Chengde Pule Si

Pule Si

Pule si, built by the Qianlong emperor between 1766–67, was the 6th of 12 outer temples built at Chengde. Although called the Eight Outer Temples in Chinese (Wai ba miao) the twelve were built in the following order (the first two by Kangxi, and the rest by Qianlong): Puren si, Pushan si, Puning si, Puyou si, Anyuan miao, Pule si, Putuozongcheng miao, Guang’an si, Shuxiang si, Luohan tang, Xumifushou miao, and Anguo si. These outer temples flanked the eastern and northern edges of the imperial summer resort, the Bishu shanzhuang. The innovative and deliberate reinterpretations of architectural styles and landscapes from Chinese and Inner Asian sources at Chengde have been likened to a rational political tool used to further modern conceptions of state formation. Pule Si was part of a larger scenic landscape, with 36 landscape vistas, that illustrated a series of perspectives that the Kangxi and Qianlong emperors deliberately displayed to their Chinese bureaucrats and Inner Asian nobles. Each layer of the landscape was created to resonate with only select audiences of the emperor’s empire, with the emperor as the unifying center able to mediate all the landscape layers. These scenes were displayed to show the dynamism of landscape as an aesthetic medium that was then circulated through the empire via multilingual publications such as the imperially-sponsored Album of Imperial Poems.

Pule si, resembling Beijing’s Temple of Heaven (and possibly suggesting a link to the altar of Heaven in the old Manchu capital, Mukden) and described as a stupa and mandala, was built for the western Mongols coming for the yearly tribute. Its name links it to two other outer temples. Together, Pule si, Anyuan miao, and Puning si contain the three characters, le, an, ning, that signify the three ways to nirvana. Unlike other outer temples that face south according to Qing imperial tradition, Pule si (and like Anyuan miao) is oriented toward the west, recalling the orientation of older Tibetan temples such as the Jokhang in Lhasa and Samye.

Pule si is situated south of Anyuan miao and aligned with the Bangchui rock formation to the east, which connects it in a straight line, through the center of the temple, to the imperial residence. The main temple of Pule si is a triple terrace. The lowest level, no longer extant, was a surrounding gallery. The upper terrace is a wooden, Indian-style mandala containing a statue of Samvara and covered by a circular golden ceiling decorated with an imperial dragon. The link between Pule si and the Qianlong emperor is further clarified by the imperial inscription that mentions the role of Lcang skya Rol pa’i rdo rje in constructing the temple. Lcang skya had given the Qianlong emperor the Samvara initiation. Thus the construction of Pule si with its Samvara mandala has been said to symbolize the lama-patron relationship between Lcang skya and the Qianlong emperor, while its construction on the eve of the western Mongols’ tributary visit can possibly be interpreted as a symbol of their new link with the empire.

Readings of Pule si must take into account its context within the larger imperial landscape production at Chengde. As such, it was part of an aesthetic, consumerist, and thus modern, instrument of unification for the producer, the emperor, as well as an instrument of alienation for the consumer, the imperial subjects.

Sources:
Philippe Forêt. 2000. Mapping Chengde: The Qing landscape enterprise. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i. pp. 49-53, 116-138.
Anne Chayet. 2004. Architectural Wonderland: An Empire of Fictions. In James Millward, et al. eds. New Qing Imperial History: The Making of Inner Asian Empire at Qing Chengde. pp. 33-52.

Entry by Eveline S. Yang 4/17/07

Puning Si

Puning Si

One of the Eight Outer Temples at Qianlong’s Jehol complex, was built in 1755, in conjunction with the anticipated defeat of the Dzunghar Mongols. It was modeled on Samye (or on painted representations of Samye) the 8th Century Central Tibetan monastic site famed as the first Buddhist monastery built in Tibet. Puning si is one of three Jehol temples modeled on pre-existing Tibetan structures – Putuozongcheng miao is modeled on the Potala and Xumifushou is modeled on Tashilhunpo. The degree to which the temples in Jehol actually resembled the originals is subject to debate. It seems that the effort was not to exactly duplicate the Tibetan buildings, but rather to evoke an impression of these important and distinctive Tibetan Buddhist sites. Samye’s architecture incorporates Tibetan, Chinese, and Indian influences; each floor of the main temple is based on one of these distinct styles. The overall complex is said to be modeled after an eariler Indian Buddhist temple. The complex is made up of three concentric structures, housing various chapels with a statue of Shakyamuni occupying the central-most position. Samye is generally regarded as a mandala. Likewise, Puning si brings together various architectural and aesthetic styles, and its designers under Qianlong claimed that it too was a mandala-like structure based on the Indian original. Puning si’s main hall or Dasheng ge, houses a large statue of Avalokiteshvara in Shakyamuni’s stead and the overall structure of the buildings does not follow Samye’s model. The doors of Puning si display scroll motifs evocative of the Yuanming yuan style.

