This portrait of Gautama Buddha (Sakyamuni Buddha) is depicted by Xia Jing Shan using ink lines and texturing and rubbing techniques. It combines Western realism techniques and uses heavy colors to give this deity portrait three-dimensional quality.
Before enlightenment, the artwork reflected Gautama Buddha when he was an aristocrat in the Shakya clan in southern Nepal. Seen on top of his head is an ushnisha, and as described in The Explanation of the Scripture on Measurements for the Making of Buddhist Images, ushnisha, a fleshy or cranial protuberance at the top of the head of the Buddha, is a crown protrusion, and the larger it is the greater the wisdom one has. According to Indian legends, ushnisha is one of the 32 major marks of a great man. Xia's inscription on the painting explains what is Buddhism, which is great wisdom attained through self-learning, self-meditation, self-verification, self-enlightenment, and self-accomplishment. One’s own Buddha-nature could only be seen with an enlightened heart, and only then could one transcend beyond the torment of mortality.
简中｜释迦牟尼佛
Paintings
Xia Jing Shan
color on paper
138X73.4
2012
題跋：佛出現於世是一大事，因緣眾生都有佛性，祇因執著妄想不能證得，世間萬有如夢幻，為佛語是真實，佛法是以自學自修自證自成，就是以大智慧得解脫，不是心外求法。於北京夏荊山敬書。佛法就是靈覺妙心西方呌，靈魂無形無相遍虛空，不生不滅不垢亦不淨，是萬法之母，肉身壞死它自然另投生，就是另一人生的開始，這是真實，唯有明心見性破無明，才能脫生死苦海的輪輾。印記：佛光普照、夏荊山、聖像妙法廣結善緣、夏氏荊山、楠竹居士、佛像肖印、夏氏荊山藏畫、聖像妙法寶鑑、夏氏聖像萬法、荊山藏畫
NB-00077
