terms such as sahajakaya,“embodiment of co-presence
(of nirvana and samsara),” or mahasukhakaya,“em-
bodiment of great bliss” (the tantrically embodied bliss
of nondual wisdom and means; Snellgrove, p. 251).
Japanese PURELANDBUDDHISM(Jodoshu, Jodo
Shinshu) has emphasized the transcendental power
of buddhahood embodied in the sambhogakaya
Amitabha. Because this is the period of the DECLINE
OF THE DHARMA(mappo), it is argued, people are no
longer able to accomplish the path through their own
power but must rely upon the buddha Amitabha,
whose power to take the devotee into his pure field
at death is received in faith through recitation of his name
(NENBUTSU[CHINESE, NIANFO; KOREAN, YO ̆MBUL]). Zen
traditions, on the other hand, based upon the doctrine
of buddha nature, have emphasized the immanence and
immediacy of enlightenment. Through Zen practice, it
is said, buddhahood complete with all kayasis to be dis-
covered intimately within one’s present mind, body, and
world. So the Japanese eighteenth-century Zen teacher
HAKUINEKAKUwrote, “This very place, the pure lotus
land; this very body, the buddha body.”
See also:Buddhanusmrti (Recollection of the Bud-
dha); Relics and Relics Cults
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Nagao, Gadjin. “On the Theory of Buddha-Body (Buddha-
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Snellgrove, David. Indo-Tibetan Buddhism.Boston: Shambhala,
1987.
Strong, John S. The Legend of King As ́oka: A Study and Trans-
lation of the As ́okavadana.Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univer-
sity Press, 1983.
Williams, Paul M. Mahayana Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foun-
dations.New York: Routledge, 1989.JOHNJ. MAKRANSKYBUDDHA IMAGESBuddha images—whether they are Indian, Thai, Chi-
nese, or Japanese—are usually readily recognizable.
The date an image was created rarely confuses its iden-
tification as Buddhist because the iconography of the
Buddha image has remained constant almost from the
earliest invention of the image type, even though the
style of the figure has varied depending on date and
geographical location. The term iconographyrefers to
the forms or characteristics of an image, whereas style
refers to the ways in which these forms or characteris-
tics are crafted or made.
The iconography of the Buddha image includes rep-
resenting the Buddha as a MONK, wearing a monk’s
robe, and with his hair shaved. A monk wears two or
three simple items of clothing, including an untailored
and unsewn undercloth (antaravasaka), a rectangular
cloth worn like a skirt that reaches to the ankles and
is folded under at the waist or belted with a piece of
cloth. An upper garment (uttarasan ̇ga), a second rec-
tangular cloth held behind the back and thrown over
the shoulders like a shawl, is worn over the undercloth.
There are two ways to wear it, either covering both
shoulders or under the right armpit. A third cloth,
which is rarely worn, except in cold climates, is some-
times folded and placed over the left shoulder during
special ceremonial occasions. The actual monk’s robes
are dyed in shades of yellow. This simple attire can usu-
ally be discerned on Buddha images, although artists
tended to arrange the cloth in various decorative ways,
such as producing a perfectly symmetrical fall of the
robe on both sides of the body, or fashioning the folds
in rhythmic patterns.
Monks shave the HAIRon their heads and faces, and
the Buddha performed the tonsure on himself when
he left his palace and courtly life for that of a wan-
dering mendicant. With a stroke of his sword he re-
moved his long topknot, and some texts note that the
remaining hair formed small curls that turned toward
the right. Indian artists by the second century C.E.de-
picted the Buddha’s hair as small ringlets over theBUDDHAIMAGES