8771 0 Jataka

Equinox Publishing Ltd.
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BSRV 29.1 (2012) 5783 Buddhist Studies Review ISSN (print) 0256-2897
doi: 10.1558/bsrv.v29i1.57 Buddhist Studies Review ISSN (online) 1747-9681
Reshaping the Jtaka Stories: from Jtakas to Avadnas
and Praidhnas in Paintings at Kucha and Turfan
TIANSHU ZHU
UNIVERSITY OF MACAO
TSZhu@umac.mo
ABSTRACT
Kucha was the major Buddhist center on the Northern Route of the Silk
Road, and well known for being dominated by the Sarvstivda school for
most of its history. Replacing the jtaka story, the avadna story (story of
causation) became the major theme depicted on the ceiling of the central-
pillar caves in this area (ffthseventh centuries). Turfan is another impor-
tant cultural center in Central Asia where Buddhism once fourished. The
praidhna (or vow) painting, which was based on the Bhaiajyavastu, a
vinaya text of the Mulasarvstivda school, was a unique subject normally
appearing on the walls of Buddhist caves in Turfan (ninthtwelfth centu-
ries). Both the avadna and praidhna stories are derived from jtaka
stories, with signifcant shifts of focus, as well as of the format of the nar-
rative. In this paper, through studying the avadna and vow paintings at
Kucha and Turfan, and comparing them with jtakas in early Buddhist art,
I attempt to show how jtaka stories were transformed for different doctri-
nal messages of Buddhist teaching in some late Hnayna schools, namely
Sarvstivda and Mulasarvstivda, and how the visual representations
mirror the narrative styles in Buddhist texts.
Key words
jtaka stories, avadna, praidhna, Kucha, Turfan, Buddhist art
kyamunis actions, especially as portrayed in stories of his previous incarna-
tions as a bodhisattva, serve as guides and inspirations for Buddhist followers,
as they exemplify the path of becoming a Buddha. With various emphases, these
birth stories, or jtakas, were selected and compiled into various kinds of texts in
Buddhist history, and some of these stories were visually represented in Buddhist
Equinox Publishing Ltd 2012
58 Tianshu Zhu
temples and caves. Accordingly in Buddhist art, jtaka stories in different con-
texts may appear in formats that are quite different from each other. This study
examines three types of distinctive iconographies of the Buddhas birth stories in
Chinese Buddhist art: the jtaka and avadna (cause and effect) paintings on the
ceiling vaults in the Kizil central-pillar caves at Kucha (ffth-seventh centuries),
and the praidhna (vow) paintings on the side walls from the Bezeklik caves
in Turfan (ninth-twelfth centuries). These different types of representations of
kyamunis previous incarnations reveal how jtaka stories were transformed to
illustrate different messages of Buddhist teaching in different times and places.
More precisely, in this study I discuss: in terms of subject matter, how different
types of stories were chosen in these paintings, and in terms of style, how the
visual representations may mirror the narrative styles of Buddhist texts.
FROM JTAKAS TO AVADNAS AT KUCHA
Kucha was a major Buddhist center on the northern route of the Silk Road, now
in Xinjiang Province, China. The well-known Kizil cave site is the most typical
Buddhist cave at Kucha. With over three hundred caves, Kizil is the earliest and
is also one of the largest Buddhist cave sites in Central Asia. It is especially known
for its lavish wall paintings, many of which are still extant and vibrant. The dat-
ing of the Kizil caves is still a controversial matter. Nonetheless, based on radio-
carbon tests, epigraphic information from the caves, comprehensive typological
study by archaeologists, and comparison with cave paintings at Dunhuang, it can
at least be said with certainty that the Kizil site was active from the ffth to the
seventh centuries.
1

