Painting and the origin of Buddha in China

Buddha painting	Buddha painting

Buddhist painting originated from the Sakyamuni period between the 6th century BC and the 5 century BC.
According to the record, after Sakyamuni became a Buddha, a rich merchant called Loneliness Sending Elder became a devotee of him. The merchant bought a garden in Shewei City for Sakyamuni Buddha; he built a living room, store, depot, hall and bathroom in the garden; he also drew Buddhist painting on walls of buildings in the garden. This was the origin of Buddhist painting.
 Record of the Chinese Buddhist painting appeared in the reign of Emperor Mingdi (58-75) of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220). However, Chinese Buddhist painting did not enter into a prosperous period until the Wei and Jin (265-420), Southern and Northern Dynasties Period (386-581). Representative artists of Buddhist paintings of this period were Dai Kui, Gu Kaizhi, Cao Zhongda, Zhang Zengyao. Representative painting works included Five-Generation Buddha by Dai Kui, the Portrait of Vimalakirti by Gu Kaizhi and Jade Buddha sent by Lion Kingdom (today's Sri Lanka) were three masterpieces of Buddhist paintings.