Is This a Photograph of the Buddha?
Is this a real photograph of the Buddha?
(By Tsem Rinpoche)
A curious, yet ethereal photograph of Lord Buddha has been in circulation for quite some time. Supposedly a photograph taken of Siddhartha Gautama, also known as Buddha Shakyamuni, it raises a lot more questions than answers. According to rumours, the photograph was taken by a devotee visiting the holy site of Bodhgaya. After taking a seemingly normal photograph of the Bodhi tree, under which the ancient Prince Siddhartha Gautama meditated and gained full enlightenment, the likeness of the Buddha appeared once the photograph was developed.
The figure that appeared is of a young man in meditative lotus posture, with large hands, meditator’s top knot, and large ears, said to be representative of the Buddha hearing the sounds of the world, especially the cries of sentient beings suffering under the influence of their heavy negative karma. The figure also appears with a very handsome face, including large eye lashes and full lips.
Appearing again and again over the course of the years, the photograph has been featured on the front page of a national newspaper in Sri Lanka, and a copy even hangs at a Theravadan monastery and nunnery, named the Bhavana Society, in West Virginia, USA.
Obviously, the devotee who supposedly took the photograph was not actually present during the time that Buddha Shakyamuni lived, therefore the photograph could have been the result of some form of paranormal occurrence. Could this have been the result of the immense energies that were left at the sacred site of Lord Buddha’s enlightenment? Was the devotee’s camera able to capture these energies and somehow show us what Buddha Shakyamuni actually looked like?
The Truth of Art
As it turns out, this photograph is actually of an oil painting named “The Buddha’s Temptation”. Completed in 1921 by the Spanish artist Eduardo Chicharro Aguera (1873 – 1949), it now hangs in the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando Museum in Madrid. Comparing the photograph with the painting, we can see the hands and the halo are exactly the same, as are all the other defining features. The Museum’s description of the piece in an interesting read:
Eduardo Chicharro Aguera (Madrid, 1873 – 1949)
“Buddha’s Temptations” 1921
Oil on Canvas, 2.90 x 3.66 meters. Signed and dated E. Chicharro 1921.While serving as director of the Spanish Fine Arts Academy in Rome, Chicharro achieved his most ambitious painting, after many preparatory drawings and sketches. He spent five years on the canvas itself. The name Buddha means Illuminated: this young prince has wandered for years seeking the light and now receives it under a ficus, the sacred tree of Buddhism. Motionless and absorbed, he ignores the Apsaras, daughters of Evil, who try to seduce him: Flattery and her sister Adulation, Lust with a panther body, Tenderness, lying at his feet, Voluptuousness on a rich red drapery.
Lakshmi, India’s answer to Venus, appears riding an elephant. Another wicked Apsara, with a many-hued veil, takes on the figure of the beautiful young wife this prince has left behind. This work was awarded the Honors Medal at the 1922 Spanish National Exhibition, and the same year Chicharro was elected a member of the San Fernando Royal Academy.
Purchased in 2001 with the Giutarte Bequest.
Source: http://www.borsheimarts.com/news/2014_04-Madrid-Prado-Thyssen-BellasArtesSanFernando-Museums.htm#sthash.6a1FkPTr.dpuf
The original painting of “The Buddha’s Temptation” by Eduardo Chicharro Aguera. Click to enlarge.
The painting depicts Prince Siddhartha sitting under the Bodhi tree, ignoring the advances of the daughters of Mara. It portrays one of the most iconic parts of the night of his enlightenment when Mara tried in vain to tempt the prince away from his path to become the Buddha (a term which stems from the root budh or budhi, meaning awakened, or enlightened).
The Defeat of Mara
After Prince Siddhartha had left his princely life, upon witnessing the four sights of old age, sickness, death, and a mendicant monk; he engaged in severe austerities for six years under the tutelage of the famous sage Arada of the Kalama clan, and Rudraka Ramaputra. Following their teachings and techniques, he attained the highest levels of samsaric meditation. Upon realising that these methods would not lead to what he was truly searching for, Prince Siddhartha decided to leave his ascetic practices.
The Prince Siddhartha accepting rice pudding from Sujata. Click to enlarge.
