Indian Philosopher and the founder of Buddhism, born in Kapilavastu, India, just inside present-day Nepal. The name Gautama Buddha is a combination of the family name Gautama and the appellation Buddha, meaning "Enlightened One." Buddhism was carried into Japan from Korea. It was known to the Japanese earlier, but the official date for its introduction is usually given as AD 552. Prince Shotoku proclaimed it the state religion of Japan in 593. Several important new sects of Buddhism developed in China and flourished there and in Japan, as well as elsewhere in East Asia. Among these, Ch"an, or Zen, and Pure Land, or Amidism, were most important. Kamakura Daibutsu----Buddhism was introduced to Japan in AD 539, when a Korean ruler sought an alliance with the ruler of Yamato in Japan. To please the Japanese, the Korean ruler sent a statue of the Buddha and some Buddhist scriptures, which he described as the greatest treasures he could send. Either OnoGoroemon or Tanji Hisatomo cast the Daibutsu (Great Buddha) figure at Kamakura, Japan, in bronze in 1252, both leading bronze casters of the time. The statue is 11.4 m (37.4 ft.) high and weighs about 93 tons. The figure depicts Amitabha (also known as Amida Buddha) in perfect repose and passionless calm. The Wheel of Life, also known as the Wheel of Law, depicts the cyclical nature of life according to Buddhism. In the wall painting, the artist shows the animal which represents death holding the wheel. The three cardinal sins, depicted in symbolic form, make up the center of the wheel. The cock symbolizes passion, the pig stupidity, and the snake hatred. Surrounding the sins are those who fall prey to bad karma on the right, and those with good karma on the left. The six spheres of existence make up the next circle. The wheel, like the Buddha's search for truth, culminates in the outermost circle, which depicts the 12 links in the chain of causation.
