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The Mahāsūtras and the Wall Paintings of Kucha

  • Hiromi HABATA (Buddhist Studies at International College for Postgraduate Buddhist Studies) ;
  • Satomi HIYAMA (Asian Art History at Toyo University)
  • Published : 2025.12.31
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Abstract

Among the large corpus of Buddhist sūtra-texts, the existence of a category/group of sūtras transmitted by laypeople (upāsaka/upāsika) in cooperation with monastics (bhikṣu/bhikṣuṇī) was well established during the early oral phase of the transmission of Buddhism. This category was called mahāsūtras in the Sarvāstivāda tradition, and its details were listed in several texts. The contents of the mahāsūtras are appropriate for laypeople to understand the teaching of the Buddha. Besides, the texts often contain dhāraṇī, therefore had a function as protective texts (rakṣā). As previous art-historical studies have revealed, some of the narrative subjects, which are illustrated in the wall paintings decorating the Buddhist rock-cut monasteries of Kucha, are recounted in the mahāsūtras. This paper explores whether and how the mahāsūtras are related to the iconographical program of the Buddhist caves of Kucha.

Keywords

References

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