Reflections of the Buddha - The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts

such quintessential virtues as compassion and wisdom in
their images of Buddhas and bodhisattvas. Some of the
sculptures in the exhibition once stood as “living” sculptures
on altars and in sanctuaries throughout Asia. They
were enshrined icons that were consecrated in rites that
brought images “to life.” Clerics would invite the
appropriate deity’s energy to reside in the image and
blessed it in such a way that the image could serve as
an adequate symbol for the deity depicted. Several of
the larger works in the exhibition, such as Standing
Buddha Śākyamuni (no. 9 in the checklist that follows this
essay) from late sixth-century China and Standing Buddha
Amitābha (no. 3) from mid-thirteenth century Japan, were
probably consecrated in this way and thus served to establish
a bond between the enlivened deity and the
believers who prayed before it. This required the proper
attitude of humble acknowledgement of one’s personal
need for spiritual aid and the recognition of the superior
wisdom and compassion of the Buddhas and bodhisattvas
embodied in the icons.
Like some of the other Buddhist sculptures
in this exhibition, the white marble Standing Buddha
Śākyamuni incorporates the image of the lotus, one of the
most popular metaphors of the Buddhist journey to
awakening: The plant’s seed is nourished in the mud of
samsāra only to rise above the waterline to bloom untainted
in the pure sunshine of Nirvāna. To emphasize
this journey, the artist sculpted a stylized lotus bud
between the feet and an honorific tassel in the shape
of a lotus blossom near the proper left shoulder of the
Buddha. At the Pulitzer, this journey from samsāra to
Nirvāna is accentuated through the sculpture’s placement.
It stands at the end of the light-filled main gallery,
next to a water garden filled with small dark rocks that
make the water look blackish, like the mud in which the
lotus grows. The combination of natural light reflected
off the water and Ellsworth Kelly’s Blue Black (no. 18) on
the wall behind it makes the white marble appear luminous,
beckoning the visitor to move down the long
narrow gallery to meet it.
Standing Buddha Śākyamuni rewards the visitor
with its beautifully carved details and juxtapositions: a
monk’s robe rendered with fan-like folds that descend dynamically
across the body contrasts with the still,
symmetrical face that looks down with half-opened eyes
in a meditative state. Meditation, which involves learning
various types and levels of concentration, stills the mind
and is a precondition for practitioners to understand and
experience the teachings of the Buddha. Artists depicting
Buddhas in meditative states sought to render them with
expressions of mindful composure and serenity that transcend
all physical discomforts and psychological
emotions, including joy and sorrow.
Not only do the works in the exhibition exemplify
such Buddhist teachings and practices, but each was
also part of the fluid exchanges between monastic and
lay communities from different parts of Asia that wove
together seemingly disparate traditions and gave rise to
8
Seated Bodhisattva Tārā in her “Green Manifestation” (Duoluo
pusa), 1403 – 1424, China
new ones. Two works in the exhibition are superb
examples of this phenomenon: Head of Buddha Śākyamuni
(no. 8) from fourth-century Afghanistan and A Scene from
the Life of the Buddha (no. 5) from Pakistan, which was
carved sometime during the late second or early third
century. These works come from a culturally diverse region
known as Gandhāra, which was conquered by
Alexander the Great in 326 bce and occupied, over the
centuries, not only by the Greeks but also by the Indians,
western Asian nomads, Chinese, and Silk Route traders.
The result was a cosmopolitan environment that blended
ideas and styles of art, resulting in a type of sculptural
ideal that depicted Śākyamuni in a toga as a Hellenistic
Apollo, yet with the soft belly of an Indian deity as seen
in A Scene from the Life of the Buddha.
Another type of Buddha image developed in
Mathurā, a city in northern India lying on the Yamuna
River northwest of Agra. Along a major caravan route, it
too became an important center for many cultures and
religions, including Buddhism. Characteristics of
Mathurān sculpture during the Gupta period (320 – 647)
may be seen in the sensuous Torso of a Buddha (no. 6) from
the fifth century. Sculptors used local sandstone, which is
mottled red with cream spots and malleable enough to
shape lithe and rounded forms. When creating this type
of Buddha image, sculptors may have worked within a