Buddhist Art and Architecture

Overview
Characteristics

Sacred Space
Stupas, dome-shaped mounds that serve as shrines,
represent the final release of the Buddha from the
endless cycle of life and death.
1. They also represent the cosmos and the five elements that
make up all of life.
2. They usually contain relics and are build in places where the
Buddha visited or performed sermons.
3. Pilgrims/worshippers circumambulate clockwise around the
stupa with their right side always facing the stupa.

Depiction of the Buddha

Around 1st Century CE, the Buddha began to be
depicted in human form. Two styles of depicting the
Buddha emerged.
1. The traditional Indian style is more stylized with a soft yet
powerful body and distended earlobes
2. The Gandharan style is influenced by Greco-Roman sculpture
and is much more realistic and idealized.

Buddhist Iconography-Common Symbols

The Lion: a symbol of Buddhas royalty
The Wheel: Buddhas law
Lotus: a symbol of Buddhas pure nature. The lotus
grows in swamps, but mud slides off its surface
Columns surrounded by a wheel: Buddhas teachings
Empty Thorne: Buddha, or a reminder of a Buddhas
presence.

Characteristics of Buddhist Architecture

Stupa: a principal place of Buddhist worship. A mound
shaped shrine that has no interior.
A stupa is a reliquary; worshippers gain spiritual merit
through being in close proximity to its contents.
A staircase leads the worshippers from the base to the
drum. Buddhists pray while walking in a clockwise or
easterly direction, the direction of the suns course.
The stupa has cosmic symbolism, because of its
distinctive shape (a giant hemisphere) and because one
walks and prays with the sun.
It is also thought of as being a symbol of Mt. Meru, the
mountain that lies a the center of the world in Buddhist
cosmology and serves as an axis connecting the earth
and the heavens.

Characteristics of Buddhist Architecture

Stupas, like the one at Sanchi have a central mast of
three umbrellas at the top, each umbrella symbolizing
the three jewels of Buddhism.
1. The Buddha
2. The Law
3. The Community of Monks

The square enclosure around the umbrellas symbolize

a sacred tree surrounded by a fence.
Four toranas, at the cardinal points of the compass,
act as elaborate gateways to the structure.

Parts of a Stupa
Chatras
Harmika
Stupa Dome
Toranas

Walkways

Stairways

Characteristics of Buddhist Painting and

Sculpture
Buddhas typically have a compact pose with little
negative space.
They are often sitting, but occasionally standing and
lying down are occasional variations.
When seated Buddha is usually posed in a lotus position
with the balls of his feet turned straight up, and a wheel
marking on the souls of the feet is prominently displayed.
Treatment of drapery varies from region to region.
Central India drapery is extremely tight fitting, resting on one
shoulder with folds slanting diagonally down the chest.
Northwest India, Pakistan and Afghanistan (Gandhara region)
heavy drapery that cover both shoulders, similar to a Roman
toga

Characteristics of Buddhist Painting and

Sculpture
Buddhas position is generally frontal, symmetrical and
have a nimbus.
Helpers, called bodhisattvas, are usually near the
Buddha, sometimes attached to the nimbus.
Buddhas facial mood is commonly detached, a removed
quality that indicates meditation.
Buddhas actions and feelings are revealed by hand
gestures called mudras.
http://www.thebigview.com/buddhism/mudra.html

The head has a top knot, or ushnisha, and the hair has
a series of tight-fitting curls. Extremely long ears dangle
almost to his shoulders. A curl of hair called an urna
appears between his brows.

Characteristics of Buddhist Painting and

Sculpture
Buddhas rejection of courtly life explains his disdain for
personal jewelry.
Sculpture
Beneath statues of Buddha there are usually a base or a
predella, which can include donor figures and may have
an illustration of one of Buddhas teachings or story from
his life.

Characteristics of Buddhist Painting and

Sculpture
Bodhisattva

Ushnisha
Uma
Elongated ears
Mudra

Lotus position

Wheel at bottom
of feet

Predella

Yakshas and Yakshis

Buddhist art also depicts figures called Yakshas (males)
and Yakshis (females)
These are nature spirits that appear frequently in Indian
popular religion.
Their appearance in Buddhist art shows their
incorporation into the Buddhist pantheon
The females often stand in dancelike poses, almost
nude, with their breasts prominently displayed.
The males accentuates male characteristics such as
powerful shoulders and arms.