The Avatamsaka Sutra ( Flower Ornament Sutra )

The central Buddha figure, Shakyamuni is the original Buddha who can not be spoken or thought of in terms of birth or death, self or other and is the source of all other manifestation of Buddha hood. He appears cross-legged on a pedestal representing the “cosmic mountain.” The Shaka displays several of the important iconographic, symbolic traits of the Buddha, including the usis, a cranial protrubence; the snail-shell curls of hair the urna, a mark on the brow between the eyes; the elongated ears; and the gilt which indicates the golden color of the Buddha’s skin. He holds his right hand in a gesture of protection or reassurances known as abhaya mudra, the left in the vara mudra. These features appear

Originating in north - eastern India, the Buddhist tradition has grown to be popular and an intellectually complex religion. With a unique culture, this differentiates Buddhism from other religions. The complexity of Buddhism influenced by Buddhist schools changes an individual 's perspective and attitudes. Interpretation of the stimulus will vary from a Theravada to a Mahayana Buddhist as their core beliefs of Buddhism differ from each other. This essay will analyse the views of a Mahayana and Theravada Buddhist towards the cartoon drawn by an Australian cartoonist and artist, Michael Leunig. While also examining the stimulus’s association towards The First Noble Truth, The Fourth Noble Truth and Eightfold path, Buddhist beliefs and The Five Aggregates; matter, sensation, perception, mental formation and consciousness.

Buddhism has no creator god to explain the creation of life and the universe. Buddhism teaches that everything depends on everything else. In other words, present events are caused by past events and become the cause of future events. Buddhists believe that an old world system had been destroyed and its inhabitants are reborn in a new system. In the beginning, they are spirits floating above the earth happily with luminescence and without form, name or sex. At first, the world is without light and land, but is made of water. Eventually the earth appears and the spirits come to taste and enjoy it. Their greed causes their ethereal bodies to become solid, causing separation of the sexes and their bodies to appear beautiful or ugly. When they lose their luminescence, the sun and moon come into being. As the beings fall further into their wicked habits, which causes themselves and the earth to become even more unpleasant. Buddhists believe that everything we do is what molds our lives and the earth into what it is now (The Buddhist universe, 2009).

Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara and Mahasthamaprapta are repeatedly referred to in the Amitayurdhyana Sutra (The Buddha Speaks of Amitabha Sutra), which was translated from Sanskrit into Chinese in the third century A.D. According to the Contemplation of Mahasthamaprapta, the 11th Chapter of the Amitayurdhyana Sutra, the crown of the Mahasthamaprapta is described as follows: His heavenly crown has five hundred jewel-flowers; each jewel-flower has five hundred jewel-towers, in each tower are seen manifested all the pure and excellent features of the far-stretching Buddha countries in the ten quarters. The turban on his head is like a lotus-flower; on the top of the turban there is a jewel pitcher, which is filled with various brilliant rays fully manifesting the state of Buddha. Whereas in front of his headdress Avalokitesvara usually displays a small standing image of Amida, from whom he emanates , the iconography of Mahasthamaprapta's is a small water vase, which symbolizes wisdom. All the elements for a crown of Mahasthamaprapta can be seen from the picture of C111’s on the right. The Sutra also says: All his other bodily signs are quite equal to those of Avalokitesvara, which is proved by the similarities between C111 and C112, if we assume C112 is the image of Avalokitesvara though his crown is

The Kannon Bosatsu, or Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, is a carved wood statue of a Bodhisattva figure standing about two and one half to three meters tall. This statue shows a high level of detail on the Bodhisattva 's body, and is carved so smoothly that it could be mistaken for a stone carving. The show of skilled craftsmanship can be seen around the shoulders with the interaction of the cloth with the jewelry the Bodhisattva. The statue is placed on an ornate pedestal to cause the figurine to appear taller, giving it a feeling of authority, which contrasts with its calm, expressionless face. While the figure appears to be standing in a meditative state like the Buddha, the jewelry present all over the body of this figure distinguishes this figure as a Bodhisattva instead of a Buddha. In his book, The Story of Buddhism a Concise guide to Its History and Teachings, Donald S. Lopez Jr. establishes the importance of imagery in Buddhism. One major point he makes concerning the worship of Buddhist figures, is that the disciples of Buddhism not only believe that the figures are a mere representation of Buddha, but that the figures actually become and are animated by Buddha, an argument which seems to hold merit as truth.

