"Typologies of Text and Image Relations (Cliffs/Caves)" is Research Cluster 3.4 of the project "From the Ground Up: Buddhism & East Asian Religions" (Cluster leader: Christoph Anderl) [CONCLUDED PROJECT]

This cluster investigates the development of specific patterns of text-image relations in East Asian Buddhist iconography, with a focus on Chinese sites but if possible also including data from Korea and Japan. We attempt to analyze how textual and visual media interact with (and reference to) each other and how Buddhist themes were programmatically arranged in cliff and cave sites, and how these arrangements were related to ritual uses and accommodated specific religious (and possibly other) needs/purposes in the local environments.

The topic is also approached from a comparative perspective, in order to study how Buddhist themes (especially Buddhist key narratives) transformed when they spread from India/Central Asia to China, and which specific text-image relations developed in the Chinese context at specific locations. The research cluster will not only focus on collecting and analyzing relevant material during the field trips, but will also investigate how the findings can more generally contribute to our understanding of the interplay between textual and iconographic media. Through this, we hope to engage with current theories on narratology and text/image interaction.

For the fieldwork, originally, four sites in China had been selected. However, the Covid19 epidemic significantly impacted our plans for conducting fieldwork in China, and because of the lock-downs (both in Europe/USA and in China during different periods), two fieldwork trips had to be cancelled, and one fieldwork project had to be turned into a virtual fieldwork activity. The second "physcial fieldwork" could not be conducted in China but had to be moved to Thailand (investigating Chinese temples in Bangkok).

Besides the (reduced) fieldwork activities, archiving and analysis of relevant textual and image material, othercluster activities included the organization of conferences / workshops / Doctoral Schools in Ghent, in collaboration with other institutions.

Results and Publications

Workshop Reports

Read 2021 online workshop report by Kelly Carlton—“Basic Patterns of Text-Image/Object Relations”

Read 2021 online workshop report by Laurent Van Cutsem—“Graphic Variation, Modification, and Replacement in Medieval Chinese Writing: Case Studies and Resources”

Read 2022 online workshop report

Field Visit Report

Read 2023 field visit report

Data Collection

View 2016 digital data collection

View 2019 digital data collection

View 2023 digital data collection

Cluster Publications

Read BEAR Research Briefs—“Beyond Chinese Epigraphy in Bangkok: Spaces, Cults and Communities”

Read working paper by Wendy Yu Sau Ling—“Sichuan and Chongqing are No Longer Far Away: Virtual Fieldwork and Digital Metadatabase of Sichuan and Chongqing Buddhist Grottoes”

Read working paper by Kira Johansen—“Caretakers and Community: A Case Study of Guanyin Temples from the Cluster 3.4 Fieldwork Trip in Bangkok, Thailand”

Additional Cluster Training
Ghent Doctoral School: “Chinese Buddhist Iconography and Manuscript Culture” June 17-21, 2024.

Related Events

Image – Text – Reality in Buddhism: Interrelation & Internegation. May 23 – 25, 2022. Online.

"Basic Patterns of Text-Image/Object Relations"

Date: Tuesday, May 18, 2021
Time: 5–8 am PDT | 2–5 pm CEST | 8–11 pm China
Format: Lecture/seminar with case studies and discussions (will be recorded and recordingsmade internally accessible)
Max # participants: 30 (booked out)
Workshop leads: Christoph Anderl (Ghent), Paul Copp (Chicago), and Monica Zin (Leipzig)
Description: In this seminar we will focus on both theoretical questions and concrete case studies. Theoretical issues include: identifying basic patterns of relations between textual and iconographic versions of Buddhist narratives, as well as programmatic relations between texts and images, between contents (text/image) and forms of objects, and between the forms of inscribed/imaged objects and their contexts of use. Most case studies will also include a diachronic and cross-regional perspective, tracing the transformations of text-image relations based on specific cultural-religious settings, material base, targeted audiences/viewers/users, and other relevant factors. Areas will include India, Gandhāra, the Tarim basin, Dunhuang, Sichuan,
and Korea.

Asian Buddhism: Text, Art, and Practice. June 22–23, 2024. Ghent University.

"Graphic Variation, Modification, and Replacement in Medieval Chinese Writing: Case Studies and Resources"

Date: Tuesday, August 17, 2021
Time: 5–8 am PDT | 2–5 pm CEST | 8–11 pm China
Format: Seminar (will be recorded and recordings made internally accessible)
Max # participants: 30 (booked out)
Workshop leads: Christoph Anderl (Ghent), Suzanne Burdorf (Ghent), and Lia Wei (Ghent)
Description: In this seminar we will discuss case studies of various types of substitutions and modifications of Chinese characters typical for medieval handwritten texts, as well as introduce resources to facilitate the reading of Dunhuang manuscripts and epigraphic material (including the Variants module of the “Ghent Database of Medieval Chinese Texts”, and the Taiwanese “Dictionary of Chinese Variant Characters”, among other databases and reference tools). In the introduction, various types of replacements, graphic modifications and variations will be dealt with, with examples drawn from Dunhuang manuscripts. In addition, we will also focus on medieval lexicographical material among the Dunhuang hoards, addressing the questions of and theorizing about variants (異體字) and replacement characters (通假字).

