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work of the month

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"The religious initiates, whether Brahmans or Buddhist monks, would have seen the sculpture as embodying, though in a necessarily reductive way, a set of philosophic and theological concepts the general public would never understand. The governing elites, the king in particular, might see them as an instance of spiritual power lending its strength and authority to temporal power. . ."

Where was this work created?

This work was created under the patronage of the Khmer empire, which inhabited and controlled parts of mainland Southeast Asia from the 6th century to the 15th century CE. The Khmer empire is best known for its Angkor period, named after the capital that was established in the last quarter of the 9th century in present day Cambodia. Angkor is noted for the vast number of breathtaking monuments that were constructed in and around it from the 10th to the 13th centuries. These temples often had elaborate sculptural programs with many Buddhist figures such as the one you are now viewing. Cambodian art is dated by reference to such monuments, hence the above designation, "Angkor Wat style."

Who was Buddha, and what do Buddhists believe?

According to tradition, Siddhartha ("he who achieves his goal"), the founder of Buddhism, was born a prince of the Shakya clan in 563 BCE in what is now southern Nepal. Once he was exposed to the world beyond his father's cloistered palace, the prince gave up his material wealth and became an ascetic who sought an ultimate form of spiritual enlightenment. Siddhartha wanted to find a path to break the cycles of reincarnation that he associated with human suffering and material attainment. Through his personal search, he developed a system for achieving this goal which became known as the "Four Noble Truths" and "The Eightfold Path." The ultimate goal for a Buddhist is to achieve a state of nirvana ("nothingness"), best described as a complete state of happiness and peace that allows a remove from the material or practical concerns of day-to-day life. Buddha is said to have died at the age of 80 in 483 BCE.

Buddhism spread from India to Southeast Asia through trade routes and missionaries. It is generally accepted that there are three variants of the Buddhist philosophic and theological beliefs: Hinayana, Mahayana, and Vajrayana Buddhism.

What does this sculpture tell us about Buddhism and 12th-century Cambodia?

This sculpture depicts the seven-headed serpent king Muchilinda shielding the Buddha from a fierce storm, an incident that took place during the Buddha's sixth week of meditation after his enlightenment. The Buddha's downcast eyes, seated posture (sattvaparyanka), and gesture (dhyana mudra) all indicate a state of meditation. He wears a skirt evident at his waist, a crown, earrings, a necklace, armlets, and is seated on the stylized coils of the seven-headed cobra.

The Chrysler's Buddha represents the "Angkor Wat style" due to its shift in iconography from many earlier Indian and South Asian representations of Buddha that do not portray him as a god-king: "Jayavarman VII (1181-1218), who ruled as a Buddha-king rather than a Hindu god-king… dedicated his monuments to Buddhist rather than Hindu divinities. The emphasis placed on a new type of Buddhist image, that of a crowned Buddha seated on the coils of the cobra Muchilinda, is one of the many changes in Buddhist art as well as thought fostered by Jayavarman VII. …The crown and jewellery [sic] add several layers of meaning to the iconography. These adornments represent both the omnipresence of the Buddha and the legitimacy of the ruler. The serpent, who helps to identify the iconography and represents the powers of water, is also a longstanding emblem of royalty throughout South and Southeast Asia. …The jewellery [sic] also links this sculpture with the tradition of Esoteric Buddhism, in which deities wear jewellery [sic]. Jayavarman VII's preference for this particularly complicated branch of Buddhist thought may have political implications as well: it has been suggested that the shift to Buddhism during the twelfth century was a result of the search for a more potent religion after a disastrous Cham attack on the Khmers in 1117…" The shift that Jayavarman VII brings to Cambodian sculpture in the 12th century, with the conflation of Buddha and ruler in a single work, is particularly distinct, given that during much of his reign Vishnuism dominated official religion, and other sects of Buddhists were also thriving in the region.

- John S. Welch

GLOSSARY

Ascetic - a person that practices strict self-denial as a measure of personal and especially spiritual discipline.

Lakshana - an auspicious physical mark on a bodhisattva or Buddha indicating an advanced spiritual state. Shakyamuni Buddha has 32 major lakshanas; the most frequently depicted are the urna and ushnisha.

Muchilinda - a serpent demigod who sheltered Buddha from a rainstorm with his hood.

Naga - a snake or serpent deity.

Nirvana - the ultimate goal of the Buddhist path in which perfect knowledge is attained and the cycle of earthly rebirths transcended.

Urna - the tuft of hair between the eyebrows of Buddha.

Ushnisha - the bump at the top of Buddha's head, sometimes represented as a knot of hair or a turban, referring to his superior wisdom.

Vishnu - one of the three principal gods of the Hindu pantheon. He descends to earth in different forms - most frequently as Krishna and Rama - in order to restore the balance of the universe.

SOURCES

Jessup, Helen Ibbitson, and Thierry Zephir. Sculpture of Angkor and Ancient Cambodia: Millennium of Glory. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1997.

Leidy, Denise Patry. Treasures of Asian Art: The Asia Society's Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller Collection. New York: Asia Society, 1994.

Woodward, Hiram W. Jr. The Sacred Sculpture of Thailand: The Alexander B. Griswold Collection. Baltimore: The Walters Art Gallery, 1997.

For more information on Asian art in its historical context, please visit www.asiasocietymuseum.com.