| This
painting of Sakyamuni Buddha
has him seated upon a lotus in Dhyanasana
meditative position with both legs closely
locked and the soles of both feet are visible.
His hands are cupping a patra, or alms bowl, in
dyanasana mudra with the right hand placed on
top of the left,
Sakyamuni Buddha (tib. Shakya
Tubpa) is known in the Vadjrayana
tradition as the living Buddha. The fourth of
five Buddha's to take a rebirth in this world,
Sakyamuni Buddha is seen from a Tibetan Buddhist
perspective as the teacher of the Buddhist
Reality, preaching an abolition of suffering for
all sentient beings.
In the
Theravada tradition of
Buddhism, Sakyamuni is the one and only Buddha.
A real prince that experienced the pleasures of
life as a member of royal court and the pains of
starvation as an ascetic after renouncing all he
had before settling upon the middle path to
enlightenment that is still followed by monastic
of all orders to this day. Here he is called
Sakyamuni, meaning from the clan of the Sakyas,
however, he has been called by many names such
as: Guatama, Siddartha, and the Buddha which
means simply, "The Enlightened One". As the
historical founder of Buddhism, Sakyamuni is
greatly revered throughout the entire Buddhist
world as the ideal.
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