Essay on the Buddha Sculpture

Source: http://www.christies.com/Features/Buddhist-sculpture-Collecting-guide-7782-1.aspx

During the fourth and fifth centuries, B.C marked the times of worldwide intellectual ferment. There were the greatest thinkers during those times, such as Plato and Socrates, Laozi and Confucius. During those times in India, it was the age of the Buddha, whereby his death was followed by the development of the religion which finally spread far beyond its homeland. After his death, the Buddhist art began, as it originated from India Sub-Continent, prior to its evolving through its contact with the rest of the cultures together with its penetration through other culture as well as the rest of Asia and the world. The first Buddhist sculpture was discovered by the Nazis in Tibet, although there are others that have been made by different artists, and its earliest art was done after the 6th centuries B.C. In India, Buddhist sculpture art thrived and further influenced the growth of Hindu art, leading to the near disappearance of the Buddhism in India around the 10th century CE. The relevance of the art is that the image of Buddha is the representation of the enlightened being who lived in India between the 6th and 5the centuries B.C., hailing from North India, which is presently the Afghanistan and Pakistan during the 1st century A.D. According to the Buddhas sculptural art, it can be argued that art is a way of expressing or applying human creative imagination and skills, not appreciate the emotional power and beauty. As the history of Buddha sculpture state, their kind of art was the representation of the nobleness and a pantheon of Buddhist deities.

Buddha sculpture is an ideal example of an eastern art. Throughout those centuries, the Buddhas sculptural representation as the great a pantheon of Buddhist deities was highly respected in the Japan and Afghanistan culture and considered it as essential artistic tradition. Buddha statue originates from Buddha, the one who has attained Bodhi, meaning wisdom, an icon state of ethics and intellectual perfection which man can attain it through simple human ways. The phrase Buddha basically refers to enlightened one. The Buddha sculpture has a long and detailed history. The statue represents the Indian prince SIDDHARTHA GAUTAMA around 500 BC who perused the meaning in suffering he witnessed. After he became enlightened, he started spreading his philosophy, and given the title Buddha referring to the awakened one. The statue/ sculpture has replayed significant religious teaching people of Tibet, believed that: "Encoded symbols in the statues were used in a pre-literate, oral culture to pass on the messages. When studying this art, I had an Apollonian experience, whereby, I perceive the Buddha sculpture as a peaceful, enlightened, appealing and with rational thinking, mostly referred by many as the enlightened one. I would recommend others to embrace this kind of art because it is considered to be much sacred, with the ancient story and much attraction to people.

References

Collecting Guide: Buddhist sculpture | Christie's. (2017). Christies.com. Retrieved 21 July 2017, from http://www.christies.com/Features/Buddhist-sculpture-Collecting-guide-7782-1.aspx