Insights on the Vairocana Buddha
Questions to focus on:
What does Vairocana mean? What does Buddha of light mean? Who made the statue? What material is he made from? What location is it from? What is Avatamsaka Sutra? What do the hand gestures mean? What is the importance of the hand gestures?
According to the description given of the sculpture from the Royal Ontario Museum, it is from Northern China, and from the 16th to 17th century. This sculpture is from the Ming Dynasty, and the material it is made from is partially gilded bronze. Researching about this sculpture would give great insight on the religion of Buddhism and its beliefs.
A possible thesis statement I will be using: In the Avatamsaka Sutra, the central sutra of the Flower Garland
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(Keown 2004, under “Avatamsaka Sutra”).
This dictionary also gives great insight on how the Avatamsaka Sutra is taught, and where it is taught. Hua-yen is one of the primary school of Chinese Buddhism. It is also called Flower Garland School of Buddhism in China. The study Hua-yen focuses on the Avatamsaka Sutra. The philosophy behind this school is considered as “the highest expression of Buddhist thought” in China (Keown 2004, under “Hua-yen”).
Cleary, Thomas. The Flower Ornament Scripture: A Translation of the Avatamsaka Sutra. Boston: Shambala, 1993.
This novel provides detailed information about the Avatamsaka Sutra, and it would be great to use incorporate information from this novel to help support important facts in the essay I will be writing. From the English translated version of the Avatamsaka Sutra, it describes how cosmos are “embraced in a single thought”; they are of infinite realms that are inside each other (Cleary 1993, 56). The hand gesture that the statue makes indicates his teachings of the Avatamsaka Sutra. Using this book, it gives us an insight of whom and the importance of the Vairocana Buddha.
Keown, Damien. A Dictionary of Buddhism. N.A.: Oxford University Press,
Guanyin (Bodhisattva) (See Fig. 1 in Appendix) is an artefact, with Object Number of 2400, in the Honolulu Museum of Art. The medium, or material, of this sculpture of Guanyin is painted wood, and traces of pigment can still be seen on the sculpture. Its height is approximately 67 inches, or 170.2 centimeters. The origin of this sculpture is China, Northern Song (960-1126) or Tangut Xia (1038-1227). According to the museum, this sculptural art piece was purchased, or acquired, in 1927 from a renowned collection of Matsukata Kojiro, who passed away in 1950.
The statue that will be the focus of this paper portrays the figure “Amida, the Buddha of Infinite Light.” Like many other statues of the Buddha, this Amida Buddha was portrayed to be deep in meditation, sitting cross-legged. A viewer could observe that the Amida Buddha is making a hand gesture while in deep meditation. These gestures, also known as “mudras,” are symbolic in the Buddhist religion, and they are used to convey certain ideas (O’Riley 70). In this case, the Amida Buddha is making the mudra of appeasement (“Amida”). More physical observations could be made by pointing out the “balanced form, divine features, and flowing drapery” (“Amida”) of the Amida Buddha. Those qualities represent the nature of the Buddha, revealing him as “transcendent, graceful, and compassionate” (“Amida”). Features common to other Buddha sculptures show up on this Amida Buddha, like the elongated earlobes, the mole on his forehead, and patterned hair. At first glance, the Am...
Bibliography: Religious Persons and Traditions Buddhism- Plain and Simple
Yu, Han. “Memorial on Buddhism”. Making of the Modern World 12: Classical & Medieval Tradition. Trans. Richard F. Burton. Ed. Janet Smarr. La Jolla: University Readers, 2012. 111-112. Print.
Walking into the Hall of the Buddhas, there was a sense of peace and guidance lingering inside me. The seated Bodhisattva, of the Northern Wei dynasty (386-534), CA.480, from the Yungang, Cave xv, Shani Province, made of sandstone, guarded the entrance. At first, I thought it was a time to be disciplined, but the transcending smile from the statue was a delicate fixed gesture that offered a feeling of welcome. It was not a place to confess your wrongdoings; neither was it a place for me to say, “Buddha I have sinned.” It was a room to purify the mind, the mind that we take for granted without giving it harmony. There was a large mural decorating the main wall called “The Paradise of Bhaishajyaguru”(916-1125). I sat down wandering if the artist of the portrait knew that his work would one day be shared on this side of the world, in my time. Much like Jesus Christ and his followers, the mural is a painting of healers and saviors. It was a large figure of the Buddha of medicine, (Bhaishajyaquru) surrounded by followers of Bodhisattvas, Avalokiteshvara, and Mahosthamaprapta with twelve guardian generals who have pledged to disseminate the Buddha’s teaching (Tradition of Liao 916-1125, Metropolitan Museum wall plaque).
"You know, my friend, that even as a young man, when we lived with the ascetics in the forest, I came to distrust doctrines and teachers and to turn my back to them. I am still of the same turn of mind, although I have, since that time, had many teachers. A beautiful courtesan was my teacher for a long time, and a rich merchant and a dice player. On one occasion, one of the Buddha’s wandering monks was my teacher. He halted in his pilgrimage to sit beside me when I fell asleep in the forest. I also learned something from him and I am grateful to him, very grateful. But most of all, I have learned from this river and from my predecessor, Vasudeva. He was a simple man; he was not a thinker, but he realized the essential as well as Gotama, he was a holy man, a saint" (141).
24 Amore, Roy C. and Julia Ching. The Buddhist Tradition. In Willard G. Oxtoby, Ed. World Religions: Eastern Traditions. P. 221
"Basics of Buddhism." n.d. The Living Edens: Thailand. Public Broadcasting Service. Website. 6 March 2014. .
Armstrong, Karen. Buddha. New York: Lipper/Penguin, 2004. 66-98. Print.
Tenzin, Gyatso and Jamyang Gawai Lodro. Essence of the Heart Sutra. Trans. Geshe Thupte Jinpa. Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications, 2002. i-xii, 1-179. Print.
"What is Buddhism? | The Buddhist Centre." What is Buddhism? | The Buddhist Centre. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2014. .
Sach, Jacky. The Everything Buddhism Book: Learn the Ancient Traditions and Apply Them to Modern Life. Avon, MA: Adams Media Corporation, 2003. Print.
Vetter, T. (1988). The Ideas and Meditative Practices of Early Buddhism. New York: E.J. Brill.
A large temple is necessary for a figure that is so large and so important to his Buddhist followers. The image is displayed in the center of the temple so that anyone that enters is looking directly at the image from any direction they enter. This display would be like a puja pandal that would be made for the deity Ganesh or Durga. The display would be treated very carefully and cleaned every day before worship. Kumkum powder would be applied to his forehead as a symbol of the sixth chakra or the third eye that he possesses.
History proves that as Buddhism spread throughout the Asian world in the early 1st century, it was occasionally altered to fit the specific needs and beliefs of people it touched. Mahayana Buddhism is one such example of this gradual evolution. It was primarily a movement started and kept alive by monks that slowly gained popularity amongst lay people but was in no way a unified movement. Mahayana Buddhism still adheres to the basic fundamental beliefs presented in the Pali Canons, however, it Sutras often expand upon these basic ideas and traditions in order to answer the questions of a later generation. After closer study of the Mahayana texts the “A Sutra for Long Life” and “The World Universe as a Sutra”, it seems evident that, although Mahayana Buddhism is based on the teachings of the traditional Pali Canon, it places a larger emphasis on philosophical inquires; and ultimately creates a more accessible version of enlightenment, and the Buddhist faith in general, for all.