What defines a handmade Buddha statue and how do you choose the right one?
A Buddha statue is not a decorative object. It is an embodiment. To place a Buddha statue on the altar or in your home is to invite in a quality, not a figure. The quality of calm, compassion and awakening that the Buddha embodies. This difference in understanding changes everything: how you choose a statue, how you treat it and how you live with it.
Handmade Buddha statues from Tibet and Nepal are made by a process thousands of years old. First a wax model is formed, then cast in a clay mould, and finally cast in bronze or brass. This process is called lost-wax casting and calls for great precision. Each statue is then finished by hand, polished and often gilded. The quality of a statue shows in the fineness of the facial features, the precision of the mudras, the hand positions, and the care taken over the surface.
Tibetan Buddhism holds many depictions of the Buddha, each with its own meaning. The historical Buddha Shakyamuni is usually shown in the earth-touching gesture, the mudra of awakening. The Buddha of Infinite Light, Amitabha, sits in deep meditation with hands folded. The laughing Buddha, so popular in the West, is not in fact a depiction of the Buddha at all but of the Chinese monk Budai.
The size of the statue also plays a part. A small statue suits a personal altar or a desk. A larger statue creates a centre in a living room or meditation space. More important than size, though, is the quality of the work and the presence of the piece.
At tibet-markets.ch we choose every Buddha statue personally. We look at iconographic correctness, quality of finishing and the presence of the piece. Only statues that move us ourselves find their way into our shop.
