Exhibition Information

時間2021 / 5 / 16 — 2026 / 6 09:00 – 18:00 (weekdays) / 09:00 – 19:00 (weekends & public holidays)
Closed on Tuesdays (unless otherwise announced)

地點Fo Guang Shan Buddha Museum Gallery 3

01Introduction

Since its opening in 2011, the Buddha Museum has been dedicated to bringing Buddhist arts and culture to the public. On the occasion of its tenth year anniversary, Venerable Ru Chang, Director of the Buddha Museum, has co-curated the Buddhist Maritime Silk Road - New Media Art Exhibition with Professor Lancaster, Professor Jeffrey Shaw, and Professor Sarah Kenderdine. The exhibition makes use of new media technologies in guiding visitors through the history of Buddhism across five continents.

02Curators

Venerable Ru Chang

Main Curator Venerable Ru Chang Director, Fo Guang Shan Buddha Museum

Lewis R. Lancaster

Academic Curator Lewis R. Lancaster Emeritus Professor, University of California, Berkeley

Jeffrey Shaw

Technical Curator Jeffrey Shaw Chair Professor, City University of Hong Kong

Sarah Kenderdine

Technical Curator Sarah Kenderdine Professor, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland

展區位置

Section
A — 1.2.3

03Exhibition

Chapter 1 THE GREAT CIRCLE OF BUDDHISM

The spread of Buddhism by maritime routes from the Ganges Basin in India to East and Inner Asia, in the early centuries of the Common Era (CE), is a crucial element in the history of the religion. Seaports and connecting sites located on rivers played a major role in the expansion of Buddhism beyond the shores of India. The focus of this exhibition is the way Buddhism traveled these maritime routes in networks that flowed from India to China.

The Great Circle Of Buddhism

Trade on the Maritime Silk Road

Buddhism on the Maritime Silk Road

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Section
B — 4

Chapter 2 GENESIS AND TRANSMISSION

Early Buddhist monks made long journeys to spread Buddhism across Asia. Over time, the transmission of Buddhist teachings and traditions manifested itself in a rich variety of pictorial, sculptural and architectural archetypes in response to the broader cultural contexts of those regions where these monks settled. Ritual and ceremonial behavior, together with music, also proliferated and were enhanced by these various cultural encounters.

Monks, Pilgrims And Artisans

Monks, Pilgrims And Artisans

Buddhist teachers and pilgrims traveled in two directions: while monks and nuns moved outward from India to introduce Buddhism in new areas, pilgrims from Buddhist communities in the Great Circle began to make trips to India in order to undertake training, find new canonic texts, and venerate the various sites of significance in the story of the life of the spiritual founder of Buddhism, Siddhartha Gautama (Sakyamuni Buddha). Monks of various monastic orders also traveled alongside traders and sailors as diplomatic envoys. Artisans skilled in creating art that reflected Buddhist themes ventured to the new outposts of Buddhist culture to advise on the construction of architectural complexes, thereby helping to spread cultural and artistic influences across the sea. However, records from the early centuries of the diffusion of Buddhism beyond India are sparse, and the names of only a few charismatic individuals are known.

Faxian (337–422), the earliest Chinese Buddhist pilgrim on record, made his way to India by caravan routes and returned to China by merchant ship, stopping in Sri Lanka and Java along the way, and finally making landfall on China’s Shandong Peninsula in 413 CE. The purpose of his journey was to find texts that contained rules of conduct for monastics. On his return, he translated the texts he had collected in India and Sri Lanka into Chinese. These included volumes that laid out the prescriptions of practices for monks and nuns. As Faxian both witnessed and played a part in Buddhism’s spread beyond its origins in the Ganges Basin, his account gives us a rare glimpse of the size and importance of the Buddhist movement in the fifth century CE.

Bodhidharma (440–520 or 470–543) was called a Chan master. There are numerous stories about his journey and his practice in the fifth century CE, and it is difficult to distinguish the actual historical person from legend. However, there is general agreement that he came from southern India and traveled by sea to Guangzhou in China. His method of transmission is described as involving mind-to-mind communication, rather than verbal teaching, and he is sometimes depicted seated facing a wall, absorbed in meditation. Today, Bodhidharma is regarded as the founder of the Chinese Chan tradition, a dominant feature of contemporary Chinese monastic practice and martial arts.

Yijing (635–713) was another early Chinese pilgrim who made his way by sea to India. Traveling on a Persian ship, he arrived in the capital of the Śrīvijayan Kingdom in 671CE. He spent six months learning Sanskrit and studying under the respected Buddhist master Śākyakīrti. He then went on to the Indian Buddhist sites. During his nearly 25-year pilgrimage, he collected Buddhist texts, and on his way back to China he again stopped in Śrīvijaya for another two years, where he transcribed and translated the Sanskrit texts he had collected into Chinese. When he returned to his homeland in 694 CE, he brought Sanskrit texts and his Chinese translations. Among his collection were works of the “Consciousness-only” school, and as a result of his labors, a center for this school was set up in Hangzhou on the Yangtze River.

