REGIONAL SYNCRETISM AT BAODINGSHAN

Lindsay M Bregante, (Dr. Katherine Burnett) Department of Art and Art History, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, California 95616

This study focuses on a single scene from the 12th-century sculptural program known as Baodingshan, created under the supervision of lay Buddhist Zhao Zhifeng in the Sichuan province of China. Baodingshan comprises of 31 scenes of Buddhist imagery and narrative sculpted into the living rock of a large U-shaped valley. The research presented here focuses on the sculptural section titled Parents Bestowing Kindness on their Children which differs from examples of earlier rock carvings in China in that it illustrates the application of Buddhist doctrines to daily life. My research considers syncretism of Buddhism and Confucianism manifest in the rock carvings at Baodingshan, in order to support my hypothesis that Zhao Zhifeng expressed a unique, regional belief system. I use photographs and field notes taken at Baodingshan as a primary resource to consider formal representation and iconography. In order to consider formal representation and iconography in cultural context, I compare Baodingshan and Beishan, an earlier sculptural program in the same county. This study demonstrates that The Sutra on the Profound Kindness of Parents is the source for both religious and domestic life iconography in this sculptural scene at Baodingshan. I suggest that Song dynasty Buddhists incorporated the Confucian ethic of filial piety into this sutra in order to make Buddhism viable in family life. Although Confucian filial piety focuses on the relationship between fathers and sons, Parents Bestowing Kindness on their Children emphasizes the role of mothers, thereby differencing the Buddhist canon. I draw on a variety of theoretical approaches including art historical, sociological and feminist and I substantiate this interdisciplinary study with textual resources. The findings of this study revise past conceptions that Buddhism declined during the Song Dynasty in light of regional syncretism at Baodingshan.

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