Abstract
ABSTRACT This reception study argues that a fourteenth-century handscroll illustrating the Yandang mountains (Yandangshan 雁蕩山) in Zhejiang Province was used by fifteenth-and sixteenth-century viewers as an aid in their meditation practice to achieve relief from the ailments of old age. They engaged in one set of contemplative practices as the scroll was unrolled and another set as it was rerolled. As they unrolled the scroll, viewers achieved a somaesthetic viewing experience by considering the topographical identity, religious history, and numinosity of the site, while the aesthetic perfection of the scroll itself invited them to engage in a superior form of mind travel. As viewers rerolled the scroll, they participated in the meditational practices of walking and seated meditation associated with the legendary Chan Buddhist founder of the site, Nakula. The circumstances of the colophonists suggest they sought a realm devoted to healing, which the scroll manifested for them when they combined their knowledge of the curative history of the mountain range with the painted imagery of the scroll. Analysis of this scroll and its colophons allow us to reconstitute a rare episode in the larger tradition of belief in the restorative powers of mind journeys through painted landscapes.
Published Version
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