Atiśa (980–1054) was a Buddhist maritime traveler of the late tenth to early eleventh centuries CE. He was born in the Bay of Bengal, near a region famous for its large monasteries, including Nalanda. Unable to find a teacher to nurture his interest in Tantric Buddhism, he traveled to Śrīvijaya and lived there for 12 years (1012–1024) CE), studying under the guru Dharmakīrti. Both Atiśa and his guru were devotees of the female deity Tārā, popular in mainland Southeast Asia and also Tibet. When his mentor died, Atiśa returned home, and his fame as a scholar soon spread. He was subsequently persuaded to go to Nepal, and from there, around 1038 CE, he was asked to go even further inland, to Tibet. For the rest of his life, Atiśa traveled throughout Tibet, introducing the Tantric tradition which he had mastered in Palembang. This form of Tantra is still a dominant element of Tibetan Buddhist practice and thought, showing how maritime Buddhist influences were subsequently spread to Inner and East Asia.

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Section
B — 5

Architecture

Architecture

Buddhist architecture developed in India in the third century BCE into three main categories. Stupas are built over reliquary deposits located deep within their foundations. These deposits may include the Buddha’s corporeal remains, Buddhist doctrines and sculptures. When the Buddha entered Nirvana, his relics were divided up into eight groups, and stupa built over each of them. These relics were later re-distributed by the Buddhist King Ashoka. The stupa therefore symbolised the Buddha’s Nirvana and also his life on earth. The erection of a stupa was considered to be a way of acquiring merit. The chaitya-griha or chaitya is a commemorative temple built for worship without a reliquary deposit, while the monastery (vihara) is the abode of the Sangha. It may consist of a stupa or chaitya and halls for worship and living.

The form of the stupa and chaitya took on new aspects in the countries across the maritime route. Stupa design evolved a high square base with a balustrade where devotees conducted circumambulation (ritual walk in a clockwise direction). Large bell-shaped stupas are found at Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka, and variants of this form can be seen in Myanmar and Thailand. In China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam, the tiered tower Pagoda was adapted for Buddhist use. In Southeast Asia, structures were designed combining Buddhist cosmological vision with a local interpretation, for example, Borobudur in Java and the Bayon in Cambodia.

Architecture Architecture
展區位置

Section
B — 7.8

Representation

Buddhism was a portable religion and its texts could be distributed everywhere and translated into any language. The bodily relics of Sakyamuni maintained their power wherever they were taken. Buddhist monastic orders were encouraged to travel, mingle with people from other cultures and religions, and to establish stupas. Buddhist veneration was originally manifested in relics of the physical remains of the Buddha. Early Buddhist did not, make representations of the Buddha for worship, and Sakyamuni was represented by symbols such as his footprint, the Bodhi tree, or the wheel of law. Then, from the first and second centuries CE, Buddhist art became more figurative, and images of the Buddha and bodhisattvas were created, copied and distributed. Narrative sculptures in bas relief reminded the faithful of the important events in the life of Sakyamuni and provided inspiration for pilgrimages. Consequently, Buddhist images spread widely along the maritime routes and their worship became the dominant practice.

Representation

Transmission

Buddhism originated in India before the use of reading and writing. Sakyamuni's community of followers attempted to preserve his teachings by oral recitation. Later, in the Mahayana Perfection of Wisdom texts, Buddhism elevated writing to a sacred act. As a result, manuscripts of Sakyamuni's teachings began to appear written on the surfaces of palm leaves, birch bark and ritual objects. Many of these were carried by traders along maritime routes. In China one of the first methods of introducing Buddhism in the second century CE was to translate the teachings and write them onto paper manuscripts in Chinese characters. The Chinese language canon of written Buddhist texts grew over the centuries, and today there are Pali, Tibetan, Sanskrit, Mongolian, Manchu, Chinese and Tangut versions of Buddhist canons. Fo Guang Shan is now one of the leading organizations for the digital preservation of these Buddhist texts.

信仰意象
Avalokiteśvara

Avalokiteśvara

Avalokiteśvara, the embodiment of Buddhist compassion, was of great importance along the maritime routes. Known as a “bodhisattva,” which means an enlightened and compassionate being, he became the patron saint of sailors called upon in times of peril. He gained popularity in the seventh century across Southeast Asia. In the seaports of Sri Lanka, there are numerous images that depict him looking out across the water in his role as protector of all who sail on it. When this image and story reached the Chinese coast, the concept of a deity who protects sailors was already in place in the form of the goddess Mazu. She was the patroness of the sea and the protector of seafarers, a role similar to that played by Avalokiteśvara. The bodhisattva in his feminine form became known as Guanyin, and is revered in Northern Vietnam and in China as goddess of the sea as well as the source of compassion and good fortune for all.

