This painting of
Sakyamuni Buddha has him seated upon a lotus in Dhyanasana meditative position with both
legs closely locked and the soles of both feet are visible. His hands are cupping a
patra, or alms bowl, in dyanasana mudra with the right hand placed on top of the left,
Sakyamuni Buddha (tib.
Shakya Tubpa) is known in the Vadjrayana tradition as the living Buddha. The
fourth of five Buddha's to take a rebirth in this world, Sakyamuni Buddha is seen from a
Tibetan Buddhist perspective as the teacher of the Buddhist Reality, preaching an
abolition of suffering for all sentient beings.
In the Theravada
tradition of Buddhism, Sakyamuni is the one and only Buddha. A real prince that
experienced the pleasures of life as a member of royal court and the pains of starvation
as an ascetic after renouncing all he had before settling upon the middle path to
enlightenment that is still followed by monastic of all orders to this day. Here he
is called Sakyamuni, meaning from the clan of the Sakyas, however, he has been called by
many names such as: Guatama, Siddartha, and the Buddha which means simply, "The
Enlightened One". As the historical founder of Buddhism, Sakyamuni is greatly
revered throughout the entire Buddhist world as the ideal.
