Iconographic and psychologic interpretation of some Buddhist events

Archeology of images No.9

Iconographic and psychologic interpretation of some Buddhist events

By Vittorio Roveda @ (Copyright text and pictures)
 

Buddhist iconography; the need of images (icons); the origin of early Buddhist art in India and its evolution from indexical (aniconic) to figurative and narrative

(Several examples).

Examples and religious and psychological interpretation of a few selected events (Dream of Maya, the Birth and the Seven Steps, the Tonsure or Cutting of the hair and the Enlightenment); in depth psychological analysis of the ways and meanings of the visual manifestation of the sacred. This type of enquire may seem blasphemous to some orthodox Buddhist reader. I apologize in advance, remanding that I accept new techniques

This is the last part of the paper. 

4) The Parinirvana

Western scholars have always been taken by great anxiety in front of Death. Deprived form a religious meaning and of the Judeo-Christian belief, death means emptiness and in front of this great void modern man is paralyzed. For the religious believer, death is a rite of passage, but in our modern world without religion, death is confused with anxiety in front of emptiness or the discovery of nothingness, the void (nil). In primitive and most evolved societies the idea of nothingness is connected with the idea of death and that death is followed by a new start (a new life in the belief of re-incarnation).

Passing into nirvana at death marks the end of the cycle of existence, the samara.

In nirvana there is the absolute cessation of attachments/entanglements. It does mean ‘extinction’ but a state that can be described a gradual process, like cutting off the fuel to a fire and letting the ambers die down, rather than a sudden dramatic event, hence the popular concept that nirvana is the ‘blowing out of a flame’. It is where one is cooled from the fever of desire. In nirvana the Buddha remains accessible to help suffering beings.

Parinirvana is when there are no lingering conditions. As opposed to Nirvana, in Parinirvana there are no residual shadows of previous existences, the Nirvana without reminders

The Entering Parinirvana is thus putting an end for all time to the psycho-physical activity of human individuals, freedom from the effect of karma. The Parinirvana, obtained only at death, is the Final Nirvana.

In the sacred text of the Mahaparinirvana –sutta is expounded “the Discourse on the Great Decease”, including the events leading to the Buddha death and his travel during the last few months of his life.   

According to tradition, the Buddha’s sickness started with the dinner of Cunda, but he managed to control his sickness and resume the journey. One day, he asked Ananda to bring him water to quench his thirst. Ananda was reluctant, knowing that the water from the river had been muddied by the transit of a caravan of hundred carts; the Buddha insisted Ananda to go and surprisingly the water had become crystal clear. He was then visited by Magallan and Sariput.

Later the Budha became more ill but took a bathe in the river; followed by a stop to rest.

However, he decided to move to Kushinagara, a large wealthy town. No sooner that he reached this site he asked Ananda to spread a couch with the head to the North, between two sala trees. He lay down on his left side and would rise no more. His life was to end during the third watch of the following night.

Ananda seeing the Buddha completely immobilized, took matters under his control. He took care of the messages to be sent to important people and friends, and the load of visitors who wanted to see the Master before he passed away, including groups of Mallas and Shakyas. A special case was that of the heretic Subhadra that insisted repeatedly to see the Buddha that was allowed in the “restricted area” and listen to the last words of the Master and his total condemnation of the doctrines of the six heretic masters; Subhadra converted and, according to iconography, is sometimes depicted as a monk seated inn mediation in front of the Buddha’s deathbed.

Sensing his end approaching, the Buddha called his monks and exhorted them to work for their salvation with diligence. The Lord could not die simply from physical exhaustion. Since he was an experienced yogi, he passed through a series of spiritual trance and from the peak of ecstasy he passed through a series of deep meditation stages (1-2-3-4 and then 4-3-2-1-and again 1-2-3-4)- followed by his extinction and transition into the supreme final Nirvana or Parinirvana. As soon as he passed away, two gods appeared: Indra with a golden  urn and Brahma with a golden robe for the Buddha. `Later He exchanged it with that of a poor man, assuming thus the dressing of a simple monk.

ESSENTIOAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

Mircea Iliade, Le Sacré et le profane,  Paris, Gallimard, « Idées », 1965 ; reprint « Folio essais », 1987 

Rachet Guy, Lalitâvistara, Paris, Editions sand, 1996

The Parinirvana

Fig. 1 - The Buddha reclined on his right side, being visited by hundreds of monks. In the foreground are his closest disciples. Wat Chedei (Cambodia). The photo was taken when the sun was illuminating the scene in 2002. The age of the mural was probably of early 20th century.

Fig.2 - A discrete illustration of acolytes visiting and asking permission to see and listen to the Lord’s worlds short before Buddha’s death. Not a Parinirvana scene because Buddha is reclining on his left side

Wat Arun, Bangkok (Difficult dating due to repeated restorations, the original being probably of late 1800).

 

Fig. 3 – A comparatively small panel high on the wall showing the Parinirvana. Wat Pol Chen (Kampong Thom). Picture I took in 2007.The date of the murals is probably around the mid-1900.

Fig. 5 – a modern Parinirvana attended by lots of people.

Wat Botum (Phnom Penh). 1990’s.

Fig. 4 - A colourful modern Parinirvana. Wat Kesseraram (Siem Reap), painted in 1995-2000.

Fig.6– Rock carved image of the Parinirvana. Panted and recently re-painted. Phnum Santuk (Kampong Thom), Cambodia. The rock carving is old but the painting modern.

Fig.7 - A large mural painting of the Parinirvana that does not seem to encourage devotion from a monk at Wat Kuk Chak (Siem Reap), Cambodia. No comments.

The Tonsure

 

Iconographic and psychologic interpretation of some Buddhist events

By Vittorio Roveda @ (Copyright text and pictures) 

Siddhartha's tonsure

After having left his palace, his parents and wife and child, Siddhartha flew in the sky riding his horse Kantaka with his squire Chandaka hanging on the horse’s tail, flying over the lands of the Shakyas and the Mallas. At dawn he landed, dismounted his horse and standing on the ground, dismissed all the gods, nagas, garudas, and kinnari that had accompanied and protected him.
To create a new start to his life, he ordered his squire to take back to his father his princely ornaments including his horse. He then cut his long flowing hair and threw it to the wind. The God of Tavatimsa diligently collected them to celebrate a festivity in their honor (the ceremony of the collected tuft of hairs) and enshrined them in a stupa.
Having decided to become a religious man he wandered to whom his rich dress could be of interest since he did not need it for the forest life. The gods immediately provided by sending down one of their sons in the semblance of a hunter, simply dressed with a reddish cloth. Siddhartha concluded the swap. This gesture was a step in the transformation from layman to monk, marking the transition from profane to sacred.
After the palace women discovered the absence of Siddhartha, a rescue team was sent outwhihc found the hunter wearing Siddhartha’s princely clothes. He was captured and accused until Chandaka returned and told the true story. According to a text (the Mahavastu) Siddhartha had given to his squire a message for his father, his stepmother and the rest of the family “except his wife”, while the Lalitavistara mention Chandaka consoling the heartbroken wife. With this episode ends the cycle of Kapilavastu.

The episode of Siddhartha cutting of the hairs corresponds - in my view – to the mutilation required in all initiation’s ceremonies. I want to propose the following

1) This is a rite of passage from profane to the sacred, with its required initiate mutilation symbolizing death of the old to be reborn into a new world. It was a death to princely, profane life with a rebirth into an isolate, spiritual, sacred life, a true ‘rite of passage’ from one stage in life to another, from youth to adulthood and maturity. In this critical period of Siddhartha’s life, the archetype of initiation was activated to offer something more spiritually satisfying to Siddhartha: He has left the mundane life to enter a life of austerity and renunciation; He will be reborn into a sacred existence, in a world where it is possible to discover the Truth (The Law); He is not a young neophyte, but a man (he was 29) that has known the mysteries of life, who had revelations of metaphysical order. He is a man that has reached spiritual maturity, the awareness that He will reach enlightenment, alone, through a return to the origin with the simplicity of a just born man, simple and new.

