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當麻曼荼羅

Pronunciations

Basic Meaning: Taima maṇḍala

Senses:

  • This is a tapestry based on the Amitâyus Visualization Sūtra (Guan wuliangshou jing 觀無量壽經). The left side-strip depicts the scenes of the imprisonment of King Bimbisāra 頻婆娑羅 and Queen Vaidehī 韋提希 by their rebellious son, Prince Ajātaśatru 阿闍世. The scenes are arranged from the bottom to the top. The right side-strip shows the thirteen images to be visualized. The scenes are arranged from the top to the bottom. The bottom-strip shows the nine modes of rebirth 九品往生 in the Land of Bliss. The scenes are arranged from the right to the left. The central court depicts the magnificent view of the Land of Bliss presided by Buddha Amitâyus 阿彌陀淨土變. It has been pointed out that some of the details of this tapestry are based on Shandaoʼs 善導 commentary on the sutra, Guan wuliangshou jing shu 觀無量壽經疏. The original tapestry has been badly faded and so it difficult to scrutinize, especially in the bottom-strip. Many clearer copies, however, survive. The motif definitely follows that of the Chinese Pure Land paintings, usually called guanuing bianxiang 觀經變相 (paintings on the Visualization Sutra), but there are diverging viewsmconcerning the geographical origin of this particular tapestry. Some advocate the Chinese origin, while others the Japanese origin. Ōnishi (cited below) supports the Chinese origin. Also see the Iwanami dictionary for further details.

    Reference:

    Ōnishi Makiko 大西磨希子. 2007. Saihō jōdohen no kenkyū 西方浄土変の研究 . Tokyo:  Chūō Kōron Bijutsu Shuppan.

    [Nobuyoshi Yamabe, Charles Muller; source(s): Nakamura, JEBD, FGD,Iwanami]
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    [Dictionary References]

    Bukkyō jiten (Ui) 687

    Iwanami bukkyō jiten 547

    Japanese-English Buddhist Dictionary (Daitō shuppansha) 311a/346

    Bukkyōgo daijiten (Nakamura) 908a

    Fo Guang Dictionary 5536

    Bukkyō daijiten (Mochizuki) (v.9-10)112c,601a,665c

    Bukkyō daijiten (Oda) 1671-2, 1115-3

    Copyright provisions

    The rights to textual segments (nodes) of the DDB are owned by the author indicated in the brackets next to each segment. For rights regarding the compilation as a whole, please contact Charles Muller. Please do not reproduce without permission. And please do not copy into Wikipedia without proper citation!

    Entry created: 2009-12-31

    Updated: 2020-11-28