Buddha Statues

The carvings and figurine of Buddha we see all around us are the sculptures of Prince Siddhartha Gautama the “Buddha” who was born in Kapilavastu, an ancient city of Nepal, as the descendant of king Suddhodana and Queen Maya Devi. The Queen had few prosperous dreams before the God entered her womb from the Tushita heaven.

As Siddhartha Gautama came to the age 28 he abandoned 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 stanza:

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

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

Talking of Buddha statues & figures, the idols of Buddha are found in a wide form of poses the most common of all the type is the sitting Buddha statue in a lotus posture. The pose displays inner and outer balance and tranquility. In meditating Buddha carvings the position 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 denotes the enlightened being or emptiness.

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

The Mudras or postures of hands of the Shakyamuni Buddha carvings 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 carvings are handmade and thus they are artisan’s labour of Love, or a loving heart and moving hands giving them shapes in distinct position. The earliest 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 carvings were found in Afghanistan which were colossal in size and have been much recently ruined by the Taliban’s. The carvings 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 town of Kathmandu in Nepal or sold in different online Buddha Statues supplies like http://himalayacrafts.com in wholesale or retail. The standing Buddha carvings with flowering robes is also common. And Buddha heads and hands are also found for sale.

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”.

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