Keywords
Art History
Sculpture
A statue or painting depicting the Buddhas *Shaka 釈迦 and Tahō 多宝 sitting side by side, these images illustrate an episode recounted in the Buddhist scripture Hokkekyō kenhōtōbon 法華経見宝塔品. Shaka was preaching to a crowd of bodhisattvas *bosatsu 菩薩 and lay people when Tahō, the Buddha of the Past, appeared to witness to the truth of Shaka's teachings. Tahō caused a stupa to emerge from the ground and invited Shaka to sit beside him inside the stupa. Hasedera 長谷寺 in Nara houses some outstanding nibutsu heiza images, including the oldest known example in Japan called the Hokke seppō-zu 法華説法図, dating from the 7th century.