Scene from The Illustrated Sutra of Past and Present Karma (Kako genzai e-inga-kyō; Matsunaga Version)

The Kako genzai ingakyō (Sutra of Cause and Effect), known also by its abbreviated title lngakyō, is generally believed to have originated in India in the third century.[1] The sutra is in the form of a story told by the Buddha in response to questions posed by his followers. He describes one of his former incarnations, his life as the young prince Siddhartha, and his attainment of enlightenment. He closes by explaining that one's life is determined by past deeds and one's future by present actions.
The Sanskrit-original of this sutra no longer exists, but its Chinese translation, attributed to the Indian monk Gunabhadra, who completed it perhaps in the first half of the fifth century, is still in use. When first translated, the sutra apparently comprised four or five handscrolls with text. Later, as illustrations were added, they were placed above the text, diminishing the space originally allocated to the words and allowing both pictures and text to flow together from right to left. Thus, illustrated versions of the Ingakyō usually had eight scrolls or sometimes ten, an arrangement that had become popular by the Tang dynasty (618–907). A number of Tang Buddhist scrolls and books with this arrangement have been recovered from the Dunhuang caves in northwestern China. In Japan many copies of the lngakyō, with and without illustrations, were made during the eighth century. The oldest extant examples of the illustrated version are divided among Japanese and American collections, notably at Jōbon Rendaiji, Kyoto; Hōon'in, a subtemp1e of Daigoji, Kyoto; and the MOA Museum of Art, Atami. None of these scrolls are from the same set, and all were painted at different times by different hands. In addition to the Nara-period scrolls, two Heian versions, dating to the early ninth century, also exist.[2]
The Ingakyō seems to have fallen into disuse after the ninth century, when Esoteric Buddhism and the worship of Amida dominated Japanese Buddhism. During the Kamakura period, however, the increased popularity of Shakya worship led to a revival of interest in the sutra teachings, and a number of new versions were produced. The reemergence of the Ingakyō also reflects an important artistic trend of the period, the revival of classical traditions. Just as in the twelfth century the art of Unkei and his followers was influenced by sculpture of the Asuka and Nara periods (see page 68), monk-painters and patrons of the Kamakura period revisited the lngakyō with fresh appreciation.
The earliest known Kamakura version of the lngakyō is dated to 1254; another copy was made before the end of the thirteenth century. The late-thirteenth-century version, known only in a few fragments of the fifth scroll from the set of eight, belonged at one time to the Matsunaga collection and is now dispersed. The large fragment in the Burke Collection comes from this version.[3] A third, slightly later version, which was also cut apart and dispersed, once belonged to Shōriji, Nagoya.
The Burke fragment, which illustrates the temptation of Prince Siddhartha, came toward the end of the original handscroll. In this fantastic scene, the demon king Mara and an army of his men try to distract the prince as he meditates. Mara is shown seated to the right at the beginning of the scroll, grasping the pommel of his sword as if to draw it. An array of weapon-wielding demonic figures, many of them composites of various weird and terrifying beasts, converge on the prince. Two of Mara's young sisters appear bearing skulls. The demons try to frighten the prince, not only with their grotesque faces and fearsome weapons but also by creating storms, earthquakes, fires, and tornadoes. The supernatural power of the prince, however, repels all threats. Huge boulders meant to be cast at him will not move; flying swords and arrows are arrested in midair; thunder, lightning, rain, and fire are transformed into multicolored flowers; the poisonous breath of dragons becomes a fragrant breeze. In the midst of this mayhem the prince sits unperturbed until at the left a heavenly voice (represented as a figure emerging from clouds) announces that Mara, now seated with his sword drawn, has been defeated and that the demons must disperse.
Both the eighth-century fragment of the illustrated lngakyō owned by the Hōon'in of Daigoji and a ninth-century version formerly in the Masuda collection preserve the same temptation scene, and the two versions are very much alike. Similarly, because the late Kamakura Shōriji version of the scene is extremely close to the Burke fragment from the Matsunaga version, it is possible that the latter served as a model for the Shōriji scroll or that both copies derive from a common model, one probably made earlier in the Kamakura period after a Nara or Heian work. The two Kamakura copies, while basically similar in composition to the Hōon'in and Masuda versions, share modifications that distinguish them from the two earlier scrolls, making it unlikely that either of these was the prototype.
In the eighth- and ninth-century scrolls, regularly placed hills or buildings are used to separate the episodes, providing a stagelike setting for the protagonists. Most Kamakura scrolls are free of these devices, thus allowing a continuous flow of events from right to left. A certain vitality also distinguishes the illustrated Ingakyō of the Kamakura period. The temptation scene, the most theatrical and action-filled in the entire sutra, is more dramatic in the Kamakura copies, and the devils and demons are more grotesque. In contrast to the carefully drawn lines of the earlier scrolls, the brushwork here is sure and quick, and the colors sometimes extend beyond their inked boundaries. In this scroll, spontaneity, energy, and motion—the vital elements of the art of this period—are translated into colorful visual form.
[Miyeko Murase 2000, Bridge of Dreams]
[1] Daizōikyō 1914–32, vol. 3, no. 189; see also Tanaka Ichimatsu et al. 1959, p. 13.
[2] These are reproduced in Tanaka Ichimatsu et al. 1959.
[3] Two other fragments from this version are in the collection of Kimiko and John Powers, Aspen. See Rosenfield and Shimada Shūjirō 1970, nos. 42, 43.

Shōriji 勝利寺 , Wakayama, Japan; Matsunaga Yasuzaemon Japanese, Tokyo (before 1965); Mary Griggs Burke , New York (from 1965; transferred to Foundation); Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation , New York (until 2015; donated to MMA)

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Seasonal Pleasures in Japanese Art (Part One)," October 12, 1995–April 28, 1996.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Japanese Art from The Mary Griggs Burke Collection," March 30–June 25, 2000.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Celebrating the Arts of Japan: The Mary Griggs Burke Collection," October 20, 2015–May 14, 2017.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Anxiety and Hope in Japanese Art," April 8, 2023–July 14, 2024.

Murase, Miyeko, Il Kim, Shi-yee Liu, Gratia Williams Nakahashi, Stephanie Wada, Soyoung Lee, and David Sensabaugh. Art Through a Lifetime: The Mary Griggs Burke Collection. Vol. 1, Japanese Paintings, Printed Works, Calligraphy. [New York]: Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, [2013], p. 17, cat. no. 28.