Final Paper: The Struggle of a Buddhist to Attain Nirvana

3^rd Soma vasara, Vaisakhi, 471  (3^rd April, Monday, 471 CE)

Last night I learned that my wish of completing my work that I had started 28 days ago as a painter in the Ajanta caves, was put on hold- temporarily or permanently, I do not know.  It was a job I was looking forward to finish because I hoped it was going to help me gain merit so I could get one step closer to breaking free from this vicious cycle of life, although nirvana seems far fetched for a lay Buddhist like myself. I was first introduced to Buddhism through pitrvya, my father’s brother who had subsequently gained a secure hold of the religion through Gautama Buddha’s series of direct disciples in Bodh Gaya. Although my uncle was open about his faith, his transfer of knowledge to me had to be a secret hidden from my Brahmin Hindu family. Our underground operation finally came out in the open when my father set up for me to marry the village chief’s daughter, Sakuntala. It meant that after the marriage I was to have a tremendous influence in the legal village matters. Political perks aside, I was awestruck by her beauty and grace. She had dark black hair up to her waist which were often tied in a bun right at her slim neck which rested on broad sturdy shoulders, almost seeming too heavy for her slender waist to carry. When her father invited my family and I to dinner to discuss the marriage proposal, she wore a saffron sari draped across her bosoms as a sign of chastity and respect. She wore jasmine and blood red hibiscus flowers in her hair bun, her bronze skin glowed like the sparkling water of the river Narmada, and if I were to honestly say, I was tempted. But I fought my human desires and quietly left my town of Avantika the next night to go to Ajanta at the advise of my uncle. He reassured me that he would arrange for my employment by the Vakataka Dynasty as a painter in the Buddhist caves. Although I was never professionally trained as an artist, I always had an artistic streak in me. I regularly helped the local artisans at Avantika in decorating temples of Vishnu and Shiva and so I was confident I would do a good job at representing Buddhism for generations to come. Inspired by the Buddha’s life himself, although nowhere in comparison to his greatness, I set out on my own journey of faith.

After traveling for 35 days I finally reached Ajanta and met with the chief officer responsible for the employment and housing of artists. With the help of pitrvya’s recommendation, the officer immediately arranged for my accommodation, briefed me about my upcoming work and showed me my new workplace and gave me written instructions on the techniques of painting murals, colour combination and rough sketches of the painting accompanied by the written Jataka which the painting would illustrate. My work site was the very first cave out of a total of 29 cut into a horseshoe shaped gorge in a plateau. Cave-I was special because it was funded by King Harisena of the Vakataka Dynasty. However, work at almost all of the other caves was halted or slowed down due lack of monetary funds caused by the current political tension between the Vakatakas and the Asmakas. The Asmakas who ruled just south of the Vakatakas had been threatening the region for a long time now, which led to a change in priorities of the local king Rishika. Instead of allocation of funds for the caves, money was put into military requirements halting work at most of the cave sites except for a few including cave-I since it was the donation of his overlord, King Harisena. And so during my visit to the caves with the chief officer, I noticed that apart from cave-I, work was going on in only two other caves which were almost on the opposite end of the horseshoe shaped gorge. Even within the first cave, I was informed that funding was reduced and so, many artists were forced to find employment elsewhere which led the chief officer to hire me since I was considerably cheaper (young and less experienced than many others) and willing to work at a meager salary in return.

Inside cave-I, there were already some paintings done, some abandoned half way by artists who could not afford to work for free after the reduction in monetary funds. The wall that I was to work on was on the left hand side of the main hall. Like all the other caves, there was barely any sunlight inside. The caves were lit up using torches along the corners of the hall. After examining closely, I noticed that all the walls of the cave had already been prepared for painting murals and frescoes with a layer of plaster of lime. This was a common practice in temples and caves. Before beginning to paint, the entire cavity of the cave would be plastered with lime and sand mixed in 1:2 ratio with water and made to stand for one week before plastering walls with at least two coats. Since the base layer had already been finished (which is the most labour intensive), I could start work right away if I wanted.

During the night, in the room in the Vihara given to me by my chief officer, I anxiously awaited the day. I thought that maybe I would have felt the same anxiety the night before my wedding if I had agreed to marry Sakuntala, but I quickly erased that thought and decided to immerse myself in work the next day.