In the second part, the focus will be on the 10th c. Liáo dictionary Longkan shoujian 龍龕手鑒 which focuses on registering variant graphical forms, indicating their readings, and relating graphical forms to each other. Besides discussing the structure and the particularities of this extraordinary lexicographical work, we will also address the question of how the dictionary can be used as a reference work when dealing with medieval Chinese (and Japanese) handwritten material.

The third part of the seminar deals with very early rock carvings of the 6th century by the Taoist Zheng Daozhao and the Buddhist Seng’An Daoyi, and the epigraphy they produced in the landscapes of Shandong province as part of their artistic and religious expressions. Special focus will be devoted to their calligraphy styles and the modulation of character forms, the integration of Seal script characters, and processes of character modification which result in forms stripped of phonetic and semantic contents, and instead assuming artistic and soteriological functions. The material presented is directly based on multiple field trips, and field work-related questions will be likewise addressed during this part of the seminar.

Fieldwork data (Fieldwork May 2022) are accesible here:

“Database of Religious Sites in Anyue District, Sichuan” (ed. Christoph Anderl et al.)

The results of the virtual fieldwork of May 2022 in the framework of Research Cluster 3.4, “Typologies of Text-Image Relations” of the FROGBEAR project “From the Ground Up: Buddhism and East Asian Religions” is now uploaded in the “FROGBEAR Database of Religious Sites in East Asia”:

https://frogbear.org/app/

Please choose “Cluster 3.4” from the first dropdown window.

Currently, 155 objects are accessible with multiple photographs and descriptions, focusing on the following sites:

Wofo yuan 臥佛院

Yuanjue dong 圓覺洞

Pilu dong 毗廬洞

Kongque dong 孔雀洞

Qianfo zhai (千佛寨)

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS RESEARCH CLUSTER, SEE:

https://frogbear.org/portfolio-item/cluster-3-4-typologies-of-text-and-i...

FULL LIST OF CLUSTER PARTICIPANTS

Affiliated Researchers and Associated Researchers

Baycroft, Anne (University of Saskatchewan) – 2023
Brittain, Tanya (University of Victoria) – 2023
Boeten, Leonie (Ghent University) – 2022
Fan, Catherine (University of Virginia) – 2022
Boscals de Réals, Gaëlle (McGill University) – 2023
He, Lin (Shanghai International Studies University) – 2023
Cilangasan, Malang (Dharma Drum Institute of Liberal Arts) – 2022
Johansen, Kira (Florida State University) – 2023
Du, Yalin (Princeton University) – 2022
Li, Sijia (University of Colorado Boulder) – 2022
Huang, Becca (Temple university) – 2022
Li, Siyue (London School of Economics and Political Science) – 2023
Huang, Becca (Temple university) – 2022
Liu, Taolin (The Chinese University of Hong Kong) – 2023
Jia, Xixi (École pratique des hautes études – université PSL) – 2022
Ma, Clara (University of Virginia) – 2022
Keller, Mirella (Ghent University) – 2022
Ma, Zhujun (University of Colorado Boulder) – 2022
Kim, Sinae (Princeton University) – 2022
Poletto, Alessandro (Kyoto University) – 2022
Lagae, Fauve (Ghent University) – 2022
Thomson, Oliver (University of Edinburgh) – 2023
Li, Chengpeng (Buddhist Studies, Heidelberg University) – 2023
Wang, Jiayao (Augusta University) – 2023
Liang, Xiaohe (Ghent University) – 2022
Yu, Wendy (University of Hong Kong) – 2022
Liu, Jinyun (University of Southern California) – 2022
Zhang, Jie (University of Virginia) – 2022
Maes, Violetta (Ghent University) – 2022
Mahieu, Charlotte (Ghent University) – 2022
Norton, Michael (Harvard University) – 2022
Ooms, Elena (Ghent University) – 2022
Peronnet, Amandine (National Institute of East-Asian Languages and Civilizations) – 2023
Portoghese, Massimiliano (Ghent University) – 2022
Shen, Xinting (Ghent University) – 2022
Sirothphiphat, Naphatthika (Harvard Divinity School) – 2023
Smeulders, Sarah (Ghent University) – 2022
Sokolova, Anna (Ghent University) – 2023
Sun, Junxi (Ghent University) – 2022
Vanoverschelde, Luka (Ghent University) – 2022
Vantomme, Veerle (Ghent University) – 2022
Vasilieva, Anna-Paulina (Ghent University) – 2022
Waeles, Chelsea (Ghent University) – 2022
Wan, Changmeng (Ghent University) -2022
Wei, Xiang (Temple University) – 2023
Yuan, Zehui (Ghent University) – 2022
Zhang, Longyu (Ghent University) – 2022
Zhang, Wanyu (Oxford University) – 2023
Zhao, Runlin (Ghent University) – 2022
Zhao, Sitong (Ghent University) – 2022
Zhao, Xiaodi (Ghent University) – 2022