2) After the sacrifice (the cutting of the hairs), he enters the forest, a dark place (embryonic stage) inhabited by some mythic figures: the gurus that will become his teachers (Alama and Rudraka). In this forest he will find his shelter (maternal stage).

From the regression to the embryonic state and the transition to the maternal womb, or a return to pre-natal state, Siddhartha regresses in time becoming contemporaneous with time, the time of Creation in the cosmic night, in view of the enlightenment.

3) The third phase of the initiation concerns the symbolism of death.

During his extreme asceticism, Siddhartha renounces eating and drinking to reach the stage closer to death, becoming like a skeleton; he suffers terrible spasms, tortured by the demons of initiation, the sacrifice of extreme fasting.

We have seen the symbolism of death as the requirement for the spiritual re-birth and regeneration. Death means overcoming the profane condition of ‘natural man’, to discover the dimension of the sacred.

The tonsure

 

Fig.1 – Details of Siddhartha cutting his hair with happy determination. Wat Kesararam (Siem Reap). End 20^th century.

 

Fig. 2 – A comparatively well preserved corner of the old vihara, painted with the complex scene of Chandaka (Janaka) going back to the place with all the gold ornaments and crown of Siddhartha, then the horse Kantaka dying of sadness. Opposite to him, sitting on as rock, Siddhartha is cutting his long hair with his sword held in his left hand. Immediately, the god Indra appears with a vessel to collect the hair that he will put in the Culamani stupa in the Heavens. Then (Right of picture), Siddhartha is walking away dressed as a monk carrying an alms bowl. The red-ochre background is typical of Kampong Tralach Leu, end of 19^th century.

Fig. 3- This picture was taken by Giteau in 1960’s before the monastery was demolished (and the painting on wood lost with it?). She published it in 2003. It shows Chandaka, the squire of Siddhartha, crying near the horse Kantaka who is dying of sorrow for the separation from Siddhartha. Painting originally at the monastery of  Pray Veng (Kandhal), Cambodia

 

Fig. 4 - The Bodhisattva Siddhartha is shown standing in princely dress while cutting his hair with his sword in his right hand. He is watched by Indra appearing in a cloud holding a container in the shape a stupa to collect the hairs. On the ground are the crown and the sward’ quiver that are collected by Chandaka near the horse Kantaka. Wat Bo Langka (Siem Reap) early 20^th century.

Fig. 5 - This damaged mural is from the abandoned Vihara of Wat Chedey (South West of Siem Reap). I took the photograph in 2002 and by now I suspect the mural is gone. It shows the scene of the squire Chandaka walking away holding the prince’s crown to bring to the King. Above is painted the same Chandaka crying over the dying horse. The original painting must have been in brilliant colours considering that they were still sharp when I visited the monastery (early 20^th century)

Fig.6 - The tonsure at moonlight?  Wat Bo Langka (Siem Reap). Painted around 1970’s, restored in 1990s

Fig.7 - The tonsure in an aristocratic vision and painting. To the left or the viewer is Chandaka crying over the dying horse. At the center is the Buddha cutting his hair sitting on a rock. To the right are the two gods Indra and Brahma; Indra to collect the holy hairs and Brahma offering the golden cloth to Siddhartha. In the river, fish are jumping of joy. Wat Kongkharam, Bangkok.20^th century. (This Thai painting is used in comparison to Khmer Painting)

Fig.8 – The tonsure near the river Anoma. To the right of Siddhartha the two gods Indra and Brahma have arrived with offerings. Chandaka is on the other shore with the dying horse. 

 Wat Sisovat Ratanaram (south of Phnom Penh). The mural was slightly restored in the 1990s as can be seen on this detail.

