Woodblock Printing and State Protection in the Inclusive Buddhist Culture of the Tanguts
Kirill Solonin and Elena Pakhoutova
A Pancharaksha Text with Frontispiece Illustrations; excavated from Khara-Khoto, Tangut Kingdom (Xixia), Gansu Province, China; ca. late 12th century, reign period of the emperor Renzong (1124–1193, r. 1139–1193); xylographed ink on paper, concertina binding, 60 pages of text and 4 illustrated pages; 10 7/8 × 4 3/8 in. (27.5 × 11 cm); Institute of Oriental Manuscript Research; P. K. Kozlov Collection; Russian Academy of Sciences, Saint Petersburg, Russia; Tang 214, n40–41/1
A Pancharaksha Print from Khara-Khoto
Khara-Khoto, Tangut Kingdom (Xixia) Gansu Province, Chinaca. late 12th century
A Pancharaksha Text with Frontispiece Illustrations; excavated from Khara-Khoto, Tangut Kingdom (Xixia), Gansu Province, China; ca. late 12th century, reign period of the emperor Renzong (1124–1193, r. 1139–1193); xylographed ink on paper, concertina binding, 60 pages of text and 4 illustrated pages; 10 7/8 × 4 3/8 in. (27.5 × 11 cm); Institute of Oriental Manuscript Research; P. K. Kozlov Collection; Russian Academy of Sciences, Saint Petersburg, Russia; Tang 214, n40–41/1
Summary
The Tangut state served as an important link along the trade routes connecting cultural regions of Central and Inner Asia with the Western world. Between the foundation of the Tangut state in the eleventh century and its destruction by the Chinggis Khan’s armies in the thirteenth, the cosmopolitan Tangut state embraced diverse sources of Buddhist culture and systematically integrated them into its own cultural production. Historian Kirill Solonin and art historian Elena Pakhoutova examine a printed image of state protection from the lost desert city of Khara-Khoto.
Different Asian religious traditions posit different types of divine beings. Hindus generally believe in an all-encompassing God-like being, called Brahman. They also believe in a variety of other gods (deva), including Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. Early Buddhists denied the existence of a single, all-powerful creator god. Nevertheless, they always recognized a variety of powerful spirits, like gandharvas and nagas. Mahayana Buddhists came to see bodhisattvas as beings of enormous power, and buddhas themselves as cosmic beings with the ability to create entire universes. Buddhist and Bon traditions in Tibet worshiped a variety of other gods (Tib. lha), like the mountain gods, or gods of the land. According to Buddhist tradition, enlightened deities are seen as beyond the cycle of death and rebirth, whereas gods (including Hindu gods) are not.
In Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism, a dharani is a short, Sanskrit language text or spell-like formulas thought to have protective power when written or recited out loud, often as part of a ritual. Often inscribed on objects or at sacred sites, their power through the written physical presence is associated with long life, purification, and protection. Dharanis are similar to mantras, but usually longer. One important dharani is the Ushnishavijaya Dharani. The Pancharaksha is another important text that contains five dharanis of protection.
In the Himalayan context, iconography refers to the forms found in religious images, especially the attributes of deities: body color, number of arms and legs, hand gestures, poses, implements, and retinue. Often these attributes are specified in ritual texts (sadhanas), which artists are expected to follow faithfully.
A practice of hiring and commissioning artists to create works of art. In religious context patrons were often rulers, religious leaders, as well as ordinary people. (see also donor)
Sutras are written down words spoken by the Buddha Shakyamuni, narrated by his disciples. Sutra texts comprise the foundation of the textual canon of all Buddhist traditions. Sutras generally begin with the words, “Thus have I heard,” and continue to describe the place, time, and context in which the Buddha gave the teaching. Important Mahayana sutras include the Avatamsaka Sutra and the Prajnaparamita Sutras, as well as many others. Other important types of Buddhist text are avadanas, dharanis, as well as tantras.
The Tanguts were an ethnic group in medieval East-Central Asia, who called themselves Minyak and spoke a language distantly related to Tibetan. Between 1038 and 1227 CE the Tanguts ruled a state in what is now the Chinese provinces of Ningxia, Gansu, and Qinghai. This state took the Chinese dynastic name of Xia, also called Xixia “Western Xia.” The Tangut-Xixia emperors were major patrons of Buddhism, inviting both Chinese and Tibetan monks to teach in the capital, and instituting major Buddhist translation and printing projects in three languages. The Tangut state was destroyed by the armies of Chinggis Khan, leading to their absorption into the Mongol Empire, where many Tanguts served as officials.
