Augmenting Religious Aesthetics: Representation of Buddha in Rilke’s “Buddha in Glory” (1908)

Buddhism has long been a productive part of literary and philosophical discourse in the West. The Austrian German poet Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) uses mythological, sacred and religious subjects in his literary works. He integrates figures, symbols, motifs, parables and legends from Christianity, Islam and Buddhism. This paper focused on Rilke’s encounter with the sitting statue of Buddha in the garden of Rodin’s in Paris. The poem is given the title Buddha in Glory, where Rilke describes his perception of Buddha, which is considered to be a sacred object (religious aesthetic) at the same time perceiving as a piece of an artwork (artistic aesthetic). Correspondingly, I pursue the question, is Rilke interested in Buddhist philosophy and Buddha’s life? Are Rilke’s images of Buddhism exotic? To what extent does Rilke represent the religious aesthetic of Buddha statue? Is it purely religious poem or a poem on a piece of artwork? Moreover, religion is not only a matter of faith and believe but also a matter of perception. This leads to an interesting discourse on religious aesthetic where aesthetic can be treated as a theory and practice (art) which can refer to a variety of certain themes and disciplines including art, symbol, beauty, taste, imagination and perception. A religious aesthetics concerns with the merging of the above-mentioned themes and deals with God, faith and believe and sacred. The contemporary world encounters a great transformation of interest in religious aesthetics, whereby religious art has been recognized as an important literary text which complements the written and the visual art at the same time.