Why Are We So Determined to Find Amitābha in Gandhāra?

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.

Names will be submitted for QR codes 1-2 days prior to the event and subsequently reviewed. Registrants will receive an email from CU Guest Access with the QR code before or on the day of the event.

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 a paper published in the festschrift in honor of Gregory Schopen in 2025, Rhi concluded with the following words: “Our perceptions of Amitābha and Sukhāvatī have inevitably and immensely been affected by the flourishing of the Amitābha cult in East Asian Buddhism and, no less, in modern-day Japan, where devotion to Amitābha is both institutionally and personally prominent even among academics. We need, perhaps, to examine the ideas underlying Amitābha and Sukhāvatī in early Indian Buddhism from a fresh perspective rather than projecting back our knowledge of their consequent development in later East Asian Buddhism.” This lecture addresses this issue by examining the scholarly explorations of Amitābha imagery in India, particularly in Gandhāra, over time, especially in reference to the enthusiasm of Japanese Buddhists and scholars.

Registration:

• To attend this event in-person, please register HERE.
• To attend this event online, please register HERE.