Buddha Statues

Buddha Statues

All these messages behind the Buddha statues bring forth the remembrance of the enlightened master who once walked upon this earth 2500 years ago. In other words these statues are reminiscences of the “Grand Master”.

The carvings or sculptures of Buddha we see all around us are the statues of the “Buddha” who was born in Kapilavastu, an ancient province of Nepal, as the descendant of Ruler Suddhodana and Queen Maya Devi. The Queen had few prosperous dreams before the Lord entered her womb from the Tushita paradise.

As Prince Siddhartha Gautama came to the age 28 he rejected the kingdom and lived the life of a mendicant. He sought and achieved enlightenment in six years under a pipala tree and became the Buddha, in Bodhgaya. After supreme wisdom he expressed this verse:

“Through many births I have passed the builder of the house of pain is gone and I am free from any more births”

Shakyamuni Siddhartha Gautama preached dharma through out his life and the light of the world had gone out and master passed away into Nirvana at an old age of over 80.

Talking of Statues & Sculptures, the statuettes of Buddha are found in a wide variety of poses the most common of all the kind is the sitting Buddha statue in a lotus position. The pose displays inner and outer balance and tranquility. In meditating Buddha figures the posture of the hand or the mudra, have the fingers of the right hand resting lightly on the left as they lay in the enlightened one’s lap and legs are crossed in a Lotus position. Many Buddha statues sit on a pedestal in a lotus blossom which denote the enlightened being or emptiness.

Another position is the Abhaya mudra in which the right hand is raised and is the gesture of dispelling fear. Statues calling the earth to bear witness are represented by position where the right hand is touching the earth below, which displays total belief. And, finally the reclining Buddha figure depicts Buddha’s passage into death or Nirvana, as the disciples, angles and gods bade farewell to never returner
Shakyamuni Siddhartha Gautama Buddha. Medicine Buddha figure represents the belief that Buddha parted education on medicine along with spiritual guidance.

The Mudras or postures of hands of the Shakyamuni Buddha statues are either in abhaya (Fearlessness), Dhyana (meditation), Dharmachakra Parivartana (turning of the wheel of Dharma or doctrine or religion) and Bhumisparsa (calling the earth goddess to witness the touching of the earth by the right hand)

Buddha statues are handmade and thus they are artisan’s labour of Love, or a loving heart and moving hands giving them shapes in absolute position. The prehistoric representations of Buddha were mounds erected on the relics of Buddha, also known as “Stupa”. The external decorations on the stupas display the entire life of the Buddha from leaving home to enlightenment and to Mahaparinirvana.

The largest and tallest Buddha statues were build in Afghanistan which were colossal in size and have been much recently destroyed by the Taliban’s. The statues of Buddha in Nepal are generally made out of gold, granite, bronze, copper, brass, resin, silver, ceramic, wood, etc. And, they are put on sale in a fine work of display in Thamel and Durbar Square in the ancient city of Kathmandu in Nepal or sold in different online Buddha Statues mall like http://himalayacrafts.com in wholesale or retail. The standing Buddha statues with flowering robes is also common. And Buddha heads and hands are also found for sale.

All these messages behind the Buddha statuettes bring forth the memories of the enlightened master who once walked upon this earth 2500 years ago. In other words these statues are reminiscences of the “Grand Master”.

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Kshitize Agrawal
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Buddha Statues & Sculptures

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