The site consists of a variety of different types of caves with different func-
tions: central-pillar caves extensively decorated with paintings as worship halls;
square caves, most of which are not painted, which may have served as lecture
halls; residential caves that are never painted, and the plain small meditation
caves that are hidden in isolated areas slightly distant from all the other caves.
Paintings in the central-pillar caves at Kizil are highly repetitive, and for cen-
turies before the decline of the site, they demonstrate a fairly consistent icono-
graphic program, in which the vaulted ceiling in the main hall (see Figure 1) is
covered with stylized mountains whose peaks form diamond-shaped patterns.
Usually, one diamond-shaped cell contains one story, and two types of paint-
ings appear in the mountain patterns on the ceiling. One type features narrative
depictions; while the other type features a Buddha fgure seated in the center. (I
will call them narrative scene and seated Buddha scene respectively hereafter.)
For the subjects that have been identifed, the former are jtakas, and the latter
are mostly avadnas and occasionally parables (Ma 1996, 174226; Yao 19871988,
6574, 1925, 1821).
1. For early dating by German scholars, see Grnwedel 1912, 56, 4243; Le Coq et al. 19231933,
vol 3: 2123, vol 7: 2729. For different chronologies by Chinese archaeologists, see Su 1989,
1023; Li 2003, 148176; Vignato 2004, 7480. For detailed discussion of Kizil dating problems
in English, see Nagai 1977, 3949; Howard 1991, 6883; Lesbre 2001, 346348.
59 Reshaping the Jtaka Stories
Jtakas
According to the most recent survey, there are sixty central-pillar caves at Kizil,
seventeen of which either have no vaulted ceiling in the main hall or are severely
damaged.
2
Among a total of the forty-three central-pillar caves with vaulted
ceilings, narrative scenes are found in seven,
3
and seated Buddha scenes are in
twenty-seven (Vignato 2004, 16).
4
Two caves, Kizil Caves 38 and 91, have rows of
narrative and seated Buddha scenes alternating one next to each other (Figure
2). Chinese archaeologists have found that, on the whole, the dates of paintings
of the narrative scenes are earlier than the seated Buddha scenes and parables
(Su 1989, 1023; Vignato 2004, 1621). Overall, in the central-pillar caves at Kizil,
avadnas seem to be the main themes depicted on the ceilings, though jtakas
often appear in the early phase and are occasionally mixed with parables.
The narrative scenes are relatively easy to identify, and their subjects have
been recognized as jtakas by German scholars at the beginning of the last cen-
tury. So far, out of about 440 paintings of over 130 narratives, at least 72 sub-
jects (of 340 paintings) have been identifed (Qiuci Shiku Yanjiusuo 1993, 36). The
representation of a story is usually simplifed to only one or two key episodes.
For example, as shown in Figure 3, in the story of the monkey king (Mahkapi
Jtaka) in Kizil Cave 38, a very large monkey is depicted in the center, stretching
his body and holding a tree on the other side of a river. Two other smaller mon-
keys are stepping on his body to cross the river. In the foreground, a kneeling
archer is shooting at them. In Kizil Cave 17 (Figure 4) this story is represented
2. The seventeen caves are 20a, 23, 27, 43, 125, 126, 136, 160, 174, 178, 181, 186, 193, 197, 201, 206,
and 208.
3. They are Kizil Caves 7, 13, 17, 69(2), 114, 178 and 198 (2).
4. They are caves 8, 32, 24(2), 58, 63, 80(2), 87, 101, 104, 155, 159, 163, 171, 172(2), 176, 179, 184,
186, 192, 193, 195, 196, 199, 205, 206, 219, and 224.
Figure 1. Diagram of the Kizil central-pillar cave. Authors drawing.
60 Tianshu Zhu
even more simply, with the archer omitted. However the stretching monkey,
the river, and the trees are enough for anyone who knows the story to recognize
it: Once, the Buddha was a king of eighty thousand monkeys living in a famous
mango tree bearing extremely delicious fruits. In order to escape attack from
a human king and his army who had come to fnd the mango tree, the monkey
king stretched his body between two trees just like a bridge for other monkeys
to use to cross the river. The last monkey to cross was the Buddhas evil cousin,
Devadatta. He stomped on and broke the back of the monkey king, who then fell
down. Witnessing his altruistic behavior, the humans saved the monkey king,
who then taught the human king the virtue of self-sacrifce.
This jtaka also appeared in early Indian Buddhist art, on the vedik (railing)
of Bhrhut, dated to 10080 BCE and on the toraa (gate) at Sc Stpa I (Figure
5) of the frst century CE. In these early representations, a number of episodes
of the story are represented within a roundel or square space in continuous nar-
rative, including the mango fruit foating in the river, the human king and his
entourage, catching the falling monkey, and the conversation between the two
Figure 2. Jtakas and avadnas on the ceiling vault of Kizil Cave 38, Kucha, China. Fifth
to seventh centuries. Wall painting. After Xinjiang Weiwuer Zizhiqu wenwu
guanli weiyuanhui , Baicheng xian Kezier
Qianfodong wenwu baoguansuo , and Beijing
daxue Kaoguxi eds. 1989. Zhongguo shiku Kizil shiku
( Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe) vol. I, fg. 115.
Figure 3. Mahkapi Jtaka. Kizil Cave 38, Kucha, China. Authors drawing of wall painting.
Figure 4. Mahkapi Jtaka. Kizil Cave 17, Kucha, China. Authors drawing of wall painting.
62 Tianshu Zhu
kings. Compared to the Indian representations that are more explicitly narra-
tive, the Kizil paintings are more like a reminder of the story. They communi-
cate with the viewers as if they already know the story well. Indeed, by the ffth
century, the time when the Kizil caves were painted, jtaka stories had circulated
for centuries in the Buddhist world. Moreover, the glorious deeds performed by
the Buddha in his former lives, which represent the bodhisattva ideal, had been
further categorized with the theory of a-pramits, or the Six Perfections of a
bodhisattva, i.e. donation (dna-pramit), morality or observing the precepts
(la-pramit), patience (kshnti-pramit), effort or endeavor (vrya-pramit),
meditation (dhyna-pramit), and wisdom (praj-pramit) (Spery 1958,v; Dutt
1930, 36). For instance, the jtakas in the Liudu jijing (*a-pramit-sagraha-stra,
T 152 1a52a), translated into Chinese by the Sogdian monk Kangseng Hui ,
*Saghapla (third century), are classifed according to the order of the Six
Perfections. In classifying the subjects of the jtaka paintings found in Kizil, Yao
Shihong, the Chinese archaeologist who was formerly the head of the Kizil insti-
tute, also found they ft into the category of the Six Perfections (Yao 19871988,
6574, 1925, and 1821).

