1. Material objects and Spirituality
Human’s search for spirituality or spiritual development through religions ties closely to material objects
Often found in rituals
Material objects associated with Buddhism proliferated in the course of Chinese dynastic history

2. The numerous Buddhism-related material objects produced in China also bespeak the sinification of Buddhism
There is, however, an inherent paradox in the use of materials objects when one practices Buddhism
Auction price, 700,000 RMB
A golden Casket used to store sarira, 1043, the Song Dynasty

3. The Paradox of Renunciation
“Renunciation” is a fundamental element of Buddhism, the beginning of the path
Renunciation of the world of sensory desire
Renunciation of the world of material things
Enter the order, living in a life of simplicity in a monastery
All dharmas are empty; all realities are illusions
Asoka’s Stupa, Five Dynasty

4. But a monastery cannot sustain itself without the support of lay persons
Monastery solicits funds for its basic infrastructure and for making images and devotional objects
The result:
“Renunciation of material things” goes hand in hand with “promotion of the use of material things”
Illusions and realities emerge
Simplicity is compromised for complexity

5. Material Aspects of Buddhism
A wide array of material objects exist in Chinese Buddhism
These objects range from the Buddha’s relics to things that may have only tenuous connection with Buddhism

6. Objects inherited with sacred power and imbued with symbolism are most reverenced
Relics
Icons
Monastic uniforms, including robes and accessories
Tools for living, traveling and other activities
Ring-staff, rosary, ruyi sceptor etc.

7. Three types of relics Bodily relics (of the Buddha) Contact relics
Bone
Hair
Teeth
Flesh
Contact relics
Everything the Buddha had touched
Things he had used, placed he had lived and preached etc.
Reminder relics
scriptures
images

8. Relics in Buddhist Culture
The Buddha’s relics
Legends say that the Buddha’s relics were divided into eight equal parts and distributed among eight regions where stupas were built to house them
King Asoka collected all the relics and redistributed among 84,000 stupas all over the world
The cult of relics is as old as Buddhism itself

9. The Veneration of relics
Reasons for the veneration:
The presence of sacred power in relics
Capable of answering prayers to heal illness or to bring children to the barren
Functions and outcomes of the Veneration of relics
A distinguishing feature of Buddhism and a useful medium for proselytizing
accounted for the success of Buddhism
Worship of relics brought merit to the devotee, assuring a better rebirth

10. Indian Relics Introduced to China
Legends tell that relics appeared in China in the third century
Story-tellers said that relics appeared in a vase due to monk’s ability to “produce” or “summon” them.
Some Chinese rulers tried to destroy them, only to help reaffirm their numinous power
The thirst for relics, among other things, prompted Chinese monks to make pilgrimage to India
Chinese pilgrims often claimed that they saw the Buddha’s relics or brought back some of them
Faxian (5th century) and Xuanzang (7th century) were two examples
Faxian saw the skull bone of the Buddha

11. Chinese Rulers Venerated Relics
Emperor Wendi of the Sui dynasty ordered the distribution of relics throughout the empire
Emperors of the Tang paid reverence to relics of the Buddha housed in monasteries
A tooth relic
A finger-bone relic
The finger-bone relic remains in the Dharma-Gate Monastery in China today.

14. Indigenous Relics
While relics of the Buddha continued to be worshiped, relics of eminent Chinese monks emerged as respectable sacred objects.
These relics were remains of monks’ cremated bodies:
Teeth, bits of bone, flesh
They possess magical properties:
They may emit light
When burned, they leave behind hard relic grains
Capable of producing miracles (curative properties)

15. Other forms of relics:
Mummified corpses of eminent monks covered with lacquered cloth and stored in big urns
Gilded mummy

17. Icons in Chinese Buddhism
Icons: Images and statues of buddhas, bodhisattvas, arhats,…
Who made icons?
Sculptors, painters, metal workers, embroiderers, potters,….