The Mahajanaka legend had been among the first Jatakas I learned about as a new Buddhist. But to represent it in a sequence of illustrations was a feat I was yet to achieve in the next few months. The story of the Mahajanaka legend is that of two brothers, the older Kalyanakarin (noble doing) and younger, Papakarin (evil-doing) who set off on a voyage to obtain fortune after the death of their father. On their way back, Papakarin puts out his older brother’s eyes in order to keep all the fortune to himself and leaves his older brother to fend for himself away from their native land. Luckily for Kalyanakarin, he meets a princess who falls in love with him. Him and the princess get married and at the advice of the princess’ father, the King, Kalyanakarin regains his sight through satyakriya (the magic power of truth). Finally, the older brother Kalyanakarin returns to his homeland to rule his empire.

Kalyanakarin and his evil brother on their voyage

The story of the Mahajanaka legend is that of true inspiration. No matter what setbacks evil subjects one to, faith, honesty and nobility can help one overcome his obstacles and succeed. I decided to finish the black outline of my murals before filling them in with colour so that I could complete phase I (outlines) of the mural (which require black dye) before moving on to the filling which would be yellow, green, blue, red and possible combinations from them. Unlike black, these colours need to be in multiple layers in order to achieve a desired brightness in hue. And so I started with the outlines of the first image which was set on the ocean, the two brothers leaving for their journey to the land of the jewels. I imagined the two brothers looked apart from each other. The noble one had a more peaceful posture, expressions and considerably more beautiful than the evil, cunning Papakarin. And to mark the superiority of Kalyanakarin over his evil brother, the noble one wears a large crown whereas the evil brother wears a smaller crown.

Kalyanakarin and his wife leaving the palace gates on their homeward journey

Different parts of the Mahajanaka legend were not painted sequentially but instead were related spatially on the wall of the cave. It was during the time that I was outlining the image for the part of the legend where after Kalyanakarin regains his sight through Satyakriya, he is allowed by the princess’ father to go back to his homeland with the princess. And so with the King’s blessings, the noble brother and his wife ride out through the palace gates accompanied by a fan bearer, a parasol bearer and several musicians. Just when I had finished depiction of this particular scene, I was told by the chief officer that I could not continue my work.

The Asmaka’s threat to the security of the Vakataka Dynasty had increased so much that patronage to even the privileged royal caves like Cave-I where I had been working, had to be stopped. Although the halt in funds was forecasted to be temporary, I was asked to leave since I could not be employed even with a meager salary. However, the chief officer was generous enough to offer me to come back when funding would have resumed to continue the mural I had started that I loved so much. But other than reassurance, Ajanta had nothing more to offer me. I had no means of living and no skills at hand. The turmoil caused by the unrest between the two regions had destroyed the economy of the Kingdom leaving the population frazzled and insecure.

14^rd Guru Vasara, Paush, 471  (14^th December, Thursday, 471 CE)

With the few coins I had from my short-lived employment at Ajanta, I traveled for months surviving on food that was given to me by kind passers by, or rich merchants who wished to gain good karma. I tried valiantly to find peace for my soul but in vain. I was disappointed, depressed and tired. I could not handle the severity of the prolonged poverty. I missed my family, my home, the comfort, and most of all I missed Sakuntala. I wondered how she was, if she was married, maybe she had even become a mother. I wanted to go back to see her and tell her that yes indeed I wanted to marry her and that I was sorry for my cowardice for leaving without revealing my true faith. Ajanta was merely an escape route, a distraction from my carnal desires, an attempt at being a better Buddhist, a reason to immerse myself in spiritual work and understanding of the Buddha. I felt as if I was a hypocrite, to both Buddhism and my own family. But now that I had no escape, I lacked the physical as well as the emotional strength to overcome reality. So I succumbed to faith, and never felt the warmth of Sakuntala’s touch which I traded for a bigger, most supreme and the most ultimate achievement. I found moksha, liberation from samsara, the release of greed, temptation and suffering.

References:

Herringham, Christiana. J. 1910. The Frescoes of Ajanta. The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs Vol. 17, No. 87, pp. 136-139

Huntington, J., Chandrasekhar, C. 2000. The Dharmacakramudra Variant at Ajanta: An Iconological Study. Ars Orientalis Vol. 30, No 1, pp. 33-39.

