on the buddha image by padmanabh s. jaini

8/3/2019 On the Buddha Image by Padmanabh S. Jaini

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F irst Published, 1979@ AX. NARAINDistributed by :D.K. Publishers' Distributors,1. Ansari Road, New Delhi-lI0002.Published by :B.R. Publishing Corporation.461. Vivekanand Nagar,Delhi110052.printed by:P .L. Printers,f ; - g / ~ 9 ! &.~~~Partap Bagh, Delhi- l lOOO7.


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On The Buddha Lmcg

PADMAN ABHS;J A1NI

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In discussing the origin of the Buddha-image, art historians, CoomareswamyandRowland among- others", have alluded to accounts of the Chinese travellers Fa-Hianand Hiuen-Tsiang pertaining to the existence of a sandal-wocd image of the Buddhacarved during the Buddha's lifetime. Both these accounts agree in' substance butdiffer in certain minor details. Fa-Hian, for instance, reports that it was KingPrasenajit of Kosala who.commissioned this image, whereas Hieun-Tsiang credits itto King Udayana of Kosambi. Fa-Hians account, since it predates that of Hiucn-Tsiang by at least 200 years, is probably more accurate. In his description o f theJetavanardrna in SravasH, which he visited, Fa-Hian gives the following-accountof the origin of the Buddha-image: ".

When Buddha ascended into the Trayastrimshas heavens to preach for the sakeof his mother, after ninety day's absence, King Prasenajit desiring to see himagain, carved out of the sandal-wood called Goslrshachandana (ox-head) an imageof the Buddha and placed it on Buddha's throne. When BUddha returned andentered the vihiira, the image, immediately quitting its place, went forward tomeet him. On this Buddha addressed these words to it : 'Return, I pray you, toyour seat. After my Nirvana you will be the model from which my fol'lowers(four schools or classes) shalf carve their images.' On this the figure returnedto its seat. This image, as it was the very first made of all the figures of BtlJdha,is the one which aU subsequent ages have followed as a model." """


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1 S 4 Studies in Pa li and B uddhismWl*reas Fa-Hian was only reporting a tradition about the origin of the Buddha's

image" Hiuen-Tsiang claims to have seen such an image in a large vihiira, not inSravasti but in Kausambi, the capital city of King Udayana, Referring to theorigins of this image, he narrates the following legend:

When Tathagata first arrived at complete enlightenment, he ascended up toheaven to preach the law for the benefit of his mother, and for three monthsremained absent. This king (i.e., Udayana), thinking of him with affection,desired to have an image of his person; therefore he asked Maudgalyayanaputra,by his spiritual power, to transport an artist to the heavenly mansions toobserve the excellent marks of Buddha's body, and carve a sandal-wood statue.When Tathagata returned from the heavenly palace, the carved figure of sandal-wood rose and saluted the Lord of the World. The Lord then graciouslyaddressed it and said, "The work expected from you is to toil in the conversionof Lcretics, and tolead in the way of religion future ages"."Both accounts agree that the first image of the Buddha was made in his absence

while he was preaching in the Trayastrimsat heaven to his mother. They agreefurther that the image was made of sandal-wood. Both maintain that the imagebecame animated upon seeing the Buddha, and it was ordered by the Buddha topropagate his teachings upon his death,While modern scholars have taken notice of this account, they have not givencredence to this tradition of the alleged first image of the Buddha. This is primarilybecause no literary evidence supporting such a tradition has been attested to eitherin' the Pall Tipitaka and its commentaries or in any other Buddhist literatureoriginating in India,Sri Lanka or Southeast Asia. Spence Hardy reports in hisEastern MOflacldmi that the legend of the first Buddha image commissioned by KingPrasenajit of Kosala was known to th e Buddhists of Sri Lanka; but that "It 18rejecied by the more intelligent of tile priests, who regard it as an invention toattract worshippers to the temples"." lit recent years V.P. Shah has published twoarticles pertaining to a sandal-wood image of the Jaina teacher Mahavtra, whichwas carved' in his lifetime and thus called "Jivantasvami"." In these articles Dr.Shah has proposed th e possibility that the Buddhist traditions were perhaps imit-ations of the older Jaina tradition. We have no means of knowing whether thesandal-wood image seen by Hiuen-Tsiang was indeed the first image of the Buddha,or whether it and other Buddha-images were, as suggested by DL Shahmodeiled after an earlier image of the Jina. We have, however, come across;previously unnoticed piece of literary evidence in Pali, which for the first time lendssome authenticity 'to the oral traditions reported by the Chinese travellers. We hererefer to a certain Jiitaka tale found in a collection known as the Paniilisa Jiitaka,which probably originated in the 13th o r 141h century in northern Chieng~Mai.These rstories are known in Burma as "Chieng-Ma] Fifty" (Burmese: ZimmePii"fJasa}.6 The collection is "extra-canonical' and is unknown to Buddhist traditionsanywhere outside of the countries of Southeast Asia.' Although the stories of thiscollection are modelledafter those in the canonical Jataka book, they were treated asapocryphal and were even reported to have been prescribed by the orthodox Buddhist