18. Early Buddhism was aniconic; Icons were not objects of worship, but became a significant part of Buddhism when it was spread to China
Early Chinese called Buddhism “Teaching of the Icons” (xiangjiao)
The Chinese continued to celebrate and worship Images of buddhas, bodhisattvas…throughout history

19. Image-Making Buddhist Images were considered sources of sacred power
Image-making was perceived as creation of Buddhist art
It tied disparate social groups, from nobles to commoners, to the same rope.
It inspired and facilitated material culture
It gave the faithful opportunities to enter the presence of a buddha or bodhisattva, “taking refuge in the one of the three jewels.”

20. Images are made from clay, stone, wood, bronze, gold
Yielded different arts: sculptures, paintings, cave reliefs, murals
Developed independently from the art of literati
Carved out of limestone
One of thousands of stone sculpture in the Longmen Caves near Luoyang, Henan Province (Northern Wei, 492 AD)

21. Social Functions of Images
Images, once made, appeared everywhere, used by people from all walks of life, and became an integral part of the devotional life of all Buddhists.
Images were objects of worship, repositories of powers capable of rewarding the pious and punishing the disrespectful
Guanyin (Song Dynasty)

22. Often used in rituals (such as confession rituals)
Contemplation exercise (as objects of visualization)
Image decoration
Objects of prayers for pregnancy, cure from sickness, success in an examination or business venture, general well-being
Bodhidharma

23. Rituals Connected to Images
Confession ritual:
Monks/nuns confess their faults before an image of the Buddha
Visualization ritual:
Monks/nuns attain a state of samadhi

24. Rituals bringing life to images
Ceremony called “open the vision” (kaiguang or dotting the eyes) took place when a new image [of the Buddha or bodhisattva] was almost completed.
This is said to bring life and power to the image
Images given life include “ash icons”
据这位网友介绍，2003年9月16日，在浙江桐乡一个名叫“高桥演教禅寺”（演教禅寺位于高桥集镇西1500米的演教村驻地，建于后晋天福八年——公元942年，是桐乡市级重点文物保护单位。）中的一条河里，一名工人发现了此贝壳。捞上来后，准备撬开食用时发现了如此“奇观”，当即被寺里的工作人员保存，后来辗转到徐女士手中
Clam-dwelling Guanyin

25. The Proliferation of Images
Massive image-making resulted in the proliferation of images
Artisans created a wide variety of forms of buddhas and bodhisattvas
Most basic form: a buddha/bodhisattva faces a devotee/viewer, gazing at one who pays obeisance to Him/Her.

26. Clam-dwelling Amitabha
Popular perception of images
Body of the law: dharmakaya
Living entities with distinct personalities rather than emanations of the transcendent Buddhist images described in scriptures
Literary representation of images
Compassionate but can be deceptive, violent, and vengeful
Probably computer-synthesized image
Clam-dwelling Amitabha

27. Iconoclasm and Iconophobia
Skepticism and hostility toward the Buddhist icon occurred alongside the tradition of image reverence
Anti-Buddhism: Suppression of Buddhism entailed the burning and destruction of Buddhist images, showing a contempt for the Buddhism and a rejection of the “divine power” of Buddhist images
At one time, Danxia Tianran ( AD) stayed at Wisdom Woods Temple. During some extremely cold weather, he took a wooden statue of Buddha and burned it in the fire to get warm. The Temple Director got extremely upset with Tainran and yelled, 'Why are you burning my wooden Buddha?' Tianran pulled some burning embers from the fire and said, 'I'm burning the buddha to get the sacred relics from it.' The Temple Director said, 'How can a wooden buddha have sacred relics?' Tianran said, 'Well, if it doesn't have sacred relics, let's burn a couple more of them.' The Temple Director was so upset that his eyebrows, eyelashes, and beard all fell out."

28. The falsity of image: Chan monks in late Tang and Song times refuted the veneration of image as part of their emphasis on the limitations of languages, images…
Some went so far as to burn images of the Buddha: Danxia Tianran of the Tang (see p.76)
The destruction of images is a metaphor for the destruction of delusion
丹霞燒佛圖」，紙本墨畫，因陀羅寫唐南陽丹霞山釋天然智通禪師

29. Confucian Iconoclasts
Opposed the practice of representing Confucius and his disciples with statues/images in Confucian shrines
Recognized that the practice was the result of Buddhist influence
Confucian objections were translated into action: images were destroyed or removed from Confucian shrines