Just about every designer understands if a client asks for a room that is calm and peaceful, there is only one route to choose the furnishings, and that’s East. Think fountains, bonzai, graceful plants, lovely screens and spectacular sculptures. You can create a hint of the orient in numerous ways, however one of the easiest would be to add a statue of the Buddha. There are more than one hundred ‘standard’ positions and 3 different orientations for these statues, so there is likely to be one that will be appropriate for virtually every room or space, even when it’s an awkward shape or dimensions.

Side tables along with desks all seem to cry out for a sitting Buddha, gardens and balconies may be just right for the standing Buddha, but certain areas require an subject a lot wider than high. Here the optimal decorate element is a reclining Buddha.

Most Buddha statues share 32 features said to have been physical features 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 gold 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 form, and therefore the real question is, why are there any statues of the Buddha at all?

It appears this may be yet another thing which may be blamed on  the Greeks, and on one Greek in particular, Alexander the Great. When Alexander  occupied India and Afghanistan, he left many soldiers and artisans in the regions, therefore the art associated with that area had been heavily affected by classical sculpture, and through Greek ideas of Gods and men. Alexander was widley known for taking pleasure in the reproduction of his own face, having understood the worth of paintings and statues as products of propaganda.

This might be why Alexandrian India, with a partly Greek populace and ties to Greek culture, was the first region to produce Buddha statues. These became exceptionally popular and the idea propogagted with Buddhism itself, however as Islam restricted the rendering of the human form and considered such statues as idolatry,  many of the historic and wonderful statues of the Buddha in that area have been destroyed.

Generally there are a couple of established poses for these statues that refer to certain principles or occasions in the life of the Buddha.

But the most significant is the reclining pose of the Buddha. Presently there are 2 versions. One portrays the Buddha, resting with his head in his hand. This is the sleeping Buddha, however the other similar pose, where Buddha’s feet are resting together, signifies the day the Buddha went into Nirvana.

Aged eighty, the Buddha sat down and told his followers he was about to enter parinirvana, the state that occurs when the physical body of an individual who has achieved total awakening or enlightenment finally dies. He consumed his final meal and then became violently sick. He asked his followers for any inquiries that they had and when there were none he gave them his last instructions. “All composite things pass away. Strive for your own liberation with diligence.” History states that that when his body was laid among the sala trees, the flowers bloomed, despite the fact that this was not the time of year.

This is the event 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 refers to the specific of the Buddha’s enlightenment.

Whatever shape your area, right now there is a Buddha statue that will certainly fit, bringing a sensation of peace and tranquility to your home.

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