Statue

Carved grey limestone statue with traces of color of a standing Sakyamuni Buddha in varada and abhaya mudras. Sakyamuni is the historical Buddha. Born as Siddhartha Gautama in 563 BCE, he preached to his followers that it was possible to break the endless cycle of birth and rebirth through enlightenment. The backside of the Buddha has an inscription that gives the date and place of origin of the staute as well as scences that depict the early life of the Budhha. The Buddha's miraculous birth from his mother's hip is shown by his emergence from his mother's sleeve. Other scences illustrate deities receiving the newborn Buddha. The Buddha is carved in high relief against a mandorla with earth deities bearing censers, apsaras and flames in low relief. Back is carved with scenes of the Buddha's nativity, baptism, the "seven steps" and the birth of Kanthaka, the Buddha's horse. The date, provenience and names of donors are inscribed below. The inscription states it was made on the 8th day of the 2nd moon of the 4th year of Wuding of Great Wei (March 25, 546 CE) by the priests of the Qixian Monastery (栖賢寺) of Jiaozuo. The ancient site of this city is in the southwest of the modern Wuzhi District, Huaizhou (懷州) prefecture, in the city of Qinyang (沁陽) Henan province.