Ali Alghazali- Rubin Museum research

Ali Alghazali

Prof. Trusso

Philosophy of Religion

04/19/2017

Rubin Museum

The painting below is called Buddha Shakyamuni and was made in Tibet during the 16^th century. Buddha Shakyamuni was a born prince who became aware of the different kind of human suffering at a very young age. Shakyamuni renounced his position/ place as the prince and started on a journey to understand how he could rid the world of human suffering. Over the years, Buddha forced his body to harsh disciplinary methods of reaching enlightenment. But that didn’t go well for him. So, he ended up sitting beneath the pipal tree and started to meditate. This was how Buddha ended up becoming the “Awakened One” (SGI, 2010). The doctrine for this painting is Buddha which is the enlightened being.

The painting above is made of pigments on cloth and is 46 3/4 x 36 ¾ in. The portrait is called Buddha Shakyamuni and it was made in Tibet during the 16^th century. The plain depiction of Siddhartha Gautama as the “Awakened One” also known as the Buddha is what caught my interest. Buddha means “awakened” or “enlightenment”, and it was given to Siddhartha Gautama when he went on his journey to find the truth about life. The painting doesn’t show Siddhartha as an ominous being who is untouchable. Instead the portrait illustrates Buddha sitting in the center of the painting in traditional clothing. Buddha is sitting in a lotus posture with his hands giving the gesture Bhumisparsa Mudra. “Bhumisparsa Mudra means that Buddha is calling the Earth to witness his enlightenment.” (Tchi, Rodika). As you can see, Buddha has his right hand pointing downward towards the earth while the palm of his left-hand faces upward while resting on top of his lap pointing to his right hand. In the background, there is a wide view of the horizon and immediately behind Buddha there is the moon. All the significance that has happened to Buddha throughout his lifetime have all occurred under the full moon. For example, the day he was born, the day of his renunciation, and the day of his enlightenment, etc. all happened on a full moon day. Whenever there is a full moon, Buddhist people believe that it influences the behavior of all living things on the planet.

The painting represents several Buddhist doctrines. Some of the doctrines the painting represents are Buddhahood, Samsara, Nirvana, the Four Noble Truths, and the Eightfold Path. Buddhahood is the name given to someone who has reached the rank of Buddha (“Awakened One”). In the painting, Siddhartha Gautama is known as Buddha Shakyamuni, because he has already achieved Enlightenment. Buddha also calls the earth to witness his enlightenment. Samsara is the process of birth, death, and rebirth into the different realms of the samsara wheel of life. The painting shows Buddha in the human realm. Nirvana is the goal/ achievement of all Buddhist when trying to escape Samsara. The painting portrays Buddha achieving enlightenment which means he surpassed the restraints of Samsara. The Four Noble Truths is that suffering exists in this world, suffering in this world comes from the attachment of our desires, suffering no longer exists once we detach ourselves from our desires, and the freedom of suffering only comes from following the Eightfold Path. The reason that many Buddhist believe are the cause for suffering are due to the hindrances in our life. The hindrances are the “sensuous lust, aversion and ill will, sloth and torpor, restlessness and worry as well as skeptical doubt” (Essentials of Buddhism, 2004). These hindrances are part of our attachments to our desires. The Eightfold path is the righteous way a Buddhist must follow to achieve Nirvana. The Eightfold Path consists of the righteous speech, view, thought, action, effort, livelihood, mindfulness, and contemplating. The three qualities of the Eightfold Path are wisdom, morality, and meditation. In the painting Buddha is meditating in the center while calling the earth to witness his enlightenment. Within this one painting, you can derive multiple doctrines that are from Buddhist beliefs.

