Posted 13 years ago
papa
(184 items)
Got this on eBay as a "collected long time antique" and no other discription. Siddhartha Buddha tried to find enlightenment through deprivation of worldly goods, including food and practising self-mortification. After nearly starving himself to death by restricting his food intake to around a leaf or nut per day, he collapsed in a river while bathing and almost drowned. At that point Siddhartha Buddha began to reconsider his path to enlightenment. A runway models starving Buddha statue.
Part of his journey to finding the middle way. Nice.
Thank you Bellin and Amber
looks great but what is it made of? thanks for sharing !
This is not a statue of Shakyamuni Buddha, although that's a good guess! Rather, your statue is of Milarepa, the 10th century Tibetan Buddhist adept and saint. He is usually depicted holding his right hand to his ear ("listening to the sounds of the universe") with his left hand cradling a skullcup filled with nectar. He's often shown seated on an animal skin, as here.
At one point Milarepa went through an ascetic phase where he subsisted on nettles, to the point where his skin even acquired a green tinge. My guess is that this statue depicts this literally lean period of his life. Very possibly the statue maker was implying a parallel between this and the similar incident you mentioned in the life of Shakyamuni Buddha, just before the latter realized the wisdom of the Middle Way and became enlightened.
Wikipedia page on Milarepa:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milarepa