The Organic brew; London, pakistan, photography, travel, poetry & a general acerbic sentiment.

Fasting Siddhartha: The Lahore Museum’s Starving Buddha and Bodhisattva

// July 6th, 2009 // Pakistan, Photographs

*Update: It seems a substantial number of visitors are being funnelled to this website from certain anti-semetic, hate mongering, and frankly somewhat pitiful websites / forums across the internet which seem to offer the photographs below as conclusive proof of buddha being an aryan – which appears to (somehow) justify some particularly puerile rants. I wont point out the irony of this, of course, but i’ll just say that i’m somewhat disturbed by the use these images are being put to, and if you have any questions regarding Buddha’s history please look here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gautama_Buddha rather than taking the word of  some madman ranting on the ‘net*

Peace and love, as they say.

I guess when a lot of us think of Buddha figurines we think almost automatically of the laughing buddha figurines that are (somehow for me at least) a very succinct introduction to Buddhism’s general pragmatism and beatitude. However, there is a wholly different genre of Buddha statutes that are, perhaps, far less known – and these are, perhaps a little more melancholic. Befittingly, they were largely produced in Buddha’s homeland, India – where he faced the pain and suffering (even if, in some sense it was self-imposed) which opened the doors for him to the contentment that the caricatured fat laughing Buddha sculptures depict. In strong contrast to the chinese buddha statues the ones from Gandhara (a civilization rooted in present-day Pakistan) do a vast study on Buddha’s experiments with nihilism.

The Lahore Museum has an absolutely astounding collection of this South Asian Art. And in their Ghandharan Buddhist gallery, resides my most favourite pieces of art anywhere in the world: The Starving Buddha (technically, The Fasting Buddha – but the former is more lyrical I think). I’ve included some photographs and the write-up from the museum.

The Bodhisattva thought A liberated soul, as explained to him by Brahman Alara Kalama, is still a soul, and whatever the condition it attains, must be subject to rebirth and since each successive renunciation is held to be still accompanied by qualities, I maintain that the absolute attainment of our end is only to be found in abandonment of everything. Seeking, therefore, something beyond, the Bodhisattva repaired to a forest near the village of Urtivela and there abode on pure bank of the Nairanjana and then thinking: this may be the means to conquer birth and death. He for six years practiced there an austere rule of fasting and of mortification, so that this glorious body wasted away to skin and bone. He brought himself to feed on a single sesame seed or a grain of rice. Until one day as he paced to and fro he was overcome by a severe pain, and fainted and fell. Some of the gods spake thus: “Alas! Prince Siddhartha, is surely dead. They betook themselves to the Tusita and informed queen Mahamaya. The queen immediately came down and seeing that he is like dead, she began to weep. Then spoke the Bodhisattva to her “Fear not for Love of thy Son. Thou shalt pick the fruits of the labour.

Not in vain doth a Buddha renounce the world. I shall fulfil the prophecy of Asita and make plain the prediction of Dipankra. Though the earth should fall into a hundred fragments and Meru droop with his radiant brow into the Waters, though Sun, Moon and Stars should be smitted to the ground, yet I, the only human being should not die. Therefore, be not sorrowful, for soon will thou behold the wisdom of a Buddha. But he perceived that mortification was not the road to enlightenment and to liberation That was the true way that I found beneath the Jumbo tree, and it cannot be attained by one who has lost his strength. And so again the great being resolved to beg, his foods in towns and villages, so that his health and strength might be restored. This was in the thirtieth year of the life of the Bodhisattva. The piece of sculpture exhibited here is a very fine representation of this Buddhist narration. The historical and anatomical details of this piece may not be true to life, yet the graceful serenity of the face, the natural drop of the drapery on the shrinking body, and stately recreation of yogic absorption, the unarrested growth of the beard and body hair, all are so superbly realistic in execution that they overlap all anatomical discrepancies.

Date: 2nd Century A.D.

Provenance: Sikri, Near Jamal Garhi, District Mardan (NWFP), Pakistan

Material: Fine grained homogeneous bluish schist stone.

Size: 84 x 53 cm.

UPDATE: The Victoria Albert Museum in London has recently opened its own Asian Sculpture gallery, Buddhist Sculpture: The Robert H N Ho Family Foundation Gallery

Drawing on the finest depictions of the Buddha from the V&A’s renowned Asian collections, this new gallery explores the major Buddhist sculptural traditions of Asia.

Forty-seven Buddhist master works are shown in a spacious, naturally-lit environment, avoiding the use of cases wherever possible. The sculptures are grouped primarily by geographical region, showing the individual responses of local Asian traditions to Indian Buddhist teachings. Each room explores the development of Buddhist doctrines as they are reflected in sculptural form. Sculptures dating from between the 2nd and 19th centuries in a wide variety of media including stone, gilded metal and lacquered wood are displayed.

Features include early Indian and Sri Lankan traditions and the life events of the Buddha; the last phase of Indian Buddhism and the transference of the doctrines to the Himalayan regions of Tibet and Nepal; and a look at the Mahayana and Vajrayana teachings which were so important to Tibet and elsewhere in Asia.

Other displays include works from South East Asia, primarily from Thailand, Burma and Java, and an exploration of the Theravada teachings which were to be of central importance to the region. Works from China and Japan are displayed; the religious themes including the varied Mahayana doctrines which formed the most important schools.

I was touched to see pieces from Gandhara having commentary translated into Urdu – and similarly pieces orginally from India had commentary in Hindi. The whole long, narrow gallery is thematically broken out by area (and therefore, by time) starting from the early Gandhara buddhist art and moving on to Burma, Thailand, China illustrating the gradual eastward movement of the teaching of Buddha. Many of the pieces are very interesting, although of course couldnt really match the collections of the Lahore Museum of the Guimet in Paris – still more than a worthwhile for a visit. the V&A is by far my favourite museum in London.

Above: This beautiful head of the Buddha was once part of a large-scale narrative panel modelled in high relief. It formed part of a life-size figure, probably of Gautama the Buddha as a young man. Like much Gandharan stucco, this head was originally richly polychromed, and traces of red remain on the lips, eyelids and hair. The face was shaped from a mould. Examples of such moulds have been found in excavations at Gandharan sites, which indicates such figures were manufactured at the monasteries where they were installed. However, the hair and other features were modelled by hand. A flat surface on the reverse indicates that the head was attached to a surface behind rather than free-standing. The remaining wall fragment probably formed part of the Buddha’s nimbus. The head displays several of the characteristic auspicious marks (‘laksanas’) of the Buddha. These include the prominent hair-knot (‘ushnisha’), which here has been treated in a Graeco-Roman style unlike contemporary Indian styles. Another of the marks is the forehead mark (‘urna’). The elongated earlobes are an allusion to the Buddha’s former princely status when he wore pendant earrings.

Update: And of course this discussion would be incomplete without referencing the mesmerising collection of greco-indic / Ghandharan art at the Guimet museum in Paris. In particular, the following Bodhisattva is absolutely increadible, it has this sort of unworldly peace etched into stone, with the faintest hint of drive (ambition even) twinkling in his eyes. In my very humble opinion, Ghandharan devotional art is incomparabaly soblime – they managed to marry the formidiable Greek artistic / sculpural canon, with such sensitive redering of their beloved bhuddha that the effect is absolutely capitvating. below from the Guimet museum in paris:

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