monkeyironbuddha

Reading about Chinese concept of emptiness （空） and absence （无） in Zen and then find out that for the first 500 years there are no representations of Buddha in art. Just a tree or an empty chair. 

Image credit:

accessed from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:MaraAssault.JPG User:PHG

2nd century CE, Amaravati. Musee Guimet, Paris. detail and more detail - illustration 4a. "Aniconic", though from the same period as [1])

Excerpt From

The Lankavatara Sutra

The layered bloom of hills and streams

Kingfisher shades beneath rose-colored clouds

mountain mists soak my cotton bandanna,

dew penetrates my palm-bark coat.

On my feet are traveling shoes,

my hand holds an old vine staff.

Again I gaze beyond the dusty world-

what more could I want in that land of dreams?

“Whatever precious jewel there is in the heavenly worlds, there is nothing comparable to one who is Awakened.” Ratana Sutra