The Neglected Dress—Re-Evaluating the Iconography of the “True Visage” (Zhenrong) Mañjuśrī
The development of the cult of Mount Wutai was a milestone event in the history of Chinese Buddhism. Crucial in that development was a novel depiction of Mañjuśrī, believed to be transmitting the deity’s “true visage” (zhenrong). While consensus suggests that the primary new aspect of that depiction...
| Autor principal: | |
|---|---|
| Tipo de documento: | Electrónico Artículo |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
| Verificar disponibilidad: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Gargar...
|
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Publicado: |
MDPI
2024
|
| En: |
Religions
Año: 2024, Volumen: 15, Número: 4 |
| Otras palabras clave: | B
Mañjuśrī
B Chinese Buddhism B Dunhuang B auspicious images B Mount Wutai |
| Acceso en línea: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Sumario: | The development of the cult of Mount Wutai was a milestone event in the history of Chinese Buddhism. Crucial in that development was a novel depiction of Mañjuśrī, believed to be transmitting the deity’s “true visage” (zhenrong). While consensus suggests that the primary new aspect of that depiction is the ethnicity of the attendant for Mañjuśrī’s animal vehicle, it is puzzling that the true visage of a saintly figure is defined externally, by his attendant, rather than internally, within his own stylistic or iconographic configuration. This paper critically re-evaluates arguments and evidence surrounding this issue and argues that the image of the True Visage Mañjuśrī invented at Mount Wutai has specific iconographic features in his own representation. Uncovering the heretofore neglected iconographic specificities provides a more fine-grained understanding of how visual devices contributed to the cult of Mount Wutai, while also bringing renewed thinking about the notion of auspicious images and their replication. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 2077-1444 |
| Obras secundarias: | Enthalten in: Religions
|
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.3390/rel15040432 |