Buddhism

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Buddhism is one of the oldest religions of the world. Gautama Siddhartha (also known as Gautama Buddha or Shakyamuni Buddha) is the founder of Buddhism who was born as a Hindu prince but he scarified his luxurious lifestyle in order to attain enlightenment. Siddhartha was raised in a palace where he was shunned from the worldly miseries or ills. However, after seeing sick and dead people in the streets, Siddhartha began to think about human suffering. That is why Siddhartha fled from his palace seek the meaning of life and a mean to escape from suffering. Siddhartha succeeded in his quest and attained enlightenment at Bodh Gaya, India. It was after gaining enlightenment that Siddhartha was acknowledged as the Buddha which simply means a fully enlightened person or an awakened being. Nevertheless, Buddhism did not spread until Buddha decided to share his experience and gave his very first sermon in Sarnath (A Deer Park), India. The first sermon of Buddha contributed in the establishment, development and spread of Buddhism as a religion. This is also where the Buddhist “Sangha” (community) came to existence. In order to gain a better understanding of Buddhism, I visited “The Metropolitan Museum of Art” and “Chuang Yen Monastery”. By visiting these sites, I was able to notice many things discussed in the class including the usage of symbolism in art. In “The Metropolitan Museum of Art”, I had the chance to observe the sculptures of Buddha and Bodhisattva (enlightened beings who help others seek their enlightenment refuse instead of embracing Nirvana) from India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Korea etc. The sculptures of Buddha and Bodhisattva from different regions of Asia were sculpted in different manner and their features also differed from each other. Figure 1.1, presents the statue of Buddha from India during the “Gupta period, late 6th–early 7th century”. One thing which

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