File:Sakyamuni and Maitreya, Southern Cliff Niche 107.png

English: Sakyamuni (left) and Maitreya (right), part of the tryadhva-buddha ('Buddhas of the Three Times') niche, Southern Cliff Buddhist Sculptures Niche 107, Bazhong, Sichuan; 7th century. Whole niche size: 228 (height) × 453 (width) × 112 (depth) cm. "The only visual record available of Niche 107, one of the largest in the southern section of the cliff, is a partial view in Plate 34. The iconographic novelty in this case consists of an assembly of three Buddhas, the central one recognized as the most important by its four attendants – two monks and two Bodhisattvas. The lateral Buddhas are assisted only by two Bodhisattvas. Two Heavenly Kings and two Vajrapāṇi are also part of the group. The central Buddha performs the vitarka mudrā (Argumentation gesture) which is associated with Maitreya, thus raising the question whether this is a representation of Maitreya, in his last incarnation, instead of the three Buddhas of the Past, Present, and Future." – Howard, Angela Falco (1988). "Tang Buddhist Sculpture of Sichuan: Unknown and Forgotten" in Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm (No. 60).