Boccaccio \bok-'kach-cho\, Giovanni (b. 1313, Paris, France—d. Dec. 21, 1375, Certaldo, Tuscany)
Italian poet and scholar. His life was full of difficulties and occasional bouts of poverty. His early works include The Love Afflicted (c. 1336), a prose work in five books, and The Book of Theseus (c. 1340), an ambi¬ tious epic of 12 cantos. He is best known for his Decameron, a master¬ piece of classical Italian prose that had an enormous influence on litera¬ ture throughout Europe. A group of 100 earthy tales united by a frame story, it was probably composed 1348-53. After this period he turned to humanist scholarship in Latin.
With Petrarch, he laid the founda¬ tions for Renaissance humanism, and through his writings in Italian he helped raise vernacular literature to the level of the classics of antiquity.
Boccherini \,ba-k3-'re-ne\, Luigi (Rodolfo) (b. Feb. 19, 1743,
Lucca—d. May 28, 1805, Madrid,
Spain) Italian composer. Son of a musician, he received excellent early training and toured widely in Europe as a cellist. He held positions at the courts of Madrid and Prussia. His vast chamber music output includes some 125 string quintets (more than any other composer), some 90 string quartets, and many string trios. He also wrote symphonies and cello concertos. The elegance and charm of his music has ensured its continuing popularity.
boccie or bocci or bocce \'ba-che\ (from Italian bocce, “balls”) Game of Italian origin, similar to bowls. It is played on a long, narrow, packed- clay court enclosed with boarded ends and sides. Each player or team in turn rolls four balls (made of wood, metal, or composition material) toward a smaller target ball. The object is to bring the ball to rest nearest the target ball (for which points are awarded at the end of a round), to protect a well-placed ball, or to knock aside an opponent’s ball. The game usually proceeds until one side has 12 points.
Boccioni Xbot-'cho-neV Umberto (b. Oct. 19, 1882, Reggio di Cala¬ bria, Italy—d. Aug. 16, 1916, Verona) Italian painter, sculptor, and theo-
Bobcat (Felis rufa)
JOE VAN WORMER/PHOTO RESEARCHERS
rist. He was trained in the studio of Giacomo Balia (1871-1958) in Rome. The most energetic member of the Futurist group (see also Futurism), Boc¬ cioni helped publish Technical Manifesto of the Futurist Painters (1910), promoting the representation of modem technology, power, time, motion, and speed. These ideas are best shown in his masterpiece of early mod¬ em sculpture, Unique Forms of Continuity in Space (1913). His painting The City Rises (1910) is a dynamic composition of swirling human fig¬ ures in a fragmented crowd scene.
Bochco \'bach-ko\, Steven (Ronald) (b. Dec. 16, 1943, New York, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. television writer, director, and producer. He worked as a scriptwriter and producer for Universal Studios (1966-78) and MTM Enterprises (1978-85) before forming his own production company in 1987. He cowrote and produced such successful television dramas as Hill Street Blues (1981-86), L.A. Law (1986-94), and NYPD Blue (from 1993), winning numerous Emmy Awards for his scripts.
B6cklin\'boek-len\, Arnold (b. Oct. 16,1827, Basel, Switz.—d. Jan. 16, 1901, Fiesole, Italy) Swiss-bom Ital¬ ian painter. After studies and work in northern Europe and Paris, he won the patronage of the king of Bavaria with his mural Pan in the Bulrushes (1856-58). From 1858 to 1861 he taught at the Weimar Art School and executed mythological frescoes for the Public Art Collection in his native Basel. He settled in Italy, painting nymphs, satyrs, tritons, moody land¬ scapes, and sinister allegories that presaged Symbolism and Surrealism.
His later style was sombre, mystical, and morbid, as in his five versions of The Isle of the Dead (1880-86).
Though most of his time was spent in Italy, he was the most influential art¬ ist in the German-speaking world in the late 19th century.
Bodawpaya \ 1 b6-do- , pI-9\ (b.
