Question

The earliest existing sculptural depictions of the Buddha were carved in his lifetime and therefore probably accurate likenesses. True False

Answer 1

The answer to this question is actually False.

The earliest Buddhist sculptures were not created until 2nd Century ACE, since the practice of aniconism (prohibition of creating depictions of gods) was rampant before then.

Thus, the image of the Buddha that we commonly see in Buddhist sculptures until now are probably not quite accurate. The first sculpture of Buddha was created by relying on the descriptions mentioned in the Pali Canon.