A Visual Analysis of the Deer Symbol in Daoist–Buddhist Painting A Peircean Semiotic Perspective

Abstract

This paper takes the imagery of the deer as its research subject and examines its processes of formation, transformation, and dissemination across Buddhist and Daoist textual traditions, religious art, and contemporary visual culture. Employing semiotics as the theoretical framework and combining textual and image analysis, the study investigates how the deer gradually evolves from a natural animal image into a visual symbol that carries religious concepts, cultural memory, and social meanings. The analysis is conducted through three semiotic dimensions: the iconic, indexical, and symbolic levels.

The study shows that in Buddhism, the deer is primarily associated with the Deer Park, the First Turning of the Dharma Wheel, and Jātaka narratives, reflecting functions related to sacred site memory, doctrinal transmission, and narrative symbolism. In Daoist contexts, the deer is commonly linked to visions of immortality, longevity beliefs, and the auspicious symbolism of fortune and prosperity, forming a symbolic structure that integrates both religious and secular meanings. In traditional Buddhist and Daoist art, the deer is not merely a representation of nature but also serves as an important medium connecting images, spatial settings, ritual practices, and cultural imagination. In contemporary contexts, the deer image has gradually detached from its original religious iconographic systems and has been continuously translated and recontextualized in painting, animation, design, and brand communication, becoming an open and fluid cultural symbol.

This paper argues that the historical evolution of deer imagery reflects the ongoing transformation and regeneration of traditional symbols across different cultural contexts, and it provides a valuable analytical pathway for understanding the relationship between Chinese religious art and contemporary visual culture.