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The stupa, the small globular object at the base of the crown, The worship of Maitreya was prevalent in India from the third
just below the tiny circular opening, identifies this deity as the century onward and was popular in China, Korea and Japan in
bodhisattva Maitreya. The stupa refers to the funerary mounds the fifth and sixth centuries and into the seventh. Some modern
in which the Historical Buddha Shakyamuni’s relics were buried scholars argue that Maitreya’s popularity at that time had to do
after his death and cremation. Tradition holds that Shakyamuni’s with the millennial anniversary of Shakyamuni’s birth as Gautama
relics were distributed amongst eight royal families, each of which Siddhartha, though strict theologians of the day maintained that
constructed a burial mound to house the relics. The presence of Maitreya would not appear as the Buddha of the Future until far
the stupa thus links Maitreya, who is regarded as the Buddha of into the future (J. Leroy Davidson, The Lotus Sutra in Chinese Art: A
the Future, to Shakyamuni, the Historical Buddha. As a bodhisattva, Study in Buddhist Art to the Year 1000, New Haven, 1954).
Maitreya resides in the Tushita Heaven, where Shakyamuni resided
before his earthly birth as Gautama Siddhartha (traditionally, 563- The perforated tab at the back of the head anchored the aureole, or
483 BCE) and, where, in fact, all bodhisattvas reside until they enter full-body halo, that originally appeared behind the image. The small
final nirvana. hole at the back of the hourglass-shaped stool on which Maitreya
sits, just below the stool’s cushioned top, likely once accommodated
As in this compelling image, Maitreya is typically depicted a pin that stabilized the aureole and prevented lateral movement.
as a bodhisattva, a compassionate being who has attained
enlightenment but who has postponed entry into final nirvana in Each of the feet of the bodhisattva rests on a small lotus blossom
order to help other sentient beings gain enlightenment, and thus at the base. The unusual placement of the feet at a slant, heels
is dressed in the robes of early Indian royalty, with a dhoti, an inner higher than toes to accord with the pitch of the hourglass-shaped
robe that covers the left shoulder but leaves the right shoulder stool, finds kinship in a gilt-bronze sculpture representing a seated
bare, and billowing scarves. A wide necklace encircles the neck and bodhisattva that is dated to the Sui dynasty (581-618) and is now
upper portion of the chest and a tall crown surmounts the head in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated
of the bodhisattva. Original to the sculpture, the small opening at in The Casting of Religion: A Special Exhibition of Mr. Peng Kai-
the front of the crown likely once anchored a jewel. The circular dong’s Donation, Taipei, 2004, p. 139, no. 123.
openings at either side of the neck not only differentiate the neck 菩薩善迦倚坐，頂戴高冠，右手作無畏印，左手施與願印。胸佩項飾，肩
from the scarves and locks of hair that cascade from beneath 披天衣，並於腹前交叉。此尊造像的尊格可由其高冠中間代表窣堵波（佛
the crown but perhaps allowed the attachment of a removable
necklace. 塔）的圓形凸起確知為彌勒菩薩。窣堵波原指瘞埋釋迦牟尼佛舍利的土
堆，彌勒菩薩冠上的窣堵波象徵其作為未來佛與現在佛釋迦牟尼的傳承關
Although typically presented as a bodhisattva, Maitreya is 係。彌勒菩薩居兜率天，這也是所有菩薩在入般涅槃前的住所，而釋迦牟
occasionally represented as a Buddha because he eventually will 尼佛下生人間為喬答摩悉達多（約公元前 563 至 482 年）之前亦居於此。
appear on Earth, achieve full enlightenment in just seven days, 彌勒多以菩薩的形象出現。菩薩為已證悟佛果者，為了普渡衆生而不入般
become a Buddha, and then, as the successor to Shakyamuni, 涅槃。因而此尊彌勒像身著袒露右肩之僧祇支，下著長裙，為源於古印度
will preach the dharma, or Buddhist doctrine. When depicted as
a Buddha, Maitreya is dressed not in princely garb with crown or 古貴族服飾的菩薩裝。其天衣於腹前交叉穿過一圓形裝飾物的表現手法是
jewellery but in simple monk’s robes, and he is shown with shaven 六世紀後半葉至七世紀的典型做法，這一時代特徵亦與其寬博的頭部和平
pate or with hair arranged either in short, wavy locks or in small 直的上身相契合。儘管其具體年代難以確知，這尊屢經著錄的造像應為六
snail-shell curls. Most importantly, when presented as a Buddha, 世紀後半的作品。
an ushnisha, the cranial protuberance symbolizing the expanded
wisdom that a Buddha gains at enlightenment, appears on top of 彌勒信仰在印度起源於三世紀，並於五世紀起至七世紀流佈東亞中日韓
the head. Dressed in the guise of a prince, with crown, long hair 等國。部分學者指出彌勒信仰在當時的流行是由於釋迦牟尼佛誕生千年
and jewellery, this powerful sculpture clearly presents Maitreya as a 紀念，儘管根據佛經記載彌勒下生成佛的時間在更加久遠的未來（見 J.
bodhisattva, not as a Buddha. Leroy Davidson，《The Lotus Sutra in Chinese Art: A Study in
Buddhist Art to the Year 1000》，紐黑文，1954 年）。
The looping of the scarf through a beaded ornament at the
abdomen as it passes down the body and over the knees indicates
that this sculpture was created in the second half of the sixth
century or beginning of the seventh, as do the large head and the
stocky, columnar torso, the scarves that tumble gracefully from the
shoulders to the arms and come to rest at the circular base, and the
elongated elliptical openings that separate scarves from face, arms
from torso, and scarves from hips and legs. Even so, this frequently
published sculpture’s precise date remains elusive, though it likely
dates to the third quarter of the sixth century.

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