Nayar T. S, Binu S, Pushpangadan P. 1999. Uses of Plants and Plant products in Traditional Indian Mural Paintings. Economic Botany Vol. 53, No. 1, pp. 41-50

Schlingloff, Dieter. 1976. Kalyanakarin’s Adventures. The Identification of an Ajanta Painting. Artibus Asiae Vol. 38, No. 1, pp. 5-28

Sheean, Vincent. 1951. The Buddhism that was in India. Foreign Affairs Vol. 29, No. 2, pp. 287-299

Spink, Walter. 1991. The Archaeology of Ajanta. Ars Orientalis Vol. 21, pp. 67-94

Blog Entry#10, The Ethics of Collecting and Preserving Cultural Property

It’s true what they say, you don’t know the value of what you have until it’s gone. That is exactly the case with the Bamiyan Buddhas and other historically and culturally significant items in Afghanistan. The articles for this week by Christian Manhart and Fransesco Francioni and Federico Lenzerini summarize the relationship of UNESCO and other countries with Afghanistan in terms of culture, heritage and funding for restoration of heritage sites.

In 1972, there were no Afghan properties included in the World Heritage List but it was made clear during the convention that every state would be responsible for protection, conservation and transmission of culture to future generations of property even if it was not inscribed in the World Heritage List. But Afghanistan in the last 30 years has been in no shape to consider saving anything beyond their own lives. War, poverty, injustice and terrorism have put the country in a situation where art, history and culture have become irrelevant. Afghanistan had lost a third of its population in the US war and by 2001 had the world’s lowest life expectancy and was together with Somalia, one of the two hungriest countries in the world.

Despite having universal laws defining destruction of cultural, religious, historical properties as an offense not just against the community the violence was aimed against but injustice towards whole of mankind and humanity because every culture contributes to forming the fabric of society, incidents of iconoclasm continue to occur even in non international civil wars or at times of peace. I guess the real question here is what defines these international laws, and why must one follow them. And when not followed how are the consequences met with. Although we have international laws, UNESCO would not have much control over punishing the people guilty of iconoclasm especially in a troubled area such as Afghanistan.

A number of European countries, US and UNESCO have financed restoration projects in Afghanistan to salvage the remains after the Taliban destroyed almost every statue or icon in the country. But how viable are all these restoration projects that are started with much fervor and enthusiasm only to ignore other important aspects, or rather, aspects that consider “restoration of the present” rather than the past. No article of cultural, artistic or historic importance will every be safe in Afghanistan until the people feel secure, experience freedom, have justice and equal rights. And so in my opinion, no restoration regardless of it’s size or importance is safe from iconoclasm until real Afghani people on the ground are not left ignored.

Blog Entry#9 Study of Islam in Contemporary Central Asia and Afghanistan

Mahmood and Hirschkind’s article on Feminism, the Taliban, and politics of Counter-Insurgency was very thought provoking and personally very close to me being a muslim because it was based on the western world’s misconceptions of Islam. The main question that Mahmood tried to ask was why Islamic Fundamentalism has such an explanatory power over the world, and if the Taliban really is what we think of it to be. Is it just about men suppressing women or is it really not that transparent… After the Soviet Union retreated forces from Afghanistan, and the Taliban was the only dominant power, things seemed to be okay from present day Afghanistan standards. It was due to the US’s interference by the CIA training the ISI who in turn trained the mujahideen that this group of Islamic Fundamentalists was born. Which led the Northern Alliances to cultivate poppy fields in order to fund further armament of the fundamentalists. However the formative history of the fundamentalists might have been, denial of basic rights to anybody is unfair. The most basic of those rights being that of education. Education is the source of thought; it enables a person to make their own choice. And denying women their right of education is denying them of freedom of choice. A choice which not necesarily is to dye their hair blue, wear torn jeans, have a job, be able to kiss in public or eat a bacon sandwhich- which is what some feminists and so called humanitarians like Salman Rushdie define freedom to be. Rather, it is a choice between issues that are seriously important. For example being able to chose between expressing one’s religion publicly in the form of dress or not, being able to further educate oneself or not, being able to move around without having the threat of sexual violence or physical harm. Issues that concern not just Afghanistan but several other parts of the world are not the obviously trivial things that most people from the “West” believe them to be, they are in fact much deeply rooted. And for one to be critical of a religion or culture without having a full understanding of that religion or culture raises a number of questions regarding that criticism as being an authentic informed stance or just another misinterpreted notion.

Blog Entry#7, Chang’an

The word Nestorian describes the Syriac church of the Roman and the Persian Empire that honoured the memory of Nestorius.  These Nestorians entered China during Tang Dynasty through the Silk Road to establish the Christian faith at a time when Buddhism was at it’s strongest. From sources like Xi’an Stele and the Dunhuang documents obtained from excavated sites it is understood that the Nestorians were never disrespectful of China and Chinese culture. They didn’t perceive the Empire as an enemy and instead considered persecution as unfortunate actions of misguided persons. This type of attitude to please the rulers is obvious of a motive which was to be easily accepted within the Chinese culture.

