Footnotes

Depicted at the brink of starvation, sustained asceticism has withered Buddha's body down to its bare anatomy under paper-thin skin. It clings to the cartilage of his trachea, the brittle muscles of his neck, the veins crisscrossing his forehead. Meanwhile, he glares out beyond the cavernous eye-sockets transfixed with a persistent and emboldened insight.

Compared to the abundance of Siddharthas, Teaching Buddhas, and Maitreyas, only three Gandharan sculptures of Emaciated Buddha are known from excavation records, making them not only one of the most evocative, but also rarest images from the ancient region of Gandhara, and the Buddhist world at-large. Famous examples are held in the Lahore Museum, the Peshawar Museum, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art (see Khan, Gandhara: The Buddhist Civilization from Pakistan, Beijing, 2009, pp.224-5; Ingholt, Gandharan Art in Pakistan, New York, 1957, no.53; and Behrendt, The Art of Gandhara, New Haven, 2007, pp.56-7, nos.45 & 46, respectively). Another was sold at Christie's, New York, 22 March 2011, lot 240, and a head sold at Christie's New York, 18 March 2015, lot 4012.

Scholars believe the subject refers to one of two pivotal moments in Buddha's life. Some, that it depicts the six years Siddhartha spent accomplishing the extreme asceticism promulgated by Brahmanic sages of his time, before renouncing its folly and proclaiming Buddhism's "middle path" to enlightenment between the extremes of austerities and sensual indulgence. Others, that it portrays Buddha rapt within seven weeks of sustained meditation immediately following his enlightenment, fasting all the while (ibid., pp.57-8).

As Behrendt points out, these rare depictions of Buddha as being, 'first among the ascetics...[would have appealed] to a lay community that respected religious figures who had full control of ascetic disciplines, [as] part of an effort to bring these groups into the Buddhist fold' (ibid.). However, when looking at his shriveled form, one winces while awe struck at the achievement, and the present sculpture bears the telltale signs of raised edges rubbed smooth where beholders were gripped with the overt temptation to caress the cheekbones or forehead.

Provenance
Arthur Huc (1854–1932), Toulouse
Private Collection, US


片巖佛陀苦行頭像
犍陀羅，三至五世紀
高36釐米（14 1/8英吋）

1,000,000-1,500,000港元

長期連續的苦行使佛陀瘦骨嶙峋，其面部顴骨高聳，眼眶凹陷，額頭血管清晰可見，脖頸處肌肉脈絡顯露無遺，顯然已達到飢餓極限。與此同時，其目光卻毫不飄忽，堅定而專注。

相較於大量留存的犍陀羅悉達多像、佛陀布道像、或彌勒菩薩像， 佛陀苦行像存世較少，為犍陀羅石雕藝術中最具表現力且最為罕見的一類。根據考古發掘紀錄，目前已知的出土苦行像僅有有三尊，分別藏於拉合爾博物館、白沙瓦博物館、以及紐約大都會博物館 （參見穆罕默德·瓦利烏拉·汗， 犍陀羅 : 來自巴基斯坦的佛教文明，北京， 2009年，頁224-5；Ingholt，巴基斯坦的犍陀羅藝術,，紐約，1957年，53號; 以及Behrendt, 犍陀羅藝術，紐黑文， 2007年， 頁56-7，45和 46號）。另有一尊苦行像於2011年3月22日售於紐約佳士得（240號拍品），該拍行亦於2015年3月18日售出一尊苦行頭像（拍品4012號）。

學術界對佛陀苦行形象所描述的時間點大致有兩種意見。部份學者認為該形象刻劃了悉達多為完成婆羅門聖人提出的極度苦行而度過的六年忍飢挨餓生活，在此之後他意識到苦行並非最佳途徑，修行是應採取"中道"。其他學者則認為苦行像描述了釋迦摩尼成佛之後連續禪定禁食七週的時刻（出處同上，頁57-8）。

正如Behrendt所言，這類罕見的苦行像 "應受到無信仰民眾的歡迎，因為常人多崇拜擁有苦行毅力的宗教人物，因此此類作品有助於吸引民眾皈依佛門"（同上）。然而，當人們望著如此瘦骨嶙峋的形象時，滿心敬畏的同時也不免因畏懼而退宿。此石雕便已稜角盡失，承載著信徒端詳膜拜時不禁撫摸擦拭的痕跡。

來源
Arthur Huc （1854–1932年），法國圖盧茲
美國私人珍藏