Nagapattinam

Paper Summary:

The image, in bronze, of the standing Buddha Nagapattinam from the 12th century belies some of the common popular assumptions about Buddhist iconography that a contemporary Westerner might hold if he or she was unfamiliar with the history of the Buddhist tradition of images in Asiatic art. This paper discusses the Nagapattinam, which depicts not the enlightened Buddha, but a teaching Buddha marked for enlightenment. It examines the philosophy behind the creation of Buddha in this particular image and presents a description of the physical features of this statue.

From the Paper:

"According to the scholar Jin Weinu, all "Buddhist images" however, regardless of origin, usually ?display the thirty-two lakshanas and eighty notable physical characteristics of the Buddha,? as does the 12th century Bronze Nagapattinam statue noted specifically above, at the beginning of this essay. These thirty-two characteristic physical markers indicate that the figure, over the course of its life, sought to ?seek dignity, a singular superb ness, in order to embody all excellences and good fortune and virtue,? over the course of the Buddha's specific life phase, or this specific Buddhist incarnation over the course of his many lives, even though the image might be of a pre-Enlightened part of the Buddha's biography. (Weinu, 1999)"

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