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The Yuan Dynasty was established by Kublai
Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan, upon
relocating the capital of his empire from
Mongolia to Beijing. The Forbidden City was
constructed, a relative oasis of Mongolian culture
in the heart of China. While the Mongol elite
retained their native language and customs, they
did adopt the Chinese system of bureaucratic
government and cemented the authoritarian rule
of the emperor. Although they were relatively
unaffected by Chinese culture, the Yuan did little
to stifle the native traditions and beliefs of their
subjects. Buddhism continued to flourish,
although the monasteries received little funding
from the state. In fact, during the Yuan Dynasty,
China first began to open up to foreigners.
Christian and Hindu missionaries arrived in
Beijing and Marco Polo made his famous journey
during the Yuan era. While the Chinese never
accepted the Yuan as a legitimate dynasty,
instead viewing them as foreign bandits, the
Mongolians rebelled against the Beijing Khans
for
becoming, “too Chinese.” In the end, the Yuan
Dynasty had the shortest duration of the major
Chinese Dynasties, lasting little more than a
hundred years.
The historical figure, Buddha Gautama
Sakyamuni is the Buddha of compassion who,
having achieved the highest evolutionary
perfection, turns suffering into happiness for all
living beings. Born around 560 B.C. somewhere
between the hills of south Nepal and the Rapti
river, his father was a Raja who ruled over the
northeastern province of India, the district
including the holy Ganges River. The young
prince was married to Yashoda when he was
about 17 years old and together they had a son
named Rahula. At the age of 29, he left his life of
luxury, feeling compelled to purify his body and
make it an instrument of the mind by ridding
himself of earthly impulses and temptations.
Chinese Buddhist art is heavily influenced both
by earlier Indian examples and the stylistic
tendencies of the Central Asian cultures who
brought the religion into China.
This exceptional sandstone head is from a
temple in Sichuan Province. The Buddha has a
round, full face suggestive of his spiritual
fulfillment. An inner calm and complacency is
visible on his face, in his closed eyelids and in
his sweet smile. His elongated right earlobe
droops down, the sagging caused by wearing
heavy earrings as an infant, reflecting his royal
origins. His left earlobe is concealed by the
remains of a hand placed against the side of the
head. This fragment was most likely originally
part of a full-figure sculpture once revered
inside
a temple or shrine. The mystical energy and
divine wisdom of the Buddha radiates from
within this sculpture. (AM)
- (DL.994)
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