Buddha Statues
The statuette and statues of Buddha we see all around us are the sculptures of Shakyamuni Siddhartha Gautama the "Buddha" who was born in Kapilavastu, an ancient province of Nepal, as the son of king Suddhodana and Queen Maya Devi. The Queen had few prosperous dreams before the Lord entered her womb from the Tushita heaven.
As Shakyamuni Siddhartha Gautama came to the age 28 he renounced the kingdom and lived the life of a mendicant. He sought and attained enlightenment in six years under a pipala tree and became a Buddha, in Bodhgaya. After supreme wisdom he uttered 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"
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 Buddha statues & sculptures, the idols of Buddha are found in a wide form of posture 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 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 figures sit on a pedestal in a lotus blossom which portray 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. Figurines calling the earth to bear witness are represented by position where the right hand is touching the earth below, which displays total confidence. And, finally the reclining Buddha sculpture represents 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 stands for the belief that Buddha parted knowledge on medicine along with spiritual guidance.
The Mudras or postures of hands of the Shakyamuni Buddha figurines 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 figurines are hand-crafted and thus they are craftsman'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 figurines were found in Afghanistan which were colossal in size and have been much recently destroyed by the Taliban's. The figurines 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 municipality of Kathmandu in Nepal or sold in assorted online Buddha Statues mall like http://himalayacrafts.com in wholesale or retail. The standing Buddha figurines 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 preceptor who once walked upon this earth 2500 years ago. In other words these statues are reminiscences of the "Grand Master".
Kshitize Agrawal
http://himalayacrafts.com
Statues & Sculptures
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