国立情報学研究所 - ディジタル・シルクロード・プロジェクト
『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ

Scenes not represented in Gandhara relievos.

Dipankara Jataka and Maya's dream.

854 PICTORIAL REMAINS FROM THE THOUSAND BUDDHAS [Chap. XXIII

Dipankara Jâtaka scene in Ch. lv. 009 (Plate LXXIV) ; the Announcement of the Illumination and the ` First Sermon ' in Ch. xxvii. ow (Plate Lxxvii), if the two deer there shown may be accepted as a sufficient symbolic representation of the latter ; and the seated Buddha represented in Ch. xlix. 006.42 If we compare this overwhelming preponderance of scenes from Gautama's Nativity and his preparation for sanzbodhi with the proportion which this class of scenes bears in Gandhara sculpture to that taken from his subsequent story as the Enlightened One, the contrast cannot fail to be striking.43 It seems difficult to refrain from concluding that the scenes depicting incidents from the personal life-story of S'akyamuni made a stronger appeal to his local Chinese worshippers' instinct for the real than those illustrating the attainment and propagation of his doctrine.

It is of special interest also to observe that, by the side of many scenes well known to us from the relievos of Gandhâra, we find a number of other incidents illustrated which, though familiar to the traditional story as presented by Buddhist texts, have so far not been found represented among the remains of Gandhâra sculpture. A careful synopsis of the scenes identified and detailed below shows that, by the side of sixteen shared in common with the plastic art of Gandhara, our banners illustrate seventeen more of which no sculptural representations have up to the present been met with among the remains of Graeco-Buddhist art.44 The number of reproductions, which might furnish some guidance as to the relative popularity of the scenes, also approximates very closely, being 3o and 33 respectively.'"

It would scarcely be profitable to speculate upon the reasons which may account for this relative frequency of scenes unknown to the extant Gandhâra relievos, unless the question were examined in the light which Chinese Buddhist literature as well as early representations in India, apart from Gandhâra, and in Java, Indo-China, and elsewhere in the Far East, might help to throw upon it. For me it must suffice to call attention to two points. One is that the pictorial art of Gandhâra, which might have made a comparison more complete and instructive, is wholly lost to us, at least for the present. The other is that the extensive choice of subjects independent of Gandhâra models is in full agreement with what we have already observed as regards the wholly Chinese treatment of the scenes, whatever their iconographic derivation. Some special points of contact with Gandhâra in the representation of details, as well as some distinct points of divergence, can conveniently be noticed in the review of the various scenes represented to which we may now proceed. For this the biographical order of the episodes, as applied by M. Foucher in his classical work, recommends itself as the most appropriate:

The group of scenes taken from the Jatakas or anterior births of the Master is a relatively restricted one among the relievos of Gandhara. In our banners too it is represented only by a single scene, the one which suitably occupies the top panel of Ch. lv. 009 (Plate LXXIV). It shows us the future Bodhisattva paying homage to Dipankara Buddha and receiving from him the

42 To these may have possibly to be added from among unidentified scenes the two of Ch. lv. 0022 and a third in xlvi. 005, where a Buddha figure enthroned on a lotus appears.

43 The number of scenes from Gautama's Life, previous and subsequent to sanabodhi, which M. Foucher has occasion to discuss, is about equal ; cf. L'art du Gandhâra, i. pp. 291408 and pp. 408-594. The number of actual reproductions extant of scenes of the second class is probably considerably larger.

" The following scenes known from Gandhara relievos are represented also on our banners, the figures in brackets showing the number of reproductions : The Dipankara

Jâtaka (i); Maya's Dream (3); Gautama's Birth (2); the Bath of the Bodhisattva (2); the Seven Steps (3); the Simultaneous Births (r); the Writing Competition (r); the Wrestling Competition (r); the Casting out of the Elephant (I); the Archery Contest (2) ; the Prince in the Seraglio (I); the Flight from the Palace (4); Farewell to Kanthaka and Chandaka (4); the Cutting of the Hair (r); the Austerities (2); the First Sermon (r ?).

45 Among the scenes not found in Gandhara relievos the banners show us frequent reproductions of the fo!lowing : the Four Encounters (3) ; the Messengers' Search for Gautama (5). None of the ten unidentified scenes seems to be repeated.