The New Pilgrimage and the Old-Style Image: An Image of Nirvana in Baoguang Temple, Xindu District, During the Late Qing Dynasty

• In Event: The New Paradigm and the Old Style: Intellectual Transformation of the Literati in the Late Qing

Abstract

The mural preserved in Baoguang Temple in the Xindu District dates back to the thirtieth year of Emperor Guangxu reign (circa 1904)，which is the last known nirvana image produced during the Chinese imperial period. It was made to commemorate Zhenxiu’s 真修 pilgrimage to India and Sri Lanka as part of a new nation-wide wave of pilgrimages incited by national crisis and by improvements in transportation during the late Qing period. However, different from this revolutionary background, the image seems more conservative: both in its external presentation and its inherent thoughts. The image is made up of three scenes: the Nirvana with Two Sala Trees, the Return to the Source and King Asoka Building the Pagoda. This paper shows that these scenes are mainly borrowed from several illustrations of the traces of the Sakyamuni Buddha’s Manifestation 《释迦如来应化事迹》first published in 1808. It graphically emphasizes Sakyamuni Buddha as he passes over from mortality and returns to Actual Reality Body. This image also illustrates how Avatamsaka Sutra《华严经》is revived during the Qing Dynasty because of support from Emperor Yongzheng（1723-1735）.

Author

• Xiao Yang, University of Heidelberg