Fig.9 – The tonsure is shown on two registers slightly shifted aside. Buddha is shown sitting with crossed legs over lotus flowers, glanced by Brahma and Indra making offerings. Mural painting in the cave of  Powin Taung, Myanmar, 17^th century

Maya's Dream and Buddha's birth

Maya’s dream and the birth of Buddha

Iconographic and psychologic interpretation of some Buddhist events

By Vittorio Roveda @ (Copyright text and pictures)

Buddhist iconography; the need of images (icons); the origin of early Buddhist art in India and its evolution from indexical (aniconic) to figurative and narrative

(Several examples).

Examples and religious and psychological interpretation of a few selected events (Dream of Maya, the Birth and the Seven Steps, the Tonsure or Cutting of the hair and the Enlightenment); in-depth psychological analysis of the ways and meanings of the visual manifestation of the sacred. This type of enquire may seem blasphemous to some orthodox Buddhist reader. I apologize in advance, remanding that I accept new techniques

Modern Iconography has borrowed interpretative tools from other disciplines: semiology, psychoanalysis, ethnography and social studies a. It has evolved from the study of simple identification of images ( Buddha or Bodhisattva), into a tool for generate meaning in images (why not a Bodhisattva and in which context he is depicted).

Meaning is an active process implying to negotiate meaning from- and to- images, give and take between the observer and the image/s. Meaning is the dynamic interaction  between the sign, the interpretant (or signified, the mental concept) and the object (signifier, the external reality);the meaning is historically related and may change in time. I have taken 4 Buddhist examples to show my interpretation’s skill.

1. The conception (Dream of Maya)  and the birth
2. The First 7 Steps
3. The tonsure or Cutting of the air
4. The Parinirvana

( In this paper I illustrate only Number 1 and 2, the conception birth and The Seven steps. The next two will be illustrated Late) 

1) Maya’s dream and the birth

When still in the Tusita heavens, the chosen bodhisattva asked his friends on which guise he will enter his mother womb. One of the divine friends closed the discussion stating “in the form of a white elephant having six tusks”, surprising everybody, but justified by the knowledge that in India the white elephant was one of the 7 treasures of the Universal Sovereign. About the six tusks, there is probably a connection with an episode of a previous life of the Buddha when he was mortally wounded by a hunter that donated him 6 tusks.

However, amongst various incredible elements of the miracle, the descent of the Bodhisattva in elephantine form was nothing more than a dream of Maya.

In iconography Maya should recline on her left side because it is written that the Bodhisattva entered and exited from her right side. However, artists (from the medallion of Amaravati onwards) represented Maya’s position freely to fit their design layout.

The premonitory dream of the white elephant descent was the symbol of Conception (corresponding to the Catholic ‘Annunciation’?) became a genuine episode in Shakyamuni’s life in all scriptures.

Maya, during one of her usual outings in the pleasure gardens was overtaken by the labor pains. She gave birth standing (very unusual, unnatural), grasping a branch of a tree with her right arm (an ashoka or sala tree?); Siddhartha was born coming forth from his mother’s flank, not in the usual way.

Psychologically, this is very interesting.

Maya is always represented alone, her husband absent, either at the moment of the conception and or of the birth, demanding that the birth of the future Buddha must be physically and morally pure; it was a subject to be treated with delicacy.

This is further supported by the legend (more common in Thailand) that the baby was sheltered in a tabernacle of precious stones where he lived for 10 lunar months in his mother womb, sitting in cross-legged position, having the size of a 6 months old child and the 32 marks characterizing a ‘Great Man’. Apparently during the time, the child spent his time preparing for preaching his doctrine and the Law to 36 times 1000 millions of souls (36 trillions of souls?). The legend wants that baby was nourished by Brahma with a super-concentrate sap produced by a gigantic lotus.

The miraculous event is emphasized by the fact that:

1) The father had nothing to do with conception

2) There were little or nothing physical contact with his mother because the child entered her body already complete with full intellectual and moral attributes.

