Himalayan Art Resources

Item: Shakyamuni Buddha

ཤཱཀྱ་ཐུབ་པ། 释迦牟尼佛
(item no. 59745)
Origin Location Tibet
Date Range 1600 - 1699
Lineages Sakya, Ngor (Sakya) and Buddhist
Material Ground Mineral Pigment on Cotton
Collection Private
Notes about the Central Figure

Classification: Person

Interpretation / Description

Muni Vajrasana [Shakyamuni Buddha] (Tib.: dor je den pa, sha kya tu pa. English: the Sage of the Vajra Seat): this form of Shakyamuni Buddha relates to the location of Vajrasana, present day Bodhgaya, India, where he attained complete enlightenment.

"[Above] blue Visnu, white Brahma, green Indra and red Ishvara...a lion supported jeweled throne, multi-coloured lotus and vajra together with a moon disc...Muni Vajrasana with one face and two hands. The right is in the gesture of subduing and the left in the gesture of meditative equipoise. Seated in the vajrasana posture. Wearing saffron religious robes and adorned with the thirty-two major and eighty minor marks of perfection. Having the appearance of holiness. To the right is Maitreya, yellow, holding in the right hand a jeweled yak-tail fan and in the left a branch of the naga tree together with a flower. To the left is Avalokiteshvara, white, holding a jeweled yak-tail fan in the right hand and in the left a white lotus. Both have jewel ornaments, garments of silk and are seated looking at the face of the Bhagavan." (One Hndred Methods of Accomplishment, Konchog Lhundrub, 1497-1557).

Jeff Watt, 6-2006