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Ancient Statue Reveals Prince Who Would Become Buddha

BonsaiDougBonsaiDoug Simply, on the path. Veteran
edited June 2012 in Buddhism Today
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In the ruins of a Buddhist monastery in Afghanistan, archaeologists have uncovered a stone statue that seems to depict the prince Siddhartha before his enlightenment.

Full story here: http://m.yahoo.com/w/legobpengine/news/ancient-statue-reveals-prince-become-buddha-135830200.html?orig_host_hdr=news.yahoo.com&.intl=US&.lang=en-US

Comments

  • BonsaiDougBonsaiDoug Simply, on the path. Veteran
    Better pic of the statue and where it was discovered:

    image

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  • lamaramadingdonglamaramadingdong Veteran
    edited June 2012
    Interesting. Thanks for sharing.
  • CinorjerCinorjer Veteran
    "The monk stands at the prince's right side, his right forearm shown upright. In his right hand the monk holds a lotus flower or palm (now broken), and in his left is a round object of some kind."

    Um...if this is the Prince before he became Buddha, then why is there a Buddhist monk standing next to him? If he hadn't yet created the Sangha, there would be no monks. The archeologist seems to be overlooking an important point that must be answered.

    It's also possible this is a statue of some secular, local Prince or King that has embraced Buddhism, not Gautama at all. I just love archeology!

  • BonsaiDougBonsaiDoug Simply, on the path. Veteran
    edited June 2012
    Um...if this is the Prince before he became Buddha, then why is there a Buddhist monk standing next to him?
    We may never know. But then, it doesn't identify the monk as a "Buddhist" monk. They may just be using that term to identify a "holy" man of some sort. Or, it could be just artistic license by the statue maker.

    It should be interesting to see what the Buddhist and archeology community in general have to say about this find after the site excavation is complete, and further study is done.
  • lamaramadingdonglamaramadingdong Veteran
    The statue was made after Buddha's time when the sculptor knew "the rest of the story".
  • BonsaiDougBonsaiDoug Simply, on the path. Veteran
    The statue was made after Buddha's time when the sculptor knew "the rest of the story".
    Yet another possibility.
  • lamaramadingdonglamaramadingdong Veteran
    The article states that the statue was made 1600 years ago.
  • SileSile Veteran
    edited June 2012
    From the article:

    Gérard Fussman, a professor at the Collège de France in Paris, said that this stele supports the idea that there was a monastic cult, in antiquity, dedicated to Siddhartha's pre-enlightenment life. This idea was first proposed in a 2005 article in the journal East and West by UCLA professor Gregory Schopen. Schopen found evidence for the cult when studying the Tibetan version of the monastic code, Mulasarvastivada vinaya.

    image

    An example of a stupa at the Kafiriat monastery found at Mes Aynak. These ceremonial monuments held sacred relics related to the Gautama Buddha or other important individuals. There are several stupas at the site, the newly discovered stele was found beside one of them.

    More, including other great photographs: http://www.livescience.com/20748-mes-aynak-ancient-buddhist-monastery.html
  • SattvaPaulSattvaPaul South Wales, UK Veteran
    I wonder how they identified the statue as depicting Siddhartha before his enlightenment. Are there any features of the statue that would indicate this?

  • still_learningstill_learning Veteran
    Wow, look at those abs. Which gym did he go to? Who was his personal trainer?
  • CinorjerCinorjer Veteran
    Ah, I thought that name sounded familiar! That's the ancient Buddhist site about to be demolished, if it isn't already, by a Chinese copper strip mine operation. They had given the archeologists until the end of 2011 to take out what they could, before the blasting begins. I wonder what the immediate prospects are, and how long anything pictured will be there?
  • SileSile Veteran
    edited June 2012
    I wonder how they identified the statue as depicting Siddhartha before his enlightenment. Are there any features of the statue that would indicate this?

    Good question - clothing, maybe?

    "He is "clad in a dhoti (a garment), with a turban, wearing necklaces, earrings and bracelets, sitting under a pipal tree foliage. On the back of the turban, two large rubans (are) flowing from the head to the shoulders," writes Fussman in his new book. "The turban is decorated by a rich front-ornament, without any human figure in it."

    The article continues: "Based on the iconography of the stele, particularly the pipal leaves, Fussman believes the prince is Gautama Siddhartha Sakyamuni..." but not, anywhere I can find, what about the stele indicates it's a young Gautama Siddhartha Sakyamuni.
  • StorzStorz New
    Very interesting stuff, apparently Afghanistan has a long history with Buddhism.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism_in_Afghanistan
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