尸羅=戒=command=Precept=sila=morality=rule=discipline=prohibition; 手印=mudra=finger-prints=seals=signet-rings=mystic positions of the hand; 佛教人物=Buddhist; 修行方法=修行法門=Practice; 菩薩=Bodhisattva; 開悟=證悟=Satori=Enlightenment; 圖像學=Iconography; 雕塑=雕刻=Sculpture; 釋迦牟尼佛=Sakyamuni
摘要
This study examines the iconography of the Buddhist sculptures from Bodhgaya made during the period of the Pala and Sena dynasties which ruled much of eastern South Asia from the eighth through the twelfth centuries. Bodhgaya is regarded as the center or source of Buddhism since the Buddha Sakyamuni achieved enlightenment there. The importance of Bodhgaya during the Pala and Sena periods is witnessed by the fact that the most common form for a Buddha image in the art of this time depicted the Buddha in bhumisparsa mudra, the gesture which designates the triumph over Mara, the god of death and desire, and the elimination of all obstacles to enlightenment. The victory over Mara occurred at Bodhgaya immediately before the Buddha's enlightenment.
Since the late nineteenth century, most scholarly work on the art of Bodhgaya has focused on the early remains, but the majority of the surviving sculptures is actually post-Gupta in date and primarily belongs to the period of the Pala and Sena dynasties. By their size and quantity, sculptures of the Buddha are clearly the most important found at the site. But other forms--Bodhisattvas and male deities, and female deities--are not uncommon.
This examination of the various forms of deities portrayed provides some sense of the general patterns of artistic expression of the Buddhist concepts which are manifested in the extant works from Bodhgaya. Information from various sources, such as inscriptions, pilgrim records, and Buddhist texts, was utilized to shed further light on the meaning of this imagery. The results yielded here help to define the course of artistic production at Bodhgaya and permit a fuller understanding of the site during this last major era of Buddhist practice in eastern India.
