The Indian Buddhist Iconography
by Benoytosh Bhattachacharyya | 1958 | 51,392 words | ISBN-10: 8173053138 | ISBN-13: 9788173053139
This page contains an iconography image of Bodhisattva Maitreya and represents figure 65 of the book Indian Buddhist Iconography, based on extracts of the Sadhanamala English translation. These plates and illustrations represent either photographs of sculptures or line-drawing reproductions of paintings or other representations of Buddhist artwork.
Figure 65 - Bodhisattva Maitreya
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Figure 65: Maitreya
The Bodhisattva Maitreya who is supposed to be waiting in the Tuṣita heaven in order to come down to earth as the Future Buddha is described several times in the Niṣpamiayogāvalī. Maitreya heads the list of Bodhisattvas in the Mañjuvajra Maṇḍala. Although he takes the form of his spiritual sires Vairocana and Akṣobhya two of his independent forms are nevertheless available.
In the Chinese collection his statuettes occur at least six times and he is variously represented. The Nāgakeśara flower is his chief recognition symbol both in China and in India. He is found also in Tibet. Fig. 65 is a Nepalese drawing of the Bodhisattva.
Colour: golden yellow;
Symbol: nāgakeśara flower;