Every designer knows that when a customer wants a space that is calm as well as beautiful, there’s just one direction to choose the decor, and that’s East. Imagine water features, bonzai, graceful plants, beautiful screens and unique sculptures. You can create a touch of the orient in numerous ways, but one of the simplest is to add a sculpture of the Buddha. There are more than one hundred ‘standard’ positions and three different orientations for these statues, so there is likely to be one which will be appropriate for virtually any room or space, even when it’s an awkward shape or size.
Side tables and desks all seem to cry out for a sitting Buddha, backyards and balconies may be perfect for a standing Buddha, yet quite a few areas need an subject significantly broader than it is tall. There the ideal decor item is a reclining Buddha.
Just about all Buddha statues display 32 features said to have been physical characteristics of the original Gautama Buddha who was born around 563 BC. These are also referred to as the ‘Thirty Two Signs of a Great Man’, and include:
• flat feet
• a pointed head
• beautiful golden skin
• long fingers all 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 body, and so the proper question is actually, why are there any statues of the Buddha at all?
It appears this might be yet another thing that may be attirbuted to the Greeks, and on one Greek in particular, Alexander the Great. When Alexander occupied India and Afghanistan, he left many soldiers and artists in the regions, hence the artwork of that area had been greatly influenced by classical sculpture, as well as through Greek concepts of Gods and men. Alexander was well known for taking pleasure in the imitation of his own face, having understood the worth of paintings and statues as products of propaganda.
This might be the reason why Alexandrian India, with a partially Greek populace and ties to Greek culture, was the earliest region to create Buddha statues. These became hugely popular and the concept spread with Buddhism itself, however as Islam forbade the manifestation of the human form and considered such statues as idolatry, many of the ancient and exquisite statues of the Buddha in that region have since been destroyed.
There are a few established poses for these statues that refer to distinct principles or events in the life of the Buddha.
But the most interesting is the reclining pose of the Buddha. Presently there are 2 versions. One shows the Buddha, relaxing with his head in his hand. This is the sleeping Buddha, however the other similar pose, where Buddha’s feet are together, symbolizes the day the Buddha entered Nirvana.
At age 80, the Buddha took a moment to rest and told his followers he would soon enter parinirvana, the state which occurs when the body of someone who has accomplished total awakening or enlightenment finally dies. He ate his last meal and then grew to become violently sick. He asked his followers for any requests they had and when there weren’t any he offered all of them his last directions. “All composite things pass away. Strive for your own liberation with diligence.” History says that when his body was laid among the sala trees, the flowers bloomed, although it was not the season.
This is the event 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 room, right now there is a Buddha statue which will certainly fit, delivering a sense of peace and tranquility to your home.
