The Iconography of the buddha image

Name

Professor

Course

January 2006

The Iconography of the Buddha Image

For the following report the concept of iconography in regard to the images of Buddha from the South Asia region (1-5 cc . A .D ) is important In general , iconography in art stands for studying the imagery or symbolism of the work of art in regard to the Asian Buddha images iconographical elements provide the worshipper and observer with multiple signs to differentiate between unique Buddhas and Bodhisattvas .There is a hot discourse in research literature about the nature and

br developmental stages of Buddhist iconography . Up to the 2-3 c . A .D Buddhist art used to be predominantly narrative consisting of j ?takas (accounts of the Buddha 's previous incarnations ) and nid ?nakath ?s (historical events related to the founder of religion , Buddha Shakyamuni or Prince Siddhartha Gautama . Due to the very nature of Buddhism , its iconography has been associated with aniconic symbols for a long time

Once Jain claimed that before its material anthropomorphic transformations the Buddha icon used to be initially of intellectual and imaginative nature . The idea echoes somehow with Diskul and Lyons 's proposition about the iconography in regard to the Buddha image standing for the goals of maintaining traditions and sacrificing exuberant decorative elements for the sake of immortality , sanctity and transitivity of Buddhism . However , the Buddha image is perceived mostly in its anthropomorphic dimension nowadays with a rigid system of metaphors and symbols standing for iconographical elements

All the researchers agree on the fact that the image of Buddha as anthropomorphic icon started being created approximately in the 1st century A .D . The gold and copper coins of Kanishka (Appendix A ) contain Buddha images on the reverse sides . It is logical to assume that those images were simple and rather abstract because of the small size of those coins . During the five centuries of modern era , the iconography of the Buddha image has been made rich and complicated

According to Diskul and Lyons , there are three key elements in the iconography of the Buddha image : these are anatomy , dress , and posture Diskul and Lyons mentioned that the anatomy of the Buddha encompassed the canons of proportion and the form of the supernatural details the dress might look either as the monk 's garb (being placed on either both shoulders or the left shoulder only , or a princely garment (though in all the cases the elements of dressing are highly stylized and , so far as postures are concerned , Buddha was portrayed as either walking or standing , or sitting , or reclining , not to forget less than a dozen usual gestures of the hand

In Jain 's chronology of the Buddhist iconography , the researcher listed the specific elements of Sarnath Buddha images (3-4 cc . A .D ) with their graceful and beautifully shaped bodies within eight iconographical types depending on the scheme of the dress (either the covered one with both shoulders being draped , or the open one with the right shoulder being bare ) and the four gesture...