Buddhist Art

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses how when looking at ancient Chinese art and even art today, one can easily see the influence of the Buddhists after they arrived in this country during the Han Period of 200 B.C. It looks at how Buddhism traveled from India to China and how it was transformed into something that could be readily incorporated into the local culture. It also discusses how the Buddhist influence increased to such a significant extent that huge amounts of money and human work were used to create astonishing pieces of art and elaborate temples and how this expanding interest in Buddhism led to new ways of representing deities, different forms of architecture for worship and changing rituals.

From the Paper:

"Most Buddhist monks came to China by way of the Silk Road, which was a critical junction at the caravan trails that stretched from China to the Mediterranean. As the easternmost Chinese station on the route, the village of Dunhuang (Tunhuang) became the ideal location for these foreign monks to learn the language and culture before moving into central China. The missionaries and their Chinese disciples built the earliest Buddhist communities at Dunhuang in the late third and early fourth centuries. Many religious sutras were translated at Dunhuang and then distributed outward. Uncountable economic and human resources were used to produce Buddhist sutras and construct religious centers, including thousands of cave temples. "

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