Tibetan Buddhist Shakyamuni Buddha

A philosopher, mendicant, meditator, spiritual teacher and a religious leader, this sage of the Shakyas or as he is called, ‘Shakyamuni Buddha’, originated the religion of Buddhism, followed primarily by Tibetan people. He was born as prince Siddhartha (Shakyamuni) but later at the age of 29, he left his riches and continued on a path of attaining enlightenment to abolish sufferings from the world. Buddha statues communicate from their hand and body gestures; as the one shown here, although unlike to the usual popular Buddha’s gesture, but the root meaning can still be decoded from the Vitarka mudra of right hand, forming the divine wheel of law.

He sits here cross-legged in padmasana on an outgrown lotus pedestal and holds his long flowing robe, clustered together by the right hand; notice the sculptor’s realistic imaginations while carving out Buddha’s long, comfortable, easy flowing and pleated robe. The self-textured, smooth and glowy surface of this wooden statue, makes it all-the-more alluring and attractive. Zoom in to the face features of a sleek and pointed nose, gently smiling lips, long curvy earlobes and the half open eyes symbolizing the proper posture of meditation where the half-closed eyes match a mind that is awake and turned inwards. The tied coiled hair in front of the beautiful flower aureole represent his continuous determination to achieve enlightenment.