Lohan as an ascetic

An old man is represented as a gaunt ascetic seated in meditation. His lowered head, furrowed brow, and partially closed eyes enhance the impression that he is lost in thought. The elongated ear lobes, high nose, mustache, beard, and bald pate with hair on the sides and back suggest a foreign ethnicity, and may derive stylistically from a tradition of ascetic sculptures in India. Bearded ascetic figures in this posture have been identified either as the Shakyamuni Buddha, shown with a protruding crown (<em>usnisa</em>) on the top of his head and a circle of hair (<em>urna</em>) between his brows, or as a lohan, guardian of the Buddhist Law, without the <em>urna</em> and <em>usnisa</em>. The portrayal of lohans as beings with profound enlightenment, akin to that of bodhisattvas, is typical of Mahayana Buddhism in East Asia. They served as intermediaries for universal salvation between humanity and Buddhist paradise. At the same time, the original ideal of the lohan, as a model of individual salvation in Theravada Buddhism, persists in some images. The figure’s emaciation recalls the historical Buddha’s meditation beneath the Bodhi tree, which served as a model for others who sought enlightenment through intense ascetic practice. The iconography seems to have emerged in China during the Yuan dynasty, but it is uncertain how such sculptures were presented and worshiped. One possibility is that they were donated as objects for meditation in remote Buddhist mountain shrines.