Why Are We So Determined to Find Amitābha in Gandhāra?

Speaker: Juhyung Rhi, Professor emeritus, Department of Archaeology and Art History, Seoul National University

Prof. Juhyung Rhi mainly works on Buddhist art of India, Central Asia, and Korea. The majority of his publications concern the ancient Indian tradition up to the fifth century CE, especially focusing on ancient Gandhara, and the Korean tradition. In these works, he has been attempting to draw comprehensive pictures of the two reigional traditions, treating their diverse aspects such as the religiosity of visual monuments, the narrative art and textual tradition, the formulation and transformation of visual features, the function and perception of visual objects, and the materiality of relgious monuments. Simultaneously, he has explored theoretical issues in stylistic reasoning, iconography, and conflict between aesthetic and devotional attitudes and attempted to apply them to Korean Buddhist art in a critical spirit. He has also produced works on East Asian pilgrims who traveled to India.

Professor Rhi will speak his lecture on Monday, March 23, 2026 at 5PM.

In Buddhism practiced in East Asia, including China, Korea, and Japan, Amitābha Buddha has been the primary object of devotion in relation to beliefs about the afterlife. Furthermore, the sūtras associated with Amitābha received significant attention in the history of Chinese Buddhist translation, having been translated an exceptionally large number of times from early on. Given the prominence of the Amitābha cult within the East Asian Buddhist context, it is understandable that Buddhist scholars familiar with East Asian Buddhism have developed a deep interest in seeking its origins and manifestations in Indian Buddhism. In recent scholarship, scholars have increasingly attempted to locate Amitabha, especially in Gandhāra, a region in the northwest of the Indian subcontinent. This phenomenon is alsoconnected to the peculiar fascination exhibited by some modern Buddhists of East Asia, particularly in Japan and to a lesser extent in Korea, with Gandhāra. This lecture will addressthe issues with the search for Amitābha Buddha in Gandhāra in relation to the preconceived notions that East Asian Buddhists or Buddhist scholars familiar with East Asian Buddhism may have projected to the understanding of Indian Buddhism and Buddhist art.

PLEASE NOTE: For non-Columbia guests, registration is required to access the Morningside campus 24 hours prior to the event. After registering you will receive an email with a QR code that must be presented along with a government-issued ID (your name must match exactly the name registered for the event) at either the 116th Street & Broadway or 116th Street & Amsterdam gates for entry. Please register using a unique email address (one email address per registrant) by 12:00 PM on Sunday, March 22 for campus access.

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