Accepting rice pudding from Sujata, the daughter of a local cowherd, the prince regained his physical strength, which gave him renewed conviction to be successful in his quest for the truth. Arranging a bed of kusha grass under a pipal tree, as his seat, the prince vowed not to rise from the spot until he had attained full enlightenment, even if this meant giving up his own life. As he sat down in full-lotus posture, with his resolute aspiration, it is said that Mara began to tremble in fear, for he knew that once the bodhisattva prince became enlightened, the prince would forever be beyond the samsaric influence of self-deception and ignorance that Mara embodied. Mara knew that if the bodhisattva prince was to gain the fully enlightened mind, he would lead others along the same path, and his influence over countless others would likewise be diminished. While Prince Siddhartha had his conviction to learn the truth about existence and suffering, Mara resolved to try and stop the prince’s efforts in any way possible.
Mara attacked the bodhisattva Prince Siddhartha in four successive waves:
1. During the first wave, Mara tried to dissuade the prince from his sacred mission using simple intimidation. Reminding the prince of his royal background, he goaded the prince to follow the path that was already set out for him, as a prince who would become king, and that his dear family longed for him ever so much. Here, Mara took on the guise of worldly ‘duty’ in order to fulfil his mission. Steadfast to see his aim completed, the prince remained composed and took no heed of Mara’s advances.
The daughters of Mara trying to seduce Prince Siddhartha away from his meditation.
2. When this tactic turned out to be futile, Mara summoned his sons, daughters and demonic horde, and held a council to decide how next to proceed. It was decided that Mara proceed in the guise of Kamadeva, the god of love and desire, it order to tempt the prince away from his meditation. Appearing in the celestial garb of the gods, and accompanied by his daughters, who took on the seductive forms of apsaras, or semi-divine enchantresses, they sought to fill the prince with lust and desire. Raising his bow made of flowers, strung with a line of humming honey bees, mirroring the celestial bow of love held by the real Kamadeva, he shot an arrow made of lust at the prince. However, the arrow simply hung in the air and then fell by the wayside harmlessly. The part of this story where the daughters of Mara try to seduce Prince Siddhartha away from his meditation is what Eduardo Chicharro Aguera depicts in his painting “Buddha’s Temptations.”
3. Angered over his failed attempt, Mara decided to engage his entire horde against the prince. Taking on the guise of the terrifying Lord of Death, Mara mounted his war elephant, and attacked the prince head on. His deformed and frightening horde brandished weapons of many different types, including swords, maces, lances, knives, bows and arrows, javelins, and many more. Their war cries and screams challenged the prince and shook the heavens. But their efforts were fruitless. As they hurled their weapons towards the prince, they froze in mid-air, either falling harmlessly to the ground, or were transformed into fragrant lotus petals, which floated peacefully to adorn the ground at the prince’s feet.
Mara, as the Lord of Death, attacking Prince Siddhartha.
4. Understanding that the prince no longer had gross karma to be affected by physical weapons and violence, Mara realised he had to take a different approach. During the fourth wave, he challenged the bodhisattva prince as to why he dared sit on a seat that rightfully belonged to him. Launching whirlwinds, raging tides, and waves of blazing fire against the prince, Mara tried his all, to no avail. Finally, the bodhisattva prince spoke and told Mara that he had earned the right to sit on the sacred throne of enlightenment due to his practice of the six perfections throughout innumerable lifetimes. He challenged Mara back, asking him what witness he had to testify that he had also spent countless lifetimes practicing the six perfections, which would have earned him the right to sit on the kusha grass seat of enlightenment. Mara replied the challenge with another challenge, asking who the prince had as his own witness. It was at that point, the bodhisattva prince touched the earth with his right hand, and proclaimed “The earth is my witness”. The thunderous roar of the earth shaking, drowned out the war cries of Mara’s horde. In some accounts, the earth goddess herself, Pritvi, appeared and declared “I bear witness.” Wringing a great deluge from her flowing hair, she washed away Mara and his demonic horde.
After bearing witness, the Goddess of the Earth is said to have washed Mara’s army away in a deluge from her hair. Click to enlarge.
Thus, Mara, the embodiment of self-deception and ignorance was vanquished, and as the air cleared, the crystal-like moon shone brightly in the night sky, while the prince entered meditative absorption with stainless concentration. As his meditation deepened, with the sacred motivation to discover the truth of existence and the path out of suffering, the bodhisattva prince achieved levels of major spiritual attainments as he progressed towards enlightenment.
