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The tradition of Buddhism began in India with Siddhartha Gautama
around the year 500 BCE. This is about the same time that the
great Hindu Epic traditions of the Mahabharata and Ramayana appear.
It was a period of great social change in India, with Vedic traditions,
already ancient, taking new form in the Upanashadic interest in
the ultimate reality behind the Vedic ceremonial, and the development
of systems of Yogic practice. Sects devoted to shear materialism,
such as the Ajivakas, and sects devoted to self denial in the
name of non-violence, such as Jainism, were current during the
Buddha's life. One of the reasons Buddhism stood the test of time
was it's constant insistence on finding a "Middle Way," a pathway
between the various extremes of action, belief, and understanding.
The Sutras, or discourses of the Buddha, constantly expound a
way of finding a happy medium. The extremist practices and philosophies
of other schools did not, generally, stand the test of time.
It should be remembered that at about the same time the Buddha
found his Enlightenment in India, Taoist sages in China, under
the name Lao Tsu, were beginning to put down into words the wisdom
of the Tao Te Ching, "The Knowledge of the Way." This is also
a period when Persian religion, or Zoroastrianism, was at a height.
This was the period of Plato's Academy, and a high point in the
Egyptian successions of Pharaohs. In the literary traditions of
the world, a period of Enlightenment is evidenced, while in those
cultures where written words were not yet in use, monuments of
stone remain to speak of a time of great human development.
In the art works presented here, which date from the 12th to the
18th centuries CE, there is a reminiscence of the period of Enlightenment
in which the Buddha lived, while there is constant evidence of
the international cultural, commercial, intellectual, and religious
interchange that was very strong by this time. The images that
we have from this time and place speak of a great meeting and
melding of traditions, the construction in time of an umbrella
that would shelter peoples of many lands and cultures from the
ravages of a changing world, and offer artistic clues into the
diverse cultural, linguistic, economic, and religious interaction
that was taking, and continues, to take place |
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