Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c19.41

c19.41

In some verses of the canon the idealism is more evident. The Buddha, for example, is one with “an unfettered, quiescent, and absolutely pure mind” (Sāriputra); of the horse it is said that “his neigh has the sound of the storm, . . . he is swift as the wind, stately as the lion and has the gait of a dancer” (Rūpāvaliya). The expression of these abstract ideas is of more value than the exact imitation of natural forms.