This work is a 33-foot-long, 10-panel painting which features an assortment of cartoon -like Buddhist figures. This piece is incredibly detailed and holds a lot of information within its imagery. Arhats are considered to be Buddha’s devotees, so this work relates more to religious themes. The theme of multi-coloured acrylic carries on into this work with rainbow eyes, tongues and more. The title “100 Arhats” states exactly how many arhats are present in this piece – one hundred – believe me, I counted. The Arhats vary in size and type, some being more humanoid than others which appear to be more akin to animalistic creatures, the piece is also accompanied by figures that may not be arhats, and instead are dragon or feline-like creatures. Each figure, however, relates to one another in that all have somewhat gruesome facial expressions, frowning and wrinkled, some even with an array of

In the Money Tree with the Queen Mother of the West and a Seated Buddha (Figure 1), a lead-glazed earthenware and bronze sculptural work discovered in the ancient Eastern Han tomb proved to be one of the earliest examples of an open reception of both Daoism and Buddhism within the Chinese belief systems. Xiwangmu, the Daoist divine resides on top of the money tree while the meditative Buddha sits beneath her. Since Buddhism was just introduced to

The temple contains the images of many bodhisattvas,Buddha's, and disciples. The images of the Buddha's and bodhisattvas are the focus of the rooms and outside. For example, in the main shrine and Bodhisattva hall, the focus are the images. Another example is the garden of the eighteen arhats in which the Buddha is surrounded by his first disciples. The other garden that is in the temple is the Vessel of Compassion for Universal Liberation. The main image in this garden is that of Avalofitesvara Bodhisattva. The other images depicted are of heaven kings. The bodhisattva is important because the vows of this Bodhisattva are of a compassionate mind and the power of wisdom. This bodhisattva answers the prayers of sentient beings no matter where they are and manifests in different forms. These eighteen arhats extinguished all defilements and afflictions. They had reached nirvana and their righteousness is exemplary to all Buddhists. Comparatively, symbols play an important role in buddhism and we can see this through the offers made to the Buddha's and bodhisattvas. For example, incense symbolizes inner peace, a lamp offering symbolizes the brightening of our vision and the enhancement of our wisdom. In addition, in the images, mudras or certain objects are a symbol of important rules to follow. Such as in image of the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra, the elephant symbolizes practice. The sounds that are used are that of instruments during the service in the main shrine and the sound of bells which usually mark the initiation of a service or other announcements. Furthermore, the smells that are used throughout the temple are incense. Incense is used as an offering and it is meant to help the Buddhist concentrate and focus on meditating. Lastly, taste is used in the ritual of eating vegetarian meals

Between the second century BCE and the early first century CE, buddhist art was not represented as human form rather than symbols. Symbols were represented by the buddha's footprints, or a stupa. The Great Stupa is located in Sanchi, Madhya Pradesh, India and was founded in the 3rd century BCE. The stupa is derived as burial mounds for buddhas, holding the remains of their cremation. The main body of the stupa or dome represents the world mountains, which rises through the center of the buddha universe. The railing encloses the top of mast bearing three stone disks or “umbrellas” represent the three jewels of buddhism: Siddhartha Gautama, sangha, and dharma.

These two seated Buddha represent the meaning and the embodiment of Buddha. Both of these sculptures convey Buddha and represent key aspects of Buddhism, but these two sculpture do not convey and represent the symbolism entirely of what Buddha is in other art pieces. Rock cut stone sculpture of Buddha is represented in a peaceful nature as he gives the first sermon, the sun, the lotus flower, the knot on his head, the elongated earlobes, the slightly closed eyes and cherubs up above are common symbols that represent Buddha. Where the Grand Buddha at Ling Shan is an 88 metre tall bronze statue, that stand upward, and has very little Buddha symbolism represented. He has the knot on his head, slightly closed eyes, standing on an opened lotus flower

His title, Buddha, is associated with the meaning of the enlightened one and the religion Buddhism. Sanskrit, though was not the only Buddha. According to traditions, there have been, and there will be more Buddhas. The Buddha's followers are called Buddhists. To honor Buddha, they celebrated his birth, his enlightenment, and

The group of objects chosen for this paper comes from the collection of the Saint Louis Art Museum. The title of both pieces is called Seated Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara (Guanyin). Both these pieces which are statues were sculpted in china. The earliest statue was made during the Tang dynasty. While, the later statue was made during the Northern Song dynasty. These statues were chosen because the same deity is depicted and were made in a similar geographic and cultural location. This allows for the comparison of the different styles between the 2 periods. The statue made during the Northern Song dynasty depicts the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara sitting in a pose called the relaxed pose or easy pose. This statue also depicts the Bodhisattva adorned in lavish silk garments while a jeweled crown sits atop his head. The statue is carved from wood and painted with gesso, pigments, and gilding. The statue made during the Tang Dynasty depicts the Bodhisattva sitting in the easy pose as well. It also depicts the Bodhisattva in flowing robes while wearing a string of jewels.

Sui Dynasty is a great time period for Buddhist art, because emperor Wen(Yang Jian) unified China

The Buddha’s Eyes – especially on stupas – face in all four directions and symbolizes the omniscient mind of the Buddha.

Buddhism, on the other hand, understands the psychological nature of humans very deeply and develops effective treatment methods. As revealed in the Flower Ornament Sutra [Avatamsaka Sutra], "Our perception Three Kingdoms arise from the mind, so do Twelve Links of Dependent Origination; birth and death come from the mind, which are extinguished when the mind is put to rest”. If we view Buddhism in this lens, itself in conglomeration with psychology has much to reveal about both practices (Williams-Oerberg, Elizabeth, 2012).