Buddha Statues : What are they for?

Recently, I came across a man who collected statues of Buddha. Even though he was not a Buddhist, he claimed to have felt the sense of calm from the statues. Someone told him that his collection of Buddha statues may be blasphemous as he was not a Buddhist. He inquired if it was true or not. Well, the simple answer from my side was a big "NO".

These statues symbolize calmness and peace of mind. They come in various forms, Mudras and in various styles. These statues often have different places of origins and their styles differ according to the place of their origins. The most famous representation of Buddha statues is of Shakyamuni Buddha, the historical Buddha. Others represent various aspects of Buddha's teachings and the events of his life.

In early 2001, when Afghanistan was still controlled by the Taliban, who decided to destroyed two enormous Buddha statues in a mountainside. They considered these statues as an insult to their religious beliefs. The news disturbed the historical and artistic communities all over the world. From their point of view, the statues were an important pieces of ancient art. Even, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York offered the insurgent government $20 million to spare the statues. I did agree that it was not a good thing for the statues to be destroyed but I disagreed with the museum's effort to save them. Buddhism teaches impermanence. Non attachment is one of the main teaching of the Buddha. The effort to give money to the Talibans just to save some statues contradicted the enlightened one's teachings and sermons because, even if all the Buddha statues in the world were destroyed, or if they would cease to exist, the divine teachings or the Dharma teachings would never cease to continue. The philosophy of Buddhism would not die.

Buddhist do not take Buddha statues as the objects of worship. After all, they are just statues. There is am interesting Buddhist story which illustrates this point. Hundreds of years ago, a Zen monk stopped at a temple for shelter in the middle of a winter night with freezing temperature. The insides of the temple was not much warmer than the outside. The freezing temperature made the resident monks shiver as the fire was almost out with nothing more to burn. Then, the wandering monk bowed to the woodenBuddha statue and threw it into the fire. He then proclaimed, "Now it is finally good for something". After all, it was just a statue.

There is a huge difference between respect and worship. When anyone worships a statue or an image, it should be out of respect. Any attack or insult directed at this object results in anger of the followers. The blasphemer must pay for their sins. There are wars, people die, all because the objects are disrespected and not properly worshiped. Bowing or offering incense to the statues are the acts of respect and gratitude towards the Buddha's teachings but not for the statue itself. the Buddha attained enlightenment and experienced his own awakening  and later chose to share his knowledge with everyone. The statues represent his generosity and we should be grateful for that.

Buddha Statues

Buddha statues can be seen in many postures and each posture and hand gestures hold different meaning and signifies the aspect of spirituality. The Buddhist Statues explain the aspect of life, death, peace and many others. In addition to it, Buddhist Statues inspire us human to develop the inner qualities and traits to gain good lucks/ fortunes, happiness, internal peace and satisfaction to our life etc. There is also a saying that -

“For daily motivation or inspiration and to know the capacity of oneself in order to achieve a good life, one should place the Buddhist Statues in the central area of one’s home or office.”

Symbol of Buddhist Statues:

As mentioned earlier, Buddhist statues carry the symbol of internal satisfaction and peace, good lucks and fortunes and also act as a inspiration for every human beings. Whenever we concentrate at the Buddhist statue, it gives us inner peace which enlightens our mind, heart and soul. According to the great Buddhist Mythology, a Buddhist statue is considered as a symbol for many subjects, such as:

Buddhist Statue: A Symbol of Enlightenment:

In ancient time, Gautama Buddha found the answer for all his queries through enlightenment. He achieved enlightenment after he left his royal life and went for meditation. He meditated under a Bodhi tree where after many years of struggle, he finally achieved enlightenment. The Buddhist Statue describes the Enlightenment and preaches the lessons of life and death. In addition to it, Gautama Buddha preached Buddhism where he explained the fourNoble Truths of Life. The Four Noble Truths of life are:

1.    Dukha [Suffering]

2.    Samudaya [Cause of Suffering]

3.    Nirodha [Cessation of Suffering]

4.    Magga [Extinction of Suffering]

Buddhist Statue - signifies Belief:

Belief is the internal power to make people stand in their words. It is the thing that keeps people alive and help people to live their life. The symbol of belief in oneself is the greatest weapon to fight against Suffering.

Buddhist Statue - signifies of Hope:

Buddhist statues also stand as a symbol of HOPE. Hope is the only thing that has motivated people to struggle in life.

