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Secondary sourcePaintingTang Dynasty (618–907 AD)

Sakyamuni Cuts His Hair

Chinese artist · Tang Dynasty (618–907 AD)

A Tang dynasty painting from Dunhuang showing scenes from the Buddha's early life, including his departure and ascetic practice.

This painting depicts key scenes from the Buddha's early life, including his renunciation and ascetic practice.

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Vertical Tang dynasty painting on silk with orange panels and decorative border. Top: a white horse and a seated attendant beside a bearded figure on a rock. Middle: a kneeling man cutting hair before a standing figure in red robes and an attendant. Lower: a crowd of seated figures. Bottom: a meditating figure seated on a rock in a cave.
Unknown Chinese artist, Sakyamuni Cuts His Hair, Tang Dynasty (618–907 AD). Ink and color on silk, from Dunhuang, Gansu province, China.

About this source

What it is

This painting on silk, made by an unknown Chinese artist during the Tang Dynasty (618–907 AD), comes from Dunhuang in Gansu province, China. It shows several scenes from the life of the young Sakyamuni (the Buddha before his enlightenment): his farewell to his horse and servant after 'the Great Departure', the cutting of his hair, and his practice of austerities.

Why it matters

The painting is a narrative artwork, telling the Buddha's early life story scene by scene, from leaving his royal household to becoming an ascetic. It shows how, centuries after his life, Buddhist communities in China used art to pass down and honour the story of the Buddha's spiritual journey.

Look closer

  • How does the artist use the arrangement of scenes, top to bottom, to tell a story over time?
  • What details (the horse, the hair-cutting, the cave) mark important turning points in the Buddha's journey?
  • Since this was painted centuries after the Buddha lived, what might it tell us about how later Buddhists imagined and remembered him?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Buddha on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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