “equally antecedent conditions” 等無間緣 (samanantara-pratyaya), “object-dependent conditions” 所緣緣 (ālambana-pratyaya), and “peripheral and contingent conditions” 增上緣 (adhipatipratyaya). See Yogâcārabhūmi 瑜伽師地論, translated by Xuanzang 玄奘 between 646 and 648, in T 30.583bc. Instead, the term used by Xie Lingyun means “four worldly senses” 四塵—that is, the senses of form 色塵, odor 香塵, taste 味塵, and touch 觸塵 integral to the defi led and polluted earthly experience. Xie Lingyun’s use of “Four Worldly Senses” 四緣 in tandem with “Five Aggregates” 五陰 corresponds closely to Yan Zhitui’s 顏之推 (531–ca. 595) use of “four worldly senses and five aggregates” 四塵五陰 in his discussion of Buddhist terminology, in “Jiaxun guixin pian” 家訓歸心篇, in Guang hongming ji 廣弘明集, comp. Daoxuan 道宣, in T 52:107b. 53. The expression 日月居諸 is a variation of the refrain “O sun; O moon,” repeated three times in the “Sun and Moon” 日月 from the “Odes of Bei” 邶風 of the “Lessons from the States” 國風 in the Classic of Poetry. See Legge, Chinese Classics, 4:44–46. 54. The phrase 承風遺則 here alludes to a line in the “Far-Off Journey” 遠遊, a secondcentury b.c.e. work included in the Lyrics of Chu: “I heard how once Red Pine had washed the world’s dust off: / I would model myself on the pattern he had left me. This translation follows David Hawkes, The Songs of the South: An Anthology of Ancient Chinese Poems by Qu Yuan and Other Poets (New York: Penguin Books, 1985), 194. 55. Here the line 周流步櫩 is a variation on 步櫩周流, as in the “Sir Vacuous” 子虛賦 by Sima Xiangru 司馬相如: “Arcaded walks stretching such distances / That their lengths cannot be traversed in a single day” (SJ 117.3026; Sima Qian 司馬遷, Records of the Grand Historian: Han Dynasty II, trans. Burton Watson, rev. ed. [New York: Columbia University Press, 1993], 274). —-1 —0 —+1 54214_1P_02_swar15986_text.indd 427 4/12/13 3:27 PM