This is a statue in the Smithsonian Museum’s Freer Gallery of the Buddha Vairochana: a.k.a. The Cosmic Buddha.
It really is a fantastic piece, with the artful designs on the Buddha’s clothing depicting various “Realms of Existence” — different planes that made up the cosmos of the Mahayana Buddhist universe.
Created in the Northern Qi dynasty of China between 550-577, the Cosmic Buddha shows the upper chest full of divinities listening to the Buddha Shakyamuni (that’s the OG Buddha) preaching to them in the high paradise. Right underneath and just above his waist is Mount Meru, the center of the universe, shown as a pillar wrapped with a pair of dragons. Around it are Asuras, demigods with multiple arms. Going ever downward, you can see the spheres of humans, animals, and ghosts. At the base of the statue’s robe appear those who suffer in Buddhist hells.
The ideas that Buddha has many incarnations and that there are multiple heavens and hells are not found in every sect of the religion, but did become popular in China.
