This statue of Buddha is from 7th century! A full 1400 years ago, from Japan’s Asuka period. 

It was once in a great Buddhist temple but now in the Tokyo National Museum. 

Isn’t it mesmerizing?

My favorite fact about Buddha statues is that the earliest Buddha statues show up about at least 3-400 years after Buddha. Learned about this accidentally when looking at the dates of Buddha statues at the MET, looked it up later and learned that early Buddhism did not allow statues/idols.

That's fascinating! It's amazing how cultural practices evolve over time. Thanks for sharing this tidbit about early Buddhism and statues.