Mogao Cave 231: Maitreya Buddha in India

CHINA, Gansu, Dunhuang; Tang dynasty

This figure is painted on the ceiling of the back (west) wall niche within the main chamber. Maitreya Buddha has a round face, a usnisa, a white urna, and elongated earlobes. He stands barefoot upon a lotus pedestal embellished with a blooming lotus stalk on each side. The Buddha is clothed in long robes with green trim and holds a corner of the robe in the left hand while the right forms the vitarka (teaching) mudra. Petal-shaped patterns fill the nimbus. The inscription on the side reads, “record of the auspicious white Maitreya Buddha from ancient South India.”
The Great Tang Records on the Western Regions states that “There is a white stone Buddha statue about a hundred steps southwest of the Great Stupa. It glows and has a spiritual presence. People have witnessed the figure walking around the Great Stupa at night. Once, a group of bandits plotted to steal the statue, but it came alive and even went forward to receive them, before returning back to its original position. The bandits thereafter regretted their wrongdoings and reformed their ways, recounting their story to villages near and far.” The Dunhuang manuscripts contain similar descriptions.