【院生ゼミ】11月16日
【大学院】
This week, we looked into the reliefs of the life story of the Buddha in Borobudur, the magnificent Buddhist monument built in the 9th century in Central Java.
We found the video clip "Borobudur: Relief Scenes from the Life of the Buddha" particularly informative and useful.
Although Borobudur was built according to Mahayana Buddhism, there is no essential difference between the depictions of Buddha's life story in the Borobudur reliefs and in the early 19th century Burmese paintings from Theravada Buddhist tradition. Borobudur represents multiple stages of the development of Buddhism; It shows the life story of the Buddha suitable for both Theravada and Mahayana Buddhists, then it also shows the reliefs specifically intended for Mahayana Buddhists and the arrangement of the Buddha statues in the form of a mandala, only intended for Tantric Buddhists.
Next week, we will look into some of the Jataka stories in Borobudur reliefs and then Borobudur's mandala arrangement of the Buddha statues.