The influential styles of Buddhist paintings in ancient Chinese monasteries are

Buddhist Painting:Buddhist paintings that originated in ancient India and flourished in China. It was initially imported from India with Buddhism, and later gradually developed with Chinese national style and characteristics. Chuan Cai in the Ming Emperor Yongping early envoys to the Dayuezhi, to Yongping eleven years (AD 68, said Yongping nine years), together with the Shamen Gaye Morten, Zhu Fan east back to Luoyang, when the white horse to carry the scriptures and white felt wrapped in the Shakyamuni standing statue, because in the city of Luoyang outside the West Yongguan, the establishment of the White Horse Temple and the temple wall for thousands of Buddhas and ten thousand riders three-turns around the tower figure. The book - Shi Lao Zhi" said: "since the emperor made the painter figure Buddha, placed on the Qingliang Terrace and the mausoleum on the show. "This is China's first self-made Buddhist paintings.

Buddhist painting is earlier than Buddhist carving. According to Buddhist scriptures and Buddhist biographies, when the Buddha was alive, there were already Buddhist paintings in Buddhist monasteries.

Buddhist paintings: they show the deeds of Buddha's past lives, and the common ones include trading pigeons with his body, giving up his body to feed tigers, giving his children to Brahmins, munching on children, and King of the Nine-Colored Deer, and so on.

Buddhist scriptures in disguise: the content of the scriptures will be visualized. The main ones are the Western Pure Land Transformation and the Eastern Medicine Master Pure

Buddhist Paintings

As early as the Liang Dynasty, Zhang Shengxiao was famous for his skill in painting Buddhist statues. He created the "Zhang Family Style", a unique style of painting, and the Chineseization of Buddhist statues has been well developed since then. His sons, Shanguo and Rutong, were also good at painting, and excelled in Buddhist painting, and were able to pass on their trades. Shan Guo painted Prince Siddhartha's Naji and Lingjia Temple Pagoda, while Ru Tong painted Sakyamuni and Baoji Sutra. In the late Northern and Southern Dynasties, Zhang's influence was great, and there were many schools of painting that studied him, so called "looking at his dust and halter, such as Zhou Kong Yan", which shows the high reputation. His penmanship was concise, and the Record of Famous Paintings Throughout the Ages says that he "wrote only one or two, and like should have been strict, because of the material to take, the present and the past are independent, and like a human being, Zhang got its flesh, Lu got its bone, and Gu got its god". Before Sui Dynasty, Sincere was a pioneer and promoter of Buddhist painting in China. Cao Zhongda of the Northern Qi Dynasty was well known for his Buddhist paintings. Because he came from Cao in Central Asia, he originally had a Western style, but after a long time in the Central Plains, he gradually colored his paintings with Chinese national styles, and created the "Cao Family Style", one of the four major styles prevalent in the Tang Dynasty. Its sample point is the clothes are tight and narrow, about the King of India Shudo carving, have the same style. Later, it was known as "Wu Jia Style", which was created by Wu Dao Zi in combination with Chinese traditional style. The so-called "Cao clothes out of the water, Wu belt when the wind", is a general comment on them. Although Cao's paintings are lost, but see the deer field garden collection of shakya standing statue, clothing as wet dip body, can imagine Cao's paintings. Wu painting belt wide Bo, floating, in Dunhuang murals can also see his style of painting. In the Sui and Tang dynasties, Buddhist paintings have been Chinese.

Mural paintings

The murals of the Sui and Tang dynasties are now found in the Maijishan Grottoes and the Mogao Grottoes at Dunhuang. Dunhuang mural paintings of the Tang Dynasty, especially rich and beautiful, colorful, character modeling, often to the time of the noble concubines as a model, dignified and luxurious, men and women look, are very skin beautiful. Before the Buddha played, strings and pipes mixed, compared to the Achanta murals, especially or over. Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes Tang Dynasty murals and colorful sculptures of the caves, *** 207, can be divided into the first, Sheng, in the late four periods. Its important caves, such as the early Tang Dynasty 220 caves, made in the sixteenth year of Zhenguan (642), Sheng Tang Dynasty 335 caves, made in the second year of the arch (686), the 130th caves and the 172nd caves, made in the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, during the reign of Tianbao. In the Tang Dynasty, 112 caves, the late Tang Dynasty, the 156th cave (this cave for Zhang Zhichao built, outside the cave on the north wall of the "Mogao Grottoes" written in the sixth year of the reign of Xiantong, etc., there are brilliant works of art, can be a representative of the Tang Dynasty Buddhist art. These cave murals, although out of the hands of unknown painters, but the study of its style, it should be said that with Wu Daozi, Yan Liben works are the same. For example, the mural of Vimalakirti sutra change, in front of the audience, there are kings and dignitaries, and the existing Yan Liben's emperor figure similar. It can be inferred that these images of the painting method, there should be *** the same source for the norms of the time.

The murals of the Tang Dynasty, the subject matter of the Buddhist scriptures, the Pure Land, and the statues of Buddha and Bodhisattva. Its content is richer than in the past, the color is also more gorgeous, the realm of expression is also more expanded. At that time, the most popular was the Buddhist Pure Land belief, so the Pure Land Transfiguration was also the most expressed in the frescoes, accounting for about 228 walls. Others, such as the musician's Pure Land variant and the retribution sutra variant, also tend to take the Pure Land variant as the main part.

In the Pure Land Transformation, to the rich material phenomena, depicting the realm of contemplation. For example, the colorful and slow seven jeweled buildings and platforms, fragrant flowers and kabuki music, lotus ponds, trees and birds, etc., decorate the Western Paradise very beautifully. This is a far cry from the asceticism of the world. The Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, heavens, and warriors depicted therein are all embodiments of fitness and beauty. This is completely in line with the social life and the hobbies of the people in the Tang Dynasty. Some of the Buddhist paintings are also embellished with many small scenes of people's social life, optimistic, bright and amusing.

With the introduction of Buddhist painting art into China, Indian Buddhist painting theory was also introduced at the same time. Nanqi Xiehe once summarized the art of painting has "six methods", and India also has "six branches", the explanation of the two are not very clear, can not be sure that the "six methods" is the "six branches". "Six Branches", but the mutual influence between them does exist.