The Origin and Mystery of the Aniconic Buddha

For most people, it is difficult to explain SiddhārthaGautama (historic Buddha) without imagining the shape of a round and happy human being familiar to us with pop culture. However, for 500 years, Buddhism has no depiction of the human being about that leader; in fact, the culture of ancient India has created various symbols among their art works to represent him It was. The symbolic meaning of these images is the subject of intense debate among scholars, art historians, and archaeologists. Nevertheless, these signs should not be regarded as Buddhists. Because they have multiple meanings that affect both Buddhists and non-Buddhists.

After the death of Gautama Buddha (from 563 BC to 483 BC), the early Buddhist art appeared in India and Sri Lanka. This primitive and regular Buddhist art is very unique (avoid direct expression of letters). However, around the century after the invasion of Greece to the northwestern part of India and the Indian-Greek kingdom's exposure to Greek culture, the iconic period of Buddhist art began to flourish in India. On the other hand, the development of Buddhism had an influence on the development of Indian art. It was partly due to the prosperity of Muslim and Hinduism, Buddhism almost disappeared in India around the 10th century.

In the place where Buddha statues are engraved, the rich art of the era has developed, and the Buddha (and its teachings) is represented by different symbols. For example, some of these common symbols are footprints of Buddhist spiritual (indefinite) doctrine, empty seats, false guns (see illustration of pictures). The anthropomorphic performance of Buddha, the first century of northern India, C. It started with E. From the 2nd century BC to the 1st century BC the sculpture became clearer and began to symbolize the life and teachings of the Buddha. They are in the form of plaques or seesaws, usually associated with the decoration of a pagoda. In today's Punjab, Pakistan, Northeast India, two major creative centers are identified as Gedaro.

The life of the historic Buddha statue, and the creation of the first surviving Buddha statue by stones and other media, has had a great gap for centuries. The stone Buddhist art which first survived was actually made in front of the image of Buddha himself. During the Maurya period, during the reign of Ashoka (272 - 231 BC) important monuments and other stone works were commissioned. Stone sculptures with images of lions and circles like large pillars represent Buddhist symbols and patterns, but there is no Buddha statue in this era. Many scholars have speculated that Buddhist art has an atheistic age (not an idol). There, it is forbidden to describe true Buddha and to replace explicit anthropomorphic expression with various symbols.