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O n The Buddha ima ge tssking M yndon of Mandalay (1853-1872)8. They have, howevervremained popularin Burma, Thailand and Cambodia and thus constitute an important source for ourknowledge of the Iocal Buddhist tradition which developed independently of bothIndia and Sri Lanka.

The 37th Jataka of this collection, entitled Vattanguliraja-jataka,!I is histori-cally of great importance as it contains a reference to the first image of the Buddha.It is a long story, comprising 204 verses. Being a Jataka, the story is put in themouth of the Buddha himself. who narrates an incident which occured in one of hisprevious births as King Vattanguli, This king had once in a past life repaired thebroken finger of a Buddha-image. As a consequence of this great deed,he was in his present life a king, and was able to subdue the army of hisenemies literally by lifting and bending one of his fingers. (Hence the name"Vattanguli.") The story itself is not of great importance fOT our purpose, but thenidana, or introductory, portion of the Jataka introduces King Prasenajit (Pali :Passenadi) of Kosala and thus links the story with the tradition reported by Fa-Hian,The nidiina-katha of this Jataka may be briefly summarized as follows:

Once upon a time the Lord journeyed from Savatthi to a distant place to preach theLaw. At that time King Passenadi of Kosala, desirous of seeing the EnlightenedOne, went, surrounded by his large retinue, to the great monastery (miihii-N}jiira)in Jetavana. Not seeing the Lord, his heart was filled With disappointment and,saying "Alas, alas, the Jetavana is empty without the lord, '. heretttrned hornegreatly dejected. After some time, tho! Lord returned to Jetavana. The kingheard the news and went with the citizens to pay his respects to the Buddha.Having worshipped the Master he said, "Lord, even while you are still alive,people feel extremely dejected when you are gone for a short time. HoW couldthey ever be happy and not fee! extremely bereaved when indeed you will haveentered parinibbiina '! Therefore, 0 Lord, please allow me to make an image ofyou to be worshipped by both men and gods." Having heard these words of theking, the Lord, for the sake of the welfare of all beings and to insure the contin-uity of his teachings, gave his consent.He then narrated the Jataka of Vattanguliraja referred to above, and the

following account summarizes t~e events that then took place:Having heard this story, King Passenadi went to his residence and, selecting abeautiful sandal-wood tree, had the image of the Buddha carved from it. Havingcovered the image with excellent robes, he placed it on an elevated seat in hispalace. He then went to Jetavana and invited the Buddha to see the image. TheBuddha consented .by remaining silent. The next morning the Lord, accompaniedby his chief disciples, entered the great pavilion in the palace of the king in orderto see the BUddha-image. At that very moment, the sandal-wood image, immedia-tely upon seeing the Buddha, became animated, as if by the power of the Buddha,and thought thus: "When the great Buddha is alive and comes here, it is not


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i& 6 Studies I n Paliand Buddhismrise and welcome the Buddha. Having seen this, the Lord raised his right handand said the following words: "Be seated, ohnobel one. I shall be enteringinto parinibbiina in a short time. May you sustain my siisana (in the senseofteachings and order) for five thousand years to come ... Beginning today Ihandover my siisana to you. May you stay in this siisana for the welfare and benefitof the whole world.The Vat~angulir{Ua jdtaka is of great interest on several accounts. It affirms .the