Link to 360 view of main image:
view from the first floor: link
view from the second floor: link

Sources:
Chayet, Anne. “Architectural Wonderland: An Empire of Fictions.” In James Millward, et al. eds. New Qing Imperial History: The Making of Inner Asian Empire at Qing Chengde. pp. 33-52. 20pp.

Chengde Shuxiang Si

Chengde Shuxiang Si

Shuxiang si 殊像寺 built by Qianlong Emperor in the valley north of his Bishu shanzhuang 避暑山莊is one of the eight temples on the outskirts of Chengde of the Heibei province. According to the records, after Qianlong accompanied his mother to Wutai shan 五台山, he decided to build a temple dedicated to Manjusri. Its architecture is based on a temple with the same name on Wutai shan.

The Shuxiang si in Chengde, just like the model it is based on in Wutai shan, has a classical architectural appearance. Echoing Qianlong emperor’s proclamation that he was the reincarnation of Manjusri, the bodhisattva’s statue in the Shuxiang si seemed to be a portrait of the emperor himself.

Something that set Shuxiang si apart from other monasteries was the fact that it was renowned for the scholarly work that was done there. It was truly a working monastery under the imperial patronage.

Sources:
Anne Chayet. 2004. “Architectural Wonderland: An Empire of Fictions.” In James Millward, et al. eds. New Qing Imperial History: The Making of Inner Asian Empire at Qing Chengde. pp. 33-52.
Philippe Forêt. 2000. Mapping Chengde: The Qing landscape enterprise. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i. 49-53, 116-138.

Entry by Agnes Lin

Xumifushou Temple

Xumifushou 须弥福寿庙 (Blessings and Longevity of Sumeru)

In 1780, the 6th Panchen Lama, Blo bzangs dpal ldan ye shes (1738–80) arrived at Chengde (承德), the summer retreat complex of the Manchus, to participate in the seventieth birthday celebrations of the Qianlong emperor (r. 1736–95). As part of the celebrations, the emperor had ordered the construction of the Xumifushou Temple, which replicated Bkra shis lhun po (Tashi Lhunpo), the seat of the Panchen Lama in Central Tibet. The birthday celebrations, and the elaborate preparations and ritualized activities that accompanied it, were based on historical precedents (as well as creative innovations) and served as displays of the emperor’s righteous rule over his Inner Asian subjects.

The practice of constructing Buddhist sites honoring political victories harked back to the Kangxi emperor (r. 1662–1723) who built the Huizong Monastery in Dolonnor for the Khalka Mongols after their surrender to the Manchus in 1691. The Qianlong emperor adopted this practice and built two more temples commemorating the conclusion of political victories: the Puning Temple (普宁寺), which was modeled after Bsam yas Monastery, in 1755 at Chengde to honor the Manchu defeat of the Dzungar Mongols, and the Putuozongchengmiao (普陀宗乘庙), modeled after the Potala Palace in Lhasa, in 1771 at Chengde for the combined occasions of the Empress Dowager’s eightieth birthday, Qianlong’s sixtieth birthday, and the return of the Kalmuk (or Torghut) Mongols to the Qing empire. Thus the construction of replicated Buddhist sites was instilled as an appropriate commemoration of political expansion. The act of replication, which was utilized in many different ways during the Qianlong reign, has been discussed as ritual acts where semiotic reinterpretation and alterations produced effects in experienced reality as well as permanent alterations of the significance of the original form.

The Shunzhi emperor (1644–61) established the precedent of constructing elaborate residences for visiting Tibetan prelates. In 1652, he ordered the construction of Xihuang Monastery (西黄寺) in Beijing for the visit of the Fifth Dalai Lama, Ngag dbang blo bzangs rgya mtsho (1617–82).

