Standing Buddha

c. 800s

Standing Buddha, c. 800s. Burma (Myanmar). Kaolinite; overall: 13.9 cm (5 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1973.159 This small sculpture was probably part of a set of eight main scenes from the life of the Buddha, each identified by a specific hand gesture. When the standing Buddha gestures down with his right hand, with the palm facing out, he usually signals his miraculous descent from the Heaven of the Thirty-three Gods, where he once spent a monsoon season giving teachings to his mother. She died shortly after his birth and was reborn in the heaven. The robe is covered with flowers on the front and back, possibly alluding to the flowers falling from heaven as the Buddha descended back to earth.