[Buddha-l] Meditating Buddha

[Richard Nance]

On 1/19/06, Stefan Detrez <stefan.detrez at gmail.com> wrote:

> Archetypical for Buddhist art is a meditating Buddha. However, one can
> wonder WHY a Buddha has to meditate, assuming the he/she is enlightened, and
> enlightenment excludes the necessity of (further) meditation.

Stefan -- in thinking about this question, it might be useful to step
back and reflect on why depictions of Buddhas meditating (or engaging
in other activities) were offered at all. This shifts the question
slightly: rather than asking "Why do Buddhas meditate?" we can ask
"Why was art and literature created in which Buddhas were portrayed as
meditating?"

Of course, there may be all sorts of answers to the latter question --
and any simple answer is bound to be reductionistic. But here's a
thought that might go some distance toward answering your original
question. If one reads the depictions of Buddhas (whether in suttas or
in images) as not simply concerned with what we would call
*description*, but also with what we would call *prescription*, then
the problem you've raised dissolves. These depictions may have been
created to offer Buddhists -- most of whom are not perfectly awakened
beings -- models of exemplary conduct. If this is right, then the
depictions do not simply aim to chart what Buddhas do (or did), but
what a Buddhist should do if he or she wishes to become (like) a
Buddha.

Best wishes,

R. Nance