Spread of Buddhism and Wandering Statues: Case of the Beijing Sandalwood Buddha
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2010 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Studia Asiatica: International Journal of Asian Studies |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Field | Philosophy and religion |
| Keywords | Sandalwood Buddha; Buddhism; Buryatia; Zandan Zhuu |
| Description | Part of the history of religions as well as religious history ("church history") are also stories of artifacts with religious significance. The history of religion focuses more on historical events; they follow a historical line of a story, whereas religious historyfollows a mythologic more than historic line. This statement can be well evidenced on an example of a two and a half thousand-year pilgrimage of a statue of the Sandalwood Buddha. This statue called Zandan Zhuu (a recent depiction of the statue located in Buryatia since 1901) has, from the point of view of religious history, an origin that can be traced back to Udayanas statue during Buddhas life in India. From the standpoint of the history of religions, the situation is more complex, and at present, it is probably not possible to determine the exact and provable origin of Zandan Zhuu. |
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