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Making Sacred Ground: Buddhist Monuments, Pilgrimage Landscape and Sacred Waste

Submitted to Program Units
1: Indian and Chinese Religions in Dialogue Unit

Zhiru Ng, Pomona College, Presiding

Abstract for Online Program Book (maximum 150 words)

Sacred sites and religious spaces can employ material, narrative, and ritual associations to link themselves into a global network across time and space. Following this broader perspective of religious sites and devotional spaces, this panel explores different ways of making sacred ground and the making of Buddhist sites in varying cultural geographies ranging from India and Central Asia to China and Nepal. The panel organizes the four papers into nodes in the lifecycle(s) of religious shrines and objects, from the birth of a shrine, its reproduction beyond the geography of its origin, and finally, the treatment of “expired” shrine objects. While the first three papers deal with the creation of Buddhist sites for devotion, the last paper is about the Manichaean-influenced creation of repositories for the “sacred waste” generated in devotional and religious lives. 

Papers

  • Dessislava Vendova, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

    Kāliṅgabodhi jātaka's classification of Buddhist shrines revisited

    Abstract

    The Kāliṅgabodhi jātaka is a frequently referenced early Pāli text that offers a categorization of Buddhist temples and their worship. It is particularly noteworthy since it enumerates three distinct categories of Buddhist sacred buildings known as cetiya (Skt.: caitya), which are supposedly approved by the Buddha himself. These three types of cetiya are as follows: sārīrika-cetiya, also known as dhatu[ka]cetiya to enshrine bodily relics; cetiya connected to an item or place worn by the Buddha, like the seat of Enlightenment beneath the bodhi tree or the tree itself (pāribhogika-cetiya); and a third “indicative,” dedicatory or commemorative kind called uddesika-cetiya. In this paper, I revisit the three types of cetiya from the Kāliṅgabodhi jātaka, suggest a new interpretation of the uddesika-cetiya category, and discuss the three types of cetiya connections with different modes of pilgrimage.

  • Miroj Shakya, University of the West

    Exploring the Sacred Landscape: An Account of Mañjuśrī and Wutai Shan in the Vṛhat Svayambhū Purāṇa

    Abstract

    Mañjuśrī is portrayed as the founder of the Kathmandu Valley in the Svayaṃbhū Purāṇa, where he is shown playing a vital role in founding the Nepalese Buddhist tradition. The Vṛhat Svayambhū Purāṇa describes in detail the visit of Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī to Kathmandu Valley from Wutai Shan (Pañca-śīrśa parvat) with his two consorts, Varadā and Mokṣadā, and accounts of his draining of the water in the lake and the establishment of the Kathmandu Valley with many sacred places. This study will explore an account of Mañjuśrī and Wutai Shan in the Vṛhat Svayambhū Purāṇa, examining it in both the Sanskrit and Newari languages. It will trace the origins and development of the Mañjuśrī cult in Nepal and discuss the significance of Wutai Shan to this cult.

  • Todd T. Lewis, College of the Holy Cross

    The Chinese Frontier of Newar Buddhism: Art and Ritual

    Abstract

    This paper describes the farthest premodern extension of Newar Buddhist traditions into China. First are influences brought by master Arniko (1245-1306) who came to China with a team of artisans in the Yuan dynasty. This gifted versatile artist became so renowned for his work in central Tibet that the Mongol rulers of China brought him to their new city, Beijing. Arniko built the "White Pagoda," a chorten at the center of the walled city. This paper will describe the evidence of Arniko’s 20-year presence in China and point to possible influences on Chinese Buddhist traditions, including other temples in Beijing, Great Wall gateways, and at the spiritual/pilgrimage center Wutai Shan. Part II will connect several of these sites to the records associated with two later Newar visitors, the monks Sahaja Śri (at Wutai Shan 1369-1374) and Śri Śariputra (1335-1426), who appear in the Chinese annals.

  • Zsuzsanna Gulcsi, Northern Arizona University

    Secret waste and its storage in Manichaean manistans and Buddhist viharas of Uygur Kocho along the Silk Road in East Central Asia

    Abstract

    This study focuses on Manichaean and Buddhist archeological finds dating from the 9th-13th centuries that were discovered by German and British expeditions (1902-1916) at Kocho (Ch. Gaochang) in the Turfan region (Xinjiang province, PRC) of East Central Asia and are housed in the Asian Art Museum in Berlin, the British Museum in London, and the National Museum in New Delhi.  The examples examined derive from Ruins α and K, both of which attest an initial Manichaean and subsequent Buddhist occupancy.  Their specific find sites have traditionally been interpreted as “library rooms.”  The material evidence supplied by the physical conditions of the fragmentary manuscripts and painted textiles, however, indicates otherwise.  This study argues that the objects in question were found preserved as sacred waste in geniza-like repositories that were set up during the Manichaean phase (9th-10th century) and continued to be used during the Buddhist phase (11th-13th century) of these monastic sites.

Audiovisual Requirements

Resources

LCD Projector and Screen
Podium microphone

Comments

Our preferred format is 120 minutes, with 4 paper presenters, a respondent, and a presider. If a 120-minute session is not possible, and the only option is a 90-minute session, then we will not have a respondent.

Full Papers Available

No
Program Unit Options

Session Length

90 Minutes

Schedule Preference Other

2 hours
Schedule Info

Saturday, 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM

Tags

#Buddhism #BuddhistArt #narratives #material culture #stupa #pilgrimage #jataka #relics
#Buddhism #Nepal
#pagoda
#sacred waste #Manichaeanism #Buddhism #sacred space #chorten #ritual

Session Identifier

A23-419