Hongshan Seated Figures and a Reconsideration of the Origins of Meditation : A Comparison with the Indus Pashupati Seal

Abstract

This study examines the value of Hongshan seated figures as evidence for research on the origins of meditation through comparison with the Pashupati seal of the Indus civilization. Studies and images of figures from Dongshanzui, Xinglonggou, and Niuheliang were examined under common criteria of posture, archaeological context, and chronology. The Dongshanzui and Xinglonggou figures sit with crossed legs, one hand grasping the opposite wrist at Dongshanzui and the hands resting on the feet at Xinglonggou. Reports of some twenty additional fragments in the same posture at Dongshanzui support the possibility that this seated form was repeatedly represented. At Niuheliang, the identification of lower-body fragments as seated, together with traces of wall attachment on other fragments, offers clues to the relationship between posture and ritual architecture. The comparison between the Hongshan seated figures and the Pashupati seal was guided by an independent-emergence hypothesis, without presupposing historical connections between the two regions. Later yogic and Buddhist texts served as references for examining the relationship between postural stability and meditation, while the principle of distinguishing formal similarity from evidence of meditative practice was applied equally to both groups. Predating the Mature Harappan period, Hongshan figures constitute valuable comparative material for investigating early forms of meditation. The study thus broadens the temporal scope of an Indus-centered discussion and provides grounds for a multiregional comparison that includes Northeast Asia.