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Kizil Cave 198: Twelve Zodiac Signs

Kizil Cave 198: Twelve Zodiac Signs

CHINA, Xinjiang, Aksu

This partially damaged mural is located on the barrel-vaulted ceiling. A horoscope with the Twelve Zodiac Signs is painted in the upper portion. Scenes of zodiac animals are separated by decorative borders in the lower portion. These scenes illustrate the Prophecy of Dipamkara Buddha, which describes Sakyamuni as a Bodhisattva who vowed to attain enlightenment in a past life. Dipamkara Buddha then prophesized that he would become a Buddha named Sakyamuni. Each painting consists of a standing Buddha with smaller figures adjacent to him. The clothing of the figures have folds painted in a simple manner.

For more details, go to the Encyclopedia of Buddhist Arts: Caves R-L, page 581.

Cite this article:

Hsingyun, et al. "Kizil Cave 198: Twelve Zodiac Signs." Encyclopedia of Buddhist Arts: Caves R-L, vol. 6, 2016, pp. 581.
Hsingyun, Youheng, Peter Johnson, Mankuang, Susan Huntington, Gary Edson, and Robert Neather. 2016. "Kizil Cave 198: Twelve Zodiac Signs" In Encyclopedia of Buddhist Arts: Caves R-L, 6:581.
Hsingyun, Youheng, Johnson, P., Mankuang, Huntington, S., Edson, G., & Neather, R.. (2016). Kizil Cave 198: Twelve Zodiac Signs. In Encyclopedia of Buddhist Arts: Caves R-L (Vol. 6, pp. 581).
@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 R-L},
pages = 581,
title = {{Kizil Cave 198: Twelve Zodiac Signs}},
volume = 6,
year = {2016}}


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