Chin’gwang Wang, First of the Ten Kings of Hell, Korean, late 14th century, Koryô dynasty. Hanging scroll; ink, colors, and gold pigment on silk, 61.5 x 45 cm. Copyright 2003 President and Fellows of Harvard College.

Drawn from the permanent collection of the Harvard University Art Museums and featuring a number of recent acquisitions, this exhibition focuses on Chinese, Korean, and Japanese works of the 8th through the 20th century, including sutras (Buddhist sacred texts), sculptures, ritual objects, paintings, textiles, and ceramics.

The religion first propagated in the sixth century B.C. by the Nepalese prince now known as the Historical Buddha grew to transform and be transformed by each Asian culture with which it came in contact. Early Buddhist art tends to emphasize the religion's major deities-Buddhas (enlightened beings that have attained final nirvana) and bodhisattvas (enlightened beings who have postponed their own entry into nirvana in order to assist others toward the same goal)-as well as arhats (monks who have attained a high degree of enlightenment through self-discipline) and human and animal guardians. As it evolved in East Asia, however, the Buddhist church became increasingly sectarian, and the artwork associated with later Buddhism came to reflect a wide diversity of subject matter and style, ranging from the wrathful deities of the Esoteric tradition to didactic paradise and hell scenes of the Pureland school, to the seemingly simple, yet inspired, ink play of Zen.