1740/41—d. 1819, Amarapura,
Myanmar) King of Myanmar (Burma) (r. 1782-1819). He was a son of Alaungpaya and the sixth monarch of the Alaungpaya dynasty. Bodaw¬ paya deposed his grandnephew to become king. In 1784 he invaded the kingdom of Arakan and deported more than 20,000 of its people as slaves; in 1785 he attempted to conquer Siam. His oppressive rule in Arakan led to rebellion; his pursuit of rebel leaders across the border into British- controlled Bengal nearly brought him into open conflict with the British. His campaigns in Assam heightened tensions. A fervent Buddhist, he pro¬ claimed himself Arimittya, the messianic Buddha destined to conquer the world.
Bodensee See Lake Constance
Bode's law Rule giving the approximate distances of planets from the Sun. First announced in 1766 by the German Johann Daniel Titius (b. 1729—d. 1796), it was popularized, from 1772, by his countryman Johann Elert Bode (b. 1747—d. 1826). It may be given as follows: To each num¬ ber in the sequence 0, 3, 6, 12, 24, and so on, add 4 and divide the result by 10. The answers closely approximate the distances from the Sun, in astronomical units, of the first seven planets. Bode’s law also suggested that a planet should be found between Mars and Jupiter, where the aster¬ oid belt was later discovered. Once thought to have some significance regarding the formation of the solar system, it is now regarded as a numerological curiosity.
bodhi Vbo-de\ (Sanskrit and Pali: “awakening” or “enlightenment”) In Buddhism, the final enlightenment that ends the cycle of death and rebirth and leads to nirvana. This awakening transformed Siddhartha Gautama into the historical Buddha. Bodhi is achieved by ridding oneself of false beliefs and the hindrance of passions through the discipline of the Eight¬ fold Path. Though not supported in canonical texts, commentaries give a threefold classification of bodhi: that of a perfectly enlightened one, or a Buddha; that of an independently enlightened one; and that of an arhat.
bodhi tree or bo tree In Buddhism, the fig tree under which the Bud¬ dha sat when he attained enlightenment (bodhi) at Bodh Gaya (near Gaya,
Boccaccio, detail of a fresco by Andrea del Castagno; in the Cenacolo di Sant'Apollonia, Florence.
AUNARI/ART RESOURCE
"Self-Portrait with Death as a Fiddler," oil on canvas by Arnold Bocklin, 1872; in the Nationalgalerie, Berlin.
COURTESY OF THE STAATLICHE MUSEEN PREUSSISCHER KULTURBESITZ, NATIONALGALERIE, BERLIN; PHOTOGRAPH, WALTER STEINKOPF
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
240 I Bodhidharma > Boethius
India). The tree growing on the site now is believed to be a descendant of the original, planted from a cutting of a tree in Sri Lanka that had been propagated from the original; both trees are sites of pilgrimage for Bud¬ dhists. The bo tree or a representation of its leaf has often been used as a symbol of the Buddha.
Bodhidharma \ 1 bo-di-'dor-mo\ Chinese Damo Japanese Daruma (fl. 6th century ad) Legendary Indian monk credited with the establish¬ ment of the Chan (Son, or Zen) school of Buddhism. Considered the 28th Indian successor in a direct line from the Buddha Gautama, he is recog¬ nized by the Chan school as its first patriarch. Legend states that he trav¬ eled from India to Guang (now Guangzhou), China, where he was granted an interview with the emperor Wudi, who was famous for his good works. He told the emperor that meditation, not good deeds, led to enlighten¬ ment. He himself was said to have meditated sitting motionless for nine years.
bodhisattva \,bo-di-'s9t-v9\ Term for the historical Buddha Gautama prior to his enlightenment as well as for other individuals destined to become buddhas. In Mahayana Buddhism the bodhisattva postpones attainment of nirvana in order to alleviate the suffering of others. The ideal supplanted the Theravada Buddhist ideals of the arhat and the self- enlightened buddha, which Mahayana deemed selfish. The number of bodhisattvas is theoretically limitless, and the title has been applied to great scholars, teachers, and Buddhist kings. Celestial bodhisattvas (e.g., Avalokitesvara) are considered manifestations of the eternal Buddha and serve as savior figures and objects of personal devotion, especially in East Asia.