The Relationship among Contemplations and Representations of Amitabha Buddha in the Chinese Buddhist Art

本研究的目的是研究中国佛教的宗教实践与艺术作品之间的关系。本研究以敦煌莫高窟，特别是吐蕃时期(公元786-848年)以后的壁画为研究对象，旨在1)将经文与实画进行比较，2)对壁画进行分类分析，3)追溯其随时间的变化，4)找出这些变化的原因和历史背景。前人的研究认为，《十六思》的写照偏离经文最早出现在吐蕃以后。然而，考察作品中的意象表达，可以清楚地看到，这种偏离的描绘在盛唐就已经开始了，吐蕃时期只是继承了它。此外，场景的混乱和十六禅表现中的错误复制元素表明，在制作时，佛经等字面文本没有被提及，而且是从一个画面到另一个画面，相当轻松。除了文字和图像研究外，我们还整理了中国石窟的资料，并出版了数据库(http://dsr.nii.ac.jp/china-caves/index.html.en).

The purpose of this research is to study the relationship among the religious practice and the work of art in Chinese Buddhism. Focusing on the paintings of the Representation of the Sixteen Contemplations remained in the Dunhuang Mogao Caves, especially after the Tubo Period (786-848 CE), this research aim to 1) compare texts of sutra and actual paintings, 2) classify and analyze the paintings, 3) trace their changes over time, and 4) find out the causes and the historical background of the changes. The former researches have claimed that iconographical deviations from the scriptures in the Representation of the Sixteen Contemplations first appeared after the Tubo period. However, upon examination of the iconographical expression in the works, it is clear that the deviant depictions had already begun in High Tang and that the Tubo period only inherited it. Moreover, the disorder of scenes and the miscopied elements in the Representation of the Sixteen Contemplations show that at the time of the production literal texts like sutras were not referred and that it was transcribed from picture to picture rather lightheartedly. Besides the literal and iconographical research, we arrange the data of Buddhist Caves in China and publish a database (http://dsr.nii.ac.jp/china-caves/index.html.en).