Shop Antique Buddhist Statues:

If you follow Buddhism and believe on it, you must definitely have a passion of collecting Buddhist Arts or Statues. So, if you want to collect such statues then you must go through the online gallery of beautiful collections of Antique Buddha Statues. They have original & antique Buddha statues as well as rare Buddha Images in their gallery. They travel across many Asian countries in search of beautiful Arts which depicts the Symbols of Buddhism. So, if you are looking for such good fortune statues, you have to visit their website. They have the largest collection of Buddha statues in every posture.

Difference Between Shakyamuni Buddha Statues and Laughing Buddha Statues

People are often confused with the statues depicting Buddha and their meanings in one way or the other, especially the ones between the statues of Shakyamuni Buddha and Laughing Buddha or Budai. Generally these are the two Buddha Statues which are famous all over the world. One of the main reasons for the confusion may be the name as they both has the term “Buddha” used to refer either of them.  The main difference, though, is that one of them is the statue of the Buddha while the other is the statue of a Buddha.

The following descriptions, however, may help clear up any confusion regarding these famous statues of Buddha.

Statue of Sidhhartha/Shakyamuni Buddha (The Buddha)

Shakyamuni Buddha Statue
Image source:
(www.burmese-art.com)

The statue of Siddhartha Gautama, known as the Buddha or Shakyamuni Buddha, depicts the image of a spiritual leader or the teacher who originated from the northern South Asian region. Born as a prince in a state of Kapilvastu almost 2600 years ago, he left all the earthly belongings he had as a prince and his palace to medidate to find a true meaning of life. After achieving enlightenment following years of medidation, his teachings became the foundation of what we know today as the religion of Buddhism. 

He is the one whom the Buddhist refer to when the talk about the Buddha. The statues of Gautam Buddha or Buddharupa are often depicted in various poses, including seated meditation (with various hand gestures or mudras), standing or walking and lying down on his side, representing various stages of his life and his teachings.

Statue of Laughing Buddha

The statue of Laughing Buddha is that of the character Hotei, who is based on an eccentric monk who lived at the time of Lian Dynasty in ancient China. Also famous as Budai, this statue has become associated as the bringer of good luck and good fortunes across many Asian countries. He is usually identified with (or as an incarnation of) Maitreya, so much so that the Budai image is one of the main forms in which Maitreya is depicted in East Asia.

Laughing Buddha Statue
Image source:
(www.burmese-art.com)

In Buddhism, the term Buddha is referred to the person who has attained enlightenment through the practice of medidation. . Eventhough, the Theravada Buddhists refer to Budai as an Arhat rather than a Buddha, the statues of Laughing Buddha are often depicted him as an obese bald man who is smiling or laughing, hence earning him the name Laughing Buddha.

Here you go, the difference between the statues of Shakyamuni Buddha and the Laughing Buddha.

So, after reading this article, if you are interested in purchasing Buddha Statues, be it Shakyamuni or Laughing Buddha statues, do visit our Buddha Statues Catalog to choose suitable Buddha Statues for you.

Buddha and Buddhism

Buddhism, a 2600 years old religion, is a spiritual tradition that specializes on a personal spiritual development and attainment of insight into true and deep meaning of life.  With over 376 millions followers worldwide, Buddhism is not centered on the relationship between humanity and god.

The followers of Buddhism, or the Buddhists as they are called, seek to reach the state of Nirvana, following the path of The Buddha, or the enlightened one, popularly known as Siddhartha Gautam Buddha or Gautam Buddha who went for the quest of enlightenment around 6^th century BC. Though Buddhists claim they don’t worship any statues or idols, they do claim they help themselves concentrating on meditation by meditation in front of Buddha Statues.

The Buddhist philosophy preaches that there is no existence of god. Instead they focus on attaining the true nature of life. The Buddhists believe that nothing is permanent or fixed and that the change is inevitable fact of life. The Enlightenment can be achieved through the practice and development of morality, meditation and wisdom. The belief of life’s endless journey and also that it is perishable, uncertain and suffering has been the basic teachings for the Buddhists all over the world. They also believe that the existence is endless as the individual living soul can reincarnate over and over again and experience various aspects of life throughout many lives. On the contrary, life is impermanent because no state whether it’s good or bad, lasts forever. The chief cause of suffering is the consequence of the belief that things can last forever.

