佛像鉴定鉴赏收藏

尺寸：H. 13.4 cm x W. 10.9 cm x D. 7.4 cm
年代：13世纪
质地：合金铜
风格：西藏
来源：旧金山亚洲艺术博物馆
参阅：外部链接
鉴赏：

Despite his diminutive size, the Vajrasattva is one of the most important figures in the practice of Vajrayana Buddhism. He sits in crossed-legged fashion, but with a certain dynamism to his pose. He holds a symbolic thunderbolt (vajra) to his heart, while he holds his bell (ghanta) inverted at his waist, as if he had just silenced it. Taken together, the vajra and the bell symbolize compassion and wisdom, the two components of enlightenment.

Every aspect of Vajrasattva is laden with symbolism understood to catalyze meditative states and spiritual progress. For example, his ten toes represent the five male and female buddhas in an important early meditative system, while his two feet indicate that he remains neither in samsara, the endless cycle of suffering, nor nirvana, in which all suffering is literally “blown away.”