Understanding the Meaning of the Sleeping Buddha
28 May 2010
Just about every designer understands if a customer asks for a room that’s calm as well as tranquil, there’s only one direction to go with the furnishings, and that’s East. Imagine fountains, bonzai, graceful flowers, beautiful screens and unique sculptures. It is possible to bring a touch of the orient in lots of ways, but one of the most straightforward is to add a statue of the Buddha. There are more than one hundred ‘standard’ positions and 3 distinct orientations for these statues, so there will be one which would be appropriate for virtually any living space, even when it is an awkward shape or size.
Buffets along with desks almost all seem to cry out for a seated Buddha, gardens and balconies may be just right for the standing Buddha, yet quite a few spaces require an object a lot wider than tall. Here the perfect thing is a reclining Buddha.
Almost all Buddha statues share 32 features believed to have been bodily characteristics from the original 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 idolizations of his own body, and so the real question is, why are there any statues of the Buddha at all?
It seems this may be another matter that may be attirbuted to the Greeks, and on one Greek in particular, Alexander the Great. When Alexander occupied India and Afghanistan, the leader placed many soldiers and artists behind, therefore the art associated with this region had been greatly influenced by classical sculpture, as well as by Greek concepts of Gods and mortals. Alexander was widley known for taking pleasure in the reproduction of his own visage, having understood the value of portraits and statues as products of propaganda.
This might be why Alexandrian India, with a partly Greek population as well as ties to Greek tradition, was the earliest area to produce Buddha statues. These became immensely popular and the concept spread with Buddhism itself, even so as Islam restricted the manifestation of the human form and looked at such sculpture as idolatry, many of the ancient and exquisite statues of the Buddha in that area are no longer standing.
There are a couple of established poses for these sculptures that pertain to certain principles or moments in the life of the Buddha.
But the most fascinating is the reclining pose of the Buddha. There are two variations. The first portrays 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 went into Nirvana.
Aged 80, the Buddha sat down to rest and told his disciples he would soon enter parinirvana, the condition that occurs whenever the physical body of somebody that has accomplished complete awakening or enlightenment ultimately dies. He consumed his final meal and then became violently ill. He asked his followers for any requests that they had and when there weren’t any he offered all of them his final directions. “All composite things pass away. Strive for your own liberation with diligence.” History says that when his body was put between the sala trees, the plants bloomed, though it was not the season.
This is the occasion commemorated 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 form your room, right now there is a Buddha statue which will probably match, delivering a sensation of peace and harmony to your world and surroundings.
