The Monk Ananda

China

9th century

Limestone

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Ananda was a cousin of the Buddha and the most attentive of his ten principal followers. After the Buddha’s death, Ananda recited all of his teachings so they could be recorded in writing. In this Chinese imagining of Ananda, he appears as a monk, identifiable by his shaved head and monastic robes. That the figure leans slightly left is an indication that it was originally the right figure in a triad made up of the Buddha and two disciples, Ananda and Kashyapa. Gallery G200 Gift of Ruth and Bruce Dayton