Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 14. (Budapest, 1994)

FAJCSÁK Györgyi: Luo-han-festmények a Hopp Ferenc Kelet-Ázsiai Művészeti Múzeum kínai gyűjteményéből

GYÖRGYI FAJCSÁK LUO-HAN PAINTINGS IN THE CHINESE COLLECTION OF THE FERENC HOPP MUSEUM OF EASTERN ASIATIC ARTS The words of Sanskrit origin arhat, arhan (In Chinese: luo-han) mean worthy, worshipful. The first disciples and followers of Buddha Shakyamuni were called luo-hans who had attained the highest stage of spiritual development: enlightenment. Even before the fifth century A.D. a group of sixteen holy men (luo-hans,) from India were referred to as defenders of the Buddhist law. The Chinese Buddhist tradition added two more figures - Fu-hu and Jiang-long bringing the number of luo-hans to eighteen and later to five hundred. Worship of the luohans came into its full glory in the ninth century; however, besides the authentic, historical personages, plenty of legendary and mythical figures can also be found among them. From the tenth century - eleventh century onwards the centre of their cult was situated on Mount Tiantai(-shan) in Zhejiang Province,

1 and it spread from the southern coastal province throughout the entire empire. The earliest Chinese luo-han images can be seen on the wallpaintings and reliefs in cave-temples. They were generally embedded in a larger composition or placed on both sides of Buddha Shakyamuni, Maitreya and Amitabha. These paintings and reliefs usually depicted scenes from the previous lives of Buddha Shakyamuni (jataka stories) or the world of the Western Paradise ruled by Amitabha. Luo-han images - as sufficient subject matter - first appeared on the series of hanging scrolls painted by the famous ninthcentury artist Guan-xiu (832-912). Together with the cult of luo-hans, their popularity increased in the Chinese Buddhist art too. Although luo-han images derived some ot their characteristic features from the paintings depicting the specific world and figures of the Daoist Immortals, they were closely connected to Chan Buddhist art, particularly to the portraits of Chan monks in the tenth to thirteenth centuries. After all, Chan monks regarded the wandering, mendicant luo-ham as their ancestors. The long decline in the use of Buddhisi subject matter was partially modified aftei the beginning of the seventeenth century anc the number of the luo-han depictions grew again. The decline and political decay of the Ming dynasty inspired a renewed interest ir Buddhism among Chinese scholars. At the beginning of the seventeenth cen tury two different traditions of luo-han de pictions joined together to form the charac teristic Chinese style of luo-han images. One of the traditions went back to luo-han scroll; of Guan-xiu (lived in the ninth century) whicl reflected a particular atmosphere as well a: imitating the world of Daoist Immortals. Thi; school had famous Chan painters who worker, in the Song period. The other tradition origin ated in the literati (in Chinese: wen-ren painting - especially from the Zhe school Their luo-han figures were depicted as schol ars recalling the pleasant diversions favourec by Chinese scholars. Both traditions wer< basically opposed to the idea of depicting luo-hans as Indian hermits or ascetics. Great figure painters of the late Min;