吳彬=Wu Bin; 丁雲鵬=Ding Yungpeng; 晚明宗教版畫=Religious Printed Book in Late Ming; 居士藝術=Lay Buddhist Art; 渡水羅漢=Lohan Crossing Water; 崇福寺《涅槃圖》=Nirvana Painting in Sofukuji Temple; 陳賢=Chen Xian; 黃檗藝術=Obaku Art
In 1592, Wu Bin created the "Sixteen Arhats Scroll" (now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York) in Quanzhou. Although the appearance of the arhats in the scroll is different from that of ordinary people, they display dignified and graceful behavior when paying homage to Buddha, watching over the release of living creatures, and listening to sutra teachings, much like literati scholars. Wu Bin (active around 1568-1621) himself was a lay Buddhist, and his depictions of Buddhist figures painting reflect the flourishing state of lay Buddhism in the late Ming period. After reorganizing ancient painting styles, the arhats in these scrolls are depicted as engaging in activities like ordinary devotees, adding secular details to the image of the arhats and creating resonance between the work and the audience outside the painting. These days we have a good understanding of Wu Bin's status as a lay Buddhist, but there is still room for debate on how to position his peculiar yet fascinating Buddhist figures and artistic style within the visual culture of late Ming Dynasty. James Cahill argues that the introduction of new Western elements helped to intensify the trend of both reviving and innovating in late Ming art. Shih Shouchien, on the other hand, focuses on the urban culture of Jinling City in the 17th century. He noticed that Gu Qiyuan (1565-1628) opposed fake antiquities and advocated new and innovative art, which can be the context of Wu Bin's style. The author has previously studied Wu Bin's identity as a lay Buddhist and has found that his depictions of Buddhist figures have already broken away from traditional conventions and incorporated rich secular details. In fact, Wu Bin and his style had a significant influence and legacy in the Fujian region, particularly through the works of Chen Xian (active during 1634-1660), who was also a layman and painted one hundred bodhisattva paintings for fundraising and renovation at Yanfu Temple in Quanzhou, Fujian. It was through the transmission of the Obaku Zen Master Yinyuan Longqi (1592-1673) that Chen Xian's works became better known in Japan. From Wu Bin to Chen Xian, the transformation of strange and interesting forms and the addition of secular details have formed a new and noteworthy style of Buddhist art created by lay artists in the late Ming and ear-ly Qing dynasties. This article will be divided into two parts for visual analysis of these painting styles. The first part will examine the style of religious painting in late Ming Jiangnan, focusing on the woodblock prints of Ding Yunpeng and the court-related paintings of the Longqing and Wanli periods, in order to compare the characteristics of Wu Bin's new Buddhist figure painting style. The second part will examine the subsequent derived styles in the early Qing dynasty, using the Nirvana Paintin
