Buddha Research Paper
Throughout all of time the world has changed in many different ways. These changes occurred in the categories of architecture, intelligence, the human body itself, but the most important change is religion. Religion has changed in the way people depict their deity but the basic teachings of the specific religion remains the same. People may argue that the teachings have changed, which is true to an extent. The change is not necessarily a major change it is just the different ways that people interpret the teachings of their certain religion but the foundation of the teaching will stay the same such as "one shall not kill, commit adultery and steal". These are just some of the basic teachings in every religion. Although …show more content…
There is a specific religion that did not care if they were dominant or not, this religion is Buddhism. The Buddhist followed the teachings of the Buddha and strived to find their way to enlightenment. It is true that the Buddhist did not change the teachings but they have changed the depiction of the Buddha himself. Many different cultures have made their own depiction of the Buddha to fit their culture. This is shown in the different figures of “The Head of Buddha Image" in Thailand of the Ayutthaya style, late fourteenth century to around the early fifteenth century, made with bronze. Another figure is the "Seated Buddha" of China of the Zhou dynasty, dated 338, made of gilt bronze. In addition to these works of art Korea has made a Buddha figure of their own called the "Standing Buddha" of Korea in the unified Sill period, eighth century, gilt bronze. Finally the last piece of art work that will be compared is the "Amida Buddha" also known as the “Standing Buddha of Amitabha" made in Japan of the Heian period, twelfth century, made with wood with traces of lacquer, pigment and gilding. All these different art pieces are all different and similar but were …show more content…
China had also taken in the teachings of Buddha. China adopted the Buddhist ways during the Han Dynasty around the first century C.E. This new religion to the Chinese also brought new art to depict the Buddha in their own way. The Chinese had made many statues of the Buddha similar to the original Indian Buddha's, but there is one in particular known to be the single most published piece in the Chinese collection of art. (SF Asian art museum label). This is the "Seated Buddha" of the later Zhao Dynasty dating 338 made of gilt bronze. This piece of art is different from the Thai version. For example the figure shows more of a peaceful or happy expression. Also the Buddha was made to look like a normal human. This is shown in the hair for it does not have a fire type of look and the hair is similar to human hair in the depiction rather than spikes. Although the figure looks to be as if the Buddha was just like normal humans the Chinese artist place the Buddha on a pedestal that was meant to have certain decorations or medals to show the divinity of the Buddha. Such decorations that were to be placed on the pedestal were a flanking deer, a lion or the lotus flower to show what type of Buddha the figure was used for. Unlike the big Thai Buddha this specific Chinese Buddha was made small so the commoners can have their own personal Buddha to worship at home. At the museum the Buddha was shown alone in a