Abstract

This article centers around the Anavatapta Lake. In East Asian pictorialization of worldview, Maps of Mt. Sumeru, which depict the mountain at the core of the world, are often paired with Maps of India, in which the Anavatapta Lake occupies a significant place. When the concept of the Anavatapta Lake was transmitted from India to China and Japan, it was understood through the lens of local cultures and ideologies, and the lake was envisioned as a site spatially connected to various places in China and Japan. As a result, the idea of the Indian lake located at the center of the human world helped China and Japan formulate their statuses and positions within the religious and geopolitical discourse of Buddhist cosmology. Through investigations of both pictorial and textual sources, this article explores the significance and place that the Anavatapta Lake occupied in East Asian religion and literature.

Highlights

  • In Buddhist cosmology, a large lake called the Anavatapta Lake (Ch. anouda 阿耨池, anoudada阿耨達池; Jp. munecchi 無熱池) lies at the center of the continent Jambudvıpa, the southern of the FourContinents surrounding Mt

  • In the process of dissemination of Buddhist cosmology, the concept of the Anavatapta Lake was understood through the lens of local cultures and ideologies, and the lake was envisioned as a site spatially connected to various places in China and Japan

  • The excerpt from Xindiguan jing states that four Nāga kings reside in the Anavatapta Lake; that the Ganges flows from the mouth of the Nāga king on the kings reside in the Anavatapta Lake; that the Ganges flows from the mouth of the Nāga king on the southeast of the lake, who has the head of the White Elephant; that the Indus flows from the mouth of southeast of the lake, who has the head of the White Elephant; that the Indus flows from the mouth the Nāga king on the southwest with the head of the Water Buffalo; that the Sıtā flows from the mouth

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Summary

Introduction

In Buddhist cosmology, a large lake called the Anavatapta Lake This cosmology was transmitted from India to East Asia along with Buddhism. In the process of dissemination of Buddhist cosmology, the concept of the Anavatapta Lake was understood through the lens of local cultures and ideologies, and the lake was envisioned as a site spatially connected to various places in China and Japan. Premodern people in East Asia had access to a vast amount of sources that mention the Anavatapta Lake. This article examines such sources—a travel journal, Buddhist sutras, narratives, and visual images that describe and pictorialize the lake—and discusses how the imaginary lake was perceived in China and Japan while blending with local cultures and ideologies

The Anavatapta Lake in the Great Tang Dynasty Record of the Western Regions
Passages
Discussions on the Anavatapta Lake in Buddhist Sutras
Transmission and Reception of the Anavatapta Lake in China
Reception and Recreation of the Anavatapta Lake in Japan
The Anavatapta Lake in the Garden in the Illustrated Biography of Xuanzang
Conclusions
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