The numbers of the Kizil jtaka paintings in each of the
Figure 5. Mahkapi Jtaka. Sc Stpa I, India. First century CE. Stone. Huntington
Archive.
six categories are not consistent, just as is the case with the Liudu jijing. More
paintings ft into the category of the perfection of donation, and only a very few
paintings can be classifed as the perfection of meditation.
Avadnas
The majority of the ceiling paintings are in a rather different format: a seated
Buddha in the center engaging with one or two fgures at his sides. As shown in
Figure 2, all the Buddha fgures in the center are quite similar. They sit on rectan-
gular thrones, most often under a tree, or occasionally against a stpa in the back-
ground. They wear a monks robe in the open mode, i.e. with the right shoulder
and arm uncovered, a traditional Indian manner. These Buddha fgures usually
turn their heads to one side, either to the right or to the left, where a subsidiary
fgure is placed. The subsidiary fgure, which could be a celestial being, a human
being, or an animal, is the principle element of the subject of the painting. Because
the depiction is so over-simplifed, the identifcation of this group of paintings is
more diffcult than for narrative scenes. Fewer than one third of the examples of
this type of scene have been identifed; and a complete inventory is impossible.
The subjects that have been identifed consist of stories of the Buddhas previous
incarnations, birth stories of other beings, as well as a few parables. The birth sto-
ries of other beings include those of kyamunis disciples, gods, demi-gods, and
other Buddhist followers. What happened in the present, such as how they were
converted to follow the Buddha, is often explained by the Buddha in texts as a
result of an action in a previous life or will lead to a result in a future rebirth. And
the action that leads to a desirable result is most often almsgiving. From the sub-
ject matters, these paintings look like avadnas.
5
The jtakas are stories of previous
incarnations only of the Buddha. The avadnas include the Buddhas disciples or
any being professing to follow Buddhist teachings, in addition to the Buddha.
The texts that are most helpful in identifying these stories are avadna and
parable types of literature, the Xianyujing (The Stra of the Wise and the Foolish),
Zhuanji baiyuanjing (Avadna-ataka), and Chuyaojing (Udnavarga). Sometimes the
stories can be found in the nikya/gamas and vinaya of the Mlasarvstivdin
school. So far scholars have had to rely on Chinese translations for the identi-
fcation. Although those Chinese texts cannot be the direct source for the Kizil
paintings, they can be related to Kucha on various levels. The stories in some of
these Chinese texts can be found in the manuscripts found at the Kizil Cave site.
Most of these manuscripts were written in local Tocharian language and can be
dated generally to the same time period as the cave paintings.
The closest text to the Kizil ceiling paintings is The Stra of the Wise and
the Foolish, which was composed by Chinese monks based on the stories they
heard in the lectures at the paca-vrika (fve-yearly assembly of everyone in
the great community) ceremony in Khotan in the period 424452. At least thir-
ty-one stories in the text have been identifed with the ceiling paintings (Zhao
1993, 97103). There is no Indian or Kuchean original collection, though individ- ). There is no Indian or Kuchean original collection, though individ-
5. The avadna theme of this group of paintings was frst identifed by Chinese archaeologists
(Ma 1996, 174226). Lesbre does not accept them as avadnas but refers to them more descrip-
tively as Lozenge scenes with a central Buddha and classifes them as subduing, almsgiving,
and parables. Therefore, there are a number of stories that do not ft in any categories in her
classifcation (Lesbre 2001, 305354).
Figure 5 Mahkapi Jtaka.
Sc Stpa I, India. First cen-
tury CE. Stone. Huntington
Archive.
64 Tianshu Zhu
ual stories could have had (and indeed do have) Indic versions. Judging from the
format and the content of stories, Victor Mair found a high level of resonance
between this text and the *Daa-karmapatha-avadnamla (Avadna Stories of Ten
Good Actions), a popular text circulated in Central Asia. A colophon of a Uighur
manuscript of the Daa-karmapatha-avadnamla has survived and reveals that the
Uighur version was translated from Tokharian, a dialect used along the northern
route of the Silk Road (Mair 1999, 361420). Such information about the Daa-
karmapatha-avadnamla indicates that a Kuchean version of a text similar to The
Stra of the Wise and the Foolish would probably have existed.
The other text often used for identifcation for the avadna paintings at
Kizil, the Zhuanji baiyuanjing, is a Chinese translation of the Avadna-ataka, or
A Hundred Avadnas. The stories in this text are grouped under ten subjects and
each consists of ten stories. Based on linguistic analysis and comparison with
other texts, scholars have attributed the extant Sanskrit recession of the Avadna-
ataka to the Mlasarvstivdin school, a branch of the Sarvstivdin school that
was predominant in Kucha for most of its Buddhist history (Hahn 1992, 170171;
Schopen 2004, 125). The Avadna-ataka or the stories compiled into this text
would have been acknowledged in the Sarvstivdin community at Kucha.
The Udnavarga (Chuyao jing T. 212), a collection of Sanskrit verses similar to the
various Dhammapadas (Pali, Prakrit, Gndhr), also has associated stories identi-
fed with the Kizil paintings. Stories were transmitted to explain the context of the
verses. The text of the largest number of fragments found at Kizil in the Hoernle
collection turned out to be the Udnavarga (Hartmann 1999, 115). The Udnavarga
appears to be one of the most widely circulated texts at Kucha. It makes sense that
stories belonging to this text tradition appear in cave paintings there as well.
It is also not surprising that some stories of the Kizil painting can be found
in Nikya/gama and Mlasarvstivdin vinaya texts, as such texts are important
sources of Avadna literature. As time passed, in order to stress and extol the eff-
cacy of karma, a good number of stories scattered in early Stra and Vinaya piakas
were collated into independent texts, known as avadnas (Sarkar 1981, 5254).
Therefore, an avadna story can often be found at the same time in Nikya/gama
and vinaya texts; so the fact that some of these Kizil paintings can be identifed with
stories in these texts does not diminish the avadna nature of these paintings.
It would be easier for scholars if the stories on the ceiling of Kizil central-
pillar caves had all been derived from one Buddhist text. However, just like the
representations of jtakas in early Indian Buddhist art and kyamunis life from
Gandhra, they were perhaps never meant to represent one single text but were
associated with a discourse of devotion that included a number of different texts.
And in addition to the textual tradition, these stories of the Buddha and his pre-
vious lives, either in India or Central Asia, were probably known in the local
Buddhist community through a variety of mediums, such as oral teaching and
drama. There could have been some sort of local Tocharian texts similar to those
extant in the Chinese canon that served as textual sources for avadna paintings
but that did not survive to the present day. However, it is also likely that the
avadna paintings relate to more than one scripture, and avadna stories were
circulated in the community via multiple mediums.
From Jtakas to Avadnas: Texts and Paintings
For the Buddhas birth stories, in Buddhist history, the ffth century witnessed
the prominence of two types of literature: jtaka texts and avadna texts. On the
one hand, some of the jtakas were still circulated and compiled into new texts;
and on the other hand, different birth stories were selected for inclusion in texts