Thus, since the Qianlong emperor viewed his seventieth birthday as an occasion to impress upon his Inner Asian subjects the legitimacy of his rule, he drew upon these precedents to create spectacular settings for such ritual enactments. In 1778, the Qianlong emperor was overjoyed at the news that the Sixth Panchen Lama wished to be present at his birthday celebrations (likely influenced by Rol pa’i rdo rje, the senior-most lama in the imperial court and guru to Qianlong), as he was then the highest ranking prelate in Tibet and his visit would mark the second most important state visit from Tibet since the visit of the Fifth Dalai Lama. The order to construct the Xumifushou was issued on 26 January 1779, just three days after the emperor issued the official invitation to the Panchen Lama. In another letter to the Panchen Lama, dated to 18 February 1779, the emperor mentions that the Xumifushou was being built following the precedent of the Fifth Dalai Lama’s visit to Beijing.
The emperor decreed that construction was to be completed before the fourth month in 1780 to allow time for accommodating the monks and massive amounts of luggage that would arrive ahead of the Panchen Lama’s entourage. Indeed, construction was finished in the spring of 1780. The Xumifushou was built, under the close supervision of Rol pa’i rdo rje, to the east of the Putuozongcheng (Potala replica) on a mountain slope. While the façade of the complex is in the Tibetan style, the actual layout was designed like a Chinese monastic complex, on a central north-south axis. The complex consists of a main hall, called the Miaogao zhuang yan (妙高庄严), Lofty and Solemn Hall, which was designed for the Panchen Lama to give teachings and use for meditation and devotions. The roof of the Panchen Lama’s residential building, the Jixiang Faxi (吉祥法喜), Auspicious Omen and Joy in the Law, as well as the roof of the main hall were gilded in copper twice by imperial command. Two smaller pavilions were located to the right and left of the main hall. The pavilion on the left was that of the Panchen Lama’s, while the pavilion on the right, the Yuzuo, or Royal Throne, was that of the Qianlong emperor, and where his throne was installed. To the rear of the complex is the Wanfa zongyuan (万法宗源), Source of Ten Thousand Dharmas, which was the dormitory of the Panchen Lama’s entourage.

Documents record that massive amounts of objects were tranferred to Xumifushou from the temples of the Forbidden City and imperial workshops of the Zaobanchu in Beijing. An inventory submitted in 1800 records that there were 21 thangkas of Buddhist images in the main hall, 84 thangkas in the Yuzuo (Qianlong’s pavilion), 5 thangkas of Amitayus and 5 thangkas of Shakyamuni on the north side of this same pavilion, 12 bronze images and two sets of glass wugong sets (an incense burner, two candlesticks, and two vases) on the alter of this pavilion, and embroidered thangkas of Lhamo and eleven-headed Avalokiteshvara that were hung in the Jixiang Faxi, where the Panchen Lama resided.

While the replica of Bkra shis lhun po at Chengde only superficially followed its original, the actual purpose of its construction was communicated by the emperor himself in the four-language stele located at the entrance to the complex. In Chinese, Manchu, Tibetan, and Mongolian, the emperor observed that the two greatest disciples of Tsong kha pa, the founder of the dGe lugs pa school, the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama occupied separate monastic seats located at great distances from each other. Under the auspices of Qing imperial birthdays, these two seats of Tibetan Buddhism were brought together side by side, in replication, at Chengde. The construction of the Xumifushou folowed the precedent set by the building of Xihuang Monastery for the Fifth Dalai Lama’s visit. Qianlong goes on to declare that beyond following precedents, all the temples at Chengde served political functions by uniting China and its frontiers into “a single family.” By using visual similiarity, analogy, and proximity, Qianlong could extol his own “nonaction” as the key to his successful rule and to radiate his merit outward for the benefit of others. Thus the replication of Tibetan Buddhist monasteries at Chengde served as a means for the emperor to re-order his empire in panoptic form in a way that legitimized his rule as a benevolent and meritorious monarch and in the language of his Inner Asian subjects.

