Buddha’s
Universal Awakening
(published in the NEGAAS Newsletter, Dec 2014)
Buddha
Portrait entitled "The Grand Awakening"
Oil
on canvas, 100x86 cm
Artist Sandhya Regmi
Through the theme "Faces of Buddha”, I have
portrayed several dimensions of Buddha including the link of Buddha with Nepal
and have wished to convey Buddha’s message to a larger society in the world.
Buddha has a variety of faces in different parts of
the world such as Singapore, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Laos, Vietnam and
Cambodia. To my astonishment, I have seen the crafting of the same Buddha in
diverse faces in these countries. For example, Cambodian Buddha is depicted
with relatively flat nose- reflecting the common faces of his followers there,
and the Chinese Buddha- the God of
happiness, good-luck and fortune worshipped in Vietnam (and in other parts of
the world by Chinese Buddhists) – is reflected
with a round face and a big belly.
No craftsmen knew exactly how Buddha exactly looked
like. Hence his image is a resultant of the accuracy with which his followers
understood Buddha’s real look, the accuracy with which they explained it to the
craftsmen and the accuracy with which the craftsmen portrayed the image with
their own skill, experience and imagination.
In this process, Buddha’s faces have been localized distinctly in
different parts of the world. In this context, one noticeable feature in many
faces of Buddha is his crown, probably to reflect the fact that he was once a handsome
crown prince or to symbolize of his attainment of enlightenment and Nirvana.
In most of my portraits of Buddha, he has been
painted with the dazzling crown on his head, in mighty silence, in serene-peaceful-moonlit
heavenly appearance, in radiant meditation, in a form of magical aura - radiant
star, in a form of sparkling
wisdom & illumination- approaching Nirvana, in perennial meditation position,
in deep contemplation, in a pose of supreme sacrifice, in a form of Heavenly
resolution- closing his eyes and, in some paintings, in the form of half-opened
eyes. Some of my paintings depict
Buddha in the form of an innocent child - Baby Buddha, Little Buddha, filled
with innocent charm, sacred smile and divine whisper.
The realization of ‘Everest- tenderness’ in Buddha motivated me to paint the female
face of Buddha as a delicate, affectionate and motherly woman. In one of my portraits,
Buddha has been depicted in red and romantic background as a ‘Prince in Love’
to reflect the fact that he was once a crown Prince, very deep in love with
Mayadevi, his mother, Yashodhara, his wife, and Rahul, his
child. The faces of the
stone-carved Cambodian Buddha have weathered all over the centuries, and in
some cases, tree roots have passed through them. I have painted them as they
are, and entitled them as ‘Meditation in the Forest’ and ‘In Harmony with
Nature’.
In some of my portraits, Hinduism and Shivaism are
fused with Buddhism, and Lord Buddha’s face has been painted in union with the
Hindu Gods such as the ‘Four-Faced’ Bramha, the ‘Nilakantha’ Shiva and the ‘Svayam Bhagavan’ Krishna, intending to deliver the message that certain elements of
Buddhism exist even in Hinduism.
Buddhism is a religion only to the extent that it is
characterized by devotional practices and rituals to Buddha. However, it
neither involves belief in a creator God nor seeks to define itself by
reference to a religious belief. In addition, Buddhism has been described as a
philosophy, a way of life, a code of ethics, and science of mind. In sharp contrast to
other religions, even an ordinary person can, in the course of life, can attain
‘Enlightenment’ and become Buddha himself or herself.
Reincarnation of Buddha
The reincarnation
series of paintings have depicted the fact that elements of Buddha exist in
ordinary people, and that everybody is capable of marching towards the path of
Enlightenment and transforming herself/himself into Buddha. We must understand
that the elements of Buddha exist in each individual. It is just a matter of
degree. Given that Buddha is a union of a particular state of mind and of
action, each individual is capable of adjusting the extent of Buddha in
him/her. What all the monks portrayed in the series of ‘Reincarnation of
Buddha’ have in common is that they all have the origin in Nepal, the place
where Siddhartha Gautam Buddha was born. Each of them has taken a different
route, but all tracks merge into one at the point of attaining the enlightenment
('gyana').
Each Buddha is an enlightened teacher as Siddhartha
Gautam who shared his insights to help people overcome sufferings ('dukkha'), to eliminate ignorance ('agyana') and finally to put an end to all the sufferings
and ultimately to attain the sublime state of 'Nirvaņa' ('mokshya'), a state of
extreme peace and happiness that a person achieves after giving up all personal
desires, materialism and worldly affairs.
These days all over the world, campaigns are going
on to highlight the fact that Buddha was born in Nepal. So as to enhance this
very fact, I have emphasized through the portraits that Buddha was not only
born in Nepal, but also being reincarnated in this country in different forms
irrespective of gender and religion. This is the beginning of a really big and
broad mission with a nationalistic touch and its radiations should continuously
spread far and wide to safeguard the purity of humanity. It is hoped that my
paintings associated with it will tempt the entire world to crave for such
wonderful, multiple reincarnations, ultimately leading to a supreme sense of
universal relief from the ever-expanding anxiety and suffering.
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