The Evolution of the Symbolism of the Paradise of the Buddha of Infinite Life and its Western Origins
by Patricia Eichenbaum Karetzky
Illustrations of the paradise of the Buddha of Infinite Light are a remarkable amalgam of heterogeneous symbols that define a paradisiacal place of eternal life. The images of growth and renewal employed to convey the nature of that immortal state are emblems of regeneration and light which defy the terminality of death, its darkness, and its degenerative state. Such visions are nowhere more prolifically portrayed than in the murals of the numerous caves at Dunhuang. There the Chinese artists have taken the elements of light, water, aquatic growth, architecture, and jewels as well as spiritual beings to create a picture of paradise.
To accomplish this vision, Chinese artists drew on a number of sources. Since the Han, pleasure gardens were conceived as Taoist fairylands, but the topography of their precipitous peaks, weird rocks, eerie fungal growths, and strange creatures is not the direct source for the paradise of Amitabha. Naturally much of the symbolic imagery derives from India, the place where Buddhism originated. Some have even found allusions to heaven in a few depictions of lush jungle scenes, but not only are these wild exuberant portrayals of nature unlike the natural setting of the Amitabha's paradise, the concept of a heavenly garden is its antithesis. For in primal Buddhism, heaven is a stage of incarnation, subject to karma, and is therefore not eternal. In contrast to the landscape imagery of India and China, the natural surroundings of the paradise of the west are tame: a flat peaceful plane with symmetrically placed jeweled trees, deep lotus-filled pools of water, and matching architectural towers made of jeweled substances. This image of eternal life expressed as nature tamed by the divine law of perfection has a very ancient tradition in Persia.
This paper will show the Near Eastern origins of this type of setting and its religious connotations as well as the many similarities in topography, architecture, symbolism, and ideology held in common with the Buddhist Western Land of Bliss. Secondly the means by which these ideas entered and were adapted in China will be shown by using archaeological evidence found as early as the Six Dynasties Period along the route of the silk road.