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

Good and refined as the drawing is, especially in the faces and hands of Bodhisattvas and
donatrices, we meet elsewhere with details which have not been highly finished. As in other
paintings of this class, the prevailing colour is crimson on dull light green, with orange on
the Bodhisattvas' robes and the tiles of the terrace, turquoise blue on the altar-cloth, &c.


PLATE VIII

AMITĀBHA'S PARADISE

The painting (Ch. lviii. 0011), which this Plate reproduces on the scale of two-fifths, is
a good specimen of a fairly numerous group of pictures which represent Amitābha's 'Western
Paradise', or Sukhāvatī, as it is named in Sanskrit. It has lost the side scenes and its extreme
top and bottom, but is otherwise well preserved. Though not as large as some representa-
tions of this, the most popular of Buddhist Heavens, nor quite as sumptuous in its
pageantry, our painting yet well illustrates all the typical features of the series. The uni-
formity with which the general scheme is observed in these Sukhāvatī pictures of our
Collection, more than a dozen in all, points to prolonged evolution before even the oldest of
them was painted.

On the principal terrace we see the presiding Buddha, Amitābha, seated with his hand
raised in the vitarka-mudrā. The Bodhisattvas seated on both sides, Avalokiteśvara to the
right and Mahāsthāma to the left, make up the triad typical of Amitābha's Paradise as
determined by inscribed representations and familiar from an early period also to Buddhism
in Japan. Between them and in front, by the side of the altar, appears seated a host of lesser
Bodhisattvas. The altar carries vessels with offerings and is draped with a valance decorated
with triangular tabs and streamers ; it is of interest as exactly corresponding to the large silk
valances I recovered from the walled-up chapel.¹⁰ In the background above, partly screened
by the elaborate canopies of the triad, are seen the celestial mansions in the shape of pavilions
and towers of purely Chinese style.

A portion of the terrace projecting in front of the altar is occupied by a dancer and six
musicians, to whose strains she performs. Here, too, the dancer's rhythmic movement is
emphasized by the sinuous lines of the stole which she waves in her hands and by bands
fluttering upwards from her head-dress. Mouth-organ, clappers, psaltery, flute, and two
differently shaped lutes are the musical instruments played on. At the foot of the gangway
descending to the water of the lotus lake is shown a figure suggesting a seated Bodhisattva
as seen from the back. The lotus seat and the curling drapery of a stole are clearly recogniz-
able. The bent arms seem to support some offering, perhaps like an Indian 'Dalī', as
traces of red flowers and of leaves can be made out in the original.

Lotus flowers and rocks appear rising above the water. In the centre of the foreground
is a black-tiled platform, on which are assembled a Garuda, peacock, crane, and some
smaller bird resembling a duck but partly effaced. On either side of this platform there
rises from the water a terrace bearing a subsidiary representation of Amitābha's triad. The
pose of the Buddha is the same as in the main group above, but both the Bodhisattvas by his
side are here shown with hands joined in adoration. This repetition of the divine triad in
the bottom corners is very frequent in the pictures of Amitābha's Paradise. The representa-
tion of a newly born soul seated on a lotus and floating up the gangway which leads to each
of these subsidiary groups is a pleasing addition to this conventional arrangement.

The workmanship of the painting is throughout careful and well finished. From a back-
ground of dull green crimson, orange-yellow and white stand out as the prevailing colours.
The last is largely used on the decorated haloes and 'Padmāsanas', or lotus seats, as well as
for the flesh of all attendant figures. The absence of black and blue is marked in the general
colour scheme.