Comparative Analysis Of The Two Depections Of The Earth Spirit From The Tang Dynasty
Ancient spirits and higher-beings have been depicted in various ways for several centuries and are still being depicted in modern pop culture today. The Tang dynasty was very rich in culture and folk religion. It is after all known as the “Golden age” of art and literature.
Historical Background
Li Yuen, of the “Li” family founded the Tang dynasty around the 7th Century, and they claimed to be the descendent of Louzi, a famous Chinese philosopher who founded Daoism. The primary rulers of this dynasty are Emperor Taizhong, and Empress Wu Zeitan.
The two religions that were prominent during the Tang Dynasty were Buddhism and Taoism. Taoism originated from Daoism and the philosophy is to live life as it goes. The difference between Daoism and Taoism is that the Chinese of the Tang Dynasty incorporated a lot of folklore and occult sciences to Daoism in order to create a religion that makes sense to the Chinese people and something that they can better relate to.
In Taoism death is just considered as another phase in life. They believed that every body is filled with monsters and spirit and there are certain prayers and rituals that need to be done in order to maintain a living body. And when this body no longer contains spirits, it weakens and dies. Buddhism was later introduced under the ruling of Empress Wu Zeitan, who provided financial support in building Bhuddist temples and monasteries. She sent a Buddhist monk, Xuan Zang to collect books, texts, and other materials pertaining to Bhudism from India. She also ordered paintings and sculptures of bhudda to be built across China The Earth Spirit sculpture depicted on the left is a tomb figure. Also known as zhenmushou (grave-quelling beasts), which were placed on tombs as guardians to ward off any grave intruders. These magnificent hybrid creatures are made of various human and animal elements. This particular figure from the Kimbell Art Museum stands in a very fierce and active posture as if it is about to strike or attack an intruder. The figure also holds a snake on the left arm. The triple horns, open mouth, pointy teeth and fangs, really adds ferociousness to this piece. The arms and legs contain black stripes and sharp claws as flame emerges from behind the shoulders. The fact that this is a hybrid creature makes it stand out and signifies that this is a very special and divine being. The beastly traits are definitely fear invoking and one might think it is a creature from hell if they didn’t know the origins of the piece. However of course this is meant to be the guardian of the graves and the purpose is to scare off the intruders. The eye on the belly represents the “third eye” in Bbhuddism.
The artwork depicted on the left is a digital image created by an anonymous Dota 2 fan from the Steam Community (Video game forum) it depicts the character, “Earth spirit”. This is a wallpaper used as decoration for cell phone home screens and desktop to express their fondness for this character. The “earth spirit” depicted in this art is a video game character from the Dota 2. He is a hero and a very strong choice to play in the game. This character is actually based off of the Tao spirit according to Dota 2 gameplay.
In this image the Earth Spirit is standing fiercely and charging at an actual demon. He is holding a pitchfork-like weapon on the left. His facial expression is very tight and intense he has glistening green eyes and has horns on his head and very pointy teeth which all make him frightening. However most of the power factors only seem to be part of his costumes and accessories. Although, that is not say that the “Earth spirit” would be weak without it.
The “Earth spirit” from the museum is more beastly and the video game version is a little more human-like. The sculpture looks more like a tree-man-creature and very hellish. It makes it difficult to tell whether the figure is meant to be frightening or a guardian. The Earth Spirit from the image has a more friendly heroic appearance, which seems more closer to the purpose. Both are depictions of the Earth Spirit from the Tang dynasty and both are mean to be heroes and guardians.
