A Study of Common Buddhist Painting in India and China with a Case Study of Paintings in Ajanta and Dunhuang Caves

The cultural heritage of the ancient lands of India and China makes up an important part of Buddhist culture. Buddhism is a most important religious current in these lands, which has had a deep impact on the Indian and Chinese art. Mixing the common artistic foundations of these two civilizations with the Buddhist ideas, manifested in the cave-temples of Ajanta and Dun Huang, raises the question: What effect did the Indian and Chinese artistic foundations have on the structure and the common themes left in the painting of these caves? Developed in a descriptive-analytical way and based on library sources, this research has investigated this subject. The result although there is a similarity between the common themes in the Buddhist paintings, but Chinese artists, relying on the ancient culture and intellectual foundations of their land, have transformed Artistic methods and have added to the richness of Buddhist culture and religion.

Since it is the common experience of a large number of the continent population, Buddhism has a unique place in the history of Asian religions. One of the success keys of Buddhism is its ability to adjust to the beliefs of the people of different lands, which, in harmony with ancient cultures, has opened up new perspectives on life for them. The demonstration of this kind of religious attitude throughout these places has been complemented by the invention of numerous works of art. The land of China is one of the areas that was intensely affected by the introduction of Buddhism. The arrival of Buddhist traditions in this ancient land opened new possibilities for Chinese artistic culture. In sculpture, the Chinese adopted Buddhist iconography and adapted it to their belief system, but Indian Buddhist temples were imitated in China. The Dunhuang stone temples at Gansu are among the works inspired by the Ajanta Buddhist caves in India. The murals of these temples are among the most magnificent works of art of the Indo-Chinese civilizations, which can be considered a manifestation of Buddhist beliefs and philosophical thought prevalent in these areas. The influence of Buddhist teachings on the formation of the murals of the caves of Ajanta and Dunhuang, along with the common ideological foundations in these lands, raises the following questions:What has been the effect of the common artistic principles in the lands of India and China on the common structure and themes in the painting of Ajanta and Dunhuang caves?
What themes are most prominent in Buddhist paintings of the Ajanta and Dunhuang caves?
This study aims to help better understand some of the cultural and artistic relations of these civilizations from studying the common Buddhist paintings in the two civilizations of India and China.

The research method is descriptive-analytical; data collection has been done via library resources and documents. This study deals with Buddhist paintings of Ajanta caves in India and Dunhuang in China. Examples are scrutinized from available publications in this field, such as Art, Religion, and Politics in Medieval China (Qiang, 2004), and online sites such as Pinterest (pinterest.com). Among the collected samples, in agreement with the content and volume of the article, the image of some of them is included in the text. Gaining acquaintance about how the illustrations are done in these works has been made by referring to historical sources.

The fundamentals of Indian art can be found in the Hindu intellectual systems (Darŝana). “Yoga” is one of these treasures (Rikhtegaran, 2009: 11). Art, regarding the rituals performed in the path of its emergence and the works and results obtained from it, is considered a “devotional act.” The presence of the three main pillars of worship (Sadana), remembrance (Mantarm), and “meditation” (Dhyana), before the creation of the work of art, make it a sacred truth. The artists are ready to receive the “divine images” (Devata) by passing these steps. Based on these artistic instructions, the artist must understand the sources by which the gods are inspired, namely the Vedic chants (Mantras). In this intellectual approach, the creation of art as a devotional practice and the special characteristics of the artist is emphasized. This intellectual approach has been extensively reflected in the illustration of the cave temples of Ajanta. The subject matter of these paintings is very different and is mainly about the previous lives of the Buddha. The depiction of heaven as man's idyllic destination and the first place of the Buddha is one of the favorite subjects of Buddhist artists. Along with the portrayal of sacred spaces, Buddhist artists sought to achieve perfection through the embodiment of the supreme human essence, which they believed was manifested in the person of the Buddha. In its historical course towards China, this art spread with similar themes, but the key difference is the influence of the intellectual foundations of China in the creation of the paintings of the cave temples of Dunhuang. The intellectual foundations, practices, and way of life in traditional China are the teachings of Confucius, Laozi, and Buddha. Prevalent artistic practices in China also influenced the mainstream of thought in the land, and Buddhist art evolved on the intellectual achievements of the Confucian and Daoist religions. Indian Buddhist painting traditions helped the Chinese a lot in terms of composition techniques.

Investigating the basics of art and painting in the caves of Ajanta and Dunhuang suggests that: There are many similarities between the common Buddhist paintings in the caves of Ajanta and the paintings of the temples of Dunhuang in terms of theme and style of performance. Chinese artists borrowed their artistic themes directly from Indian Buddhist art, although some have changed. Reflection on the common artistic principles in these two lands also indicates a direct relationship between religious values and the common intellectual principles in the land of India as the origin of Buddhism and the common artistic principles in the land of China. The prominence of humanizing the mind and spiritual powers for gaining peace is one of the issues that both cultures have highlighted. In both civilizations, art is considered a kind of wisdom, and engaging in monastic practices is one of the most significant ways to understand the truth, which results in the arousal of a kind of intuition that the artist manifests in the work of art. In a way, it can be said that the Buddhist spirituality depicted in Ajanta's paintings merged with ancient Chinese wisdom in its expansion and continued with greater richness in Dunhuang paintings. In terms of content, such things as heaven and the ideal human being are the central themes of most of the paintings, and the artist's efforts have often been focused on exalting the myrtle statues to convey the teachings of the Buddha.