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Maitreya Buddha’s pure land began to be represented in murals based on the Sutra of the Descendent Maitreya at the beginning of the Tang Dynasty in Dunhuang. Faith in Maitreya can largely be divided into “ascension-faith” and “descension-faith”; the former aspires for rebirth in the Tusita heaven where Maitreya Bodhisattva resides, while the latter aims to descend from there to Jambdvipa with Maitreya and hear his preaching when he becomes a Buddha in the distant future.
Therefore, previous research on murals representing Maitreya Buddha’s pure land has focused on the question of whether the images depict Maitreya Bodhisattva in the Tusita heaven or not, while little attention has been paid to the changes of pictorial images in different murals. However, we can recognize notable differences in them.
This paper examines the pictorial representations of Maitreya Buddha’s pure land in Dunhuang during the Tang dynasty and clarifies that there were the three stages of transition around the Wu Zhou Era, starting before and ending after it.
Research papers (academic journals)