In an attempt to be accepted in the foreign land of China, the Nestorians tried to cooperate with Buddhism and Manichaeism, had collaboration between the translators and also developed a Chinese theological language and literature to interpret their faith within the host culture. Even though the host country was not entirely suitable for the establishment and success of Christianity, the Nestorians were able to establish and maintain their faith for at least two and a half centuries. However, just like any other religion or culture, Christianity when traveled to a China conformed to become more “Chinese” and blended with the local traditions.

Blog Entry#6, Dunhuang

The Mogao Ku cave temple site located in the region of Dunhuang is the largest treasure house of Buddhist art in China and is a symbol of advancement in Chinese Buddhist caves. Of the thousands of murals, paintings and sculptures excavated, many were plundered and are now distributed in different parts of the world. The sheer amount of manuscripts and the demand for them all around the world is so great that Dunhuang was named a world Cultural Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1987 and a subject of Dunhuangology was emerged.

The caves at Mogao Ku were well organized and planned based on functionality. Northern district caves were mostly used as living quarters and meditation spaces whereas the Southern district areas were used for worship. The project for the construction of these cave temples was started in the Five Dynasties and was carried on through the dynasties of Song and Western Xia. The Cao family through the Five Dynasties and Song period held most administrative positions. The magnificence of these temple sites is evidence of the sincere belief they had in Buddhism as a religion which led them to strongly support the construction of these cave temple sites. These sites could be a major reason for the spread of Buddhism and flourishing of Buddhist art.

Blog Entry#5, Sogdians: a Study in Trade and Tradition

Sogdians inhabited the region of Transoxiana in Central Asia. This region was defined as the region were Sogdian language was spoken and is an example of the modern state because it was composed of small city states (which developed independently) rather than a single polity. It is perhaps this arrangement of the city states that they thrived even during the conquest of Sogdiana by the Hephthalites and the Turks.

Although traditionally agriculture was the main occupation of the people in this region, it was ideally located in the trade network which allowed Sogdians to be the middlemen in exchange of goods and ideas from one side of the route to the other. Despite the conquests and upheavals in this region, the trade routes were protected and made safe regardless of the governance. This was because the trade route was of interest to all due to its success and benefit to all.

Gradually, a string of settlements was established along the route and very soon exotic products, ideas and beliefs were being traded from one town to another. However, this exchange was not from the origin of the product directly to its destination, but it was a transition wherein every town along the way provided an artistic input to it. A lot of times new artistic ideas became a form of inspiration to the locals and were quickly adopted. Sometimes a few of these ideas did not fare well and therefore were not incorporated in the local culture. Similarly, Zoroastrianism (differently practiced in Sogdiana than in Sassania) travelled to China but failed to flourish. However, many Sogdians converted along their way to China as they learnt of Buddhism. And Buddhist texts were translated to Chinese even by non Buddhist Sogdians as a source of income and to please their Chinese hosts.

Thus although mercantile was not considered the best choice of income in Sogdiana, the people of this region had the opportunity to participate in trade due to their location on the silk route and were successful resulting in a great exchange of material like ceramics, silk, metal work, slaves, dancers, musicians. This material proved to be an excellent source of artistic ideas and religious imagery.

Blog Entry#4, Xuanjang’s Journey to India

Political and social unrest under Sui Dynasty at the time invoked Xuanzang’s curiosity towards seeking knowledge on Buddhism as a religion and to obtain original Sanskrit Buddhist text.  Due to contradictory Chinese interpretations and translations of Buddhist texts, Xuanzang wanted make the journey to India to attain the true knowledge on Buddhism and authentic texts of Buddha’s teaching.  Xuanjang faced a number of challenges from the very beginning of his journey. Starting with the emperor Taizong’s disapproval of him leaving the country to the thieves, robbers and other calamities that he encountered on his way to India. Although he embarked on this journey to seek religious texts, it proved to be an historic event where he ended up accomplishing much more.  With the help of the kinship between the Khans and other kings in the region he was able to influence them into giving Xuanjang a warm welcome to their respective kingdoms starting with the King of Turfan.

While on his journey, Xuanjang made sure that he made his emperor Taizong known to all the kings he visited. It was these praises of the great Chinese emperor which impressed many of the kings such as Harsha of India to send envoys and royal gifts to Taizong. Therefore Xuanjang was able to established alliances between the Chinese emperor and kingdoms of the west, he captured the political and social structure of central Asia at the time and upon his return home fifteen years after his departure, he inspired the culture of his home society with the rich teachings of Buddhism and his accounts of the foreign lands.