[
    {
        "id": 207807,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1976",
        "page_number": 195,
        "title": "RAS-1976",
        "content_text": "180\n\nMICHAEL SMITHIES\n\ndevelopment from this, a temple built around a solid core. A narrow passage runs around the central core in which is set a niche containing the principal Buddha statue. The hollow temple, with immensely thick walls to support the weight of the vaulted roof, was in its early stages a core with the passage around and an antechamber or nave in front, usually on the eastern side. The stupa rising above the core could be of any shape, the Singhalese bell form or the stepped figured squares topped with a pinnacle, a form inspired by Pala architecture from India (particularly from one of the sacred Buddhist shrines at Bodh Gaya where the transformation of the Buddha took place). A development from this simple shrine is the Greek cross plan exemplified by the magnificent Ananda temple built by Kyanzittha, Anawrahta's son, in 1091. This still has the solid core but a double gallery around and antechambers on the axes of all four sides. A further development of this was where the whole temple was raised a level and the central core shifted slightly to contain and enfold the main Buddha facing east; the Thatbinnyu and Sulamani temples are good examples of this later style.\n\nOf the early buildings the Ananda is undoubtedly the most impressive, and the recent (mid-1975) earthquake, far from apparently damaging the building, has removed in parts the plaster and whitewash and shown the arching to be of bricks of alternating light and dark colours. The four main statues in the teaching posture have with overgilding lost their interest, but they impress by their size and the illumination from the hidden upper windows which show the Mon craftsmen as highly skilled technicians. The numerous glazed terracotta plaques ornamenting the base of the temple tell different Jataka tales (the lives of the hundreds of Buddhas before the Gautama Buddha and often taking the form of morality fables) and the small stone sculptures set in the internal walls tell the story of the life of the Gautama Buddha himself.\n\nThe terracotta plaques (the great invention of Pagan, as the distinguished archaeologist Bernard Groslier indicated in a lecture to the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society at Pagan) can be seen at their best at the very late (1284) Mingalazedi temple, a little damaged by the earthquake, and the two Petleiks of the 11th century, where the exceptional series is preserved almost in entirety.\n\nThe early temples near Myinkaba are remarkable for their excellent preservation and for the quality of their decoration. One\n\nPage 195\n\nPage 196",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1976.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 214233,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1998",
        "page_number": 91,
        "title": "RAS-1998",
        "content_text": "54\n\nfirms that the majority of deities in these two temples are Deva. The categorization of the Twenty-eight Immortals as Deva was arrived at by comparing the Sanskrit identities of the twenty-eight images and the list of the Twenty Deva provided by Soothill. The minor variation in inclusion and omission between the Twenty Deva listed by Soothill, the Twenty-two Deva in the Ta Pei Ssu and the Twenty-five in the Pi-yun Ssu cannot be explained.\n\nIn some temples the Deva have been equated with the Asuras. This is incorrect as the Asuras are those who are not only not Deva but are, according to some writings, the greatest enemies of the Deva and, in others, it is written that the Asuras are anti-gods and not, as claimed so often in English, demons.\n\nIt would not have been possible to identify any one of the images of the Deva without its Sinicised Sanskrit title on the tablet before it apart, that is, from the three fundamentally Chinese deities with their Chinese titles included within the Deva groups, Wei T'o and the four T'ien Wang Guardians.\n\nImages within the Two Temples in the Western Hills\n\nWithin the main hall of both temples, apart from the images of the Deva lining the side walls, stands the popular and well-known Buddhist bodhisattva, the Goddess of Mercy, Kuan Yin adapted from images brought from India where he [a male deity at that time] was the Brahmanist deity Avalokitesvara. In the Ta Pei Ssu she is alone whereas in the Pi-yun Ssu she is sitting crossed-legged and is flanked by two pairs of secondary bodhisattva. The first pair is Wen Shu and P'u-Hsien, whose Sanskrit titles are Manjusri and Samatabhadra respectively. They were two of the twelve divine Buddhist teachers. They in turn are flanked by another pair of bodhisattvas, Ti-tsang Wang, the Saviour of the Underworld and Ta-shih Chih. The latter is one of the members of the retinue of Amitabha [O-mi-t'u Fu] known in Sanskrit as Kshitigarbha and Mahasthama respectively. Mahasthama is believed to be the deified Maudgalyayana, the right hand disciple of the Buddha, Gautama.\n\nIn the Pi-yun Ssu, the bodhisattva Saviour of the Underworld, Ti-tsang Wang, is depicted in his modern standard form, sitting side-",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794",
        "rank": 0
    }
]