called avadnas. Stories were told in quite various ways by this time, and there are
distinct difference between jtakas and avadnas. Such differences are refected
in their visual representation in Kizil cave paintings.
By defnition, a Buddhas birth story in an avadna text is still a jtaka. However
from the jtaka to avadna, there is a shift of emphasis in the structure and subject
matter of a story. In terms of structure, both jtakas and avadnas start with the
present, narrated by the Buddha, and then reveal a story of another life (Cowell
1995, xxiii; Sharma 1985, 23). Usually, the present in a jtaka story is simple and
not a fully developed story. For instance, the Buddha arrives at a certain place
and smiles. Then, nanda asks why. So the Buddha tells a story of what took place
there a long time ago. After telling the story, the Buddha identifes the main
character in it as himself. However, an avadna may be composed of two almost
equally weighted stories. The present is itself a story in the avadnas. The focus
is the cause and effect relationship between two lives (Feer 1891, IX). Taking the
conversions of the gandharva (heavenly musician) king as an example, this is an
avadna story which has been identifed in Kizil Cave 34, 171 (Figure 6), and 196.
When the Buddha was staying at the Jetavana in rvast, fve hundred gandharvas
made musical offerings to him. Hearing the sound of the music from a distance,
an arrogant gandharva king, named Supriya in Sanskrit or Shanai in Chinese,
came from the south to challenge anyone to contest with him on musical skill.
Figure 6. Converting gandharva King Supriya. Kizil Cave 171, China. Authors drawing of
wall painting.
66 Tianshu Zhu
King Prasenajit led him to the Buddha, who transformed himself into a gandharva
to meet the challenge. Supriya could play music on a harp with only one string.
In the version of the Zhuanji baiyuan jing (Avadna-ataka), the Buddha could also
play the harp with only one string, but the Buddhas music was far more beautiful
and serene (T 200 211). In the version of the Mlasarvstivda Vinayakudrakavastu,
(Vinaya on Miscellaneous Matters of the Mlasarvstivda School), the Buddha
eventually played the harp with no string at all (T 1451 395b396c). In any case,
the Buddha played far better. Supriya was subdued and became a Buddhist fol-
lower, and soon he became an arhat. Witnessing the progress of Supriya, King
Prasenajit was delighted and made various great offerings to the Buddha. At
that time, surprised by those unprecedented offerings, monks asked the Buddha
why he could always receive music offerings. The Buddha then told them a
story: In a remote past in the region of Vras, there was a Buddha entitled
Samyaksabuddha (the perfectly completely enlightened one, Ch. Zhengjue
Complete Awakening). One day, as he traveled in the country of *Babhuva
(Ch. Fanmo ), the King of Babhuva entertained him with his musicians and
made offerings to him in his palace. Samyaksabuddha preached to the king
and predicted that he would be a future Buddha named kyamuni. In the end,
kyamuni revealed, The Babhuva King is just me, and all the offcials at that time
are you monks. Because of the merit of making offerings to a Buddha in a past
life, ultimately kyamuni was able to became a Buddha and very often receive
music offerings (Feer 1891, 7677). In this narrative, two thirds of the story is
about the present, and the past life is rather simple and short.
The format of the visual representations of these stories also refects a shift
between these two bodies of literature. As discussed above, the jtaka paintings
at Kizil are more descriptive. They depict what was happening in a past life. In
contrast, the avadna paintings are didactive, i.e. teaching a message, rather than
a narrative of one story. Overall in Kizil avadna paintings, the Buddha is placed
in the center and takes up most of the space. The narrative is even more simpli-
fed than the jtaka, and the character of the story is smaller than the Buddha
fgure. Very often the story is not even identifable. This is not surprising because
avadna stories tend to be shorter, especially the stories of making offerings, and
they resemble each other. It is virtually impossible to identify a fower-offering
painting because such kind of action is mentioned in numerous texts. In gen-
eral, the Buddha fgure in the center plays the role of narrator, which is how the
story is constructed in the texts. The appearance of the narrator into a narrative
depiction further creates an ambiguity of time and place in these paintings. The
preaching Buddha seated in the center indicates the present time; however the
other scene next to the central Buddha often occurs in a different time and loca-
tion. This format also fts well with the format of the avadna stories, in which
there is equal emphasis on two stories of two times.
Assuming such a format, the Buddhas birth stories in avadna paintings appear
quite differently. First, usually only a story from one time period is represented,
sometimes it is the story of the present life, sometimes it is of the past life. As
shown in Figure 6, the depiction of converting a gandharva king exemplifes the
former. In a slightly smaller hierarchic scale, a celestial fgure with halo holding
a harp is sitting at the left side of the Buddha. In the painting of the same subject
in Kizil cave 196, another harp is placed in front of the Buddha. This painting
appears to represent the present, the music contest between the Buddha and
the gandharva king.
In another type of avadna painting, such as on the Buddha Fusha
(Puya?) painting a self-portrait, the episode of a past time is represented. This
story appears in Kizil Cave 34 (Figure 7) and 38. According to The Stra of the
Wise and the Foolish, in the remote past King Boseqi (Vsuki?) wanted to make
images of Buddha Fusha for his people to venerate; however his court painters
failed to capture the auspicious marks (mahpurua-lakaas) of this Buddha, so
Fusha painted a self-portrait for them. kyamuni, at a future time, revealed that
King Boseqi had been himself. Because of the merit of making Buddha images,
he would always be able to be reborn as a king with auspicious body-marks, and
eventually become a Buddha (T 202 368c369a). The Kizil paintings show the
seated Buddha painting on a piece of cloth held by a monk-like fgure with a
low ua on his head. The ua is one of the most important physical marks
of a Buddha represented in art. This fgure is presumably King Boseqi who is
shown here as a Buddha-to-be, already possessing a physical mark of a Buddha. In
Kucha painting, the main difference between a Buddha and a monk is the ua.
A Buddha image is a monk with ua.
In both cases, the central Buddha fgures appear like other seated Buddhas
on the ceiling they sit on a platform under a tree in the mountains telling sto-
ries. The conversion of a gandharva king and Buddha Fusha painting are just two
Figure 7. Buddha Fuya painting self-portrait. Kizil Cave 34, Kucha, China. Authors
drawing.
68 Tianshu Zhu
among the many stories that the Buddha told under the tree. The ambiguity of
time in the format of the avadna paintings inspires the viewer to think beyond
one time period and to refect on the cause-effect relation between the present
and another time. In addition, the Buddha fgures in these two paintings appear
to assume double roles, one as the narrator, and the other as a character of the
story. Overall, in all the seated scenes depicted on the ceiling, the Buddha fgure
in the center functions as the story-teller. If one of the characters in the story
happened to be a Buddha, the Buddha image in the visual depiction then also
takes part in the narrative as one of the characters in a previous life.
In terms of subject matter, the two stories described above are all about ven-
erating a Buddha, either by making offerings or by making images. Although the
narrative scenes and kyamunis birth stories in the seated Buddha scenes are
