Buddha Shakyamuni

16" x 23" ◊ Ground mineral pigment on cotton cloth

Buddha Shakyamuni was born as Prince Siddharta in 563 BC at Lumbini, in southwestern Nepal. He was the son of King Suddhodana and Queen Mayadevi. After 6 years of fasting and meditation, he realized the truth of "the middle way", and attained enlightenment. He was then called "Buddha" (enlightened one) and subsequently gave teachings of his insights, and became the founder of Buddhism. He died at the age of 80 years in Kushinagar, India.

In this thangka, Buddha's right hand is held in the earth-touching mudra (position), the gesture by which he subdued Mara, the "Lord of Illusion", and signaled the immanence of enlightenment. Vowing not to rise until enlightenment was obtained, he sat under the Bodhi tree at Bodh Gaya, India. Mara, perceiving his power threatened, sought to sway the great sage from his purpose. He sent his lovely daughters to tempt the Bodhisattva with their beauty and appeals to worldly power, wealth, and prestige. Seeing that the Bodhisattva's gaze turned his daughters into ugly hags, Mara dispatched his demon horde to destroy the sage completely. But the demon's arrows turned to flowers as they touched him. Shakyamuni touched the ground, calling upon the earth to bear witness to his lifetimes of selfless actions and dedication to the welfare of all beings. Vanquished, Mara fled. That night, absorbed in deep samadhi, Shakyamuni attained complete, perfect enlightenment.

Buddhist artists must follow strict rules as to the body proportions of Buddha and other deities. A grid pattern is first sketched to achieve the exact proportions. This tradition began when the first likeness of the Buddha was created. It is said that King Bimbisara of Magadha commissioned the first image made of Buddha Shakyamuni. When the artists tried to paint his likeness, they found that the Buddha's radiance was so brilliant that they could not look directly at him. The Buddha moved to the edge of a lake so that the artist could instead view the reflection of his image in the water. The artists were then able to draw the Buddha, measuring the dimensions of his reflection in finger-widths. These measurements formed the basis of the grid patterns that are still used by artists in all Buddhist traditions, more than two thousand five hundred years later.