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A GILT COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF VAJRADHARA
TIBET, CIRCA 15TH CENTURY
Himalayan Art Resources item no.61634
20.3 cm (8 in.) high
HK$350,000 - 450,000
西藏 約十五世纪 銅鎏金金剛總持坐像
From metaphysical debates on the multiplicity and unity of
Buddhas, arises the notion of an Adi-Buddha: a primordial source of
enlightenment pervading the universe, from which all things come and
into which all enlightened beings dissolve. Vajradhara represents the
Adi-Buddha in most Tibetan Buddhist schools. He crosses Vajrayana’s
ubiquitous symbols, the vajra and ghanta, before his chest in the
vajrahumkara mudra. However in this charismatic sculpture, these
symbols for Wisdom and Compassion blossom from his activity on
lotuses by his shoulders. To represent Vajradhara is paradoxical,
given the Adi-Buddha is formless, however it allows the practitioner to
reference an ineffable, underlying reality.
Provenance
Peter Fussel, London, 1973
THE PRESENCER COLLECTION OF BUDDHIST ART | 43
