Steve Watson

Recognising the Seven Buddhas of this Age

When the Dharma is forgotten in the world another Buddha arises to renew it. The earliest version seems to have 7 buddhas in this age, of whom gOtama is the current. These are mentioned in the Pali canon in the dIg^hanikAya (ii, pp 5ff) and sa~yuttanikAya (ii, pp. 5f) of the suttapiTaka, and in the vinayapiTaka (ii, p. 110). S. Beal (A Catena of Buddhist Scriptures from the Chinese, London:Trubner & Co., 1871, pp. 158f) notes that these names are also found in the pATimokk^ha of the Chinese tripiTaka. According to R. Mitra (Sanskrit Buddhist Literature of Nepal, Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1882, pp. 249ff) they are also found in the sayamb^hU purAna.

The seven with their iconography are:

• vIpassI(vipaxyin)
  Usually he is depicted in b^humisparsa (earth-touching) mudra with left hand palm up in his lap and right hand touching the earth; and with yellow or golden color.
• sik^hI (xik^hin)
  He is usually depicted in ab^hayamudra, with the open palm of the right hand extending outwards at the chest level or slightly higher.
  ab^haya = no fear
• vessab^hU (vixvab^hu)
  He is depicted in d^harmacakramudra
  d^harma cakra = wheel of the law
  Note: Usually, in this mudra the hands are placed at the heart level with the thumbs and index fingers forming circles. JC Huntingdon observes that “The Gandharan version of the “d^harmacakramudra” is highly specific and virtually ubiquitous in the region. The left hand is palm up with all the five fingers brought together above the palm while the right hand encloses encloses the tips of the fingers (or in some permutations, seen mostly in the Kapisa region, e.g. Shotorak, etc., the whole left hand, which is flat against the chest, is enclosed by the right.)” (“The Iconography and Iconology of Maitreya Images in Gandhara”, Journal of Central Asia, July 1984, p 155) He suggests this is not a real DC mudra but is a gesture referring to the unity of 5 whatevers.)
• kakusand^ha (krakucchanda)
  Through his miraculous utterance issued forth a stream of water and hence the name Bagmati. He is depicted in varadamudra, right hand pendant with palm facing outwards, and with the left hand holding the fold of the robe
• konAgamana (Kanakamuni)
  Generally represented as yellow in colour. His right hand has ab^hayamudra and his left hand is in d^hyanamudra, palm up in his lap with thumb separated.
• kassapa (Kashyapa)
  Always depicted as yellow in colour. His right hand shows Varadamudra and the left hand is in dhyanamudra. He always sits on a lion throne with a lotus.
• gotama (gOtama, aka xakyamuni)
  In this context look for b^humisparsamudra with yellow robe.