Japanese Paintings: Path to EnlightenmentNEW

Japanese Paintings: Paths to Enlightenment, on display in the east wing of the Pavilion for Japanese Art, presents the uniquely blended mix of religions in Japan.

Images of Zen and other Buddhist patriarchs, including the historical Buddha (Shaka in Japanese, Sakyamuni in Sanskrit), portray the individual quest for enlightenment. Other paintings represent Esoteric Buddhas, who embody a specific function and role within the giant cosmos, which would be more fully represented in mandalas by hundreds of individuated Buddhas as manifestations of a great cosmic deity.

Daoism is also represented, with its ultimate goal of achieving immortality, emphasized physical and psychic disciplines, alchemy and astronomy, said to produce mystical powers in its strongest adherents.

The complex religious practices of Buddhism and Daosim were complemented in Japan by an underlying faith in the power of nature deities, as understood in the practice of Shinto, or the Way of the Gods. Paintings of Shinto deities and masks employed in festivals adorn the lower levels of the Pavilion's painting wing.

Date
April 12, 2012 - July 22, 2012

Closed Wednesdays