This printed image and a text it illustrates offer one example of many prints from carved woodblocks produced in the Tangut state of Xixia and excavated from the ancient city of Khara-Khoto. The multiethnic state formed by the Dangxiang, a Tibeto-Burman-speaking people, was known in Chinese sources as Western (Xi) Xia. Its Tangut name means the Great State of White and High, and its territory stretched west of the Yellow River’s (Huang He) northern bend known as (Hexi, “west of the river”), flanked by the Mongolian and Tibetan Plateaus. The area served as an important link along the so-called Silk Roads, the trade routes connecting cultural regions of Central and with the Western world.
Chinese records indicate that the Tangut state was established in 1038, when the Tangut emperor Li Yuanhao (r. 1032–1048) officially informed the Northern Song court of his new status, but Tangut texts count the state’s chronology from Yuanhao’s grandfather Li Jiqian (963–1004). Tangut script was created not long before 1038. Mongol invasions of 1215 and 1227 destroyed the Tangut state; its population was assimilated into the or integrated into Tibetan areas.
Fig. 2 The Tangut state of Western (Xi) Xia and Khara-Khoto in relation to various geographical landmarks
Khara-Khoto
The city of Khara-Khoto was an important northern outpost of the Xixia state through the mid-fourteenth century and remained populated even after the state’s demise in 1227. Studies of a large cache of multilingual printed and written Buddhist texts, documents, and printed and painted images offer insights into the ’ history, religion, art, literature, economy, and cross-cultural connections.
was crucial for unifying and protecting the Tangut realm and maintaining its prosperity. The state propagated Buddhist teachings by acquiring Buddhist texts inviting foreign monks to assist in translation projects, building temples, and importing .
Tangut Buddhism
Chinese texts served as the initial source of Buddhism among the Tangut elite, as confirmed by acquisitions of the Buddhist canon in Chinese and its translation into Tangut. The cosmopolitan Tangut state embraced diverse sources of Buddhist culture—Indian, Tibetan, Chinese, and Khitan (Liao)—and systematically integrated them into its own cultural production. Several tantric Buddhist texts were translated from Tibetan and some probably from .
The Tanguts’ expansion westward brought them into direct contact with Tibetans of the eastern Tibetan region () and facilitated connections with central Tibet, increasing exchanges with Tibetan Buddhist traditions. , , and Buddhist lineages spread in Xixia alongside Chinese Buddhist traditions. Tibetan and Tangut sources indicate that some Tibetan monks served as Imperial and State Preceptors in the Xixia court.
Tangut Buddhist hierarchy was headed by the State Preceptor, a position of “supreme” rank, according to Tangut legislation. Another important figure was the imperial preceptor. It seems that in practice, the imperial preceptor’s single duty was to perform tantric empowerment () rituals for the emperor, and the highly prestigious position included an assigned temple.
Triggered by the inflow of Tibetan texts during the reign of Renzong Renxiao (r. 1139–1193), new translations of canonical scriptures continued, with the focus shifted to revise earlier translations. The arrival of the Indian translator Sumatikirti in the late eleventh century and the Kashmiri Buddhist scholar (pandita) Jayananda with his Tibetan disciples in the 1140s perhaps enabled the Tangut transcription of invocation spells () and mantras to more closely reflect Sanskrit sounds.
The Amended and Revised Legal Code of the Tiansheng Reign Period, promulgated in the mid-twelfth century, stipulated regulations for monastic ordination as well as the curriculum of Buddhist doctrinal learning and mandatory texts for monastic communities’ recitations. The list included several texts associated with the protection of the state and the well-being of sentient beings, as indicated by the Tangut imperial preface to the publication.
The printing of images was widely practiced, and images often served as frontispieces of the printed Buddhist texts, as in this example. The origins of the printed images’ compositions remain in question, but portable scroll paintings and illuminated manuscripts were among the sources of the prints’ . Mass-produced printed images, in turn, helped to propagate the iconographies, visual conventions, and messages these images and texts conveyed.
Most of the printed publications in Xixia were distributed by the imperial court for several statewide Buddhist assemblies in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, but some texts may have been published through alternative venues. The names of the temples mentioned in the publications’ colophons indicate the translators’ affiliations and, possibly, publication sites.
