The Arduous Path to Enlightenment

When one tries to mentally visualize the Shakyamuni Buddha, the foremost image that comes to mind is probably that of his tranquil countenance paired with a well-proportioned physique. However, a few rare sculptures of the Buddha, originating in the Gandhara region, powerfully disrupt this popular image of the great preacher.

Fasting Buddha Shakyamuni, Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The Buddhist sculptural tradition acts as a visual reminder of the unique way of life that Shakyamuni Buddha introduced: the Middle Path. The sculptures of the Buddha, through their postures, proportions, mudras and symbolism, embody the philosophy of a balanced and moderate approach to life. However, a rare genre of sculptures known as the “Emaciated Buddha” or the “Fasting Buddha” seems to turn this idea on its head. These figures depict a skeletal and starving image of the Shakyamuni- torso with ribs jutting out, visible veins and tendons, a hollow abdomen almost touching the back, and a shrunken face with deep craters for eyes!

Sculptural representations of the Emaciated Buddha are sparse. To date, only eight such figures have been found that include excavations as well as 19th and 20th-century collections. The most popular among these are, (a) a seated headless figure, (b) a head without a body, both located in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and (c) a complete seated figure sporting a beard, located in Pakistan’s Lahore Museum. These representations are believed to belong to the period between the 2nd and 5th century CE and are a part of the larger artistic and sculptural traditions that flourished in the Gandhara region at the time.

Emaciated Buddha, Lahore Museum, Source: Flickr

While the starved state of the Buddha in these sculptures is undoubtedly linked to the depletion of the body due to austerities, the opinions of scholars have differed regarding the context of the image in the life of the Buddha. The popular notion has been that these sculptures depicted the 6 years of severe asceticism that the Buddha practised before he renounced the path of extreme penance. It is said that, after 6 long years of rigorous asceticism, the Buddha realised that it was the Middle Path, rather than severe austerities or conversely extreme indulgence, that led one to Enlightenment.

However, in the last few decades, scholars have highlighted the fact that the iconography of some of the Emaciated Buddha sculptures is consistent with sculptural representations of Buddha’s state of Enlightenment. For example, in the headless fasting figure of the Metropolitan Museum, the Buddha is shown as being seated on a layer of Kusha grass, an important symbolic element associated with the event of the Buddha’s Enlightenment. Again, the panel below (the figure of the Buddha) depicts the first sermon offered by him to five ascetics, right after attaining Enlightenment. Hence, scholars such as Robert Brown argue that the state of starvation depicted in the Emaciated Buddha sculptures is linked to an event after his Enlightenment- a period of fasting that he undertook for 49 days. Thus, the fasting sculptures are believed to symbolize the state of Enlightenment itself.

Head of Fasting Buddha, Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The stirring image of the “Emaciated Buddha” was a powerful assertion that the path to Enlightenment consisted of an arduous journey of self-awareness, control and mortification. It brought forth the significant question of the place of asceticism within the Buddhist tradition. Otherwise considered incompatible with the Middle Path, the ideal of asceticism, however, managed to linger on in Buddhism. In the context of 2nd- 5th century CE Gandhara, the fasting Buddha sculptures probably aimed to present him as the “great yogi” or the “first among ascetics” in a bid to attract lay followers (probably non-Buddhists) who held such mastery over the senses as well as the body in great esteem. While Buddhism introduced several radical ideas, it evidently did not entirely break away from dominant spiritual traditions and ideals of the time, such as asceticism.