ARHAT IMAGES

The depiction of arhats (Chinese, luohan; Japanese, rakan; Korean, nahan) in painting and sculpture is a time-honored one in East Asian Buddhist art. Literally meaning "one worthy of honor," arhats are senior disciples of the Buddha who attained awakening through his teaching. After the sūtra about sixteen "great" arhats, Da aluohan Nandimiduoluo suo shuo fazhuji (Record of the Abiding Law as Spoken by the Great Arhat Nandimitra, T.2030), was translated into Chinese in the mid-seventh century, worship centered on this select group, which eventually expanded from sixteen to eighteen and then to five hundred in number. These select arhats, said to reside in remote mountain fastnesses and believed to possess miraculous powers, had been given the charge to protect the buddhadharma until the buddha of the future, Maitreya, makes his appearance, and this kalpa (or cycle) of existence comes to an end. From the late ninth century onward, arhats inspired a fervent cultic worship in Central Asia and throughout East Asia.

One clue that suggests why such worship was so enduring may be found in the Record of the Abiding Law. There the believer is instructed to show devotion to the arhats by supporting the monastic order. The sūtra states that such devotional actions call forth the arhats, although they disguise their "transcendent natures," to mingle amidst human beings, bestowing upon pious donors "the reward of that fruit that surpasses all others" (i.e., the attainment of buddhahood). Another factor that contributed to the flourishing of arhat worship in China was the probable

association of the miracle-working arhats named in the sūtra and subsequently depicted in paintings and sculpture with the fabled but indigenous Daoist immortals, who were also thought to reside in remote realms and possess supernatural powers; indeed, the Sanskrit term arhat was first translated into Chinese by borrowing terms from the Daoist lexicon that refer to such immortals.

The beginnings of the depiction of the sixteen arhats named in the Record of the Abiding Law are obscure; the available visual evidence consists of mere fragments or later copies of paintings. Textual sources, however, indicate that by the latter half of the ninth century, as the arhats' cultic worship became well-established, painters of note, such as Guanxiu (832–912) and Zhang Xuan (tenth century), depicted the theme, apparently in the form of iconic portraits. By this time there appear to have been two approaches to depicting arhats: either as monks with Chinese facial features or as distinctly exotic, even grotesque beings. Guanxiu, a Chan priest and accomplished poet who was said to have derived inspiration for his painting from prayer-induced visions, was heralded by later historians as having been the first to portray the arhats, in the words of Huang Xiufu (late tenth/early eleventh century), as foreign in appearance, "having bushy eyebrows and huge eyes, slack-jawed and big-nosed," and in a landscape setting, "leaning against a pine or a boulder." Such characteristics can be seen in a set of sixteen hanging scrolls in the Imperial Household Agency, Tokyo, that is generally thought to best preserve Guanxiu's powerful conception. Guanxiu's radical vision was perpetuated in sets of arhat paintings produced throughout the medieval period in China and Japan.

By the latter half of the twelfth century the mode of representing arhats in the guise of more familiar, sinicized monks, albeit sometimes performing miraculous feats, included their placement in much more elaborate landscape settings and the suggestion of narrative implications far beyond the content of the Record of the Abiding Law. Skilled at conjuring up such dramatic renditions in ink and color on silk, professional Buddhist painters in cities like Ningbo in Zhejiang province created large sets of hanging scrolls that depicted what had now become the five hundred arhats. One of the most significant sets to survive from a Ningbo workshop is that produced in 1178 by Lin Tinggui and Zhou Jichang.

Arhats, because of their ascetic devotion to the dharma, became a favored subject of adherents to the Chan school. Whereas resplendent sets of paintings, like the one mentioned above, were hung in temple halls for public worship, renderings in ink monochrome and often with exceptionally delicate lineation, known as baimiao or plain line drawing, were enjoyed by monks and lay worshippers in more intimate and scholarly exchanges. From the twelfth century onward in China, but especially at times when the Chan school was revitalized by the presence and activity of prominent clerics, depictions of arhats in this more scholarly mode of painting reappeared with new vigor and subtle invention.

As a complement to painted images, sculpted representations of arhats occupied temple halls as well. Few early examples survive, however. Offering a glimpse of what must have been a vibrant tradition are five magnificent ceramic sculptures of arhats, slightly larger than lifesize and featuring a three-color glaze, that were found in a cave in Hebei province early in the twentieth century. From a presumed set of sixteen, they are thought to date to the late eleventh or early twelfth century. Sinicized portrayals, they reflect the characterization of the arhats as familiar monks; nevertheless, because of the talent of the nameless artisans who created them, they are imbued with a meditative authority befitting the arhats' mission to remain ever steadfast in protecting the dharma.

See also:Arhat; Chan Art; Daoism and Buddhism

Bibliography

De Visser, Marinus W. The Arhats in China and Japan. Berlin: Oesterheld, 1923.

Fong, Wen. The Lohans and a Bridge to Heaven. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, Freer Gallery of Art, 1958.

Kent, Richard K. "Depictions of the Guardians of the Law: Lohan Painting in China." In Latter Days of the Law: Images of Chinese Buddhism 850–1850, ed. Marsha Weidner. Lawrence: Spenser Museum of Art, University of Kansas; Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1994.

Smithies, Richard, "The Search for the Lohans of I-chou (Yixian)." Oriental Art 30, no. 3 (1984): 260–274.

Watanabe, Masako. "Guanxiu and Exotic Imagery in Rakan Paintings." Orientations 31, no. 4 (2000): 34–42.

Richard K. Kent