PARALLEL WORLDS, TRANSCENDENCE AND INTERDIMENSIONAL TRAVEL
Popular science fiction concepts such as parallel universes and interdimensional travel are ideas that can also be found at the heart of Asian philosophy and spirituality. Drawing connections between Asia and the West, these prints highlight the spiritual traditions of Buddhism, Taoism and folklore exploring concepts of transcendence, portals to heavenly worlds and parallel dimensions.
Yama holding the Bhavacakra
Courtesy of Wellcome Collection, England
The idea of parallel worlds is one of the most well-explored concepts in both science fiction and Asian belief. The Bhavacakra or wheel of life in Buddhism symbolises how moral behavior influences rebirth in the recurring cycle of lives, depicting multiple distinct yet interconnected worlds.
西王母
Xiwangmu (Queen of Immortality)
Courtesy of the Rare East Asian Collection at the University of Melbourne
Immortals first appeared in various forms decorating Chinese tombs during the second century BCE providing the important function of aiding the soul of the deceased in its transcendent journey to paradise. Xiwangmu or the Queen of Immortality is believed to rule a perfect and complete paradise in the Western region to China, able to grant immortality to those who journey there.
北斗星君
Beidou xingjun (Lord of the Northern Dipper)
Courtesy of the Rare East Asian Collection at the University of Melbourne
In Taoist legend, the deity of the Northern Dipper controls people’s lifespans and determines the afterlife of the deceased. The image of the Dipper frequently appears in tombs in China from an early period, sometimes depicted as a humanised deity but more often as the seven stars. It was believed that with a strong faith in this deity, the disasters in life could be eliminated and human beings could acquire immortality. In this view, the deity of the Northern Dipper could be regarded as a double-faced guardian who offers protection for the present life, while also being able to terminate it and let the soul transcend into the land of death.
本朝振袖之始 素盞鳥尊妖怪降伏之図
Honchô furisode no hajime, Susanoo no mikoto yôkai kôfuku no zu
(In the play Honchô Furisode no Hajime, Susanoo no mikoto subdues the monsters)
江戸川北輝
Edogawa Hokki (nd.)
Courtesy of the Rare East Asian Collection at the University of Melbourne
This comical print shows the Japanese god Susanoo no Mikoto, the brother of the sun goddess Amaterasu, exorcising yōkai with the help of the goddess Kushinadahime, who holds up a mirror to scare the creatures away. In Japanese folklore, yōkai are supernatural beings and spirits, living invisibly in an otherworldly dimension laid over that of humans, causing various supernatural events. Susanoo, who was expelled out of his sister’s heavenly dimension because of his absurd and brutal behaviour, was regarded in contrast in the human world as a vigorous guardian because of his supreme power to defeat the yōkai. He embodies a double face as a god who is both destructive (in the view of the supernatural world) and protective (in the eyes of humans).
With special thanks to Dr Shiqiu Liu, Jon Buckingham and the Archives and Special Collections team at the University of Melbourne.
Dr Shiqiu Liu holds a PhD degree from the University of Melbourne and is specialised in pre-modern Chinese art history. Her research field also includes artistic exchanges between Chinese dynasties and non-Chinese kingdoms in Northeast and Central Asia during the eleventh to the fourteenth century. Before starting the PhD, she worked in museums in China on exhibitions and collections related to Buddhist and burial art. She is now working as curator of the Rare East Asian Collection in the Archives and Special Collections at the University of Melbourne.
Installation photography: Matthew Stanton