tradition reported by Fa-Hian, which predates that of Hiuen-Tsiang by 200 years,thereby giving credence to the earlier Buddhist tradition that an image of the Buddhawas indeed commissioned by King Prasenajit of Kosala during the lifetime of theBuddha. Since this tradition is not attested to in any other literary work originatingin South or Southeast Asia, one wonders about the source of the version found in theapocryphal Jataka of a relatively later date. Is it possible that the writers of thePaiiniisa Iiitaka might have been aware of the accounts of the Chinese travellers? Sucha possibility cannot be discounted. However, we have no evidence in support of suchborrowing. Both Chinese accounts begin with a reference to the Buddha's visit tohis mother in heaven, which necessitated the commissioning of the Buddha-image.It should be remembered that the Buddha's visit to heaven is a popular element ofBuddhist belief in Burma and Thailand. Several architectural remains from the 14thcentury onwards portray this event by showing ladders which represent the Buddha'sdescent to earth from heaven. The omission of this popular motif in our version istherefore remarkable, and would tend to support the possibility that the PaiiittisaJiitaka version had a source independent of that of the Chinese versions.!"

Only through further research will the source of the Vattanguliriija Jiitaka be.precisely identified. But the fact that the Buddhists of Southeast Asia preserved intheir popular literature the story of the first image of the Buddha, should encourageart historians to give more credence to the accounts of the Chinese travellers whichhave been hitherto neglected for want of literary evidence.

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Excerpts from theVattangulirajajataka

.. .idam Sattha letavane viharanto attano pubbakarnmavasena katabuddhabimbam. iirabbha .kathesi, ekadivasamhi Sattha imasmirp loke veneyyapuggale disvate vine tumdisacarikam pakkami. tada Passenadi Kosalaraja mahajanakayehi parivuto Samm~-.sambuddham passitukamo c' eva attano purise gandhamaladlni pujabhandani gahapervasakanagarato nikkhamitva Jetavananamake arame thitam mahaviharam npagami, soca raja. sapariso tatth' eva Sugatalaye Sambuddham apassanto csamvegajatahadaynevam aha: idam hi bhonto Jetavanarn Sammasambuddhena ca vina suiifiam eva hotrti. ,...atha sabbe pi rajiidayo mahajanakaya mahasamvegajatahadaya domanassap-pattil attano attano vasanatthanam pakkamimsu, tada pana Sattha nalliidisasH


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Jetavanam gantva Bhagavantam upasankamitva tam vanditva ekarnantam nislditviievam aha: hiyyo bhante Bhagava, Savatthivasino mahajanakaya Sarnmasa~buddhamapassanta atidukkhena yutta attano attano vasanatthanam gamissanti ti. evan ca pan aso raja puna Bhagavantam evam aha: bhante Bhagava, tava dharamane aiifiasmimthane gate cayatp sattaloko tuyham rupam apassanto anatho atidukkhito hoti ; tayipana anupadisesaya nibbanadhatuya parinibbute yeva kuto panayam sattalokosatano sukhito ca bhaveyya? tasrna pana mayham eva tumhe naradevapujasakk-aratthaya ca tava settharupam katurn anujaneyyatha ti. tass' eva raiifio vacanamsutva Sattha sabbalokahitafi ca passanto niccakiilam eva attano sasanam titthana-tthaya ca attano rupam karapetum tass' eva rafifio anujanarnano evam iiha:maharaja, yo koei naro saddhaya sampanno yathabalam mattikadina pi kenacivatthuno khuddakam va mama rnparn kareyya ti. evarn ca pana varva Satrhapubbe pi maharaja, poranakapandito ekass' eva buddharupassa bhinnanguliekasmi111nagare thitapatitam disva tatth' eva pakatikam anguli sandhiyanto vipulasukhamanubhunjamano mahatejanubhavo c' eva ahosi ti vatva tunhi ahosi. ten' eva yacitoatltam ahari ..,.evaii ea pana Bhagavato dhammadesanam sunanto sapariso Kosalarajapttisomanassajatacitto sakalalokahitasukhaya buddhabimbakatam patthayanto tatth'eva gandhapupphadlhi Bhagavantarp pujetva attano vasanatthanam gantva (findana~rukkhavanato candanarukkhasflram anayitva samasarnam c' eva tam candanaru-kkhasaram likkhapetva ten' eva candanarukkhasarena atimanoharam buddhabimb a-.p.karape6. tada sl,) r n : j a silittham tam eva buddhabimbam karapetva punappunsmsena {?} rasena t3111 buddhabimbam lirnpapetva lakharajsajsadisena suravera (?)-civarayugena ta111buddhabimbam parupetva uccasane nanavidhe varavatthe tambuddhabimbatp. nisidapesi. atha so raja ... tassa buddharupassa pujasakkarafi cakatva Jetavanarame vasantam Sammasambuddham upasankamitva ekamantarnnisinno imam gatharn aha:

