Buddha's Status As An Emaciated Renouncer

The subject of this piece is a Buddha named Maitreya. He is a strongly built man wearing a robe that drapes fluidly off of his body. The piece is constructed from gild bronze and was crafted using piece mold casting. Maitreya faces onlookers with open arms and a smile. The piece was obviously meant to be placed against a wall, as is obvious from the fact that the back is left open and is not meant for display.

Here the idealized face of a full-blown Tang beauty from Tianlongshan, with a small, slightly opened mouth, is so expressive that it seems as though he is about to speak. The shape of the head is rounder and the carving for facial features is softer with time going by, so the bodhisattva is more and more nearly human looking.

Between Wenshu and Puxian are seven small figures. They are set in three rows, with

The group of objects chosen for this paper comes from the collection of the Saint Louis Art Museum. The title of both pieces is called Seated Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara (Guanyin). Both these pieces which are statues were sculpted in china. The earliest statue was made during the Tang dynasty. While, the later statue was made during the Northern Song dynasty. These statues were chosen because the same deity is depicted and were made in a similar geographic and cultural location. This allows for the comparison of the different styles between the 2 periods. The statue made during the Northern Song dynasty depicts the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara sitting in a pose called the relaxed pose or easy pose. This statue also depicts the Bodhisattva adorned in lavish silk garments while a jeweled crown sits atop his head. The statue is carved from wood and painted with gesso, pigments, and gilding. The statue made during the Tang Dynasty depicts the Bodhisattva sitting in the easy pose as well. It also depicts the Bodhisattva in flowing robes while wearing a string of jewels.

The sculpture Buddha Amitabha is a typical Sui Dynasty style art piece that represents the will of

Every soul will be judged and the good will go to heaven and the damned will go to hell. The sculpture vividly expresses the emotional intensity of what the afterlife will look like. On the left-side the sculpture shows “heaven” the figures show that they are at peace because they know their souls have been saved. The children are laughing and the angels are blowing their trumpets with joy in anticipation of Christs’ return. As for the right-side it tells of what “Hell” maybe like, demons are weighing the souls and claiming them. It shows people suffering, crying and realizing that they’re going to hell for

This work is a 33-foot-long, 10-panel painting which features an assortment of cartoon -like Buddhist figures. This piece is incredibly detailed and holds a lot of information within its imagery. Arhats are considered to be Buddha’s devotees, so this work relates more to religious themes. The theme of multi-coloured acrylic carries on into this work with rainbow eyes, tongues and more. The title “100 Arhats” states exactly how many arhats are present in this piece – one hundred – believe me, I counted. The Arhats vary in size and type, some being more humanoid than others which appear to be more akin to animalistic creatures, the piece is also accompanied by figures that may not be arhats, and instead are dragon or feline-like creatures. Each figure, however, relates to one another in that all have somewhat gruesome facial expressions, frowning and wrinkled, some even with an array of

(Figure 5.1) This urn is decorated with tiers of detailed figures gathered around the work, the middle adorned with a row of Buddha’s with lotus petals and lion thrones. The intricate details that went into this work is fascinating, it shows how much society cares for their deceased. It was intended for the souls of the departed to return to the urn to reside during their

The lack of the aspect of physical body in this art, as well as it diverts from the original purpose of Buddhism: to express the idea of enlightenment in a realistic and easy to approach

In Indian art, the Buddha body is very muscular, whereas in China the body is adapted to their own ideals. China changes the image of the Buddha to have rounder shoulders, a rounder head, rather unseen body, eyes that do not make eye contact, and the drapery changes. This gives the resemblance of a Chinese scholar rather than an Indian prince. The Buddha after enlightenment changes form and his halo and topknot, which represent his great knowledge, become full form—he no longer has long hair, and his hands and feet are exaggerated. His body is in lotus shape and his eyes are squinted, or closed, allowing for one to easily identify the path to enlightenment in the work.

Buddha statue that “remains on earth as a means of helping other believers lead a better life so that

Amida Buddha represents devotion and reborn in the Ture Land in Buddhism. The gold leaf and detailed curving indicates that the sculpture might used to be put on a woship wall in some huge temple. His hands gesture is called abhayamudrā, which means “the gesture of fearlessness” or “gesture of protection”. Compared to the formal two sculptures from Tang Dynasty, this one has more details. The carving part is more vivid on the drapery and his facial expression is more natural. Muscels are shown sround the breast area, which didnt show up in the first two sculpture. Atonomy was focused more on this artwork rather than only capture the gestures and outline of the figure in the formal two sculpture. Japan learnt from Chinese artisans and then

The Buddha is always shown in one of the four postures: sitting, standing, walking or reclining. The dress is a monastic robe that is draped over both shoulders or baring the right shoulder. The Buddha is believed to have thirty-two major characteristics and more minor ones (Williams, 332). There are many distinctive features that can be seen on the Buddha sculptures such as his earlobes, a bump on his head, curly hair, the structure of his fingers, and the light projection of the overall picture and image of the

The Buddhist instructor informed us that Buddha was just a title given to those that reached enlightenment. He also clarified that the statue in the center was of Chenrezig Buddha. Chenrezig Buddha is known as the Buddha of compassion. Under that statue was the Vajrapani statue, which is the protector of Buddha. This statue looks very fierce in nature in order to show the strength and power of Buddha. To the right was the picture of the founder of Diamond Way Buddhism centers, Lama Ole Nydahl, and the founder’s wife who had passed away. The instructor explained to us that Nydahl was a very inspirational and motivational Buddhist who was currently on tour all over the world for Buddhist teaching purposes (Anonymous).

From my observation at the Met, this sculpture is inside a medium glass and space. Also, it is by itself in the glass. It is a three-dimensional sculpture created by modeling and merging hard materials. Next to it there are other deities (Vishnu, Parvati, Ganesh etc.) and sculptors from the Chola Dynasty. The other works near it complements the sculpture as I have stated above they are from the same time period so, they are related to each other some way and