Standing Buddha

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.

Credit: Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund