• Journal of Science of Art and Design
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.61-86
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• 2008

Buddhism and Buddhist art originated in India, but when they were introduced to different countries, they created an international environment. Buddhism was introduced as cultural package, with written texts, visual images, rituals, and the organization of monasteries. Buddhist art originated in India during the reign of King Asoka and then was developed under the political, intellectual, artistic, religious, social and natural environments of the regions. The stupa and the chaitya halls create monastic environment. The natural environment of the trade routes and caravans in the Central Asian deserts preserved brilliant-colored murals and helped spread tram India to China. When Buddhism and Buddhist art were introduced to China, Korea, and Japan, Buddhism became a part of government institution and social organization. Gigantic statues were carved in caves in mountains for political purposes. The Chinese transformed the stupa into a square pillar and created pagodas with tiled roofs in tower forms. Koreans not only transmitted the Buddhist art from China to Japan, but it also changed it with originality in the iconography of the pensive bodhisattva images and in the architecture of Seoggulam. The official ideology of Neo Confucian philosophy brought the rise of Chan Buddhism. Zen monasteries in Japan created unique environments by establishing the Zen Buddhist garden. to prompt believers to meditate. An important development in Buddhist art is the Esoteric Buddhist art in China and Tibet. This category belongs to the intellectual, religious as well as artistic environments. The Tibetan deities with consorts in their embrace symbolize the union of the god and the devotees. Buddhist art created a unique environment that was spread out to many nations and changed greatly over time.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.4-23
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• 2015

In the Buddhist paintings of the four devas, there is a change in the paper material of V aisravana(多聞天) in the early Joseon Dynasty. Until Goryeo Dynasty, Damuncheonwang, who holds a tower(塔) on the right side of Buddha was changed to the form which holds a mandolin(琵琶) in the early Joseon Dynasty. This change was first checked in Byeonsangdo in the Yuan period "The Avatamska Sutra(大方廣佛華嚴經, 1330~1336)", however the actual paper material change in the Buddhist painting is found first as a mural at the Tibetan temples, Cheolbangsa(哲蚌寺), Odunsa(吳屯寺), Baekgeosa(白居寺), which showed the change of tower which Vaisravaṇa held into mongoose. In Joseon Dynasty, also, new distribution of the four devas appeared first, which showed the change of paper material in the first floor roof-stones of Wongaksaji sipcheung seoktap, . However, the position of the four devas which held a tower and a mandolin consistently appear in the Buddhist paintings in the early Joseon Dynasty by mixing on the left and the right. This means the possibility that the paper material and the position of the four devas might be flexible in the early Joseon Dynasty. Just like reflecting this, painting image of the four devas in illustration of "saddharma-pundari-ka-$s{\bar{u}}tra$(Ming 1432, National Museum of Korea)" and illustration of "Jebulsejonyeorae-bosaljonjamyeongching-gagok(제불세존여래 보살존자명칭가곡, 1417)" has opposite position from each other. Therefore, the phenomenon in the Buddhist paintings of the early Joseon had a transitional characteristic which did not secure the fixed form of painting image by illustration of two copies where paper materials of the four devas were different, which characteristic can be said to be the characteristic of art in the transitional period.