Sources:
Patricia Berger. 2003. Empire of Emptiness: Buddhist Art and Political Authority in Qing China. U Hawaii Press
Terese Tse Bartholomew. 2001. Thangkas for the Qianlong Emperor’s seventieth birthday. In Cultural intersections in later Chinese Buddhism. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i.

Entry by Eveline S. Yang 4/3/07

Shenyang (Mukden) Mahakala Complex

Mahakala complex in Mukden (nowadays, Shenyang, Chin.: 沈阳)

The Mahakala complex is located in Mukden, nowadays Shenyang in northeast China. The Mahakala complex consists of one major temple and four branch temples and adjunct stupas. The Mahakala temple (Shisheng si 实胜寺) was completed in 1638, while the four branch temples and adjunct stupas, set at the compass points, were built from 1643-45 to house four other deities. The stupas are the Rnam par snang ba’i lha khang, the Thugs rje chen po’i lha khang, the Tshe dpag med mgon gyi lha khang, and the Dus kyi ‘kho lo’i lha khang. The construction of the Mahakala complex represents the Buddhist cosmological order celebrated at Abahai’s succession as cakravartin, legitimized the Manchu’s dynasty, which put Mukden, the then capital of Manchu’s state, under the protection of Mahakala.

Mahakala is a seven-armed warlike deity known as a Protector of the Law (in Buddhist sense). Mahakala was particularly important for Mongols at that time and signified the sovereignty. That Hungtaiji embraced the Mahakala cult was crucial in terms of incorporating Mongols into the realm of Manchu state. It is worth noting that by adopting the notion of sovereignty, which was originally created by Mongols, Hungtaiji successfully legitimated the Manchu state.

The Yuan image of Mahakala housed at the complex was later transported from Mukden to Peking by Emperor Kangxi in 1694, where it became part of a new temple complex in the southeast corner of the Imperial City (south of the present-day Donghuamen).

However, what is intriguing about the patronage granted by the rulers of Manchu to Tibetan Buddhism is that, prior to the Qianlong reign, the rulers of Manchu dynasty did not only maintain relations with the Sa skya pa cult, but also kept relations with other cults as well. What should be kept in mind is that a number of Manchu rulers patronized other cults of Tibetan Buddhism while this magnificent temple complex was constructed. The Mahakala cult was closely related to the Sa skya pa cult exclusively.

Sources:

Crossley, Pamela Kyle, A Translucent Mirror: History and Identity in Qing Imperial Ideology, U.C.P., 1999
Crupper, Samuel M, Manchu Patronage and Tibetan Buddhism during the First Half of the Ch’ing Dynasty, The Journal of the Tibet Society, Vol.4, 1984
Rawski, Evelyn S, The Last Emperors: A social history of Qing imperial institutions UC.P., 1998

Entry by Lan Wu 03/13/07

Dolonor Huizong Si

Dolonor (Monglian: Doloonuur; “seven lakes”) and Huizong Monastery

Dolonor (present-day Duolun city, Inner Mongolia, Chin.: 多伦) is located in southern Inner Mongolia, on one of the major passageways to Beijing from areas north of the Great Wall. Its importance cannot be understood without mentioning the Dolonor Meeting (May, 1695, the 30th year of the Kangxi reign), which was the watershed moment in terms of the relation between the Qing court and the Mongols in the early Qing dynasty. During this meeting, the attending Khalkha Mongol elites appealed to the Kangxi emperor to build a monastery as a memento. The Kangxi emperor therefore chose Dolonor to be the site. In 1696, Dolonor Monastery was built by imperial order.

After numerous renovations in the following twenty years, by 1714, the 53rd year of the Kangxi regime, the monastery became one of the finest embellished monasteries north of Beijing. It was renamed Huizong monastery (汇宗寺) by the Kangxi emperor upon the request of the then abbot-lama. “Huizong” means gathering all sects together (like rivers flowing to the sea). The major hall of this monastery was destroyed by fire during the Xianfeng reign (1851-1861).

Most of the renovations were sponsored by the Imperial house. In 1702, Dorje Hutuktu was assigned as the abbot-lama. By 1732, Jebstun Choden (Zhebesang quedan哲布桑却丹, *rje bstun chos ldan), another Lama among the four lamas moved to Dolonor. Since then, the city of Dolonor became even more important in terms of Tibetan Buddhism being practiced in Mongolian communities in that region.

