Binzuru (Piṇḍola Bhāradvāja), the First of the Sixteen Arhats

Buddhist “achievers” (rakan in Japanese, arhat in Sanskrit) strive for “awakening”—enlightenment—and the attaining of nirvana, or salvation. In Hinayana Buddhism, the rakan served as the “perfected one” who gained salvation through his own efforts and overcame the endless cycle of birth and rebirth but was unable to attain the full enlightenment of a bodhisattva. The rakan Kiba (scroll at right) is holding a fly whisk designed to chase away insects without harming them, following the Buddhist law against taking life. Binzuru (left) is shown with a deer, both of them gazing at a waterfall.