Many of the materials discovered throughout the former Tangut territory, especially the texts of tantric instructions, were not listed in the legal regulations for the monasteries. This suggests that Buddhism in the Tangut state performed two functions. “Popular” Buddhism utilized various manuscripts and printed esoteric instructions (). Worship of , broadly popular in Xixia, may have been expressly intended for the well-being and good rebirths of the royal family. Though not officially sanctioned, Maitreya-related were published and widely distributed during Buddhist assemblies. “Official” Buddhism employed the sanctioned canonical texts, including the state protection texts of Tibetan and Chinese origin.
The Illustrated Buddhist Text for Protection of the State
This printed work of the Five Sutras was published on the order of the Tangut emperor Renzong for nationwide distribution. Its title and the opening line of a preface, composed by Qi Qiu, appear to the left of the image. The sutras, known as Five Protections (Pancharaksha), are associated with Five Protector Goddesses and their specific mantras. Chinese and Tibetan traditions include translations of the Pancharaksha texts with dharani and instructions for their use, and various Tangut texts have similar content.
This Tangut translation of the discourse (sutra) from Tibetan, printed in a folded (concertina) format, sets up the text’s narrative. The Buddha and the Four Great Kings offer protection in the aftermath of an earthquake at Vaishali. The frontispiece combines two images rendered in a seemingly Chinese mode. The left frame (fig. 3) shows a semiwrathful seated on a large throne with left leg pendent, surrounded by her retinue. Dressed in Indic fashion, she has four heads, each with three eyes; her hair is standing on end; and her eight arms hold various implements. This is one of the five goddesses, Mahasahasrapramardani. The cartouche reads, “Root Dharani Heavenly Mother ‘protecting the Great Thousands of States.’” The tantric iconography of the deity stems from Indian and Nepalese models, as in the illuminated manuscripts of Pancharaksha in the National Museum in Delhiand San Diego Museum of Art(fig. 4). In the lower corners of the image, two figures in Tangut royal attire sit with their hands in supplication, and the whole tableau is framed by a fence. The image diverges from earlier prints of Pancharakshadharanis found in Dunhuang.
Fig. 3
Goddess Mahasahasrapramardani; detail of A Pancharaksha Text with Frontispiece Illustrations; excavated from Khara-Khoto, Tangut state of Xixia; Institute of Oriental Manuscript Research; P. K. Kozlov Collection; Russian Academy of Sciences, Saint Petersburg, Russia; Tang 214, n40–41/1
The right frame image (fig. 5) follows the previous modes of Chinese sutra frontispieces in printed form (fig. 6). A kneeling royal figure in front of replaces the elder Subhuti, depicted in another sutra. To the right of the Buddha are Ananda and Bodhisattvas and , identified by cartouches. The convention of depicting royal figures as participants inserted into the scenes in Tangut Buddhist images indicates imperial . The whole group faces the goddess and the text, denoting their importance.
Fig. 5
Buddha Shakyamuni with Retinue and Tangut Emperor in Supplication, detail 2 of fig. 1, A Pancharaksha Text with Frontispiece Illustrations; excavated from Khara-Khoto, Tangut state of Xixia; Institute of Oriental Manuscript Research; P. K. Kozlov Collection; Russian Academy of Sciences, Saint Petersburg, Russia; Tang 214, n40–41/1.
The cartouche reads, “Buddha Shakyamuni preaching the Sutra of a Thousand States in Vaishali” (the sutra text itself states that the Buddha taught it in Rajagriha).
During the two hundred years of the Xixia state’s existence and well after its destruction in 1227 by the expanding Mongol Empire of Chinggis Khan, the Tangut people and their Buddhist culture, with material objects like this print, produced a lasting sociopolitical legacy in Central Asia, including in their conqueror’s culture, religious authority, and state rituals.
Footnotes
1
Russian scholars date the Tangut state from 982 to 1227. Kychanov 1999, 49–58; Galambos 2015, 102–8.
2
See Galambos 2015, 120–28.
3
See Shen 2005, 189.
4
Galambos 2015, 17–96.
5
Solonin 2008, 64–74, and 2020, 129–35; Shi 2021.
6
van der Kuijp 1993; Solonin 2013a. On the complexity of the Buddhist sources in Xixia, see Solonin 2008, 67–70; Kornicki 2012, 85; Kychanov 1999.
7
On Tangut texts of Tibetan origin, see Solonin 2015.
8
Sperling 1987; Dunnell 1992.
9
Kychanov 2013, 227.
10
Wei 2013, 317–18.
