Two Lectures on Buddhism in Central Asia: Visual Evidence for History

First Lecture | Buddha, Monks and Lay Devotees: the Buddhist rhetoric of power in Late Antique Afghanistan
First speaker: Dr. Anna Filigenzi

Second Lecture | Buddhism and the Sakas: Nomads of Central Asia in Greek, Persian, Indian, and Chinese Sources
Second speaker: Prof. Meiji Yamada

Buddha, Monks and Lay Devotees: the Buddhist rhetoric of power in Late Antique Afghanistan
By Dr. Anna Filigenzi

Chinese pilgrims often describe public Buddhist ceremonies performed by lay rulers, such as a king, humbly crownless and barefoot, welcoming with offerings a procession of Buddhist images or another king symbolically renounced all earthly goods – including his own kingdom and family – on behalf of the Buddha. These and similar manifestations hint to a synthesis of philosophical, religious and social instances that seems to have deeply permeated the Late Antique Buddhist world.

Confirmation of the widespread rhetoric of the “Buddhist kingdom”, in which rulers act not only as patrons but as true terrestrial Bodhisattvas entrusted with the protection of dharma, is provided by paintings and sculptures which witness a variegated range of ritualised customs, in the form of pious metaphors or hieratic acts of devotion and homage performed by individuals, families or distinctive social groups of high rank. Newly excavated sites such as Tepe Narenj and Mes Aynak now provide fresh and strikingly explicit evidence, which in turn allow us to re-examine the old documentation with stronger interpretative models.

Anna Filigenzi is temporary researcher at the University of Naples “L’Orientale” and the holder of the FWF stand-alone project “The cultural history of Uddiyana 4th to 8th century CE” at the Numismatic Commission of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. She is the director of the Italian Archaeological Mission in Afghanistan since 2004 and a member of the Italian Archaeological Mission in Pakistan since 1984.

Buddhism and the Sakas: Nomads of Central Asia in Greek, Persian, Indian, and Chinese Sources
By Prof. Meiji Yamada

A nomad group called Sakai or Scythai in 5th century BCE Greek sources, and Saka in Persian sources, as well as Sak in 2nd century BCE Chinese sources, appeared in the Indian subcontinent after the 2nd century BCE, and played a central role in the spread of Buddhism. They probably introduced a sort of non-doctrinal Buddhism  to Southern China. Some strange Buddha images are found in Chinese graves along the Yangtze River from the 2nd to the 4th centuries. It seems that the Sakas introduced these Buddha images to Southern China.  Their presence in China however appears in few written historical accounts. Using these accounts along with archaeological sources, Prof. Yamada will try to trace their movements in Central Asia, India and China.

Meiji Yamada is Professor Emeritus of Ryukoku University, Kyoto, and Visiting Numata Professor of Buddhist Studies at Leiden University. He was lecturer in Buddhism at Nalanda Pali Institute (1967-1969), later a member of the Kyoto University Archeological Research team in Afghanistan, excavating at Tepe Skandar (1970-1978), and more recently member of the Ryukoku University Central Asian Exploration team, researching ancient sites in Afghanistan, Tadjikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran and Turkey (2005-2010).