Fasting Buddha

A brilliantly carved ivory depicts, in three successive scenes, the Buddha’s early experimentation with fasting until his limbs withered. At center, with his gaunt body encased in a delicate spider web of veins, he meditates in a yogic posture during his six-year subsistence on a daily grain of rice. On the left, he performs “crouching yoga,” by holding this uncomfortable position for an extended time, as taught by another group of teachers. Ultimately, he accepts a food offering from the village woman Sujata that restores his robust body (right) and sets him on the final path toward omniscience. In the delicate array above him are figures who torment him and attempt to distract his focus.