Buddha Shakyamuni – The Historical Buddha
See it in the Museum
India and Nepal
Orientation 2
Display 1
ABS 042
Code: ABS 042
Country: India (north-west)
Style: Kashmir Region
Date: 700 - 750
Dimensions in cm WxHxD: 7.3 x 12 x 3.4
Materials: Brass
Buddha Shakyamuni – The Historical Buddha
The Buddha is seated in legs crossed in meditation. His hands gathered before his chest display the teaching gesture of “setting in motion the Wheel of the Law,” an evocation of his First Teaching at Sarnath (Bihar, North-East India). The upper monastic garment is rendered with a few folds and covers only the left shoulder. The border of the lower garment is also visible. The eyes and urna (between the eyebrows) are inlaid with silver.
The shining surface of the metal is the result of extensive ritual worship by successive generations of Buddhist monks in India and Tibet. The stylistic and technical characteristics of this Buddha image point to the Kashmir area as location of manufacture and dates from the first half of the 8th century.
A Buddha is an “Enlightened One”, awakened to the true nature of existence. He has transcended is human condition and is “no longer a man, nor a god”. He has reached nirvana – “the extinction” of desire and karma – and he is free from samsara, the endless cycle of existence and suffering. A Buddha generally appears as a renunciant, devoid of ornaments.
The Buddha is seated in legs crossed in meditation. His hands gathered before his chest display the teaching gesture of “setting in motion the Wheel of the Law,” an evocation of his First Teaching at Sarnath (Bihar, North-East India). The upper monastic garment is rendered with a few folds and covers only the left shoulder. The border of the lower garment is also visible. The eyes and urna (between the eyebrows) are inlaid with silver.
The shining surface of the metal is the result of extensive ritual worship by successive generations of Buddhist monks in India and Tibet. The stylistic and technical characteristics of this Buddha image point to the Kashmir area as location of manufacture and dates from the first half of the 8th century.
A Buddha is an “Enlightened One”, awakened to the true nature of existence. He has transcended is human condition and is “no longer a man, nor a god”. He has reached nirvana – “the extinction” of desire and karma – and he is free from samsara, the endless cycle of existence and suffering. A Buddha generally appears as a renunciant, devoid of ornaments.