Fig. 65

Fitting the oil paper pasted with silk glue ccurately

Fig. 69

Vigorous smoothing of the picture package

The structure of this Mandala was initiated  by Master Shan-dao (613–681 CE). He lived and flourished during the Tang Dynasty period as Dharma Master in the then capital of Chang-an. He was a man of letters and a great artist. He was considered the most important Patriarch of the Pure Land School.

Fig. 269 

Shan-dao’s handwriting with a hymn and the procedure for a rite; in 1899, his handwritten copy of the Amitābha Sūtra was discovered in the Turfan Basin in the Xin-jiang Province of China.

The imprisonment of King Bimbisāra:

1. Prologue

...At the same time as Buddha Śākyamuni lived King Bimbisāra of Magadha and his wife Vaidehī. To their sorrow, they had no children. But a soothsayer prophesied to them that on the mountain lived an ascetic who after his death in three years’ time would be reborn as the King’s son.

Though the King was gratified at this prospect, he also became impatient, and was reluctant to wait until the ascetic died a natural death. So he sent a servant to the mountain with a message.

Politely, the servant asked: “Great Master, our King is unfortunately childless. Happily, however, a soothsayer prophesied to him that you, after your death, will be reborn as the King’s son. Could you not be so kind as to hurry up a bit with dying?”

Understandably enough, the ascetic replied that he had no intention of shortening the three years of life remaining to him...

Page 140-141:

Page 114-115:

Facing with silk glue is used to ensure that on this old silk picture the painted threads would not be shifted or damaged during the restoration process.

HICA Edition

Bilingual: German/English

220 pages, 33.5 x 25 cm

363 colour illustrations

Hardcover, cloth-bound, with slip case

ISBN 978-3-00-030338-8

Chapter II: Origin

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Rebirth of a Taima-Mandala

Restoration and Origin