The Life of Buddha: Ancient Scriptural and Pictorial Traditions.

• Author: Cox, Collett

In the introduction to The Life of the Buddha, Patricia Eichenbaum Karetzky sets out both the objectives of her study and the theses that it will proffer. To the approach of Alfred Foucher who combined pictorial depictions with textual material in recounting the life of the Buddha, Karetzky proposes additions in two respects: first, she will use Chinese translations of continuous narratives no longer extant in Indian languages; and second, she will trace the "development of a pictorial narrative of the life cycle," or "analyze and reconstruct the pictorial and scriptural expression of the life of the Buddha," with primary concern for the "religious, historical, and cultural forces that shaped the biography in its various forms." To this end, Karetzky will rely upon, in her words, "three distinct traditions": namely, an ancient pictorial tradition represented in her study primarily by the bas-reliefs at Sanci and Bharhut; a scriptural tradition represented here by the continuous narratives extant in Chinese translation; and an "illustrative cycle based on the scriptures," by which she means the bas-relief art of the Kusana period. As new theses presented in her work, the author first delineates a perspective in which the scriptural and illustrative narratives of the life of the Buddha run in a parallel course: both proceed through stages of gradual development, climax, and decline. As a second thesis, Karetzky suggests that the "evolution of ritualistic practices can be reconstructed" through these pictorial and scriptural narratives. She contends that early Buddhist ritual practice focused on the stupa and consisted primarily of pilgrimage and circumambulation.

Another important theme of this work concerns the determinative influence of foreign, specifically Western or Hellenistic (to use Karetzky's terms) culture and art forms on not only the style of artistic depiction but also the character of the Buddha and the ordering of details in his biography. In explaining the appearance of anthropomorphic images of the Buddha, Karetzky appeals to the heroic mythological characters in Hellenistic culture who served as a model for the new character of the Buddha. This new Buddha in heroic representation also explains, Karetzky suggests, the emphasis on certain events in his biography, such as the physical feats of strength during his adolescence and his later confrontation with Mara. Karetzky remarks that "the Kushans viewed the doctrine of the...