Neil Elliot
Toxic "New Kadampa" Manjusri Studios plastic sculpture 1
Clearly the effeminate looking "New Kadampa" plastic buddha is disproportional: its head is too small by far and legs too long, like a fashion drawing. The creation of a genuine buddha rupa is not a random aesthetic exercise but rather subject to exact and thorough proportional measurements, all of which are imbibed with profound meaning.
In the scientific texts of Buddhism (art is consider a minor science) it is said "Iconometric scales are established so as to prevent the execution of poor art" (page 197)
Regarding details of incorrectly wrought images, we read:
"Each of these flaws (in draftsmanship) gives rise to its own particular defect or transgression. …In this context, if mistakes are made with regard to the curves of the eyes and so forth, or in respect of the hand gestures and hand held emblems, one will be afflicted by sorrow and suffering, and the icons (one has made) will be characterized a flawed and so forth…(if these are poorly executed) friends will say unpleasant things and one's prestige (as an artist) will fade. (These) therefore are the major defects which skilled artists should carefully scrutinize."
(page 229)
Jamgon Kongtrul’s Indo-Tibetan Classical Learning and Buddhist Phenomenology:
The Treasury of Knowledge, Book Six Parts One and Two
(Snow Lion Publications, 2012).
Toxic "New Kadampa" Manjusri Studios plastic sculpture 1
Clearly the effeminate looking "New Kadampa" plastic buddha is disproportional: its head is too small by far and legs too long, like a fashion drawing. The creation of a genuine buddha rupa is not a random aesthetic exercise but rather subject to exact and thorough proportional measurements, all of which are imbibed with profound meaning.
In the scientific texts of Buddhism (art is consider a minor science) it is said "Iconometric scales are established so as to prevent the execution of poor art" (page 197)
Regarding details of incorrectly wrought images, we read:
"Each of these flaws (in draftsmanship) gives rise to its own particular defect or transgression. …In this context, if mistakes are made with regard to the curves of the eyes and so forth, or in respect of the hand gestures and hand held emblems, one will be afflicted by sorrow and suffering, and the icons (one has made) will be characterized a flawed and so forth…(if these are poorly executed) friends will say unpleasant things and one's prestige (as an artist) will fade. (These) therefore are the major defects which skilled artists should carefully scrutinize."
(page 229)
Jamgon Kongtrul’s Indo-Tibetan Classical Learning and Buddhist Phenomenology:
The Treasury of Knowledge, Book Six Parts One and Two
(Snow Lion Publications, 2012).