A search for relics lost abroad: Head of the Maitreya Buddha

By Zhang Qiong

Updated: 2015-06-04

According to Buddhism, the Maitreya Buddha is the established successor of Sakyamuni, the religion’s founder. As a result, Buddha Maitreya was usually highly revered by those that hope for a new ruler.

Many Maitreya Buddha statues were built in Longmen during the period of Emperor Gaozong of Tang (AD 618-907) to pave the way for the Empress Wu Tse-tien to ascend the throne.

The Maitreya Buddha statue in Leigutai Middle Grottoe, Longmen

The lord Buddha in Photo ① is a Maitreya Buddha statue from the reign of Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu, the prime period for statue building in Longmen. However, the head of the Maitreya, as can be seen in Photo ②, is missing from the Leigutai Middle Grotto, where the statue is located.

The photo shows that the face of the Buddha is mellow and plump, with an affable and serene expression. It’s representative of statues created in the late 7th century.

The missing head of the Maitreya Buddha statue in Leigutai Middle Grottoe, Longmen

There isn’t a clear record of when the Buddha statue’s head was stolen. In 1934, geologist Yuan Tongli reported the loss in his investigation report about stolen relics in the Longmen Grottoes. The head was still there in a photo taken by Japanese scholar Tokiwa Daijō in 1921.

The head of the ill-fated Buddha statue is now in the collection of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco in US.