A Study Of "The Twelve Yasha" Images In The Dunhuang Pharmacist Buddha Sutra Illustration

Since the beginning of the Northern and Southern Dynasties,The belief in Pharmacist Buddha became popular in China.As a result,several translations of Pharmacist Buddha Sutra appeared in China in different eras.The Pharmacist Buddha Sutra illustration also flourished at Dunhuang with the popularity of the Pharmacist Buddha faith.As the main guardian deity in the Pharmacist Buddha Sutra illustration,The twelve Yasha received even more attention and devotion.In wall paintings and sculptures,it is also widely represented as the main object of worship for the belief of Pharmacist Buddha.The group of Yasha,which is more frequently represented in Chinese Buddhist art,is also a famous Buddhist patron deity of Yasha.The concept of Yasha comes from Indian folk beliefs,and Buddhism absorbed the native Indian Yasha beliefs and accommodated them into the Buddhist deity system.The Yasha beliefs have also been enriched in the Buddhist environment,creating a complicated and huge Yasha system.Among them,Yasha can be divided into two categories,one is the good deity who protects the Dharma and the other is the evil spirit who eats people.It is very common for several Yasha in Buddhism to form a group as the guardian deity of a certain classic,such as the sixteen Yasha generals appearing in the Peacock King Mantra Sutra,the twenty-eight Yasha deities in the Dhammapada Sutra,the eight Yasha generals led by King Vishnu of the North,and the twelve Yasha generals in the Pharmacist Buddha Sutra.As the protector of Pharmacist Buddha and the guardian of the twelve great wishes,the process of spreading the belief in twelve Yasha in China has created a connection with the concepts of twelve zodiac signs and twelve earthly branches in Chinese culture.This connection is reflected in the murals of the Pharmacist Buddha Sutra illustration.In the earliest cave 220 of the early Tang Dynasty in the Mogao Caves at Dunhuang,a crown with animal heads appears on the heads of the twelve Yasha,suggesting a connection between the twelve Yasha and the animal phase in the early Tang Dynasty.This connection most likely arose from the influence of the animal-headed human expression of the Sui Dynasty god-king beliefs,which was further deepened by the blending of Yasha beliefs with Chinese culture.The bestial decoration on the head crown of the twelve Yasha in the Pharmacist Buddha Sutra illustration of Cave 18 in Berzikli,Xinjiang,during the Yuan dynasty,is identical to that of the twelve animals in the Chinese zodiac.The process of linking the twelve Yasha to Chinese culture is also evident in the images and clothing of the twelve Yasha in the Dunhuang Pharmacist Buddha Sutra illustration,starting with the gradual transformation of the image from that of a Hu monk and a warrior to that of a "wild look" and "worldly look".The image of the twelve Yasha has been gradually transformed from the image of a military general with the appearance of a Buddhist monk to the image of a "wild face" and "worldly face",and then gradually developed to the direction of a beautiful image with.The clothing of the twelve Yasha also changed from "Pa Katio",which is similar to the ancient Indian Yasha with cloth around the waist,to the armor in the style of the Heavenly King.Then,the "a loose gown with wide girdle",which has the characteristics of the Han people in the Central Plains,gradually appeared.The connection between twelve Yasha and Chinese elements is also a very important clue to explore the spread of Pharmacist Buddha’s belief in China.