Buddha Shakyamuni – The Historical Buddha
See it in the Museum
India and Nepal
Orientation 3
Display 3
ABS 064
Code: ABS 064
Country: Sri Lanka
Style: Late Anuradhapura Period
Date: 850 - 950
Dimensions in cm WxHxD: 10.5 x 13 x 5.7
Materials: Bronze
Buddha Shakyamuni – The Historical Buddha
The Buddha is seated legs crossed one upon the other in the “noble attitude” with both hands joined in his lap in contemplation. Represented as a renunciant devoid of ornaments, he wears the monastic robes. His upper garment, rendered with few folds, leaves his right shoulder uncovered.
He is endowed with all the distinctive marks and signs of a “Great being:” short curly hair, a cranial protuberance (ushnisha), a curl of hair between the eyebrows (urna), elongated earlobes, and three marks on the throat, and so on. On this example, his hair is surmounted by a prominent “flame of wisdom” known as shriraspata.
Such images of Buddha Shakyamuni in contemplation are rather unusual in Tibet but have remained the prevalent depiction of Buddha in all the Theravada countries such as Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. Theravada, “the School of the Elders,” is the name of the ancient form of Buddhism still practiced nowadays.
The Buddha is seated legs crossed one upon the other in the “noble attitude” with both hands joined in his lap in contemplation. Represented as a renunciant devoid of ornaments, he wears the monastic robes. His upper garment, rendered with few folds, leaves his right shoulder uncovered.
He is endowed with all the distinctive marks and signs of a “Great being:” short curly hair, a cranial protuberance (ushnisha), a curl of hair between the eyebrows (urna), elongated earlobes, and three marks on the throat, and so on. On this example, his hair is surmounted by a prominent “flame of wisdom” known as shriraspata.
Such images of Buddha Shakyamuni in contemplation are rather unusual in Tibet but have remained the prevalent depiction of Buddha in all the Theravada countries such as Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. Theravada, “the School of the Elders,” is the name of the ancient form of Buddhism still practiced nowadays.