Images of "Becoming the Buddha": Reinvestigating Images of Pensive Bodhisattva in Early Medieval China

This paper deals with an image called “the pensive bodhisattva,” identified by a seated posture with the ankle of a raised right leg resting upon the knee of a pendant left leg and the right hand touching the cheek, as though lost in thought. Although pensive images appeared throughout India and East Asia from the 2nd to 7th century CE, this research will focus on those produced in early medieval China (3rd to 6th century CE). Some pensive images are identified by inscription as Siddhartha (pre-enlightenment name of Śākyamuni), but others appear as attending figures flanking Bodhisattva Maitreya in Tuśita Heaven. Various theories concerning the identity of pensive bodhisattva have been offered, but none of them explains why “Śākyamuni” would be portrayed attending his follower, Maitreya. I use an iconological approach to propose a theory on the evolution of the meaning of this image. I argue that although this iconography originally signified Siddhartha’s first meditation, since its use soon expanded to scenes of key moments in his pursuit of Buddhahood, including leaving the walled palace, bidding farewell to his white horse, taking offered rice gruel before his final meditation, and attaining Buddhahood, it became an image symbolizing the quest to attain Buddhahood. That explains why this iconography was also used to depict Maitreya and Avalokiteśvara, whose destined Buddhahood are described in the Sūtra on the Descent of Maitreya and Compassionate Flower Sūtra respectively. Their predestination had developed into an independent belief: 5th and 6th century donors in China patronized a particular type of image bearing the inscribed names of “Siddhartha/Maitreya/Avalokiteśvara becoming the Buddha.” The pursuit of Buddhahood became a major religious goal, evidenced by the inscriptions on late 5th and 6th century Buddhist images. Getting reborn in a Pure Land is a shortcut toward Buddhahood. The Pure Land of Sukhāvāti and Maitreya’s Palace in the Tuśita Heaven were the two ideal options for rebirth. Tuśita Palace became a favored paradise for rebirth due to people’s wish to hear Maitreya’s teaching in person. However, the Sūtra of Maitreya’s Ascension is ambiguous on if Tuśita Palace is a Pure Land or it is just part of the Tuśita Heaven. For that reason, some clerics in this period viewed Tuśita Palace as a secondary place for rebirth comparing to the Pure Lands with living Buddhas. Maitreya Belief had deep root in the Tabgach people, who ruled north China from the 5th to 6th century CE and sponsored the cave-shrines at Yungang, where the pensive iconography was first adopted to depict beings reborn in the Tuśita Palace. I argue that this was a visual exegesis made by the clerics at Northern Wei (the Tabgach Regime) court to address the doctrinal issue within the Ascent Belief of Maitreya, to reassure their patrons that Tuśita Palace was the correct place for rebirth, by displaying the connection between rebirth in Tuśita Palace and attaining Buddhahood.