天門·天宮·兜率天宮 -- 敦煌第275窟彌勒天宮圖像的來源=Heavenly Gate, Heavenly Palace, and Tusita Heaven -- On the Iconographical Origin of Maitreya’s Tusita Heaven in Mogao Cave 275
The iconography of the Heavenly Gate as the abode of the Queen Mother of the West from the Han and Jin style in Sichuan, North Shaanxi, and Hexi regions, Buddhist images of the Han and Jin dynasties in the Yangtze River basin, and the Heavenly Palace of Maitreya in Gandhara together led to the creation of images portraying Maitreya’s Tusita Heaven in Mogao Cave 275 of the Northern Liang dynasty. This new image was not only popular in the Northern Wei dynasty caves of Dunhuang, but also influenced the Yungang Grottoes.Early images of Maitreya’s Heavenly Palace in the Central Plains derived from the convergence of Gandharan Buddhist sculptures and Chinese belief in the Queen Mother of the West and present some early examples of the Sinicization of Buddhist art in China.