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Section
C

Chapter 3 Atlas Of Maritime Buddhism

The Atlas of Maritime Buddhism is a testament to how Buddhism has flourished for many centuries and continues to thrive today. Buddhist art and architecture developed as the dharma spread, adapting and evolving in each new host country. From the earliest rock cut caves of India to iconic stupas and temples, many of these revered spaces are now national heritage monuments and UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Sculpture and architecture were intimately connected. Monumental reliefs were used to decorate the walls of buildings, and depictions of the Buddha and Bodhisattvas, key figures on the path to enlightenment, were popular in countries along the maritime route. Covering thousands of important Buddhist sites, the Atlas of Maritime Buddhism maps these treasured monuments and sublime architectures of south, south east, and eastern Asia.

Atlas Of Maritime Buddhism
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Section
C — 11

Rockcut Caves

The story of the Buddhist rock-cut monasteries began during the reign of the Maurya emperor Ashoka in the third century BCE. Initially located in ancient Bihar, India, the tradition gradually spread through Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and western Maharashtra, by which time the art form had reached its zenith. For over 1000 years, these sites flourished, hewn out of the rock in sheer basalt cliff faces with extraordinary precision, using rudimentary iron tools.

Historically, artisans carried forward design elements from wood into their rock-cut temples, and skilled craftsmen carved rock to imitate timber texture, grain and structure. Some of the more sumptuous cave temples, commissioned by wealthy traders, included pillars, arches and elaborate facades. They were made during the period when maritime trade flourished between the Roman Empire and Southeast Asia, enabled by the diverse coastline of western India, which facilitated contact across the Arabian sea. These caves were designed to allow only a minimum of light inside, keeping them cool and ambient for monastic life, and supported the social functions of their spiritual communities (Sangha) with dining halls and dormitory cells.

Rockcut Caves
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Section
C — 10

Rituals And Ceremonies

Buddhist rituals and ceremonies vary from country to country. The veneration of Sakyamuni and other buddhas, bodhisattvas and saints involves showing respect, meditating on the qualities of the Buddha. In order to gain “merit” or good fortune, gifts are made including food and flowers. Chanting is the traditional means of preparing the mind for meditation, and some forms of Buddhism also use chanting for ritualistic purposes. The three major events of the life of the Buddha (birth, enlightenment and elevation to Nirvana) are commemorated in all Buddhist countries.

儀軌和慶典
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Section
C — 9

The Atlas Panorama

This panoramic cinema presents journeys along the Buddhist maritime route from India to China via Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Indonesia, Thailand and Cambodia. Here one can visit many temple complexes that were built on this ancient route, and while some of these sites are in ruins, others continue to thrive as vibrant sites of contemporary worship. There are five movies that play one after another inside this panorama, and each one of them features fourteen different Buddhist sites across seven countries, and runs for approximately eight minutes.

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Section
C — 13

Fo Guang Shan Collection

The Fo Guang Shan collection selected for display in this exhibition includes reliquaries, Buddha statues, Dharma implements, scriptures, and artifacts that were discovered along the Maritime Silk Road.

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Section
C — 12

Buddhist Sculptural Traditions

Freestanding images of the Buddha are seen by the second century CE, and the practice of depicting narratives—in particular scenes of the Buddha’s birth, enlightenment, first sermon and death—was notably popular. Buddhist art and sculpture includes an array of divinities and styles, from the humble follower of the faith to compassionate saviors with divine powers. Deities are recognized through the attributes they hold, their poses and hand gestures (mudrās).

Early Buddhist images carved in stone display a calm facial expression, elongated earlobes and elegant draped monastic robes. These prototypes rapidly acquired distinctive regional styles along the maritime routes. Many early sculptures were made from wood and later bronze sculptures also played an important role in the diffusion of Buddhism. Examples of these have been found by archeologists in the ancient maritime port sites.

Devoted Buddhists offer a salutation in which the worshipper prostrates themselves in front of the sculpture and touches their head to the ground three times. A donor who commissions or restores a Buddha image has created a positive merit making deed. Inscriptions placed on the sculpture often tell of the reason for the commission and on other occasions, small holes are placed in the sculpture to hold relics, or prayer scrolls.

施依印佛像 釋迦牟尼佛初轉法輪像 龍王護佛像 觀世音菩薩像
展區位置

Section
C — 14

Buddhist Sites From India to China

In this interactive spatial journey between India and China, ninety outstanding Buddhist temple complexes are presented in panoramic form. To travel from one temple site to another, simply slide the screen along the maritime routes map path, from left to right or back.

A variety of Buddhist traditions flourished within the Great Circle. As seen throughout this exhibition, each of these forms of Buddhism has distinct texts, rituals and practices associated with it. Fo Guang Shan practices “Humanistic Buddhism” amalgamating all Eight Schools of Chinese Buddhism, and flourishes with centers throughout the world. It carries forward the tradition at the heart of the Atlas, which is to bring Dharma across the five great continents.

04A 360° Pilgrimage to Buddhist Temples along the Maritime Route

At many places there are panoramic photos of famous Buddhist sites along the maritime routes: India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand, Java, China and Taiwan.

A Pilgrimage to Buddhist Temples along the Maritime Route
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