The Buddhas of the Five Directions: Amitabha, Amoghasiddhi, Vairocana, Ratnasambhava and Aksobhya, thirteenth century, Western Tibet. Bronze, height 47 cm
The Palace Museum, Beijing.
Vairocana Buddha from The Buddhas of the Five Directions
In Vajrayana Buddhism, the Five Buddhas, Amitabha, Amoghasiddhi, Vairocana, Ratnasambhava and Aksobhya, represent the five directions or regions (west, north, centre, south and east respectively) and together symbolise the pervasiveness of Buddha nature throughout the cosmos. In this thirteenth-century Tibetan set, the Five Buddhas are differentiated by their hand gestures and wear elaborate crowns and jewellery in their sambhogakaya form, the esoteric body-of-enjoyment visible only to enlightened bodhisattvas or during meditation.
The Five Buddhas’ stiff, triangular torsos and their three-petal, thread-linked crowns and wide lotus thrones are typical of sculptures produced in Western Tibet between the late twelfth and fifteenth centuries. Tibetan monasteries regularly sent such venerable, ancient images to the Qing court as a part of a regular diplomatic exchange that reached its height during the Qianlong reign (1736—95). The Buddhas were installed on an altar in the Fori lou (Buddha Sun Pavilion), a chapel built in 1772 in the northern part of the Ningshou gong (Palace of Tranquil Longevity), the Qianlong Emperor’s retirement villa, which was situated in the northeast section of the Forbidden City (Zijin cheng).
