Vairocana Buddha
Limestone
Vairocana Buddha
CHINA; Sui dynasty
The statue is identified as a representation of Vairocana Buddha mainly due to the detailed engravings on the robe. They depict all the spheres of rebirth within the Dharma realm. The engravings include heavenly palaces, human realm, and hell depictions, as well as scenes of Avalokitesvara rescuing people from the eight dangers near the bottom. The statue is a very early Chinese depiction of the teaching that the universe is a reflection of the cosmic Dharma body manifested in Vairocana. Artworks from the Sui dynasty (581–618) despite being heavily influence by the Northern Zhou dynasty (557–581) was more unique, as shown in the statue.
For more details, go to the Encyclopedia of Buddhist Arts: Sculpture St-Z, page 1280.
Cite this article:
Hsingyun, et al. "Vairocana Buddha." Encyclopedia of Buddhist Arts: Sculpture St-Z, vol. 13, 2016, pp. 1280.
Hsingyun, Youheng, Yann Lovelock, Yuan Chou, Susan Huntington, Gary Edson, and Robert Neather. 2016. "Vairocana Buddha" In Encyclopedia of Buddhist Arts: Sculpture St-Z, 13:1280.
Hsingyun, Youheng, Lovelock, Y., Chou, Y., Huntington, S., Edson, G., & Neather, R.. (2016). Vairocana Buddha. In Encyclopedia of Buddhist Arts: Sculpture St-Z (Vol. 13, pp. 1280).
@misc{Hsingyun2016,
author = Hsingyun and Youheng and Lovelock, Yann and Chou, Yuan and Huntington, Susan and Edson, Gary and Neather, Robert,
booktitle = {Encyclopedia of Buddhist Arts: Sculpture St-Z},
pages = 1280,
title = {{Vairocana Buddha}},
volume = 13,
year = {2016}}
author = Hsingyun and Youheng and Lovelock, Yann and Chou, Yuan and Huntington, Susan and Edson, Gary and Neather, Robert,
booktitle = {Encyclopedia of Buddhist Arts: Sculpture St-Z},
pages = 1280,
title = {{Vairocana Buddha}},
volume = 13,
year = {2016}}