all jtakas, there is barely any overlapping of the two types in subject matter. In
other words, virtually no story is depicted in both the narrative scenes and the
seated Buddha scenes. In fact, a different group stories about the Buddhas previ-
ous incarnations were selected to become avadna literature, and these were the
ones depicted in the seated Buddha scenes. This is because in addition to narrative
structure, there is also a shift of doctrinal theme when jtakas become avadnas.
Jtakas had a moral message, often including severe sacrifce offering ones
body to feed a tigress, or giving away ones fesh, eyes, and head to whoever
asked for them, and in general going beyond the actions of any common human
being (Sarkar 1981, 811; Ohnuma 2007, 3839). The avadna literature sets up
a much humbler standard for ordinary humans paying homage to a Buddha;
offering fowers or lamps; and honoring a stpa. And the actions they narrate are
no less effective in bringing desirable results to the devotee, such as attaining
arhat-hood, or rebirth into the Tuita heaven (Sharma 1985, 19). Indeed, gaining
merit through acts of worship and alms-giving become strong themes charac-
teristic of the avadnas. Therefore Takahata suggests that there was probably a
period when the original meaning of avadna was taken to mean alms-giving
(Takahata 1954, xxiv). Etymologically, the term avadna has been interpreted
with at least two different meanings, one of which even supports such a point
of view prefx ava means glorious; dna derives from the root d meaning
the act of donating (Sharma 1985, 5). However, the original meaning of the
term avadna has been lost at an early date. The term can also be interpreted as
cutting off or reaping, suggesting something cut off or selected, and even-
tually, glorious events and legends, which has become the predominant view
commonly accepted by many scholars (Speyer 1958, iiiv; Ohnuma 2007, 291,
n.31, 32). Nevertheless, it is generally agreed that avadnas feature the follow-
ing characteristics: they emphasize the causal link between two lifetimes, not
just the story from a past birth; they promote acts of devotion, especially alms-
giving towards Buddha, Sagha, or other religious objects; they seem to target
the laity since the main fgures of the avadnas are often Buddhist disciples or
lay Buddhist followers.
In short, an avadna is concerned more with small acts of generosity usually
performed by laity, as opposed to the sometimes more turbulent and richly varied
eventfulness of jtaka narrative. Alms-giving is more reasonable and accessible
to the Buddhist laity than extreme forms of self-sacrifce. Moreover, alms-giving
is also doctrinally very important as it constitutes the frst of the Six Perfections.
During the ffth to the seventh centuries, when the avadna stories were the
major subjects decorating the ceilings of virtually all the central-pillar caves
in Kizil, Mahyna Buddhism was already widely spread in the Buddhist world.
A path of being able to be reborn in Buddha Amitbhas land via strong devo-
tion had become available to Buddhist followers. This was not the time when
avadna literature frst appeared. Similar to the jtaka, the avadna appears to
be an old genre in Buddhist literature. The emergence of the avadna paintings
in this context, perhaps, can be better understood as refecting a large trend in
Buddhist world the shift of emphasis from self-effort to devotion and to desir-
able rebirths as a consequence of this.
TURFAN: THE PRAIDHNA PAINTINGS
Turfan, located on the eastern extension of the Silk Road, is another important
Buddhist center in east Central Asia. The praidhna (vow) painting of this region,
which is unique in Buddhist art, is a type of iconography that was developed
to represent events of the Buddhas previous incarnations kyamunis long
journey of making offerings to past Buddhas and receiving their prediction of
his future enlightenment. It appears mainly in Bezeklik, the largest and also the
major Buddhist cave site in the area. The Bezeklik Cave site was active from
the ninth to the twelfth centuries during the Gaochang period (8481283) under
imperial Uighur patronage.
6
At Turfan, praidhna paintings appear in two differ-
ent types, one on the side wall and a simplifed type on the ceiling. The former
is the most common type of known praidhna paintings and is the focus of this
study; whereas the latter is still not well published and therefore it awaits a future
time for more detailed study.
The praidhna paintings on the side wall are mostly found at Bezeklik Cave
site, but a few are found in Temple I at the Sengin site, Temple a and Temple
b at the capital site of Gaochang, as well as small Buddhist sites in the near-by
area at Kharahoja and Karahar, and in a few caves in Kucha under Uighur infu-
ence (Meng et al. 1995, 18). Buddhist art of Turfan is not well published. Study of
the praidhna paintings has to rely mainly on the limited information on a few
caves. At Bezeklik, as shown in Table 1 (next page), praidhna paintings appear
on the side walls in fourteen caves: Caves 2, 4, 8, 9, 10, 12, 19, 20, 24, 25, 29, 36,
37, and 39 in Grnwedels numbering.
7
In total over seventy pieces of praidhna
paintings are found, and they constitute one third of the wall paintings that have
survived in Bezeklik (Jia 1992, n. p.). Table 2 shows the numbers of the praidhna
paintings in each cave. It seems that, at a maximum, a cave may contain ffteen
or sixteen praidhna paintings, and most of these caves contain only four to
eight praidhna paintings. With ffteen and thirteen praidhna paintings sur-
viving respectively, the praidhna paintings in Cave 4 and 9 represent some of
the best preserved.
Usually, praidhna paintings are placed next to one another in a consistent
unifed format (Figure 8). Covering the entire side wall of a cave, they are rather
6. Jia 1992, n. p.; Liu 1986, 6170,106108; Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan kaogu yanjiushsuo shi- Jia 1992, n. p.; Liu 1986, 6170,106108; Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan kaogu yanjiushsuo shi-
yanshi 1991, 10391045.
7. The equivalent current cave numbers are based on a converting table in Meng, et al. 1995,
11. Those numbers vary from one another in the previous studies. Therefore, Grnwedels
numbering is followed in this paper.
70 Tianshu Zhu
Table 1. The Praidhna Paintings in the Bezeklik Caves.
Grnwedels Cave numbers 2 4 8 9 10 12 19 20 24 25 29 36 37 39
Current Cave numbers ? 15 18 20 22 24 31 33 37 38 42 47 48 50
Extant vow Paintings ? 15 2 13 8 4 11 7 5 3 5 2 4 2
Original vow paintings ? 15 ? 15 8 6 14 16 8 6 8 4 4 4
large in size, and the Buddha fgure in these paintings is usually around two
meters tall. The Buddha is always shown standing surrounded by various beings:
gods, monks, vajrapa, and human beings as background. Unique to Turfan and
also unique to praidhna paintings, the Buddha wears a long garland of jewels.
He turns his head to one side and the key fgure of the story is always placed at
the lower corner, upon which the Buddhas gaze falls. Most times, the protagonist
is either shown holding offerings or in a venerating position. Sometimes there
is a small image of an architectural structure at the upper corner (which could
be a city, a palace, a temple, or a stpa) which might be related to the story as
well. For example, it may represent a house made as an offering to the Buddha.
Overall, these paintings are similar to each other in terms of the format and the
actions of the protagonist; most of the stories are hardly identifable merely with
visual representation.
Fortunately, many of these praidhna paintings have inscriptions. According
to the inscriptions, Albert von Le Coq has identifed most of the themes found
in Bezeklik Cave 9 (Le Coq, Albert. 1913, 1729). Based on his studies, fourteen
themes of the praidhna paintings in this cave have been identifed (Table 2).
8

