Buddha Pictures
10/04/2011 | 
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Buddha Pictures from Thailand
On this page we show you thumbnails images from various Buddha statues in Thailand. When going mouseover on a Buddha image below, a bigger picture will be shown together with some additional information about that specific picture.
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The Buddha Image
The first centuries of Buddhism saw very few visual representations of the Buddha, with Buddhist art consisting mainly of symbols. But beginning the 1st century AD, the Buddha image emerged and went on to become one of the most important ritual items in Buddhism. Images of the Buddha can now be found on altars, in temples, and just about anywhere else around the world.
History of the Buddha Image
For the first 600 or so years after his death, the Buddha and his teachings were represented in art by symbols such as the wheel, footprints, or empty thrones.
Human representations of the Buddha started to emerge from the 1st century AD in northern India. These depict the Buddha wearing monk’s robes and a serene facial expression. He is shown standing or seated in a lotus position, and he often cradles a begging bowl or makes the gesture of fearlessness.
The two main centers of creation have been identified as Gandhara in today’s Punjab, in Pakistan, and the region of Mathura, in central northern India. One Buddhist statue from Mathura has been dated to 81 AD. In addition, some of the gold and copper coins of Kanishka, who ruled from 78 AD, have Buddha images on their reverse (the obverse side has figures of Kanishka himself). A sculptured head of a Buddha from Afghanistan (left) has been dated to the 1st or 2nd century.
Gandharan Buddhist sculpture displays Greek artistic influence, and it has been suggested that the concept of the “man-god” was essentially inspired by Greek mythological culture. Artistically, the Gandharan school of sculpture is said to have contributed wavy hair, drapery covering both shoulders, shoes and sandals, acanthus leaf decorations, etc.
This iconic art was characterized from the start by a realistic idealism, combining realistic human features, proportions, attitudes and attributes, together with a sense of perfection and serenity reaching to the divine. This expression of the Buddha as a both a man and a god became the iconographic canon for subsequent Buddhist art. Read the rest of this entry »
Buddha Images from Thailand
Buddha images are generally found in four positions or stances: a seated position, a standing position, a walking position and a reclining position. Therefore when we describe the position of a Buddha image, we may call it a seated Buddha image, a standing Buddha image, a walking Buddha image or a reclining Buddha image. Read the rest of this entry »
Big Buddhas: The Leshan Buddha
World’s Largest Seated Stone Buddha
For 12 centuries the giant buddha of Leshan has gazed benevolently over the Chinese countryside.
About the year 713 stone workers began to carve the image of Maitreya Buddha out of a cliff face in Sichuan, western China. The work was finished 90 years later, in 803. Read the rest of this entry »
Big Buddhas: The Ushiku Amida Buddha
World’s Tallest Standing Buddha
At nearly 394 feet (120 meters), the Ushiku Admida Buddha may be the tallest buddha in the world.
Ushiku Amida Buddha of Japan is located in Ibaraki Prefecture, about 50 km northeast of Tokyo. The figure of Amida Buddha is 328 feet (100 meters) tall, and the figure is standing on a base and lotus platform that together measure 20 meters (nearly 65 feet) tall, for a total of 394 feet (120 meters). In comparison, the Statue of Liberty in New York is 305 feet (93 meters) from the bottom of its base to the tip of its torch. Read the rest of this entry »
