The kinesthetic Buddha, human form and function—Part 1: Breathing Torso

Summary Buddhist statues may provide kinesthetic lessons relating the human body's actions and the spiritual life. This two-part paper presents a descriptive analysis of a statue of a meditating Buddha sitting in lotus pose. The statue, from the ancient Javanese monument, Borobudur, is correlated with Iyengar yoga and therapeutic soft-tissue manipulation. In addition, discussion is presented of the statue as a history of Hindu pranayama and Buddhist meditation practices. The three-dimensional modeling of the Buddha's torso is evaluated from the perspective of anatomy and the movement arts. A resulting somatic vocabulary presents Asian art without emphasizing textual discourse and analysis of esthetic motifs so that the art presents a kinesthetic lesson on the ideal connection between the human body's actions and the spiritual life. Central to this paper is the presumption that sculpture depicts the kinesthetics of breathing but must be carefully teased apart from historical anachronism.