Foucher, A. (1970, January 01). The beginnings of Buddhist art and other essays in Indian and CENTRAL-ASIAN Archaeology : FOUCHER, a. (Alfred), 1865-1952 : Free Download, borrow, and streaming. Retrieved April 19, 2021, from https://archive.org/details/beginningsofbudd00foucuoft/page/n165/mode/2up
The Greek Origin of the Image of Buddha by Alfred Foucher is an article that states images of Buddha concerning their distant origins from Magadha and Kosala throughout much of northern India and how Europeans make abuse it. For instance, the Europeans named Asian Buddhism sculptures after the Bible, a holy scripture of Christianity, such as naming these Buddhists the Christ and Saint Mary. These abusive behaviors are extremely disrespectful for Buddhism and indicate Colonialism from the West towards the East. This article criticizes the Orientalist approach adopted by many European scholars since they argued for such similarities between Asian and Western arts. Foucher’s argument has been extremely clear and strong; for example, according to Foucher, “Your European eyes have in this case no need of the help of any Indianist, in order to appreciate with full knowledge the orb of the nimbus, the waves of the hair, the straightness of the pro- file, the classical shape of the eyes, the sinuous bow of the mouth, the supple and hollow folds of the draperies” (120). I agree with Foucher’s perspective because assuming Asian people having western looks and naming Buddhist sculptures under Christianity are extremely improper behaviors without any respect. The paper discusses the necessity of cultural appropriation from western society towards eastern Buddhism.