During the first watch of the night, the prince attained the opening of his divine eye, using which he was able to turn his attention to his countless previous lives. He saw how he had been born in all realms, as all sentient beings, had lived as all genders, eaten all types of foods, and lived the lives of many people both virtuous and non-virtuous. Through this he came to the realisation that everyone in samsaric existence is linked, and saw himself in relation to all other sentient beings, throughout the course of many lifetimes.
The Buddha realised the law of karma, cyclic existence and that ignorance is the cause of all suffering.
During the second watch of the night, moved by compassion that sprung forth from his mind after realising that he had known all sentient beings and the want to free them from their suffering, his divine sight widened. He was now able to comprehend the laws of cause and effect, also known as karma, and how through ignorance sentient beings are bound to suffer an unending cycle of fortunate and unfortunate circumstances, drowning in birth, sickness, old age, and death.
It was during the third night of the watch that he resolved to find the means to end all suffering. Through his thorough understanding of karma, cyclic existence, and it causes he came to the realisation of the four noble truths: that suffering exists, suffering has its causes, suffering can cease, and the path to the cessation of suffering. Thus, by the end of the third watch, as the sun began to rise, he removed all traces of self-deception and ignorance from his mind stream. Arising from under the pipal tree, which is now known as the Bodhi tree, the price achieved full and complete enlightenment – Buddhahood. From this point onwards he was known as Gautama Buddha, or Buddha Shakyamuni.
Ethereal Photography
As we have seen, the legend of Buddha’s enlightenment is vast to say the least, and this was but one episode, although one of the most important of his life story. Though it is clearly evident that the photograph above is not of the real Buddha meditating under the Bodhi tree, images of ethereal beings have been appearing in photographs for hundreds of years.
In fact, during the late 19th century, there arose a phenomenon known as Spirit Photography. This type of photography’s primary objective was to capture images of spectral beings and other spiritual entities. Proponents of this photography included the likes of such figures as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the physician and creator of the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes; and the renowned physicist and chemist, Sir William Crookes.
Spirit Photography was said to capture spectral images of ghosts. Some of these photos were proven doctored but others could not be proven to be fake.
Though many photographs that supposedly captured images of these spirit entities were proved fake, in that they were actually double exposures, a great many could never be proven to be anything but real. The use of photography to capture such images has carried over into the modern day exploration of paranormal investigation. While some photographs can still be analysed and can be determined to be fake, there are a whole many others that cannot.
Therefore, even though the supposed photograph of the Buddha has been proved to be a touched up photograph of a painting, there are many examples in which ethereal beings have been and continue to be captured on film.
In Search of Spirit Photography
Or view the video on the server at:
https://video.tsemtulku.com/videos/In_Search_of_Spirit_Photography.mp4
In this clip from an episode of In Search of, a series of documentaries investigating various controversial paranormal phenomena, host Leonard Nimoy narrates interesting accounts of photography being used to capture images of spirits and other phenomena.
Ghost Photographs from the UK
Or view the video on the server at:
https://video.tsemtulku.com/videos/UK_Ghost_Photos.mp4
In this series of short clips, produced by Is This Paranormal, eerie yet unexplainable photographs are shown of various spirit entities beings captured on camera.
Fasting Buddha Shakyamuni. Click on image to enlarge or for more high resolution thangka downloads click here.
Sources:
- http://wisdomquarterly.blogspot.my/2014/10/is-buddhas-photograph-fake.html
- http://www.borsheimarts.com/news/2014_04-Madrid-Prado-Thyssen-BellasArtesSanFernando-Museums.htm
- Kohn, Sherab Chodzin. The Awakened One: A Life of the Buddha. Shambhala Publications, Inc. 1994.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_photography
- https://www.facebook.com/isthisparanormal/videos/
For more interesting information:
- Buddha’s Life Story Beautifully Painted
- Jesus Christ and Gautama Buddha, Similarities and Differences
- Buddha Shakyamuni COMIC BOOK!
- Tooth Relic of our Gauthama Buddha
- The birth palace of Gautam Buddha
- The Devil
- Sleep Paralysis – Medical or Paranormal?
- Valak – The Conjuring 2 Demon?
- Shadow People
- Paranormal Protection
- Interesting Signs of Reincarnation
- Reincarnation Videos YOU MUST WATCH!
