Rushanabutsu　盧舎那仏

KEY WORD :　art history / iconography

Also read Roshanabutsu. The Rushana Buddha. Rushana is an abbreviation of Birushana 昆盧舎那 in turn a transliteration of the Sk. Vairocana, which in the context of Esoteric Buddhism mikkyou 密教 usually corresponds to *Dainichi 大日. The appellation Rushana is normally applied to Vairocana in his role as expositor of the KEGONKYOU 華厳経 (Sk: Avatamsaka-sutra; Flower Ornament Scripture) and related texts, where he is described as pervading the entire universe. According to the BONMOUKYOU 梵網経 (Ch: Fanwangjing; Brahma Net Scripture), for example, Variocana is said to reside in the Lotus Matrix World rengezou sekai 蓮華蔵世界, which is surrounded by one thousand petals, each constituting a separate world with its own emanation of Vairocana in the form of *Shaka 釈迦; each of these one thousand worlds further contains ten billion worlds, each again with its own Shaka (that time emanations of the above Shaka) expounding the BONMOUKYOU. The political implications of this hierarchical structure were not lost on the rulers of either China or Japan: The Huayan (Jp: Kegon 華厳) sect in China, based on the KEGONKYOU, enjoyed the patronage of especially Empress Wu (Ch: Zetian Wuhou, Jp: Sokuten Bukou 則天武后; r. 690-705), while in Japan Emperor Shoumu 聖武 (701-56) attempted to reunite a nation that had become increasingly restless through the construction of a huge image of Rushanabutsu as a symbol of national unity, and he himself subsequently took the religious name of Rushana. The imperial edict for casting the image was issued in 743, actual casting began in 747 and was completed in 749, and the dedication ceremony was performed in 752, with donations to pay for the project having been solicited throughout the land. The finished seated bronze statue, generally known as Rushana daibutsu 盧舎那大仏 or Nara no Daibutsu 奈良の大仏 (Great Buddha of Nara) and enshrined in the Great Buddha Hall, Daibutsuden 大仏殿 of Toudaiji 東大寺 in Nara, is 14.85m in height, with the left hand placed outstretched on the left knee and the right hand lightly raised in the gesture of preaching, and the lotus petals of the base are engraved with figures of Shaka preaching as described in the sutra. Unfortunately this statue has been twice damaged by fire, and the greater part of it as it stands today has been restored. This is the most renowned image of Rushanabutsu; another is the dry-laquer image in the Golden Hall *Kondou 金堂 at Toushoudaiji 唐招堤寺, also in Nara, and dating from the late Nara period, which has a further one thousand Buddhas embossed on its halo.

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* daibutsu 大仏

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