Saturday, November 14, 2009

the naked guy looks like Buddha

a late seventh-century seated Rshabha, from Bihar, Eastern India

Jainism co-existed with Buddhism in India and still does. The belief structure sees the world as a complex machine-like system, with what we see as the earth being a small section of the cosmos. Life unfolds with alarming violence. Periodically a savior-like figure appears to lead us with wisdom, dwelling among us for a time and then becoming divine, rising to a higher place, like the moon. Interesting that while the beliefs co-exist, the art of Buddhism and Jainism are similar because many of the artists created pieces, paintings, sculpture, even literature for patrons of both beliefs. Artists can cross blurred lines of religion, politics, nation-states, and other man-made systems. Were there believers who believed in both ways of thinking? Seems possible...

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