Buddhist Art in Java
PLATE XL
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Plate XL Cf pp. 237-238
I. - Upper scene. On the left the Bodhisattva (in the form of a Buddha), seated in meditation among the rocks and in the shades of Uruvilva, raises his right hand in order to make to the fifteen gods (one of whom is broken) ranged on his left a polite gesture of refusal. What he declines is the proposal, which they have just made to him, to breathe in through his pores a secret vigour, which may sustain him in the midst of his super-human austerities: for he will owe his salvation to himself alone. His well-bred interlocutors receive his decision with a demeanour as discreet as it is varied. It will be observed that the macerations of the Bodhisattva are not in any way shown, as in Gandhara, by the loss of flesh on his body : so much realism would here be regarded as the height of impropriety.
Lower scene. Cf. p. 237. It will be noticed also in this connection that the sculptor does not make us witness the murder of Rudrayana cf. p. 249, n. I). It may be curious to observe the existence in the Musee Guimet of Tibetan paintings whose authors have not troubled themselves with so much delicacy: for there is more than one way of being a Buddhist, in life as well as in art.
II. - Cf. p. 238. It will be observed -- and this trait curiously recalls the pleasantries of our Middle Age concerning the monks -- that the Brahmans distinguish themselves by a special degree of cupidity. back to main article
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