A GILT COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF VAJRADHARA


TIBET, CIRCA 15TH CENTURYHimalayan Art Resources item no.61634 20.3 cm (8 in.) high
|西藏 約十五世纪 銅鎏金金剛總持坐像From metaphysical debates on the multiplicity and unity of Buddhas, arises the notion of an Adi-Buddha: a primordial source of enlightenment pervading the universe, from which all things come and into which all enlightened beings dissolve. Vajradhara represents the Adi-Buddha in most Tibetan Buddhist schools. He crosses Vajrayana's ubiquitous symbols, the vajra and ghanta, before his chest in the vajrahumkara mudra. However in this charismatic sculpture, these symbols for Wisdom and Compassion blossom from his activity on lotuses by his shoulders. To represent Vajradhara is paradoxical, given the Adi-Buddha is formless, however it allows the practitioner to reference an ineffable, underlying reality. ProvenancePeter Fussel, London, 1973