Dolonor’s importance can be mainly attributed to the imperial patronage and promotion. A twenty-year long renovation project was financially supported by the Kangxi emperor. The Kangxi emperor visited Dolonor once every two years and sent major business entities to Dolonor under the supervision of the Lifan Yuan. After the establishment of the monastery, the population in Dolonor increased tremendously, and many craft workshops emerged here. Moreover, the two massive temple fairs (Great Prayer Assemblies “祈愿大法会”) in each January and June attracted many pastoral residents from neighboring areas. Eventually Dolonor became known as a big city. The Kangxi emperor was so impressed when he visited Dolonor in 1714 that he commented that: “[The city of Dolonor] has become a metropolis.”

Sources:
Narchaoktu 那仁朝格图, “Prince Yunli and the Monglian Version of Fuzang Scriptures” 果亲王允礼以及蒙译伏藏经,Studies in Qing History 清史研究,Aug, 2002 No. 3, 99-105.
Gao, Yali and Liu, Qingbo 高亚利 刘清波, “The Establishment and Development of the Huizong Monastery, Dolonor” 多伦汇宗寺的兴建及演变,Antique Essays 文物春秋,2004, No.5, 14-19.
Guo, Meilan 郭美兰, “Emperor Kangxi and Huizong Monastery at Lake Dolonor” 康熙帝与多伦诺尔汇宗寺,Journal of Inner Mongolia University (Humanities and Social Sciences) 内蒙古大学学报(人文社会科学版), May, 2004, Vol. 36, No.3, 60-65.

Entry by 07/08/07

Yonghe Gong

Yonghegong 雍和宮

The Yonghegong or “Palace of Harmony” is the largest Tibetan-style monastery in Beijing. Built as a palace for the Yongzheng emperor, the complex was rededicated in 1744 by his son the Qianlong emperor as a monastery for Mongolian, Tibetan, and Chinese practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism. Yonghegong significantly fused a site of personal importance to the Qianlong emperor, associated with his father and with his own past, to the architecture and iconography of the emperor’s grand present and intimated glorious future.

As a place of personal significance, not only did the Qianlong emperor associate Yonghegong with his father, it was also the site of his own birth in 1711 and childhood upbringing. The Qianlong emperor kept his father’s body housed at Yonghegong until the final burial place was completed, and even afterwards entrusted the Mongolian monks of Yonghegong with maintaining the imperial family’s shrine. Yonghegong was the site of the Yongzheng emperor’s ancestral tablet and the Qianlong emperor’s annual filial sacrifices. In his first Yonghegong edict of 1744, the Qianlong emperor cites earlier precedents in China for converting imperial palaces into monasteries after the resident emperor’s death. The Yongzheng emperor himself had converted his father Kangxi’s palaces into monasteries, and had converted half the grounds of Yonghegong – at that time the rest of the grounds served as the emperor’s traveling palace – into a Buddhist refuge in 1725, just two years after he ascended the throne. Although the Yongzheng emperor practiced diverse religious traditions, most notably Daoism, reference to this is elided, and instead the Qianlong emperor in his edict portrays his father as an enlightened being akin to Sakyamuni Buddha.

Yonghegong’s dedication as a home mostly for Mongolian monks in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition belies its significance at the time of the Qianlong emperor’s “present.” The “Jetavana garden,” as the Qianlong emperor called it in his edict, simultaneously honored the Mongols by giving them care over the Yongzheng emperor’s relics but also worked to assert control over the Mongolian Buddhist establishment through paternalistic kindness. Yonghegong was also a war temple during both the Yongzheng and Qianlong emperors’ reigns. There is a tower in the complex devoted to Yamantaka, the conqueror of death and protector deity of Beijing. The Qianlong emperor kept his own weapons here and sent high officials to offer sacrifice during times of war. Monks chanted in the temple every day. In the Yongzheng emperor’s time, a subsidiary temple called Qushengdian or Hall of the War God was built to house a deity associated with a Han Chinese war general from the third century, Guan Yu. Rol pa’i rdo rje also later had a strong connection with this deity, but this temple is no longer extant.

