File:Buddha and the gospel of Buddhism (1916) (14595187599).jpg

Identifier: buddhagospelofbu01coom (find matches)
Title: Buddha and the gospel of Buddhism
Year: 1916 (1910s)
Authors: Coomaraswamy, Ananda Kentish, 1877-1947
Subjects: Buddha and Buddhism
Publisher: New York, G. P. Putnam's sons
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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h these enchanted scenes the figure of onewhose heart is set on a more distant goal, and feels aninfinite compassion for all born beings whose sweetdelights are subject to mortality (Plate CC). It isjust because the mediaeval Buddhist consciousness haslearnt so well to understand the value of the world thatthe figure of One who seeks to save all creatures fromthis radiant phenomenal life appears so tragic. It is not that I do not value these my tusks, says theBodhisattva elephant in the Chaddanta Jdtaka, northat I desire the status of a god, but because the tusks ofInfinite Wisdom are dearer to me a thousand times thanthese, that I yield you these, good hunter.It is to be observed, too, that the spiritual Superman isnever poor and despised, but always freely endowed withthe lordship and the wealth of the world, he does notscorn the company of beautiful women. Dharma, artka,and kdma, social virtue, wealth, and the pleasures of thesenses are his, and yet the Bodhisattvas thoughts are334
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Plate C C 334 BODHISATTVA, PERHAPS AVALOKITESVARAAjanta fresco (6th-7th century a.d.) Classic Buddhist Art not diverted from the fourth human end of rnoksha,salvation. So far from the rich man representing thetype of him who cannot enter the kingdom of heaven,riches and power are represented as the natural evidenceof goodness; and without such riches and such powerhow could the Bodhisattvas supernatural generosity besufficiently displayed ? Up to this point, of course, we have spoken rather ofethics than of art. It is not, however, the literally Buddhistsubject-matter of Ajanta art that makes it so profoundlymoving—we do not need to know what the paintings wereabout before we are able to feel their significance. Artistspainted thus, not because they were Buddhists, but becausethey were artists. The intellectual and logical content,the narrative element is so entirely subordinate to directemotion that it is sometimes difficult to realize that thesubject of all the Ajanta paintings is

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