The Nehan zu painting depicting the death of Sakyamuni, the historical Buddha is one of the oldest and greatest work of art ever to be made. Its significance emerges in the fact that it communicated an open and easy to elaborate message to the lovers of art and the general public at large, but more so to the Buddhism community of faithful. Sakyamuni is deemed as lying on a dais that is constructed with lots of jewels and marbles, with his head been laid on his right arm, facing the right side of his arm. Sakyamuni’s dais is surrounded by a huge number of animals and disciples also referred to as bodhisattvas at the top right side of the piece of art. The group of animals and disciples is led by Sakyamuni’s mother, Maya and Anaritsusonja who descend from a cloud. The art is constructed around a very beautiful depiction with the drawing containing a number of colors, ink, and a leaf of gold on silk.
Buddha is a very important monument to the Indian community, as it brings about a certain culture of religion, belief, and unites the community all together. In this perspective, the historical entry of Buddha into the blessed state of “Nirvana” also referred to as ‘Nehan’ in the Japanese community, at the time of his death brought about an extinction of personality that would be coupled with an ultimate existence of reality which would be deemed by the Buddhist community as the highest god. It is estimated that the images initiated by the sculpture of Buddha existed in India first, backdating to the second or third century AD. During the Tang dynasty in China, the sculpture had well established a firm foundation as a Chinese painting, which eventually spread its wings to the neighboring country of Japan, instigating meaning and acceptance in the Japanese community in the early 11th Century. It was in the Japanese community that the sculpture would eventually be referred to as ‘Nehanzu’. It ended up being displayed in all temples in celebration of the death of Buddha on fifteenth of the second month, as well as accounting of the large multitudes of the survivors from the medieval period (Kaminishi, 2006).
Buddha’s image had gained a large form of acceptance, in which it would later be viewed as the death of a standard sized- superhuman deity, and so are the mourning multitudes besides him. As more depictions of the initial piece of work were incepted in the world of art, the multitudes that represented the animals and the heavenly beings mourning the death of Buddha seated around his resting dais kept increasing significantly. The increment in the number of the mourners would be based on the artists’ impressions over the years, which increased up to the seventeenth Century. Maya, his mother was displayed as a form of spirit that could be viewed on the top right of the art in the Japanese addition. The increase in mourners reflected the appreciation of the life of Buddha and the respect he commanded in the society at large.
The Buddha in traditional and cultural practices, is displayed on trees that is ultimately surrounded by mourners. Paintings of the Buddha entering the holy place of ‘Nirvana’, has gained humongous popularity among various temples on the anniversary celebrations of Buddha’s death. The anniversary is referred to as ‘Nehan- e’, and is usually celebrated on the 15th day of the month of February. It typically involves the settling down of the gathered faithful, and listening to a recitation of a piece referred to as ‘Nahan- kyo’ or ‘Nirvana sutra’. The gathered faithful are a sign of representation of reflection of indebtedness to the Buddha, and thus, are deemed to conceive Buddha among themselves, as a means of believe that they will also enter the holy city of ‘Nirvana’. This is also a very meaningful and sensible reason as to why the imitations of the paintings on the death of Buddha down from the original one in the 13th century all through to the imitations by various renowned artists in the 17th Century had an increase in the number of mourners surrounding the dais of Buddha (Durt, 1989).
The paintings of Buddha entering the holy city of ‘Nirvana’, may have two huge segmentations that are solely based on the Chinese models. The first painting is deemed to have existed in the period of the Tang dynasty whereas the second painting is influenced by the Sung- dynasty. The first type is almost a square or kind of a rectangular shape, and is oriented horizontally where it is composed of a point at which Buddha’s feet are well stretched out as well as his arms to either side. The mourners surrounding Buddha are relatively small in number and are artistically drawn on a large scale. The second depiction of Buddha’s painting is marred with a significant contrast from the original one, as it lays emphasis on Buddha’s head. In this second depiction, Buddha is displayed as resting his head on his right arm, and slightly inclined on the right side. In this second painting, the number of mourners has significantly increased, with Anaritsusonja and Maya, Buddha’s mother being displayed as spirits descending from the clouds, the second painting contains more significance than the first, and it has been greatly adopted as compared to the first one.
Bibliography
The British Museum. (2016, May 17). Nehan zu 涅槃図 (Parinirvana (Sakyamnuni Entering Nirvana). Retrieved from The British Museum: http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1399949&partId=1
Durt, H. (1989). Recent Japanese Publications on Buddhism. Cahiers d'Extrême-Asie, 5(1), 405-427.
Kaminishi, I. (2006). Explaining pictures: Buddhist propaganda and Etoki storytelling in Japan. University of Hawaii Press.