The praidhna paintings in other caves more or less repeat these subjects or
represent themes of the same kind. Except for one subject derived from the
Avadna-sataka, the texts of all of these inscriptions are drawn from the Sanskrit
Mlasarvstivda Bhaiajyavastu, a vinaya text of the Mlasarvstivda school, a
text which survives in part in Sanskrit, mainly from Gilgit, and in Chinese and
Tibetan translations.
9
They all relate events of how kyamuni in his previous
lives venerated other Buddhas of the past for the last three asakhyas.
10
In Bezeklik
Cave 9, the end of three asakhyas is marked in the inscription under the Theme
9, 7, and 10 respectively.
Among the ffteen subjects that have been identifed, only a handful of themes
and Buddhas names can be confrmed from other litererary sources (Leidy 2001,
211213): Theme 4 kyamuni was a king who made offerings to Kemakara
Buddha; Theme 7 Dpakara Buddha (Figure 9); Theme 9 kyamuni was a
princess who offered a lamp to Buddha Ratnaikhin; Theme 10 kyamuni was a
Brahmacrin called Uttara who followed Buddha Kyapa; Theme 14 kyamuni
was a caravan leader who helped Buddha Bhagriratha cross a river with a boat
(Figure 11). For the remaining themes of the praidhna paintings in Bezeklik
8. Hirano 1961, 2744; Kumagai 1962, 83108; Meng 1981,4361; Leidy 2001, 201222; Liu,
2001,4349.
9. T 1448 73c76a; Hdul-ba-gshi, vol. 6, 222b223c.
10. An asakhya/asakhyeya (Pali asakheyya), an incalculable, is used both for one of the four
periods making up a kalpa, and a large number of kalpas. The Abhidharmakoabhya (III.93d
94a) explains that it takes a bodhisattva three asakheyyas to become a perfect Buddha, and
that each of these consists of one thousand million million kalpas.
Cave 9, the stories are too general in that they lack an identifable feature, and
the name of the past Buddha is almost exclusively one from the Mlasarvstivda
Bhaiajyavastu. For example, the inscription of Theme 2 goes, When I was a king,
Figure 8. Theme 5, Bezeklik Cave 9, Turfan, China. Mid-tenth to mid-eleventh centuries.
Wall painting. After Albert von Le Coq, Chotscho, 21.
72 Tianshu Zhu
I made numerous offerings of jewels and music to Buddha Tamonuda who pos-
sessed great merits. This resembles the jtaka the Buddha told in the story of con-
verting the gandharva king in the Avadna-ataka discussed above. However the
Buddhas names do not match. In the Chinese translation of the Mlasarvstivda
Bhaiajyavastu, twelve named Buddhas are listed in the frst asakhya, thirty-three
Buddhas in the second asakhya, and twenty-three in the third asakhya. In total,
kyamuni listed sixty-eight past Buddhas, which are more than those in the
early jtakas. According to this Mlasarvstivda Bhaiajyavastu, kyamuni wor-
shiped seventy-fve thousand Buddhas in the frst asakhya, seventy-six thou-
sand Buddhas in the asakhya, and seventy-seven thousand Buddhas in the third
asakhya. Compared to early accounts of past Buddhas in jtakas or even Nikya/
gamas, these conspicuously big numbers look like fabrications of a later time.
All these events grouped in this context in the Mlasarvstivda Bhaiajyavastu
are meant to explain two closely related and important steps toward becoming
a Buddha according to the bodhisattva doctrine, the pradhna (strong wish or
vow) and vykaraa (prediction). In this theory, a bodhisattvas journey toward
Buddhahood starts from the rise of bodhi-citta, or the thought of enlighten-
ment. Then, he must make a pradhna and declare it in the presence of a living
Buddha, who gives him the prediction of his Buddhahood, called vykaraa. Both
the pradhna and vykaraa are critical steps required on the bodhisattva path
(Dayal 1932, 6467).
In the ffteenth chapter of the Mlasarvstivda Bhaiajyavastu, the Buddhas
previous lives are organized according to the bodhisattva doctrine. Having
heard various jtakas, King Prasenajit asked the Buddha when he raised the bodhi
thought. The Buddha told Prasenajit how in a previous life, having witnessed a
trained elephant going crazy for a female elephant and being punished by swal-
lowing a burning iron ball, he then determined to seek for enlightenment and to
be free from desire. After that Prasenajit asked the Buddha to whom he had made
his praidhna for the frst time. Then the Buddha told the story of when he was
a potter: he bathed a Buddha called kyamuni with honey and medicine when
that Buddha was sick. The potter received the prediction that he would become a
Buddha also called kyamuni. Finally, King Prasenajit asked him from that time
on, how many more Buddhas to which he had made offerings predicted his bodhi.
kyamuni replied: some 70 thousand in each asakhya. After King Prasenajit left,
nanda further asked for more details of the three-asakhyas experience. Here is
where the subject of the pradhna paintings starts. After ennumerating how he
made offerings to various named Buddhas in the past, kyamuni concluded that
he received predictions of future Buddhahood from all these Buddhas. Having
fulflled the task of making praidhna and receiving vykaraa, kyamuni gave
a very brief account of how he practiced the Six Perfections (pramits), which
marks the next step in the bodhisattva doctrine. In short, the lives of the Buddha
are purposely reshaped to ft into the bodhisattva doctrine.
In this section of the Mlasarvstivda Bhaiajyavastu, the actual story of each
of kyamunis past lives as a bodhisattva is extremely simplifed. For previously
well-known jtakas, they are only briefy mentioned here, not as stories to be nar-
rated fully. Table 2 (see p. 78) shows the inscriptions on the praidhna paintings
in Bezeklik Cave 9 and their equivalence in the Mlasarvstivda Bhaiajyavastu.
Most of the stories are introduced in only four verses and two lines, with no
details at all.
The visual language used in the praidhna paintings can be better compre-
hended when we understand the nature of these birth stories of the Buddha.
In traditional jtakas as well as in their visual representations, the fgure of the
Buddha is absent. In avadna paintings, the Buddha appears frst as the narrator,
then as the main character of the story. The pradhna paintings are centered
on Buddha fgures because they are all about venerating past Buddhas. Maybe it
is partially a result of being past Buddhas that the appearance of these Buddha
