小さな主役

可愛らしいこちらの仏様は、ギャラリーに来られた方々の隠れた人気者です！

壁に掛けて展示することが多いのですが、今回はちょこんと座っていただきました！

This small Buddha sculpture has proven to be a favorite amongst recent visitors to the gallery. We often display it hanging on the wall, but this time we have placed it directly on the tatami in the display alcove, with only a thin board to act as its base.





奈良・唐招提寺のご本尊、盧舎那仏【るしゃなぶつ】の光背に取り付けられた数百個の小像の一つで、千釈迦や化仏といわれています。

盧舎那仏とは、宇宙全体を構成している一切のものを含む大きな仏をさすということから、この光背に群れる仏像も、大宇宙に無尽にいる仏たちを象徴しているだろうと考えられています。

現在、光背にある仏像は８６４体、当初からの仏はその中の３００数十体だそうです。

そもそもは千釈迦のとおり、１０００体が光背を埋めていたに違いありません。
きっとそのお姿は圧巻だったことでしょう…..

ぜひ、ロンドンギャラリーの小さな主役に会いにいらして下さい♪

This small buddha once adorned the mandorla of the central Vairocana Buddha of the temple Tōshōdaiji in Nara, and is generally known as one of the "Thousand Shakas," or a "Transformation Buddha."

Vairocana is the great cosmic Buddha said to simultaneously represent both emptiness and all things in the universe. The multitude of small buddhas that fill the mandorla behind him represent the infinite number of buddhas found throughout the universe, with the idea that in every conceivable world, a Shaka Buddha will appear.

At present there are 864 of these small buddhas surrounding the central deity of the Tōshōdaiji, just over 300 of which have been there from the time the temple was built in the Nara period (710 - 784). As the name "Thousand Shakas" suggests, there must surely have been 1,000 images originally adorning the mandorla, which would have been an incredible sight to behold.

We hope that you will stop by the gallery soon and see this rare piece of history for yourself.

唐招提寺ホームページ (Link to the Tōshōdaiji homepage):

http://www.toshodaiji.jp/about_kondoh.html