Existing comment:
Heaven and Earth
A different vision of the Buddhist world appears in three large registers on the back of the sculpture. At the top, the bodhisattva (englightened being) Maitreya sits in his Tushita Heaven, awaiting rebirth on earth as the Buddha of the Future. Below him are scenes from the Vimalakirti sutra, which tells of an encounter between Vimalakirti, a wise laymen, and Manjushri, the bodhisattva of wisdom, while Shakyamuni (the Historical Buddha) was visiting the northern Indian city of Vaishali. The bottom band features riders on horses traveling through a mountain valley.
Five smaller vignettes occupy irregular spaces on the sleeves of the figure. They seem to illustrate Jatakas and avadanas, stories about the past lives of the Buddha and the correlation between merit and rebirth, a central tenet of Buddhism. |