Seowonhwa

3F · World Art · Central Asia

This wall-painting fragment comes from the Bezeklik cave temples, the largest cave-temple complex in the Turfan region, and belongs to a type known as a "pranidhi," or vow, painting, which depicts a buddha or bodhisattva making a vow to attain enlightenment or to save all beings. The fragment illustrates the story of Dipankara's prophecy from Cave 15: in a former life as a brahmin, Shakyamuni offered seven lotus flowers to the Buddha Dipankara and spread his own hair over a muddy road for the Buddha to walk upon, whereupon Dipankara foretold that he too would one day become a buddha. The figure holding blue flowers in both hands is Shakyamuni in that earlier brahmin life.

See it in person at the National Museum of Korea — 3F · World Art · Central Asia

Source: based on official e-museum records (National Museum of Korea).