Interview with Matthew Welch
Curator of Korean and Japanese Art
1. This object is called Amida Buddha. How is Amida different from any other Buddha?
If you think about the Buddhist pantheon, there are various levels, and Buddhas occupy the top of that hierarchy. They're fully enlightened beings, so consequently, they're typically depicted in a meditative posture, somewhat withdrawn from us, in that they exist in an entirely different realm.
In eons past, Amida Buddha, or so Buddhist doctrine tells us, was once a bodhisattva, an enlightened being who forestalled his own passage into nirvana in order to help others achieve enlightenment. One of the things that Amida vowed to do was to create a paradise where souls could strive towards enlightenment without the trials and tribulations associated with life on earth.
Like images of other Buddhas, images of Amida Buddha usually show him in a state of meditative calm. Usually his hands are held in a meditative posture—that is, in his lap—but in this case he holds one hand up in a "fear not" or a calming gesture, and the other hand in an extended position of bestowal or gift giving.
2. What is the significance of his clothing?
As is typical of almost all images of Buddhas, Amida is shown wearing the simple robes of a monk. This harkens back to the original Buddha, Shakyamuni, an Indian prince who lived in the 6th century BC. Shakyamuni denounced his birthright as a prince, gave up his sumptuous robes, and donned the simple clothing of an itinerant monk. In reference to this tradition, most Buddhas are depicted in simple, monkish robes.
3. His ears appear stretched, like those in many Buddha images.
Again, this is a reference to the historic Buddha, Shakyamuni. As an aristocratic prince, he wore heavy earrings that stretched his earlobes. When he finally renounced his wealth and discarded his jewelry, he earlobes were permanently stretched. As a way of recalling the holy man's act of personal self-sacrifice, all succeeding images of Buddhas show these elongated earlobes.(1)
But, also according to Buddhist scripture, there are some 32 features that distinguished Buddhas, bodhisattvas and other celestial beings. Shakyamuni, too, is said to have had these features. Some features were not visible—like a resonate voice—but many of the features were physical and so came to be depicted by artists in their painted and sculptural renditions of the Buddha.
The protuberance on top of the head was one of those marks.(2) Many people interpret this as the way the hair was dressed, but in fact it is supposed to be a distinguishing physical feature and Buddhas are always depicted with this bump on the top of their heads.
Another physical feature is a whorl of hair between the Buddha's eyes. Now this is often changed by artists in a variety of ways, such as insetting a jewel, which is what we have here on the Amida Buddha. But almost all depictions of Buddhas will include some mark on the forehead that suggests this feature.
Another aspect, which is somewhat visible in this piece, is that the historic Buddha's hands and feet were webbed.(3) So if you look very carefully between the fingers, you can actually see there's a little bit of wood there to suggest the webbing.
The soles of his feet also were supposedly flat, and if you could climb up on the pedastal, you would see that he doesn't have the high arch of a normal human. So these kinds of marks distinguish Buddhas and other divine beings within the Buddhist pantheon.
4. It looks like he's seated on a huge flower.
The Buddhas, along with many other divine Buddhist deities, are typically represented standing or sitting on lotuses. (4) The reason for this is that lotuses naturally take root in the mud at the bottom of ponds. Nevertheless, as the stems push their way out of the murky water, the unsullied leaves and flowers unfurl. So lotus flowers became symbolic of Buddhist purity—representing, by extension, that something pure and beautiful can rise out of the muck and mire of life.
5. Can you describe the technical achievement of this piece?
The thing that makes this a compelling image is actually a technical one. That is, in 11th century Japan, an artist known as Jocho created a system known as yosegi (pronunciation: "yoh-SEH-gee"), or "assembled" construction, where many pieces of wood are joined together to create the shell of the sculpture. The artists then carved the finishing details into this shell. Since this construction technique did not allow for deep carving, the details of the drapery and facial features appear light and delicate rather than heavy and brooding.
Consequently, the Japanese were able to achieve great subtlety in the drape and fall of these robes, so that the folds fall very gently and softly across this Buddha.
There's also a refinement to the facial features and so on that Japanese sculptors were able to achieve from the 11th century onward, that very closely echoes what Buddhist scriptures say about the pervasive calm of these deities. This image is compelling because the shallow method of carving it contributes to the effect of great elegance and quietude.