images in the pradhna paintings appears differently from the general image
of kyamuni and of Buddhas in Mahyna Buddhism: these past Buddhas wear
ornaments. In the painting of theme 5 in Bezeklik Cave 9 (Figure 8), the last paint-
ing of the right side of the left corridor, an image of a monk is shown kneeling
down in the lower left side of the painting with two hands in ajali mudr paying
homage to the central Buddha. He is shown in a much smaller hierarchical scale
in contrast to the size of the rest of the fgures in the painting. According to the
inscription right above his head, he is a contemporary local monk in Turfan.
Adding worshippers or patrons seems to be absent in representations of jtakas
and avadnas, which are about telling stories. It is possible for pradhna paint-
ings because the pradhna paintings are more about venerating Buddhas than
narrating particular stories.
The original text of an event in the Mlasarvstivda Bhaiajyavastu is extremely
short and does not tell much of the story. Similarly in the praidhna painting, the
event is represented symbolically, only indicated by a very few elements. Figure 9
is the Dpakara Jtaka of the Kua period from Gandhra. The Dpakara Jtaka
is one of the best-known jtakas of the Buddha. In a remote past eon kyamuni
was born as a Brahman youth called Megha. The king at that time monopolized
the fower market in order to offer all fowers to Buddha Dpakara himself. Yet
Megha managed to fnd some fowers and offered them to Dpakara. In addi-
tion, when Dpakara was about to pass a muddy road, Megha unfurled his hair
onto the mud for the Buddha to step on. Having received these offerings from
Megha, Dpakara predicted for the young Brahmin a future Buddhahood. In
Gandhra, the story is told in full scope (Figure 10); fower offering, his wife-
to-be, the hair on the muddy road, and fnally rising in the air. When this event
is referred to in the Mlasarvstivda Bhaiajyavastu, only the fower offering is
mentioned. The subject appears as theme 7 in Bezeklik Cave 9. In this painting
from Bezeklik (Figure 9), on the right side of Dpakara Buddha, Megha is shown
standing holding fowers in his hands and he is shown again kneeling down laying
his hair under the feet of Dpakara. The most recognizable exclusive attribute
of this painting for identifcation is the hair. The Buddha still wears sandals as in
Gandhran Buddhist art, however he steps on lotus fowers. If Dpakara Buddha
had lotus fowers under his feet, there would have been no need for the Brahman
youth to lay down his hair for the Buddha to walk on!
The comparison with the Dpakara jtaka from Gandhra demonstrates how
praidhna paintings are different from narrative depictions in early Buddhist art.
It would be also revealing if we can compare the avadna and praidhna paint-
ings of the same subject matter, although identifying such paintings is a diff-
cult task. In Kizil Cave, there is an avadna painting showing a Buddha seated in
74 Tianshu Zhu
a boat (Figure 12). It could represent the story of a caravan leader who helped
Buddha Bhagriratha cross a river, a subject that also appears in praidhna paint-
ings (Figure 11). Representing the same story, the two demonstrate how a story is
told in different ways. The jtaka and avadna paintings on the ceiling of the Kizil
central-pillar caves also tell a story by representing only a key fgure or the most
identifable element of the story. However in these Kizil paintings, no unneces-
sary fgures appear in their quite limited space; while the Bezeklik praidhna
paintings are overall busy in composition and flled with fgures. It is, though,
only the narrative of the actual story that is simplifed, not the painting. In terms
Figure 9. Dpakara Jtaka. Bezeklik Cave 9, Furfan, China. Ninth-eleventh centuries.
Wall painting. After Albert von Le Coq, Chotscho, pl.23.
of painting style, the Bezeklik praidhna paintings are more stylized and sche-
matic and Buddha fgures in these paintings are more hierarchically larger than
other fgures. Similarly, the writing of the praidhna stories is dry and short, and
narrative in avadna texts is relatively more expansive and interesting.
The praidhna paintings are inscribed. Perhaps they have to be because most
of them are not easily recognizable. In fact, as previously mentioned, most events
in the praidhna stories lack individuality. They are all about paying respect to
past Buddhas whose names, mostly, are unknown in other Buddhist texts. These
past Buddhas cannot be visually differentiated from each other in the praidhna
paintings. To each Buddha, kyamuni may have made some kind of offerings:
fowers, music, baths, temples, and so on. They are generic offerings commonly
seen in Buddhist texts and are not unique enough to make a birth story mem-
orable. Rather, these events function as a group that constitutes one step of
kyamunis spiritual journey: making vows and receiving predictions. Similar
features appear in praidhna paintings. Take the painting of theme 5 (Figure 8)
for example. This painting is not much different from other praidhna paintings.
What happens in this story? kyamuni offered banners and parasols to a past
Buddha when he was a king in one of his previous lives. The banner and parasols
Figure 10. Dpakara Jtaka. Gandhra (Pakistan?). Ca. thirdfourth centuries. Stone.
British Museum, London. Photographed by John Huntington, Huntington
Archive (0020962).
76 Tianshu Zhu
are held by three fgures in the paintings. However we cannot identify the sub-
ject until we read the inscription.
The lack of independency of these events leads to the next problem of the
praidhna paintings: a chaotic sequence. Among the over 70 thousand Buddhas
Figure 11. A caravan leader helping Buddha Bhagriratha to cross a river with a boat.
Bezeklik Cave 9,Turfan, China. Mid-tenth to mid-eleventh centuries. Wall
painting. After Albert von Le Coq, Chotscho, 28
Figure 12. Caravan leader helping Buddha Bhagriratha cross a river. Kucha, China.
Authors drawing.
Figure 13. Layout of Bezeklik Cave 9. Authors drawing.
78 Tianshu Zhu
Theme nos.
in Cave 9
Inscriptions on the paintings Equivalence in the
Mlasarvstivda Bhaiajyavastu
Sequence
in the
text
Theme
nos. in
Cave 4
1 Upasthitobrhmaenam
ahendrolokanyaka /
Jyentkakarmanga[ndhai]
/ klenagaruntath /
Vihraktvsarvai ca
upasthnainimantrita