Responsibility for Yonghegong’s design was given to Qianlong’s childhood friend and Tibetan Buddhist guru, the Monguor lama Rol pa’i rdo rje, along with the Gandan Shiregetu Losang Tenpay Nyima, another great incarnate lama of Beijing. The iconography of Yonghegong reflects a primary concern with the future, as reflected by the central importance of images of Maitreya. The Tibetan name for the monastery is Gandenchincholing, meaning “Splendid Heaven of Joy” and referring both to Maitreya’s Tushita heaven and to the first monastery built in 1407 by Tsong kha pa – founder of the Dge lugs pa lineage to which Yonghegong belonged. Maitreya is a central deity in Mongolian Dge lugs pa Buddhism, being associated both with Zanzabar – who instituted a popular and annual public homage ritual to Maitreya on New Year’s Day – and to Taranatha, another popular Tibetan Buddhist missionary among the Mongols who was of the rival Jonangpa lineage but was nevertheless claimed as Zanzabar’s preincarnation. There are two Maitreya images in Yonghegong, a small “Laughing Buddha” Hwashang in the first hall of the monastery, and a colossal sandalwood Buddha in the second to last hall, the Wanfuge.

Another more Tibeto-Mongolian and specifically Dge lugs pa “millennial” practice associated with Yonghegong were the rites of the Kalachakra tantra, or the Wheel of Time. The Kalachakra tantra is said to have been revealed by Shakyamuni Buddha to the king of a mysterious northern land called Shambhala. The last king of Shambhala will wage a terrible war against evil and then preside over a new age of peace and harmony. This story could have been strongly resonant to the Manchu (northern) dynasty and to the Qianlong emperor in particular, who called himself a peaceful ruler. Yonghegong houses a Kalachakra mandala, paintings of Shambhala, and a Kalachakra deity with his consort Vishvamati. The tantra was also repeatedly and sometimes annually recited by separate groups of monks, who at one time reached a total of one hundred reciters. This practice often took place during the third month.

Several other elements of Yonghegong are of historical interest and show the Qianlong emperor’s changing relationship with Tibetan Buddhism over his reign. After its initial dedication, the complex was reconstituted in the model of the great monasteries of Tibet as a university with four colleges of exoteric and esoteric Buddhism, medicine, and mathematics and calendrical sciences. Yonghegong houses a famous thangkha painting of the Qianlong emperor as the Manjughosa emperor, which has been the subject of much speculation as to how far the emperor was willing to go to associate himself with (or as) this bodhisattva. Several steles in the courtyards of the Yonghegong complex are also famous for their multilingual inscriptions. Written in the four official languages of the empire, Chinese, Manchu, Mongolian, and Tibetan, two steles display the Qianlong emperor’s dedication edict of 1744. The subtle differences in translation between the four languages have been interpreted as displaying the Qianlong emperor’s uncanny ability and even obsession with constituting his authority over each of his subject peoples in their own idiom. Another stele, often known as the “Lama Shuo” or “Speaking of Lamas,” can be found in a single pavilion of the fourth courtyard. This edict is an infamous criticism of the Tibetan Buddhist establishment written late in the Qianlong emperor’s life and after the death of his teacher Rol pa’i rdo rje. Although he distances himself from Buddhism in this edict – most strongly in the Chinese language – he also claims that it is his familiarity with Tibetan Buddhism that makes him uniquely appropriate to reform its practices.

Source:
Patricia Berger. 2003. Empire of emptiness: Buddhist art and political authority in Qing China. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.

Entry by Stacey Van Vleet, 4/3/07

Pu tuo zong cheng miao

Pu tuo zong cheng miao (普陀宗乘之廟; “Potala” Temple)

Pu tuo zong cheng miao is located in Jehol, the summer retreat for the Qing imperial family. It was decreed to be built in 1771 by the Emperor Qianlong to celebrate the eightieth birthday of his mother, the Empress Dowager Xiaosheng and the emperor’s sixtieth birthday, coincidentally, the Torghuts Mongols return after staying in Russia for a century. The Emperor Qianlong therefore held spectacular celebrations at Jehol.

