Evolution of the Buddha Image: Aniconic Images

For the first 5 or 6 centuries of Buddhist history the Buddha was not portrayed in human form.  Maybe he was seen as having transcended human understanding, or maybe the early Buddhists wanted to underline that he had transcended the condition of birth-and-death that marks embodied existence.  For whatever reason, early Buddhists portrayed the Buddha using certain fixed symbols, each of which represents one of the pivotal events in his life: a lotus (or elephant) representing his birth, a tree or throne representing his enlightenment, a wheel for his first teaching (the Four Noble Truths), and a stupa (funerary mound) for his bodily demise.  In some cases he is also represented by a pair of footprints.

The carvings on the stupa at Sanchi have numerous examples of such aniconic portrayals, such as this one in which the Buddha (the tree) is surrounded by his respectful devotees, both human and celestial.  Of course, his enlightenment is the pivotal event in his spiritual career, since it made him the Buddha ("Enlightened One").  According to tradition, the Buddha renounced his home at the age of 29, and spent the next six years testing various teaching and spiritual disciplines (most notably strict fasting) to find the solution to old age, illness, and death.  All of these were unsuccessful, but he then sat underneath a ficus tree in Bodh Gaya (modern Bihar), and began to meditate on the question of birth-and-death with a focused mind.  His analysis eventually revealed the causal chain that leads to rebirth, known as pratityasamutpada ("Interdependent Origination"), in which each element provides the cause for the one that follows (for a Tibetan view of this causal chain, click on the link above).

 
 
This image, also from Sanchi, represents the Buddha as a wheel. 

The wheel symbolizes the third great event in the historical Buddha's life, in which he "turned the wheel of dharma" by preaching his first sermon (The Four Noble Truths) at Sarnath, near modern Benares.  If the tree stands for the enlightened being, the wheel represents his career as a teacher. 

In order to find suitable hearers for his message, the Buddha walked XXX miles to Sarnath from Bodh Gaya (where he was enlightened).  According to tradition he was enlightened on the full moon in Vaisakh (April-May); this is the hottest part of the year, with temperatures hitting over 110 degrees every day.  Tradition relates that the Buddha was initially reluctant to teach others, since he reportedly doubted whether others would be able to understand what he was trying to convey, but traveling such a long distance in such blistering heat testifies to the strength of his resolve.

 
 
In this image from the Sanchi stupa's northern gateway, the Buddha is represented by a stupa.  This panel depicts the miracle of  Shravasti, in which the Buddha first created multiple images of himself and then flew in the air.  Both miracles were done to bear concrete witness to his spiritual attainment.  The people of Shravasti were duly impressed, and became his disciples.

A stupa is a dome-shaped mound that mimics the funerary mounds used to mark the graves of great kings.  The first Buddhist stupas enshrined the Buddha's physical relics (bones and teeth), and thus gave him royal status.   It represents the Buddha's parinirvana, which took place with the death of his body.  Even though enlightenment Buddha transcended being subject to birth and death (or rather ensured that he would not be reborn after his present life), his body was like any other human body.  At the age of 80--a very long life for that time--he ate a bad meal (either pork or mushrooms, the text is ambiguous and can be read either way), got dysentery, and died of dehydration (the story is so inglorious it is more likely to be true).  Tradition reports that he maintained his composure to the end, even blessing the man who had fed him that meal, and also directed his followers to burn his body and then place the remains in a stupa.

 
This small image from the Sanchi stupa's eastern gateway may represent the Buddh'a birth. 

 The elephant is connected with the story of the Buddha's conception, in which his mother became pregnant when white elephant appeared in a dream, and tapped her on the abdomen with the lotus it was holding in its trunk.  The traditional account of his birth highlights the miraculous elements: the Future Buddha emerged from his mother's side, rather than a normal delivery; upon hitting the ground he took seven steps toward the east and announced that he would be enlightened in that lifetime, and there were various celestial signs--rain and flowers falling from a clear sky, a cool breeze, melodious sounds, disabled people regaining their faculties, and many, many others.   This is traditionally believed to have occurred in Lumbini in southeastern Nepal.

 

The last symbol, in the upper left, is the footprints of the Buddha.  This image comes from the east gate at Sanchi, in a panel depicting him renouncing his home and family to seek a solution to birth-and-death.  He left home on a horse, seen on top taking him away--here he's indicated by the royal umbrella--and being led back riderless at the bottom; in the center is a devotee paying homage to the Buddha.

Footprints are an evocative image that immediately and directly connect a past event (making the footprint) with one's present experience (seeing the footprint).  Even though the Buddha entered final nirvana some 2,500 years ago, the "traces" of his life remain vibrant through his teachings, which still have the power to transform people.

This emphasis is particularly strong for Theravada Buddhists, who insist that the Buddha was an enlightened human being, and so it is appropriate that the Theravada Buddhist segment in The Long Search film series was titled "The Footprint of the Buddha."

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Early Iconic Images

 

Buddhism Picture Index

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Last modified 27 December 2005