Bliss Rooted in the Purity of the Six Sense Faculties:Recontextualization from Wanli Inkstick Design to Qianlong Screen
The woodblock print titled'Purity of the Six Sense Faculties'(,Liù Gēn Qīng Jìng Tú)found in two corpora of the inkstick designs published during the Wanli(万历)reign of the Ming dynasty,the Fang Shi Mo Pu(方氏墨谱)and the Cheng Shi Mo Yuan(程氏墨苑),appears to depict six bamboo trees under a full moon.However,the circle in the treetop is actually a Sanskrit aksaracakra used to invoke Bodhisattva Vajrahāsa,one of the four attendants of Tathāgata Ratnasa(m)bhava in the Vajradhātuma(n)(d)ala.The reverse side of the ink stick is inscribed with the characters of'六根清净'(Purity of the Six Sense Faculties)and stamped with'生欢喜心'(Generate a Joyful Heart).The text and images on both sides correspond and complement each other.Cheng Dayue,the editor of'Cheng's Ink Garden,further expounded on this theme.This ink design was paired with the Cloth Bag Maitreya on a screen depicting the Sixteen Arhats from the Qing Qianlong period.A similar bamboo image is associated with the Arhat Angaja,symbolizing peaceful nurturing in the Pure Land.From this pairing to broader contexts,as the image circulated,artists recreated and recombined it,subtly preserving its spiritual connotations.Using the'Six Purified Senses Image'as a thread,we can observe the process of constantly reconstructing contexts through various symbolic elements,as well as interactions across media,social classes,ethnic groups,and cultures.
'Purity of the Six Sense Faculties'Cloth Bag MaitreyaGuanxiu'Sixteen Arhats Painting'Sanskrit wheelcontext reconstruction
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