ABS 116
Code: ABS 116
Country: Tibet
Style: Late Pala Style
Date: 1200 - 1300
Dimensions in cm WxHxD: 7.8 x 10.5 x 4.9
Materials: Brass
Buddha Shakyamuni – The Historical Buddha
Shakyamuni, the historical Buddha is seated cross-legged in the meditation. His transparent religious garment leaves his right shoulder uncovered. Both his hands are joined in his lap in the gesture of contemplation. While most depictions of the Buddha represent the more famous episodes of his life, such as the victory over Mara or the teachings, this particular posture is relatively rare.
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. In this example, the robe is represented without folds except for its extremities on the shoulder and between the feet, where the border, delicately chiseled and lined with small beads, is inlaid with copper, as are the nails and lips.
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.
Shakyamuni, the historical Buddha is seated cross-legged in the meditation. His transparent religious garment leaves his right shoulder uncovered. Both his hands are joined in his lap in the gesture of contemplation. While most depictions of the Buddha represent the more famous episodes of his life, such as the victory over Mara or the teachings, this particular posture is relatively rare.
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. In this example, the robe is represented without folds except for its extremities on the shoulder and between the feet, where the border, delicately chiseled and lined with small beads, is inlaid with copper, as are the nails and lips.
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.