taya Bhante,anuiinata111 tava bimbam me sukaritam:icchami gamanam tuyham passitum tattha te rupam,svatanaya te gamanam ruccati mama samma ti,

tass' eva rai'iiio vacanam sutva Sattha tunhibhavena adhivasesi, .. punadivase panaSattha attano savakehi parivuto tass' eva rafiiio mahageham gantva attano rupameva tarn bimbam dassanatthaya mahamandaparn psvisi. ram kbm).afi eva sobuddhabimbo ten' eva candanarukkhasarena kato tatth' eva mahiimaIJQapeagat~111Sammiisambuddhaql passanto tass' eva Sammasambuddhassa tejanubhavena sagarav-acittako vi~a jiva~anas~riro v~ya cin~~si: evam dharamane BU.:_ddl)ase.t!heidh' :evaagate idani panahanl an ucce asane nismno mayharn ayutro hutva (hoti) : tass' evaadaratpkaromi ti. evan ca pan a cintento viya eso bimbo Sammasambuddhasstevagaravam karonto attano nisinnasana ekapadam nikkhipitva tatth' eva agatamSammasambuddhalj1 paccuggamanakaram dassesi, evan ca katam eva buddhabimbamdisva Sattha tatth' eva ... attano ctvarato eravanahatthino karakaram viya atisobha-l}a1ppadakkhinahattham niharitva tam eva bimbarp nivarento gatham aha:


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II188 S tudies in PaN and Buddhismavuso tvam tinha, na ciren' evahamnibbayissami, 'nagate paficavassasahassaniciren' eva tV3l11 ca sabbada tittheyyasi sasane mama ti.

evan ca vatva Satthii. tass' eva buddhabimbassa attano sasanam niyyadentoinH\I11gatham aha; . .

ajj' evaham niyyademi mayham te sasanam tuyham,sabbalokahitatthaya tittha tvam sasane mama ti .

. . .evan ca pana ... Passenadi Kosalarafifif saddhim katham nitthapetva ... anaga-takale tuyham c' eva atiularasukhavipakadayakam bhavissatt ti vatva jatakamsamodhanento osanagatham aha ...

NOTESL A.K. Coornaraswamy, The Origin of the Buddha Image (2nd edition, Delhi,

1972, p. 41) refers to Kern's opinion: "There is no lack of legends anent theoriginof Buddha images, but it would be difficult, to discover in those tales, which areholly discordant, something like an historical nucleus.". (Manual of . indian

Buddhism, .p. 94). See also, Benjamin Rowland, The Evolution of the lJudd'wp, 5.2. Samuel Beal, Buddhist Records of the Western World, Introduction xliv.

3, Ibid., vol. I, pp. 235-6.4. SpenceHardy, Eastern Monachism, p. 199.5. V.P. Shah, "A Unique Jaina Image of Jlvantasvami",

Journal of the Oriental Institute, vol. I, i, pp. 71-79 ;"Sidelights on the Life-time Sandal-wood Image of Mahavtra",Ibid., vol. 1, iii, pp, 358-367.

6. Zimme Panniisa (i.e, Chieng Mai 50) edited anonymously and published byhe Hanthawaddy Press, Rangoon, 1911. A critical edition of the Burmese versionthe PmiFiiisa Jiitaka is being prepared by me and is soon to be published by the

ali Text Society, London.7. See L. Feer, "Les Jatakas", JA, 7e Ser., v, ]875, pp. 417 ff.8.. See my article "The story of Sudhana and Manohatii : an analysis of the

exts and the Borobudur reliefs"," Bulletin of the SchoolotOrtental and AfricanUniversity of London, vol. XXIX, Part 3, 1966, p. 534, n. 10. ,. . ..

9. Zimme Panniisa, pp. 486-510.10. As this article goes to the publishers, I Jearn from Professor II. Bechert thate is editing a volume entitIedBuddhism in Ceylon and Studies on Religiousyncretism in Buddhist Countries which includes a paper by R.F. Gombrich on-the

Kosalabimbavarnaniiva. As this work originates from Sri Lanka it may haverawn on a source common to the VaHaflgllliriija.ititaka.

on the buddha image by padmanabh s. jaini

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