3) To make sure that Sakyamuni was the only child, Maya died 7 days after giving birth.

 So we can to ask why he had to go through such complex gestation rather than being born directly on a marvelous lotus, the same that produced the powerful elixir for Brahma ?

Why the legend forced the Bodhisattva to go through a sort of human birth rather than making it purely divine?

The texts give the answer: he came on earth trough the womb of a woman because of his commiseration with the human race; if he had descended as a god, we humans could not imitate him and compare with him. He wanted to be a man to encourage us to follow his example in the practice all his virtues.

He was miraculously born from the side of his mother to follow the example of the god Indra (mentioned in the Rgveda); the non-intervention of a father and a mother is a superhuman fact. In a western context the conception and the Buddha’s birth was ‘immaculate’, one of the Great Miracles.

2) The 7 steps of the Buddha

 In the various texts there is controversy on the first events after birth. A set of texts speak of a bath, ether by natural jets of water sprinkling from nature, or poured by two famous snakes (Nanda and Upananda) or by the gods Indra and Brahma that had acted as midwives.  All texts agree in saying the water was cold and hot.

The episode of the 7 steps, whether preceded or followed by that of the bath, is important because the just-born Siddhartha, after his 7 steps with his face turned to the North, without touching the ground (feet on a lotus), with a strong voice pronounced his first words:

“I am the highest in the world [1], I am the best [2], the first-born in the world [3]; this is my last rebirth [4], there will not be further existences”.

Analysis

[1] The Buddha is the highest, at the top of the cosmic world and of the 7 heavens, he is the first and the last [3-4], meaning that he is beyond time and space, he is transcendental, and has put an end to the cycle of reincarnation, samsara, by stating there were no further existences. He walked over the soil without touching the ground, eliminating the third dimension.

Notice the depth of the first worlds of this young Siddhartha.

This extreme symbolism of “the highest in the world” existed before, in Vedic Hinduism when, during a sacrifice, the man was elevated to the sky, climbing the steps of an ideal ladder and becoming immortal. The staircase of the sacrifice will become a very important symbol in Buddhism (ascent-to and descent-from Tavatimsa).

The New-born transcended this dirty and decayed world to climb to the top of the 7 heavens and the 7 planets, at the very top of the cosmos, The Pole.

The symbolism of “…I am….the first born” [1], means that He is contemporaneous (of the same time) of the beginning of the world. He has abolished time and creation, born at the same instant of the cosmos. In Buddhism, going back to the cosmic time is done through remembering all previous lives.

Other texts (Later versions) narrate that he did not walk only facing the North, but also in the direction of the other cardinal points(4, 6, 10)  in any case always with the feet lying on a blossoming lotus flower (or on the self-levelling ground). The ground was pure, smooth, uncontaminated, under his feet. The symbolism of the transcendence is evidenced by the steps without touching the ground, without direct contacts with the ground.

Life is suffering, and suffering continues in time according the law of karma that implies endless reincarnations, returns to life and to suffering. The free oneself from the karmic law, destroy maya (illusion), corresponds to healing. The Buddha becomes the ‘king of healers’, the doctor of a new medicine, meant to heal man from the existence in time. By burning any chance of a future life, one destroys the karmic cycle and frees himself from time.

A means to burn the karmic residues is the technique of going back and be aware of previous lives. It means, at a precise (present) instant, going through time backwards to reach the instant when time did not exist because nothing was manifested.  Re-live one own previous lives means to understand them and burn the sins done under the influence of ignorance, accumulated into own karma.  Furthermore we reach the beginning of time or the Non-time, the eternal present, eternity.

ESSENTIOAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

Mircea Iliade, Le Sacré et le profane,  Paris, Gallimard, « Idées », 1965 ; reprint « Folio essais », 1987 

Rachet Guy, Lalitâvistara, Paris, Editions sand, 1996

CAPTIONS 

 

Fig.1 – Bodhisattvas assemble in the Tusita Heaven preparing themselves for the final existence. They had to determine the most propitious time, place of birth, the lineage, and the mother who will bear one of them.

