Buddha Head Sculpture Statue Meditation Zen Tranquility 15.75" Antiqued-Gray For Sale

in theWestern world, closed eyes in art symbolize “sleep, suffering, or death”(Fingesten 26), but in Hindu and Buddhist cultures, closed eyes symbolizelooking inward towards the self. The Buddha, with eyes closed, is able to“penetrate into the essence of things”, unburdened by mere vision that comes inthrough the eyes (Fingesten 26). Mou explains that “enlightened sensing is inour mind” (Mou 143), and not simply the Western concept of mind as a thought,but rather moral knowing. To Buddhists, the sense of vision is not important asit simply does not truly capture the essence of the world, and what isunnecessary must be filtered out. In meditation and enlightenment, therefore,in order to “know one’s nature and know heaven” (Mou 128), one must close theireyes to worldly things and human society and cultivate what is within. In thiscontext, and in the context of this class, I have so far connected the notionof ‘cultivation’ of the self to a conscious practice that serves to bring oneto a higher sense of being (much like cultivation of plants, which with theright nourishment can grow splendidly). In Buddhism, that is enlightenment, orbecoming a Buddha oneself.

Eyes serve an important purpose in Buddhist art, and perhaps thatis why I was so entranced by the artful way they were crafted. The eyes, then,serve a dual purpose as the border to block out common human distractions andthe gateway to looking inward to “master the self” (Fingesten 25).

These first icons of the Buddhawere not created until centuries after the death of Siddhartha Gautama, andthey were never intended to represent the physical attributes of the man.Instead, each image represents the spirit of the teachings of Buddha. In thisway, these icons possess a soul or a spirit. The artists who create the statuesmust be in a state of spiritual connectedness in order to represent the spiritof the teachings of the Buddha.