Pu tuo zong cheng miao is one of the temples enclosing the summer retreat palace in Jehol. It replicates the Potala, the Dalai Lama’s palace-temple in Lhasa, Tibet. What is worth noting is that, according to Anne Chayet, it is the first one that even partially followed its chosen model in real architectural terms, translating its forms and spaces to fulfill very different needs. It enhanced the significance of the center chamber and its occupant and made it eminently suitable to the promotion of sovereignty of the Emperor Qianlong. Regardless of the fact that there are three Potalas, the Emperor Qianlong pointed out that Pu tuo zong cheng miao was modeled on the one in Lhasa, Tibet, because the Potala in India was beyond his powers of inspection.

The innermost sanctuary of this temple was the setting for the printing: Wanfaguiyi (Ten Thousand Dharmas Return as One). Bohemian Jesuit painter Ignatz Sichelpart and a group of Chinese, Tibetan and Mongolian artists captured the event of the home-coming of Torghuts Mongols in this painting. It explicitly expresses the Qianlong emperor’s Buddhist-inspired political strategy toward Inner Asia.

The Pu tuo zong cheng miao expresses a symbolic, geopolitical fact: China exists surrounded by the protective layer of Tibetanized Inner Asia.

Sources:
Berger, Patricia, Empire of Emptiness: Buddhist Art and Political Authority in Qing China. U Hawaii .P, 2003

Entry by Lan Wu 03/23/07

Wutaishan Pusading

Pusading 普薩頂/ Zhenrong yuan 真容院

Pusading, a small monastery located on the summit of Lingjiushan or Vulture Peak Mountain, is the highest point in Taihuai, the valley town between the five terraces of Wutai shan. Pusading has been an ongoing center of pilgrimage and imperial sponsorship since at least the Tang dynasty. According to the Expanded Record of the Clear and Cool Mountains (Guang Qingliang zhuan), compiled about 1057-63, the first temple at the site was Wenshuyuan (Cloister of Manjushri), built by Xiaowen (r. 471-499), emperor of the Northern Wei dynasty (385-534). The same record indicates that though apparitions of Manjushri were known to appear on this peak frequently, it was not until the time of the Tang Emperor Ruizong (662-716) that the temple became home to a sculpted image of Manjushri.

The tale of this sculpted image gave Pusading its other name, Zhenrong yuan, or Cloister of True Countenance. According to the Expanded Record, the reclusive sculptor Ansheng repeatedly failed in attempts to complete an image of Manjushri without cracks. Finally he appealed to the bodhisattva himself and then succeeded in making a perfect image by modeling it after seventy-two manifestations of Manjushri that accompanied him as he completed his work. Thereafter the monastery was known by the name Zhenrong yuan and was patronized by the emperors of successive dynasties until it was renamed during the Ming Yongle reign period as Pusading, or Bodhisattva Peak, also identified as Manjushri Peak.

The Ming Yongle emperor took a great interest in Pusading. The monastery was the site of Dawenshu-dian (大文殊殿), the first temple to house a copy of the Yongle edition of the Tibetan Buddhist canon or Kangyur (bka’ ‘gyur). Today, Dawenshu-dian is also sometimes referred to just as Pusading or Zhenrong yuan. The Ming Yongle emperor ordered the reconstruction of Dawenshu dian and then made an offering to the temple of the first printed copy of his Kangyur edition as soon as it was completed around 1410. There were also two temples on Pusading that housed copies of the Wanli print of the Kangyur, Luohou si bentang (羅喉寺本堂) and the Pule yuan bentang (普樂院本堂). Luohou si now houses the only known exemplar of a forty-two volume supplement to the Wanli Kangyur print, but it is missing two volumes.

The Qing Shunzhi emperor (r.1644-61) renovated Pusading extensively into an official imperial establishment and installed a Tibetan Buddhist lama from Beijing. Local legend says that the Shunzhi emperor staged his death and then took monastic vows at Pusading, and that his son the Kangxi emperor came in search of him there, performing many heroic deeds along the way. Both the Kangxi (1662-1722) and Qianlong (1736-1795) emperors stayed at this monastery during their numerous visits to Wutai shan.


Sources:

Jonathan A. Silk. 1996. Notes on the History of the Yongle Kanjur. In Suhrllekhah: Festgabe für Helmut Eimer. Swisttal-Odendorf: Indica et Tiebtica Verlag.
Wen-shing Chou. “Ineffable Paths: Mapping Wutaishang in Qing Dynasty China,” The Art Bulletin, Mar 2007, 89 (1): pp.108-129.

