Parinirvana

Scene 11, Baodingshan, Dazu (map)

Bodhisattvas and officials symbolically attend the Buddha at the moment of his death. The inclusion of Song officials and disciples, as well as the Buddha's colossal length, construes this sculptural group as a devotional tableau, rather than a historical description.

As with the reclining Buddha, the lower extremities of the attendant's bodies are absent. This adjustment brings them closer to the ground, and to the viewer. Odd as they seem at first, their legless bodies (including that of the Buddha) successfully combine the divine and human scales, in a scene that includes the viewer as witness and participant.