Last year, unknowingly I travelled to many Buddhist locations in different countries. I visited monasteries in India, Bhutan, China, Japan, Korea and Thailand. It gave me different perspective about Buddhism than what I had or what I had learned in school. For Buddha Poornima, here are 5 Buddha images I liked the most. Each one is different from the other and represents different Buddhist traditions. You can see different hair style and different ornaments of Buddha in different countries.
Entwined Buddha head in Wat Mahathat Ayutthaya , Thailand
The Buddha head entwined in the roots of a tree is an iconic image of Thailand, located in Wat Mahathat Ayutthaya, UNESCO world heritage centre. This temple was built in 14h century. But now it is just a ruin. No one is sure of how the Buddha head has ended up in the roots. But, possible guess work says, after Burmese attack on the temple and severe damage on the statues, some thief was trying to take the Buddha head and as he couldn’t climb up the compound along with the head. He had left it near the tree. The tree, while growing encompassed the Buddha head and now it looks as if it is part of the tree.
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| Entwined Buddha head, Ayutthaya |
Buddha statue at Wat Chaimongkhon, Ayutthaya, Thaialnd
This statue again is from Ayutthaya world heritage centre. This is located in the temple Wat Chaimongkhon( Great monestary of auspicious victory). It is an active temple, even though some part of the temple is in ruins. I just loved this statue in yellow robe in the background of ruins of wall.
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| Buddha statue at Wat Chaimongkhon, Ayutthaya, Thaialnd |
Yungang Grottoes, China
This image is the iconic image of Yungang Grottoes, UNESCO world heritage centre, China. These Buddhist caves have hundreds of Buddha images. But this one stands out with such a pleasant face. I like the eyes are carved and kept fully open. I felt life in the eyes of this image. This sculpture dates back back to 6th century. To read more about Yungang Grottoes, pls click here Yungang Buddhist caves
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| Buddha at Yungang Grottoes, Datong, China |
Buddha Dordenma,Thimpu Bhutan
This statue is said to be world’s tallest Buddha statue in sitting posture. This massive statue is installed on one of the hills outside Thimpu, capital of Bhutan. To read more about it, pls click here Thimpu Bhuddha
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| Buddha statue at Thimpu, Bhutan |
Buddha statue in Ladakh, India
Leh Ladakh in India has many Buddhist monasteries influenced by Tibetan Buddhism. The tibetian style Buddha is located in Likir monastery of Ladakh. The golden colored statue glows against the background of blue sky.
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| Tibetan Buddha at Likir monastery , Ladakh |