佛像鉴定鉴赏收藏

尺寸：21.6 x 15.4 x 18 cm
年代：16世纪(桃山时代)
质地：木雕彩绘(Wood with pigmented lacquer)
风格：日本
来源：纽约布鲁克林博物馆
参阅：外部链接
鉴赏：
Ascetic Shakyamuni (Momoyama Period, 桃山时代)

Depicting an image of the Buddha emaciated after a long period of fasting, this work is meant to demonstrate major principles of the Buddhist religion. Biographies of the Buddha describe the early phases of his religious quest, trying multiple paths in an attempt to reach enlightenment. On one of these paths—fasting—the Buddha found that his entire experience was spent thinking about his body’s needs, ultimately posing so much of a distraction that he was unable to engage in true spiritual thought. This discovery that extreme self-denial is not the path to enlightenment became a central tenet of Buddhism. Instead the Buddha began to encourage others to follow a middle path—one that was neither filled with excess nor deprived of basic needs—as a means of achieving the greatest religious experience. This image of the ascetic Sakyamuni is a cautionary reminder of those ideals.