베제클리크 석굴사원 연등불수기 벽화에 대한 一考

Abstract

Among the murals found in Bezeklik Caves in Turpan located in the northwest China, a type of painting commonly referred to as "praṇidhi scenes" has drawn scholars' particular attention as a unique aspect of Turpan Buddhist art during the Uigur's rule of the region between the ninth and thirteenth centuries. Although there have been a few studies on this type of paintings, many questions remain to be answered including the subject of the painting. The praṇidhi scenes deal with more than ten several different stories. In previous scholarship, these various themes were discussed all together under the category of "praṇidhi scenes," and there has been no in‐depth study of each theme. As part of investigations on the individual themes, this essay looks into the murals that illustrate Dīpaṃkara jātaka. It narrates one of numerous previous births of Śākyamuni Buddha, when he as a young brahman meets the Buddha named Dīpaṃkara, and receives prophecy that he will become an Enlightened One in the future. This story includes both praṇidhi (vow) and vyākaraņa (prophecy), and appears in many Buddhist texts and visual representations. The first part of the essay briefly introduces the problems with the term "praṇidhi scene" and mentions the issues that the present discussion intends to focus on. The second part deals with the two types of Dīpaṃkara jātaka murals in Bezeklik Caves. The first type adopts the typical iconography of Gandharan and Central Asian examples, where the scene of the brahman's spreading his hair onto the ground serves as the key feature. This important part of the traditional iconography is omitted in the second type and instead a small circle that looks like an aureole with a prostrating figure inside appears in the upper corner of the paintings. The first type is found in four examples in Caves 15, 18, 20, 37 and the second type in nine examples in Caves 22, 31, 33, 37, 42, 48. Based on the cave structures and the style of the paintings, it is presumed that the second type appeared later than the first type. The third part explains the meaning of the different iconographies found in the two types of Dīpaṃkara jātaka murals. In earlier studies, the action of the brahman's spreading of his hair onto the ground has been regarded as a kind of pūjā or a gesture of reverence, but a closer examination of the relevant texts revealed that it is symbolic gesture related to the making a vow and receiving prophecy. As for the motif of a figure in a circle in the second type, it illustrates the part of the story when the brahman, after receiving prophecy from the Buddha, rose in the sky and bowed to Dīpaṃkara. In this sense, it is also associated to the prophecy, and, more specifically, represents the completion of prophecy. In Gandharan examples, the brahman's hair spreading onto the ground and Dīpaṃkara Buddha's stepping on the hair are vividly represented, which suggests the awareness of the significance of such actions. Yet, this kind of awareness is not evident in the cases preserved in Bezeklik Caves. As for the first type, whose examples are less than that of the second type, the hair of the brahman are spread in front of the Dīpaṃkara Buddha. The second type, which appears to have been more popular at the site, does not include the typical action of spreading the hair onto the ground. As for the motif of the prostrating figure in a circle, while it is related to Dīpaṃkara's prophecy, the way it is represented suggests that this scene was regarded to be separated from the main part of the story. Furthermore, it is plausible that this scene of receiving prophecy was treated as a kind of an epilogue of the narrative. While the scenes related to vow and prophecy appear to be one of the minor motifs, the brahman offering flowers to the Buddha appears consistently in the murals of both the first and the second types. The above observation shows that the vow and prophecy are not emphasized as much as the flower offering in the Dīpaṃkara jātaka paintings in Bezeklik Caves. This feature accords to the inscription preserved in the Dīpaṃkara jātaka murals in Cave 20. Without any reference to the brahman’s spreading his hair, it only mentions the offering of flowers to the Buddha. As for the Dīpaṃkara jātaka murals in Bezeklik Caves, it can be tentatively concluded that the main theme of the paintings is “offering” rather than praṇidhi and vyākaraṇa, and this conclusion should be reconsidered after more in‐depth studies on other individual themes.