oldest, dateable depiction of the Buddha in human form

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Queequeg
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Re: oldest, dateable depiction of the Buddha in human form

Post by Queequeg »

Wayfarer wrote: Fri Dec 07, 2018 10:29 am Actually I did an interesting assignment on the origin of the Buddha image. It is often said that the reason the Buddha wasn’t at first depicted in human form was suggestive of his transcendent or elusive nature. However Sue Huntington (I think it was) said that many of the early, ‘aniconic’ depictions of devotees bowing to an empty seat, were actually depictions of visits to places of pilgrimage and sites that were associated with the Buddha. Coomaraswamy also said that it took generations for the traditional producers of iconic forms to work out how to depict the Buddha, as there was no existing pattern, for obvious reasons.
I don't think Huntington's thesis is widely shared.
There is no suffering to be severed. Ignorance and klesas are indivisible from bodhi. There is no cause of suffering to be abandoned. Since extremes and the false are the Middle and genuine, there is no path to be practiced. Samsara is nirvana. No severance achieved. No suffering nor its cause. No path, no end. There is no transcendent realm; there is only the one true aspect. There is nothing separate from the true aspect.
-Guanding, Perfect and Sudden Contemplation,
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Wayfarer
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Re: oldest, dateable depiction of the Buddha in human form

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Perhaps not, but I found it persuasive. Copy here for those interested.

Actually one of the points I noted in my assignment on this topic, was the irony of there being controversy about something that doesn't appear (namely, the image of the Buddha in the early iconography.) A debate about 'the significance of the absence of something' is just so utterly Buddhist. :smile:
'Only practice with no gaining idea' ~ Suzuki Roshi
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Queequeg
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Re: oldest, dateable depiction of the Buddha in human form

Post by Queequeg »

Well, Huntington might have something. She might also be overstating her case.

https://books.google.com/books?id=Lb6fAAAAMAAJ&dq

Pretty strong argument against Huntington.
There is no suffering to be severed. Ignorance and klesas are indivisible from bodhi. There is no cause of suffering to be abandoned. Since extremes and the false are the Middle and genuine, there is no path to be practiced. Samsara is nirvana. No severance achieved. No suffering nor its cause. No path, no end. There is no transcendent realm; there is only the one true aspect. There is nothing separate from the true aspect.
-Guanding, Perfect and Sudden Contemplation,
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Wayfarer
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Re: oldest, dateable depiction of the Buddha in human form

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Interesting, thanks, will read.
'Only practice with no gaining idea' ~ Suzuki Roshi
Malcolm
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Re: oldest, dateable depiction of the Buddha in human form

Post by Malcolm »

Grigoris wrote: Sat Dec 08, 2018 7:36 pm
Malcolm wrote: Sat Dec 08, 2018 7:26 pmAs above, the dominant culture of Bactria, etc., was Persian.
Maybe, but you haven't really provided any evidence.

The ruling strata though, were definitely Hellenistic.
Read a history devoted specifically to Central Asia.
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