CH 19 Artist Set #2 Bodhisattva Guide of Souls from Tang Dynasty late 9th century CE vs. Nanchan Temple, Wutaishan Shanxi from Tang Dynasty 782 CE

The painting is inscribed with the characters yinlu pu or 'Bodhisattva leading the Way'. It is one of several from Mogao of a bodhisattva leading the beautifully dressed donor figure to the Pure Land, or Paradise, indicated by a Chinese building floating on clouds in the top left corner. The two figures are also carried by a cloud indicating that they are flying. The bodhisattva, shown much larger than the donor, is holding a censer and a banner in his hand. The banner is one of many of the same type found at Mogao, with a triangular headpiece and streamers.
The woman appears to be very wealthy, with gold hairpins in her hair. Actual examples of these were found in Chinese tombs. Her fashionably plump figure suggests that the painting was made in the ninth or tenth century.
According to an inscription on a beam, the Great Buddha Hall of Nanch Temple was first built in 782 CE during the Tang Dynasty. Another inscription on a beam indicates that the hall was renovated in 1086 of the Song Dynasty, during that time all but four of the original square columns were replaced with round columns. In the 1950s the building was rediscovered by architectural historians, and in 1961 it was recognized as China’s oldest standing timber-frame building. Five years later in1966, the building was damaged in an earthquake, and during the renovation in the 1970s, historians studied the building piece by piece. The Great Buddha Hall is an important building in the understanding of Chinese architectural history. The Nanchan Temple also contains original sculptures dating from the Tang Dynasty. The hall contains seventeen statues that are lined up on an inverted U-shaped dias. The Great Buddha Hall also has one small carved stone pagoda that is five levels high. The first level’s carved with a story about Buddha, and each corner has an additional small pagoda. Each side of the second level is carved with one large Buddha in the center with four smaller Buddhas on each side. The upper three levels have three carved Buddhas on each side. Both these artworks are interesting because they show the history of the religions they represent.