11
6II 4
2 Tamonudomahbhgorjabhten
apjita
Nnratnavicitreatulenapratip
dita

4II 5
3 Taraivanagareramieikhinmya
asv
sabuddhresibhtenavihrai
pujitomay

7II 9
4 Kemakaronardityorjabhten
apjita
jyentkakarmagandhai[h]klenag
arutathvihrnsahasraistua
ibhisanimantrita
10
5 narendreamaynanasihasihap
armacchatrearanadaenapjito
narapugava

5II 14
6 Hastyavenasuvarenanribhiratna
muktibhiajinnpujrtha
mudynamrehinkita

8II 15
7 dvDipakarabuddhadyutim
antayaasinamtiladmaipujitavs
aptabhirmavastaddvitysakhe
yva[sna]

3II 1
8 Pujitomairatnenasunetrolokanya
kavihreacaramyearehibhte
na me tad

9II 2
9 Rjasuthamabhvanprvamany
sujatiubhr[ta]raRatnaikhisa
dipatailaupasthitaprathamkhe
yvasna

1I 3
10 Uttaromavo`bhvakyapodvip
adottame-[nad]i[p]levacarutvpra
vrajyyktmatittiysakheyas
arvagunbhysvasna

13III 6
11 vsithasygamanarutvrehip
ritimanbhavanudynamaayit
cavihrakraymyaha

12III 7
12 Damaged 8
Table 2. Fourteen themes of the praidhna in Bezeklik Cave 9.
of one asakhya, which Buddha is selected and which one goes frst all seem to
matter little. As a result, in the praidhna paintings of such stories the sequence
and the selection of the themes appear to be somewhat disordered and even
chaotic. Figure 13 shows the layout of Bezeklik Cave 9 and the location of the 15
themes. The fourth and ffth columns in Table 2 show their equivalent sequence
in the Chinese Mlasarvstivda Bhaiajyavastua and in Bezeklik Cave 4 respec-
tively.
11
The Arabic numbers in Table 2 (from 1 to 13) in column 4 indicates the
sequence of the thirteen events in the text and the Roman numbers (I, II, and III)
mark which asakhya an event belonged to. Two themes (Themes 9 and13) are
chosen from the frst asakhya, three themes for the third asakhya (Themes 10,
11, 15), and the rest are all from the second asakhya. In Bezeklik Cave 4, these
themes are arranged in a rather different sequence from that in Cave 9, if there
is a sequence at all. It seems to be random as to which event was chosen to be
depicted on which location in a cave. Although the end of each asakhya is marked
in the inscription, they are slightly different from the text. In Bezeklik Cave 9,
Theme 9, inscribed as the end of the frst asakhya, is not the last Buddha of that
asakhya. And Theme 7, which marks the end of second asakhya, is the beginning
of the third asakhya in the text.
The Mlasarvstivda is a Hnayna school, and is generally considered to
be a sub-sect of the Sarvstivda school. The two are closely intertwined on doc-
trinal matters. As observed by Bart Dessein, the name Mlasarvstivda actu-
ally did not appear anywhere before the seventh century. Even in the frst half
of the seventh century, the Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang (600664), in the record of
his travels in India, only mentioned Sarvstivda, not Mlasarvstivda. It was
ffty years later when Yijing (635713), who also traveled in India, mentioned
Mlasarvstivda for the frst time (Willemen et al. 1998, 85). The relationship
of the two and whether or not they are in fact the same person are hotly debated
among scholars, which I shall not discuss further here. It is remarkable that
Mlasarvstivda only appears to be a vinaya school (Willemen et al. 1998, 125).
11. The structure and content of these verses are similar to each other. The Sanskrit and Chinese
versions are the same. Here is the translation of the frst verse: I used to be a king [during the
time when]/there was a Buddha called Bhhman/with the bath house and incensed water/[I]
bathed the Buddha.
Table 2. (continued)
Theme
nos. in
Cave 9
Inscriptions on the paintings Equivalence in the
Mlasarvstivda
Bhaiajyavastu
Sequence
in the
text
Theme
nos. in
Cave 4
13 ibhtohyuptiha[s]trelokan
yakamvalkalenamanpenpencch
dito nmay

2I 11
14 Agirasamahadvnadidir
amupgatamsrthavhena me
nvnadymuttaritomunim

10II 12
15 [vidhi]vat pjitabuddh(o)
[punamanoratha]
dharmarjya[] ca me (prptar)
jabhtenaraddhay

11III 13
80 Tianshu Zhu
Although the Mlasarvstivdin vinayapiaka is old, the legends in its texts are elab-
orate and might have been inserted later (Frauwallner 1956, 2526; Hiraoka 1998,
420). No extant manuscripts of the Mlasarvstivdin vinaya can be dated before
the seventh century. Those in the Chinese and Tibetan canons were all translated
in the eighth and ninth centuries. Many manuscripts of the Mlasarvstivdin
vinaya in Sanskrit were found at Gilgit and they cannot be dated earlier than the
seventh century. The bodhisattva doctrine, emerging in early Buddhism, became
part of the foundation of Mahyna Buddhism. It is possible that the section relat-
ing to praidhna paintings was inserted into Mlasarvstivdin vinaya at a later
time after the text was frst compiled. Hnayna and Mahyna are oversimpli-
fed terms that are still commonly used today. Whether or not we accept these
troublesome outdated terms, it is still necessary and helpful to seek an explana-
tion that reveals the complexity of Buddhist practice regarding how the bodhisat-
tva doctrine, which is understood to be integral to and in some ways defnitive
of Mahyna Buddhism, appeared in the text of a late Hnayna school. The
Mahyna movement in Buddhist history has been a focal point of study for
decades. It has become clear that the Mahyna movement consists of a number
of originally separate movements that emerged in Buddhism and resulted in
the formation of new doctrines, new theories and an emphasis on choosing the
bodhisattva path with the ultimate goal of achieving Buddhahood. In regard
to the presence of a bodhisattva doctrine in a vinaya of a Hnayna school, I
would like to adopt Heinz Bercherts perspective: that the development of dif- Heinz Bercherts perspective: that the development of dif- Bercherts perspective: that the development of dif-
ferent schools (vda), such as the Mlasarvstivda, derived from a discrepancy
in monastic rules (vinaya), and not from different paths of salvation, i.e. whether
to take the bodhisattva path, or the bodhisattvayna, a term which eventually
was replaced by the term Mahyna (Bechert 1973, 618). What makes a monk a
Mlasarvstivdin is based on whether he follows the Mlasarvstivdin vinaya.
It was possible for someone who followed the Mlasarvstivdin vinaya to accept
the bodhisattva doctrine.
In the Tufan caves, the praidhna paintings are subordinate decorations in
a hall. The main image is Avalokitevara in Bezeklik Caves 4 and 9, Bhaiajyaguru
jingbian (painting based on a stra on Bhaiajyaguru) in Bezeklik Cave 8, and the
parinirva in Bezeklik Caves 19 and 20. Overall Turfan Buddhism of this period of
time is Mahyna. Nevertheless, it is possible that the praidhna paintings were
inspired from a Mlasarvstivdin vinaya, the manuscripts of which were found
in the east Central Asian area (Waldschmidt et al. 1979, 1233). The presence of
the praidhna paintings is not enough to defne the local Buddhist community
as Mahynists. That said, the Mlasarvstivdin vinaya texts are monumentally
voluminous. It is diffcult to imagine that a few pages that list offerings made to
past Buddhas were singled out in such a huge body of vinaya texts and became
so important in Buddhist art in Turfan. The possibility cannot be excluded that
another text similar to the related section of the Bhaiajyavastu or an independ-
ent text extracted from the Bhaiajyavastu may have existed, and this may show
Mahyna tendencies.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
Stories of the Buddhas previous incarnations have been popular and effective in
the transmission of Buddhism and in spreading Buddhist teachings. They can be
more appealing to common folk and easier for them to understand than techni-
cal or abstract doctrine. In visual representations, images of standard jtaka sto-
ries were prevalent in early Indian Buddhist art but faded away when Mahyna
Buddhism became dominant, especially in East Asia. However, representations of
the Buddhas birth stories were used as one of the major themes decorating walls
in Buddhist caves in Kucha and Turfan. Those Kucha and Turfan paintings appear
in rather different formats than jtaka images in early Indian Buddhist art and
they are also different from each other. Such different styles of representations
refect different characteristics and types of stories, which have been compiled
and reshaped over and over again into different texts for different teachings
throughout the history of Buddhism.
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