- Questions on Ghosts
- Extremely Interesting Investigation on Reincarnation
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I think it is not very important if this image of Buddha Shakyamuni is real or fake. To have faith in the Buddha is more important. If we don’t have faith in the Buddha, we will not get the blessings and our practice will not produce result.
Have faith does not mean to believe blindly. Buddha Shakyamuni has left behind many teachings, he said we should experience the teaching ourselves before we agree with what he said. During Buddha’s time, there was no microscope but he had already said there are many living beings in the water even though we might not see them. This is one of the proofs that the Buddha is omniscient.
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The original painting of “The Buddha’s Temptation” by Eduardo Chicharro Aguera is a romantic depiction of the four successive waves of attack on Prince Siddhartha before he gained full enlightenment. It goes to show that unless and until we reached the shore of full awakening, we will be subjected to fierce trial and tribulation. As long as we do not give up, like Buddha, we will reach destination one day.
Ethereal Photography, on the other hand is quite something else. Even though there is possibility of capturing the residual energy of enlightened beings, it seems to have a higher propensity of capturing spirits instead. Perhaps the spirits operate in a energy frequency that is closer to what our technology can capture. But I am no expert, just guessing.
Thank you very much, Rinpoche, for this interesting read.
Interesting story write up about the truth of art on Buddha’s picture. And the indetailed write up about Buddha’s meditation to to achieve enlightenment. Also got curious about the rice pudding that was offered to Prince Siddhartha :). Thank you very much Rinpoche and blog team for this wonderful write up._/\_
Whether the photograph of the Buddha is real or otherwise is not important. What is important is to realise that on this night of his enlightenment, the Buddha had achieved full awakening from the stupor of his delusions . The word ‘Buddha’ means ‘the Awakened One’. It is not even necessary to labor the point the he was Gautama Buddha. He was the Buddha , who had achieved full awakening ,as the means of liberation from Samsara. He had achieved what he had set out to achieve -to find out why we, as sentient beings, must suffer and to find a way out of this suffering. He found the answers when he became fully enlightened.
Hence,in my mind, the word “Buddha’ should evoke the state of mind of Buddhahood that he had achieved, and not the image of the real Prince Siddharta. If we believe in the Buddha, we believe in all that he stands for and the Dharma he taught.
The painting by Chicharro, is an interpretation a Western perspective or view on Buddha’s enlightenment the trials, tribulations faced by Buddha. It feels like Chicharro really admired the Buddha, despite the allure of worldly desires and pleasures arrayed in front of the Buddha the Buddha who realized everything there was to realize remained firm and stoic and became a fully enlightened being.
The mind works quite similar to a camera, whereby the film or negative is the imprints and memories stored by the mind. So no surprise at all when people catch beings that are ethereal in this world using cameras and so forth.
Ethereal photographs definitely exists as I am witnessed to several accounts and can prove those photos were not doctored. Paranormal do exist, and it is how we interact with them or deal with it.
The story of Lord Buddha intrigues me to this day. The story can also be applied to our daily samsaric life, of course, if we can gain enlightenment, true blessings, otherwise, the underlying nature is to be steadfast to what we believe is true and good.
Thank you.
Ethereal photography is real or not, is not really the issue. It is if you wish to believe it to be real or otherwise fake. As said a picture paints a thousand words, it is therefore what it says to you that matters. If the photo of Buddha is real for you, it would be nice to have it with you to remind you of the stainless Dharma. Otherwise it is a beautiful piece of art.
In the same manner can be said of statues. Buddhists are accused of worshipping statues, but the deeper meaning is that the statues is a reminder of the virtues of the Buddha or deity for us to reflect on and to cultivate.
This is a very good read on the moments of Shakyamuni Buddha’s enlightenment and the temptations and aggressions which were induced at Him and how he overcame them. Beautifully inspiring story.
The life story of Buddha achieved enlightenment continues to inspire us in our dharma practice and serve as a reminders not to be distracted by the Maras. Buddha Shakyamuni has practice dharma for many eons, and at his last stages of becoming enlightened, he has exhausted all karma, hence Maras are not able to send any harm to the Buddha. The earth goddess Pritvi has emerged and wash away the Maras using her hair, letting the Buddha continues his last meditation to enlightenment. This is a good reminders for all of us in putting efforts in dharma practice, and not doing any negative actions to the others.