18TH CENTURY

In Mahayana Buddhism, the form of Buddhism which prevailed in China, Shakyamuni Buddha was the fourth in the series of earthly Buddhas, before his death foretelling the coming of the fifth early Buddha, Maitreya. The gesture performed by the present figure of touching the earth, bhumisparsa mudra, refers to Shakyamuni Buddha calling the earth to witness the moment of his enlightenment. Here he is shown wearing a kasaya, a robe made from patches of cloth joined together. As discussed in Buddhist Images in Gilt Metal, Chang Foundation, Taipei, 1993, p. 38, kasaya in Chinese is translated as futian (happy fields), implying that “supporting monks is equivalent to planting fields.”