ABSTRACT
The question of the presence of the Buddha in physical objects - relics, stupas, sculptures - is very much centered on the kinds of issues I have just been discussing, and it is a question that is at the heart of the use and production of artistic images in medieval Indian Buddhism. To begin with the general, there are two basic, overlapping levels of discourse here: first, there is that of various Buddhists in various geographical and historical milieus; second, there is that of the mostly Western scholars who write about them. The first discourse has, as we shall see, been developed since the Buddha's own lifetime. The scholarly debate, in turn, was initiated at the very beginnings of Buddhist studies in the mid-nineteenth century and is, not coincidentally, coeval with the broader discussions about the presence of the divine that I have been discussing in the previous chapter. I want to focus here on the latter of these two discourses, for I will turn to the specifics of the Buddhist case in Chapter Two. It is helpful, however, to give a general orientation, at least, and to lay out the basics of the Buddhists' own discourse now.