Entry by Stacey Van Vleet, 2/20/07

Dabaoji Gong

Dabaoji Gong 大宝积宫

Dabaoji Gong was founded in 1582 in an ethnically Naxi village called Baisha (白沙村), several miles from Lijiang in Yunnan (云南丽江). The Naxi (纳西族) was a group ethnically and linguistically related to the Tibetans, but who had, by the Ming era, more closely identified themselves politically and culturally with the Chinese. Lijiang prefecture was officially recognized as beyond the direct control of the Ming court, but was still of strategic military and economic importance since major invasion as well as trade routes lay within its territory. Thus the Ming court recognized the authority of its local rulers and relied on them to maintain control over the Tibetans along the southwest border of the empire.

The height of Lijiang military conquests and territorial expansion into Tibetan areas occurred during the mid-16th and 17th centuries and corresponded with an increased interest in Tibetan Buddhism. This interest was reflected in a sharp increase in temple-building activity, which can be interpreted as Lijiang’s efforts to attract the support of major Tibetan Buddhist figures to install the Lijiang court with politico-religious legitimacy in the eyes of Tibetan, and perhaps also Chinese, communities. The Kar ma bKa’ brgyud in the early Ming were widely known for their esoteric powers, and were therefore targeted for religious patronage.

The founder of the Dabaoji Gong, Mu Wang (木旺) (r.1580–98), was the ruler of Lijiang. He, according to the Ninth Karmapa’s biography, had a Tibetan Buddhist preceptor named Byang bshes pa, and also wished to commission a new woodblock edition of the bKa’ ‘gyur, which his son and successor, Mu Zeng (木增) (r.1598–1646) later completed. In addition to the Kar ma pas, Mu Wang also patronized other sects, particularly the dGe lugs pa.

Mu Wang’s son, Mu Zeng, expanded the Lijiang kingdom to its greatest breadth and at the same time was involved in building an unprecedented number of temples. He renounced the throne in 1624 at the age of 36 to pursue religious instruction at Fuguosi (福国寺) (one of the five main bKa’ brgyud schools in Lijiang). He is thought to be responsible for the paintings extant at Dabaoji Gong.

While Ming-era murals in Lijiang predating the Daobaoji Gong reflect Chinese and Bai styles and subjects, the murals in Dabaoji Gong are unique in the Sino-Tibetan painting tradition they exhibit. Temple murals that succeed the Dabaoji Gong show the increasing influence of Tibetan styles and themes. Thus Daobaoji Gong can be identified as the earliest extant temple that demonstrates the Sino-Tibetan painting tradition executed by local patronage and workshop.

The murals in the front half of the hall contain a mixture of Chinese Buddhist, Daoist, and Tibetan Buddhist figures and themes, while the murals in the rear of the hall are Tibetan Buddhist in nature, particularly that of the Kar ma bKa’ brgyud order. Of significance is the mural on one section of the rear wall that depicts the root of the Mahamudra lineage from Vajradhara to what is thought to be the Tenth Karmapa, Chos dbyings rdo rje (1604–74), who later fled to Lijiang following the devastating attack inflicted by the Fifth Dalai Lama on the Karma bKa’ brgyud (c. 1642). The style executed in this mural link the paintings in both the front and back of the temple while the dating of this mural links it to Mu Zeng’s patronage program that aimed to build new temples in Lijiang as well as connect them to specific Tibetan Buddhist lineages.

In total, thirteen Karma pa temples were built in the Lijiang area, and all, including Dabaoji Gong later became branch temples of dPal spungs in sDe dge when the sDe dge Si tu lineage reassembled the scattered bKa’ brgyud leadership in Eastern Tibet.

Thus the Dabaoji Gong reflects the intricate role the Lijiang kingdom played as a peripheral, autonomous region involved in conflicts among the Tibetans as well as between the Tibetans and Chinese. Through Buddhism, the Lijiang court sought legitimacy as religiously-sanctioned rulers among the Tibetans via their patronage of lineages and building of temples, as well as the Chinese in their patronage of temples at Mt. Wutai and other sites in China.


Source:

Karl Debreczeny. Sino-Tibetan Artistic Synthesis in Ming Dynasty Temples. Tibet Journal. 28: 49–107.

Entry by Eveline Yang, 2/26/07