11
See Solonin 2015. An early monument of Tangut epigraphy, the “Inscription Commemorating the Renovation of Ganying Stupa of the State Protection Monastery” marks the importance of this function of Buddhism. See Dunnell 1996.
Such as the temples Daduminsi 大度民寺 and Xiansheng Wuming Jingshe 顯生五明精舍
14
See Solonin 2013b and 2015.
15
Kychanov 1999, 245–46. The title’s Tangut transcription is from the original Sanskrit title, generally thought to represent a translation from Tibetan.
16
Hidas 2020, 237–40; 2013, 225–32.
17
Her front right hand holds a vajra, the other three hold a sword, arrows, and a goad/trident. Her front left hand holds a noose, displaying a gesture of vigilance (tarjani mudra), and the other three hold a jewel, a bow, and a trident. J. Kim 2010, 265–66; Bhattacharyya (1928) 2017, 2: 406.
18
See Bhattacharyya 1958, fig. 197; Kim 2010, fig. 1.
19
The Mahapratisara dharani print is discussed in Formigatti 2016, 79–80, fig. 6.1; Copp 2008, 243–44, 257–58.
20
See Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra in the British Library, London, Or.8210/P.2 recto. For examples of the Yuan and Ming periods, see Huang 2014, figs. 6, 13, 14, 18, 35.
Further Reading
Galambos, Imre. 2015. Translating Chinese Tradition and Teaching Tangut Culture: Manuscripts and Printed Books from Khara-Khoto. Berlin: De Gruyter.
Piotrovsky, M. B., ed. 1993. Lost Empire of the Silk Road: Buddhist Art from Khara-Khoto. Exhibition catalog. Milan: Electra.
Solonin, Kirill. 2015. “Local Literatures: Tangut/Xixia.” In Brill’s Encyclopedia of Buddhism, edited by Jonathan A. Silk et al., 1: 844–59. Leiden: Brill.
Different Asian religious traditions posit different types of divine beings. Hindus generally believe in an all-encompassing God-like being, called Brahman. They also believe in a variety of other gods (deva), including Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. Early Buddhists denied the existence of a single, all-powerful creator god. Nevertheless, they always recognized a variety of powerful spirits, like gandharvas and nagas. Mahayana Buddhists came to see bodhisattvas as beings of enormous power, and buddhas themselves as cosmic beings with the ability to create entire universes. Buddhist and Bon traditions in Tibet worshiped a variety of other gods (Tib. lha), like the mountain gods, or gods of the land. According to Buddhist tradition, enlightened deities are seen as beyond the cycle of death and rebirth, whereas gods (including Hindu gods) are not.
In Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism, a dharani is a short, Sanskrit language text or spell-like formulas thought to have protective power when written or recited out loud, often as part of a ritual. Often inscribed on objects or at sacred sites, their power through the written physical presence is associated with long life, purification, and protection. Dharanis are similar to mantras, but usually longer. One important dharani is the Ushnishavijaya Dharani. The Pancharaksha is another important text that contains five dharanis of protection.
In the Himalayan context, iconography refers to the forms found in religious images, especially the attributes of deities: body color, number of arms and legs, hand gestures, poses, implements, and retinue. Often these attributes are specified in ritual texts (sadhanas), which artists are expected to follow faithfully.
A practice of hiring and commissioning artists to create works of art. In religious context patrons were often rulers, religious leaders, as well as ordinary people. (see also donor)
Sutras are written down words spoken by the Buddha Shakyamuni, narrated by his disciples. Sutra texts comprise the foundation of the textual canon of all Buddhist traditions. Sutras generally begin with the words, “Thus have I heard,” and continue to describe the place, time, and context in which the Buddha gave the teaching. Important Mahayana sutras include the Avatamsaka Sutra and the Prajnaparamita Sutras, as well as many others. Other important types of Buddhist text are avadanas, dharanis, as well as tantras.
The Tanguts were an ethnic group in medieval East-Central Asia, who called themselves Minyak and spoke a language distantly related to Tibetan. Between 1038 and 1227 CE the Tanguts ruled a state in what is now the Chinese provinces of Ningxia, Gansu, and Qinghai. This state took the Chinese dynastic name of Xia, also called Xixia “Western Xia.” The Tangut-Xixia emperors were major patrons of Buddhism, inviting both Chinese and Tibetan monks to teach in the capital, and instituting major Buddhist translation and printing projects in three languages. The Tangut state was destroyed by the armies of Chinggis Khan, leading to their absorption into the Mongol Empire, where many Tanguts served as officials.
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