Mogao Cave 454: Spread of Buddhism - King Asoka Constructing Stupas
Mogao Cave 454: Spread of Buddhism - King Asoka Constructing Stupas
CHINA, Gansu, Dunhuang; Song dynasty
This illustration is on the lower central section of the Spread of Buddhism mural, which is located on the ceiling of the corridor. It depicts King Asoka constructing 84,000 stupas. According to the Great Tang Records on the Western Regions, King Asoka divided the relics obtained from Rajagriha into 84,000 parts, and built 84,000 stupas within which they were enshrined. In the image, a large hand covers the sun, and multi-colored light radiates from between the five fingers. Small stupas are drawn within and between the rays of light. The image is simple but powerful.
For more details, go to the Encyclopedia of Buddhist Arts: Caves Mo-S, page 1230.
Cite this article:
Hsingyun, et al. "Mogao Cave 454: Spread of Buddhism - King Asoka Constructing Stupas." Encyclopedia of Buddhist Arts: Caves Mo-S, vol. 8, 2016, pp. 1230.
Hsingyun, Youheng, Peter Johnson, Mankuang, Susan Huntington, Gary Edson, and Robert Neather. 2016. "Mogao Cave 454: Spread of Buddhism - King Asoka Constructing Stupas" In Encyclopedia of Buddhist Arts: Caves Mo-S, 8:1230.
Hsingyun, Youheng, Johnson, P., Mankuang, Huntington, S., Edson, G., & Neather, R.. (2016). Mogao Cave 454: Spread of Buddhism - King Asoka Constructing Stupas. In Encyclopedia of Buddhist Arts: Caves Mo-S (Vol. 8, pp. 1230).
@misc{Hsingyun2016,
author = Hsingyun and Youheng and Johnson, Peter and Mankuang and Huntington, Susan and Edson, Gary and Neather, Robert,
booktitle = {Encyclopedia of Buddhist Arts: Caves Mo-S},
pages = 1230,
title = {{Mogao Cave 454: Spread of Buddhism - King Asoka Constructing Stupas}},
volume = 8,
year = {2016}}
author = Hsingyun and Youheng and Johnson, Peter and Mankuang and Huntington, Susan and Edson, Gary and Neather, Robert,
booktitle = {Encyclopedia of Buddhist Arts: Caves Mo-S},
pages = 1230,
title = {{Mogao Cave 454: Spread of Buddhism - King Asoka Constructing Stupas}},
volume = 8,
year = {2016}}