            In both Buddhism and Hinduism there is a doctrine called Samsara. Samsara has a similar definition for both religions but differs tremendously from each other. Samsara is the cycle of life where if a Buddhist is to die, he/ she are reborn into one of the different realms of life. In Buddhism, everyone does not get reborn into something better or worse, because everyone’s’ considered to be equal. The realms of life are the human, animal, heavenly, ghost, hell, and the asura (Titan) realm. In Buddhism, Samsara is suffering all the time. It’s considered to be Dukkha because it is unsatisfactory and painful. The process of Samsara is against ones freewill, which is why it’s considered Dukkha. A person does not want to be born, make mistakes, die, and reborn into a different realm only to be chased by Karma. It is an unescapable cycle if a Buddhist does not rid themselves of all attachments of their desires to achieve Nirvana. Nirvana is where all Buddhist end up once they have escaped the cycle of Samsara. In Hinduism, Samsara is the cycle of life in which the Hindus are reincarnated into a caste system. The Hindus are reincarnated into either a nobility class or a working class or a poor class. They can also be reincarnated into something other than a human. They can be reincarnated into a divine or into an animal depending on their action during their current lifetime. In Buddhism, there is no such thing as a caste system since everyone is supposed to be equal. But in Hinduism, people are not supposed to be equal, because they’re supposed to have worked hard and are supposed to have reincarnated several times before reaching Moksha. There is always a reward and a punishment for everything that a Hindu does during his/ her lifetime. This is called Karma. No matter how many times a person is reincarnated, Karma will follow them to the end.

            Per Sue Hamilton’s book Indian Philosophy, Buddhism is a religion. It is a religion, because Buddhism has a belief system in which there is a god who is the “grand scheme” of our life and everyone works hard to satisfy the god that is believed to be in existence. A religion is supposed to be considered a system in which there is faith and worship. In Buddhism, Buddha is not a god. Instead he is the one closest to god. During Buddha’s lifetime, he has met with many of the Hindu deities and has achieved enlightenment where he has escaped the wheel of Samsara. Buddha is a name given to someone who has reached enlightenment. Buddha was the name given to Siddhartha Gautama when he sat underneath the pipal tree and meditated, and that was when he reached Nirvana. Over countless number of times Buddha has pushed himself to the utmost extremity of life. He has faced many hardships until the day he finally decided to sit beneath the pipal tree and meditated. Now, many Buddhist are following Buddha’s teachings and path to better themselves as well as escape the suffering of the world.

            In conclusion, the experience with the Buddhist religion has taught me the different aspects as to what different religions offer a person. There were many aspects of Buddhism that were quite confusing to me, because I’ve never imagined there to be a whole other side of the Buddhist religion. At first, I thought that only Chinese people were Buddhist, but after studying, I learned that Buddhism originated from Hinduism in India. As a Muslim believer, I have learned many things from the Rubin Museum. My closed-minded self has been widely open to the different beliefs of the Buddhist religion as well as the Hindu religion. I learned that there is more to life than the eye can see or the mind can think. When learning the different religions, a person is responsible to learn what the true meaning of life is all about.  This experience has helped me understand the importance of other religions and how similar they all are to each other. The benefit of researching other religions helps put the entire world together since learning the history of many of the religions known to humans helps answer many unanswered questions in this world.

Works Cited

"Arapachana Manjushri." Arapachana Manjushri: Arapachana Manjushri Holds the Flaming Sword in His Right Hand. ShakyaStatues, n.d. Web. 11 Apr. 2017.

"Buddha Shakyamuni, 16th Century." BLVRD. Boulevard Arts, Inc, 15 Dec. 2016. Web. 13 Apr. 2017.

"Essentials of Buddhism - Core Concepts." Buddha Web. Webguru, 23 Oct. 2004. Web. 23 Apr. 2017.

Fisher, Mary Pat. Living Religions: A Brief Introduction. Boston: Pearson Education, 2012. Print.

Hamilton, Sue. Indian Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction. New Delhi: Oxford UP, 2009. Print.

(SGI), Soka Gakkai International. "Shakyamuni." Soka Gakkai International (SGI). Soka Gakkai International, 16 July 2010. Web. 11 Apr. 2017.

Tchi, Rodika. "10 Buddha Hand Gestures Placement in Your Home." The Spruce. N.p., 16 Jan. 2017. Web. 11 Apr. 2017.

Watt, Jeff. "Buddhist Deity: Jambhala, Yellow - Main Page." Buddhist Deity: Jambhala, Yellow - Main Page. Himalayan Art Resources Inc., 30 Nov. 2013. Web. 11 Apr. 2017.

Watt, Jeff. "Buddhist Worldly Protector: Tsiu Marpo Main Page." Buddhist Worldly Protector: Tsiu Marpo Main Page. Himalayan Art Resources Inc., 30 Dec. 2015. Web. 11 Apr. 2017.

Watt, Jeff. "Item: Ushnishavijaya (Buddhist Deity)." Ushnishavijaya (Buddhist Deity) (HimalayanArt). Himalayan Art Resources Inc., 30 Jan. 2001. Web. 11 Apr. 2017.