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Lord
į”kyamuni Buddha
Collection:
Central Institute of Buddhist
Studies,
Choglamsar, Leh (Ladakh)
School
of art: Sgar-bris
20th century
į”kyamuni
In
6th century B.C. į”kyamuni
Buddha descended to the world to show the right path to the fortunate
beings, so that they may attain freedom from the cycle of existence. He
practised all kinds of Bodhisattva's activities for countless aeons to
attain perfect enlightenment. He delivered religious sermons for the
benefit of all sentient beings travelling from one place to another till
the end of his life. The Prajµ”p”ramit” is the central teaching of
Lord Buddha which contains two major doctrines, viz, prajµ” (wisdom) and
up”ya (method). In this Sutra, he explains explicitly the emptiness, the
ultimate nature of phenomena. The realization of the emptiness is an exact
antidote of the deception of self as well as the phenomena which is the
root cause of cyclic existence. In the same way, this Sutra delineates
implicitly the different stages of the path to lead to Buddhahood which is
the final goal of the sentient beings. It means that the trainee must
practise the wisdom and method together in order to attain perfect
enlightenment.
The
central figure is į”kyamuni,
the Buddha of the present age. His left hand depicts the meditation
posture while the right hand is in the earth-witness-mudr”. He is
portrayed cross-legged, seated on a marvellous throne supported by four
lions. The carpet on which he is seated is designed with lotus flowers. He
is flanked by his spiritual sons, Sariputra on the right and Maudgalyayana
on the left.