 

Fig.2 - The dream of Maya, The oneiric qualities of the dream are clearly illustrated. The dream of a white elephant feconding her is part of Buddhist mythology. Wat Botum, Phnom Penh, Late 20^th century.

 

Fig.3 - The birth. Maja holds firmly her right arm while giving birth from her thigh to a mature baby boy who walk away from her, making seven steps. A lotus grows under each step. Wat Bo Krom (Siem Reap). Modern painting.

Fig.4 - The birth. This is a typical Thai mural showing Indra receiving the baby Buddha in a precious tabernacle where he was during gestation. Brahma is offering a golden parasol. Devas (celestial being) are present as well as lay people and trumpet players. Maya is not to be seven in this detail of this mural. Wat Sutat (Bangkok). Probably 19^th century

Fig.5 – Maya giving birth. This is a naturalistic vision of a local painter showing Maya assisted by two matrons, and the baby Buddha cuddled in an amok as done normally in Southeast Asia. Wat Pak Khlong, Bangkok. 20^th century.

The Seven Steps

Fig.6, 7 – The birth and the seven steps. Barely visible behind the chicken-net to protect the original frescoes of Maya giving birth. In Fig.4, the net was destroyed where the young Siddhartha had stopped to talk. The boy Siddhartha is barely visible behind a hole in the net as a pink tiny figure, destroyed by people touching as a sign of fun or superstition. Early 20^th century, Wat Damrei Sor, Battambong (my Photograph 2002).

Fig.7a, 7b, and 7c -The seven steps, I stitched the 2 photographs 4 and 5 to have a complete view of the painted event, or wat is left of it. I feel important to illustrate some of the murals of Wat Chedei (Siem Reap) still readable in 2002, by now probably lost after the building of a brand new vihara. They should have been nominated part of Cambodian cultural heritage to follow under the umbrella of restoration of APSARA National Authority. I mentioned this repeatedly to high level people of APSARA but I did not present a report. The late Khmers brick tower that was at the back of the falling vihara, is still in good condition, standing proud amongst Buddhist remains. Fig.7a, b, c (my photographs 2002).

Fig.8 – Young Siddhartha, having completed Seven Steps, sopped, raised his right arm and pronounced the famous say: “I am the highest in the world , I am the best, the first-born in the world ; this is my last rebirth” , Wat Krivanaram, Bangkok(photograph 2002).

Fig.9, 10, 11- I like to illustrate what is left from the murals of Wat Chedei (South west of Siem Reap) that are washed away by the rain of the monsoons, the building being without roof for

several years. The monks have abandoned it to build a brand new vihara in front of the existing 

one. At the same time, a large communal room, named salachan was built and decorated with 

murals of Buddhist mythology. The soldiers depicted below carrying an original shield are part of the cortège accompanying Maya during the trip. Probably 19^th century (photograph 2002)

Fig.12 – This nice mural of the end 19-early 20^th century has been splashed with drops of white paint droops when restoring the ceiling. Starting from middle part it is possible to see queen Maya in a rich carriage, pulled by horses moving towards the Lumpini Park. Suddenly she had to give birth, approached a tree grasped a branch and at once the boy was born out from her tight. He was named Siddhartha, made seven steps towards the north. On each step a lotus appeared, impeding the boy to touch the ground. At the Seventh Steps halted to pronounce:” I am the highest in the world , I am the best, the first-born in the world ; this is my last rebirth , there will not be further existences” that in effect contains all his Dhamma. Wat Suria (Pusat), Cambodia

Fig.13 - This cement statue is part of a diorama of Phnom Baset (near Phnom Penh) several of which were constructed around the tall Vihara/ubosot, during the 20^th century   (picture2002). In front of him are some stupefied devas (saints).