It
has a strange combination, in that the
Buddha
is
sitting
on
the snake
Muchalinda
whilst performing this
mudra, and is understood to represent a summary of the entire story of his Enlightenment,
since the position of this mudra refers chronologically to a scene just
prior to
Siddhartha's
Enlightenment,
whereas the
protection by Muchalinda happens much later, after the Buddha's Enlightenment, almost
at the end of his life story.
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