124 BULLETIN 148, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



their religion. His presence was indicated by certain signs of his 

 activity, or symbols which referred to the main events or crisis of 

 his life, as the footprints which he left behind him; the sacred tree 

 beneath which he obtained enlightment; the wheel, which was 

 adopted by his disciples as the symbol of his doctrine. It was about 

 the beginning of the Christian era — four or five centuries after Bud- 

 dha's decease — that his effigy was brought into common use, and soon 

 became the leading feature of Buddhist decoration.^^ 



After the Buddha image was once created, it was considered a 

 meritorious and salutary act to represent as many Buddha figures as 

 possible. Rows of Buddha figures were employed in the decoration 

 of temple fagades; whole rocks were turned into terrace-reliefs 

 adorned with Buddhas, and caves were filled with thousands of 

 Buddha statues of all sizes, and millions of Buddhists carry an image 

 of him about their persons. 



The most general orthodox type of Buddha images, which is prob- 

 ably the result of a long course of experiment,^^ is that of a Hindu 

 yogi ascetic, sitting cross legged in meditation, clad in a mendicant's 

 garb, without any ornaments. The face, usually of Aryan cast of 

 features, and unbearded, wears a placid and benign expression of 

 passionless repose and serene dignity. ^^ The head is bare and roughly 

 tonsured, the ragged contour of his cropped hair being ascribed to 

 his having on his great renunciation cut off his tresses with his sword. 

 His short locks are represented by Indian artists in the shape of sea- 

 shells, perhaps following the tradition that once snails came out to 

 shelter Buddha's head from the rays of the sun. In China and Japan 

 the short locks sometimes take the form of round beads or sharp 

 spikes. Among the 32 superior marks of beauty {maJiapurusha- 

 lakslianas), and the 80 smaller marks {annuvyanjana-ldkshanas) , 

 ascribed to Buddha, as the most perfect form of man, are a protu- 

 berance (usJinislia) , on the crown or vertex of the head, being the 

 "hump of perfect wisdom;" a bead or little ball (urna), between the 

 eyebrows; long ear lobes, sometimes reaching to the shoulder; long 

 arms, which in the East is a mark of noble birth (recall Longunanus, 

 epithet of Artaxerxes I). The robe is usually thrown over the left 

 shoulder, leaving the right bare, except when he is represented 

 preaching or walking abroad in public. The throne upon which he 

 sits or stands is formed of a lotus flower (j>admasana) , which is some- 



*« The same conditions appear in early Christian art. For three centuries there were no pictures of Christ,_ 

 but only symbols, as the fish, the lamb, the dove. The catacombs of St. Callistus contained the first picture 

 of Christ, the date being 313 A. D. Rabulas in 58G first depicted the cruciflxtion in a Syriac Gospel. Images 

 come in vague with the developement of cult and ritual. The spirit of adoration necessitates a visual icon; 

 purely abstract symbols can not long content an adoring worshipper. 



" The type of Christ was long a Uuctuating one until that of Byzantium became universal. 



28 "There is no image so familiar in the East as his (Buddha's) ; he sits everywhere, in monastery, pagoda, 

 and sacred place, cross-legged, meditative, impassive, resigned, the ideal of quenched desire, without any 

 line of care or thought to disturb the ineffable calm or mar the sweetness of his unsmiling, yet gracious 

 face." A. M. Fairbairn, Philosophy of the Christian religion, p. 270. 



