Mogao Cave 61: Illustration of the Sutra on the Questions of Visesa Cinti Brahma

CHINA, Gansu, Dunhuang; Five Dynasties

Located on the north wall, this painting illustrates 10 of the 18 chapters in the Sutra on the Questions of Visesa Cinti Brahma. In these ten chapters, Mahayana doctrines are explained through Sakyamuni Buddha’s answers to a series of questions posed by Visesa Cinti Brahma. At the center of the image is a grand teaching scene, with Sakyamuni Buddha and two attendant Bodhisattvas seated within a large hall. Disciples, Bodhisattvas, naga kings, yaksas, and others are gathered in the hall to listen to the Dharma. Below Sakyamuni Buddha, a heavenly being dances gracefully before an altar, accompanied by heavenly musicians on either side. Behind the assembly on either side is an open pavilion with a small Buddha seated within it.
In the upper register, more buildings and pavilions are shown. Groups of figures arrive upon floating clouds, suggesting the journey made by other Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in traveling to the land of Sakyamuni Buddha. At the bottom of the mural are small teaching scenes, most of them featuring Visesa Cinti Brahma kneeling before a Buddha and two Bodhisattvas.