The Buddhism and its history is the result of one man’s quest for enlightenment through rigorous practice. His teachings helped lead the path in the ways of living for the followers of this religion. So who is this man? Where did he come from? How did he achieve enlightenment and what made him follow the path of meditation to be enlightened?

The Buddha

The Buddha, or Siddhartha Gautam, as he was known before he got enlightened, was a royal prince in modern day Nepal over 2600 years ago. Born and raised in the life of privilege and luxury, he was kept at bay from the life’s ultimate truth of suffering, pain and death until the day when he left the palace and encountered for the first time, an old man, a sick man and a corpse. Upon learning the truth, the disturbed prince left all his physical belongings, even his wife and a new born son, to be a monk before adopting the harsh poverty of Indian asceticism  Yet, he got no satisfaction from either of the paths, therefore choosing “the Middle Path” – a life without luxury but also without poverty. Then finally, one day, seated beneath a Bodhi tree, the former prince became deeply absorbed into meditation and reflected on his experience of the life he has had till then until he became enlightened. By finding the path to enlightenment, Siddhartha, the prince, was led from the pain of suffering and rebirth towards the path of enlightenment and became known as the Buddha or ‘awakened one’.

It is believed that having Buddha Statues brings peace of mind, happiness and satisfaction, that is what Buddha and Buddhism teaches. If you think you need one, then do visit Buddha Statues Catalog.

Buddha Statues and Buddha Images

The Buddha Statues or Statues of Buddha are not only great decorative artifacts, as a matter of fact; the Buddha Statues can be of a big importance while practicing the religion of Buddhism as well as meditation. Just as Buddhism is practiced in different ways, the Buddha Statues also hold different meaning to different people. These artifacts represent inner peace and harmony, enhancing one’s ability to harness the inner spirit inside him/her. At the same time, the followers of The Buddha’s teachings can have themselves encouraged to yearn for more knowledge about life with all the hardships they face in life. With different poses and styles of the statues, every person following the religion always wants to make him/herself closer to the principles of the Buddha, the enlightened one and apply those teachings in their everyday life so as to make their existence meaningful and fruitful for themselves and to the ones who are closer to them.

The Buddha Statues can be found in various designs as well as poses. The designs vary from the place of origin as the countries of origin of these statues have their own artistic as well as tradition of carving sculptures from various raw materials like Stone (Marble), Lacquer, Wood, Bronze and many more. Along with the designs and raw materials, these statues are available in various colors too. Similarly, these sacred statues are found in various poses and these poses also add different meaning to the statues. Poses, or Mudras, as they are generally termed, are the ritualistic gestures that are used in Buddhist and Hindu art forms for the deities, reflecting their common Indian heritage and all the Buddha Statues are found performing at least one of the Mudras. While most of the statues of Buddha have peculiar hand gestures to define a particular mudra, there are other full bodied representations of the Buddha representing other mudras.

The Buddha Images portrays the inspirational principles of Buddha in the form of Images and pictures or Arts. Buddha Images are of simpler forms which provide a fair amount of information, meaning and implications to the viewers. Traditionally, Buddha Images were made for religious purposes and to show the respect towards Buddha and his principles. It may be quite confusing at times as different localities have different cultures and tradition regarding the religion, but the fact, as a whole is, these images are a way to show respect and love towards Buddha, Buddhism and the teaching of this particular religion.

Whether you want to buy an antique Buddha Statue, Buddha Image or other Buddhist Arts related artifacts, Antique Buddha Statues is the perfect place for you to shop online for them. For all your practicing as well as meditative purposes, these artifacts will surely encourage and enhance your knowledge of the religion. The collection of Antique Buddha Statues we have in our gallery has a wide range of antique and authentic Buddha Statues imported all the way from the South East Asian countries. We travel to these countries every six months to collect and purchase the statues from various temples, Monasteries and personal collections. With these frequent visits, we have been able to create a special relation with people related to these artifacts which assure their authenticity. Likewise, these statues can also act as great gifts to your loved ones who practice or admire the religion of Buddhism.

Unlike many other Buddhist Galleries which offer limited amount of Buddhist artifacts, we at Antique Buddha Statues offer wide variety of rare, original and antique Buddhist artifacts ranging from Buddha Images, Thangkas, ancient Meditation cabinet, etc. Besides the statues and images, there are also wide varieties of antique pieces and artifacts related to Buddha and Buddhism in our online Gallery. These items include beautiful and rare images of Buddha, complex Thangkas, great pieces of shrine ornaments, beads, etc.