Every designer knows that if a client wants a room that’s relaxed as well as beautiful, there’s only one route to go with the decor, and that’s East. Consider water features, bonzai, elegant flowers, lovely screens and spectacular sculptures. It is easy to add a touch of the orient in lots of ways, but one of the easiest is to add a sculpture of the Buddha. There are over one hundred ‘standard’ poses and 3 distinct orientations for these statues, so there is bound to be one that would be appropriate for almost any living space, even when it is an unusual shape or size.
Side tables along with desks almost all seem to cry out for a sitting Buddha, backyards and balconies might be perfect for a standing Buddha, but quite a few areas need an subject much wider than it is high. There an excellent thing is a reclining Buddha.
All Buddha statues share 32 features believed to have been physical characteristics from the first Gautama Buddha who was born in approximately 563 BC. These are also known as the ‘Thirty Two Signs of a Great Man’, and include:
• flat feet
• a pointed head
• beautiful golden skin
• long fingers the same length
• long toes all the same length
• a robe draped over one shoulder
• long ear lobes
The Buddha wasn’t in favor of representations of his own form, and so the proper question is, why are there so many Buddha statues?
It appears this might be another matter that may be blamed on the Greeks, and on one Greek in particular, Alexander the Great. When Alexander conquered Northern India and Afghanistan, he left lots of soldiers and artisans behind, therefore the art of that region had been heavily influenced by classical sculpture, and by Greek ideas of Gods and men. Alexander was well-known for taking pleasure in the imitation of his own visage, understanding the worth of portraits and statues as products of propaganda.
This might be the reason why Alexandrian India, with a partly Greek populace and ties to Greek tradition, was the earliest region to produce Buddha statues. These proved hugely popular and the concept spread with Buddhism itself, on the other hand as Islam restricted the rendering of the human form and looked at such sculpture as idolatry, many of the ancient and beautiful statues of the Buddha in that region have been destroyed.
Generally there are a couple of well defined poses for these sculptures which refer to particular concepts or times in the life of the Buddha.
But the most intriguing is the reclining pose of the Buddha. There are 2 variations. The first portrays the Buddha, resting with his head on his arm. This is the sleeping Buddha, but the alternative pose, where Buddha’s feet are together, represents the day the Buddha went into Nirvana.
Aged 80, the Buddha took a moment to rest and informed his disciples he would soon enter parinirvana, the state that occurs whenever the physical body of a person who has achieved total awakening or enlightenment finally dies. He consumed his final meal and after that grew to become violently ill. He asked his followers for any inquiries they had and when there were none he gave them his last directions. “All composite things pass away. Strive for your own liberation with diligence.” Tradition states that that when his body was put between the sala trees, the plants bloomed, though it was not the season.
This is the moment symbolized by the reclining Buddha statue. In Thailand the most common pose shows the Buddha with legs crossed and with his left hand in his lap while the right points to the ground, palm inward in a pose called ‘Calling the Earth to Witness’ and relates to the precise of the Buddha’s enlightenment.
Whatever shape your area, right now there is a Buddha statue which will fit, bringing a sense of peace and tranquility to your world and surroundings.
Tags: Buddha, buddha statue, buddha statue poses, buddha statues, reclining buddha statue