Buddha Dipankara - New York City, NY
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Metro2
N 40° 46.720 W 073° 57.767
18T E 587523 N 4514704
Buddha Dipankara lived long before Gautama, the historical Buddha.
This sculpture is located at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Waymark Code: WMMZ1F
Location: New York, United States
Date Posted: 11/26/2014
Views: 6
The Museum's website (
visit link) informs us:
"Stele with Buddha Dipankara (Randeng)
Period: Northern Wei dynasty (386–534)
Date: dated 489–95
Culture: China
Medium: Sandstone with traces of pigment
Dimensions: H. 127 in. (322.6 cm); W. 75 in. (190.5 cm); D. 28 in. (71.1 cm); H. with base: 137 in. (348 cm)
Classification: Sculpture
Credit Line: The Sackler Collections, Purchase, The Sackler Fund, 1965
Accession Number: 65.29.3
On view in Gallery 206
The inscription on the back of this stele identifies the Buddha depicted on the front as Dipankara, who was thought to have lived before the historical Buddha Shakyamuni. He is shown here attended by a group of small figures wearing the clothing of the Xianbei, the non- Han Chinese peoples who ruled as the Northern Wei dynasty. The smaller standing figure to the Buddha's right may represent a youth named Sumedha, who was destined to become the historical Buddha in another lifetime. The imagery of this large sculpture is therefore intended to illustrate the promise of enlightenment or the possibility of enlightenment in a future life. In Buddhism, the achievement of this advanced spiritual state is the goal of all practitioners."