Sunday 1 August 2010

Our New Buddha Statues and Wall Art Panels Have Arrived !


Thai style Buddha Dark Brown Rain Wood 70cm by 40cm. Suitable for use in both your home and garden.

We believe these statues to be our best ever so why not visit our merchant website The Buddha's Face where over the next few weeks we will be uploading all of our new stock of Buddha statues,wall art panels and Buddha images.

"Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace. "
Buddha

A dedicated part of the Buddha's Face 101 Project

Saturday 24 July 2010

Is this the greatest Buddhist movie ? - Dhamma Brothers


The Dhamma Brothers is a documentary film which cam out in 2007 and concerns a jail-house meditation course that was run at the Donaldson Prison in Bessemer, Alabama,USA. The film focuses on four inmates, who were all convicted of murder.Alongside the testimony of the prsioners it also includes the opinions of the guards, various prison officials, and local people.To fully understand what they had done it also includes dramatizatioon of the inmates' crimes. Music for the film is by Low, New Order and Sigur Rós.


It is a wondefully compelling account of an astonishing treatment program with prisoners that, against all probablities , actually worked and makes it plain that no human being should be considered beyond the reach of redemption.

“To understand everything is to forgive everything”
The Buddha


A dedicated part of the Buddha's Face 101 Project

Tuesday 20 July 2010

The Largest Buddhist Temple in the World ....

is Wat Phra Dhammakaya - the home of the controversial Thai Buddhist sect and is located 16 km north of the Thailand's old international airport Dom Mueng - just outside of Bangkok and covers over 1000 acres. The central golden dome or stupa resembles an classic UFO flying saucer shape and can attract over 100,000 devotees to major festivals. It is controversial in that rather like American evangelic religions the order preaches wealth is good and donating money to to the order is a good way to gain merit.

It also has a 24 hour global TV channel and uses the most up to date marketing methods to attract followers.




A dedicated part of the Buddha's Face 101 Project

Monday 19 July 2010

Painting the Buddha - Our Latest Video

In my last post I profiled a You Tube video of a time lapse painting of the Buddha. In my search for content I came across some more videos of painting of the Buddha. I've picked the best,edited and assembled them together to make a short video of the the best of You Tube for our new channel Statues of the Buddha. The music is Willow by Cafe del Mar - this is there version of the operatic aria from Verdi's opera Otello - Café del Mar Aria is an album concept that combines Chill out music with opera arias. The Café del Mar concept originated from the "sunset bar" with has the same name in Sant Antoni de Portmany on the Mediterranean island of Ibiza.



A dedicated part of the Buddha's Face 101 Project

Sunday 18 July 2010

Painting the Buddha

At Statues of the Buddha we are trying to highlight all aspects of Buddhist art and culture. One area that is reasonably neglected is that of painting the Buddha. In our trawl through varied You Tube material seeking out content that we can rework for our dedicated Statues of the Buddha You Tube channel we came across this interesting stop motion animation of an artist painting the image of the Buddha sitting in the lotus position on his bedroom wall - it only lasts just a bit over a minute so have a look. Hope you enjoy.

Saturday 17 July 2010

The Buddha Awakes - New Video - Hopiola by Sigur Ros

This is second in our Sigur Ros series of videos at Statues of the Buddha which we have called the Buddha Awakes as the music in my mind is very symbolic of an Awakening. We have put together a collection of beautiful multimedia images of the Buddha ,Buddha statues and images and more genreal video clips associated with Buddhism to accompany this their most famous track (which is best known as the title theme for the BBC documentary series Planet Earth).

We hope you enjoy watching it as much as we did making it.

"All things appear and disappear because of the concurrence of causes and conditions. Nothing ever exists entirely alone; everything is in relation to everything else."
Buddha



A dedicated part of the Buddha's Face 101 Project

The Making of the Buddhas - Video

In keeping with our initial promise to bring you some of the best material about Buddhist art and in particular Buddha statues our companion You Tube channel Statues of the Buddha has assembled together a series of video clips and high resolution photos of craftsmen and women making Buddhas from around the world. The accompanying soundtrack is by the innovative classical trance music group Cafe del Mar with their version of the operatic song Una Furtiva Lacrima (A Secret Tear) by Donizetti.

Friday 16 July 2010

The Very First Buddha Statues

The first Buddha statues came from the Kandahar region of what is now Afghanistan. The inspired and talented craftsmen who carved and sculpted them were either descendants of the ancient Greeks who arrived in the area following Alexander the Great’s arrival or were local artists who were influenced by the Hellenistic style.

Initially during his life the Buddha discouraged physical representations of his image as he was keen to prevent a personality cult developing and saw himself very much as a man teaching rather than a living god. This philosophy lives on in much Buddhist tradition practiced throughout the world. However we are human all too human and the serene and contemplative image of the Buddha has become a universal symbol of compassion,peace and deep understanding of the world. In fact one of our main wood carvers Khun Kom Wasingwong at The Buddha's Face in Thailand says that "Buddha images should show compassion and wisdom".

Before any such statues or images were made, the Buddha himself was symbolised by the Dharma Wheel or a stupa.

So a result of his discouragement the first Buddha statues,sculptures and images were made over 300 years after his death. Although the holy texts and canons have some information about the way he looked very little is known of who exactly wrote them and when they were written.

There are some statues and Buddha heads existing where he has a moustache - this was symbolic at the time of men of high status. However later he is always shown as being clean shaven and so is represented as being without a beard or moustache. In the Pali Scriptures a there is a passage which is oft quoted as a key narrative as he began on the journey for his quest for enlightenment.

"So, later , while still a young black-haired young man endowed with the blessings of youth and in the first part of my life — and while my parents, unwilling, were crying - I shaved off my hair and beard, put on the saffron robe and went forth from my home life to that of being homeless."

The Buddha

A dedicated part of the Buddha's Face 101 Project

Thursday 15 July 2010

Our First Statues of the Buddha You Tube Video

To celebrate the launch of our new blog Statues of the Buddha has set up a dedicated You Tube channel and has produced our very first short HD video Sigur Ros Glosoli - Statues of the Buddha - HD 720p. 35 stunning high-definition photos of some of the most beautiful White Buddha statues in the world run alongside a soundtrack from Iceland's greatest musical export Sigur Ros and their song Glosoli. We hope you enjoy watching it as much as we did making it.

Statues of the Buddha



A dedicated part of the Buddha's Face 101 Project

Is this the most beautiful Buddha statue in the world ?



This is the statue of Lord Buddha in the Bhumisparsha - Earth Touching Mudra, Tsog Kor evening, Tibetan Buddhism, Seattle, Washington, USA and is reputed by many to be the most beautiful Buddha statue in the world. This is of course a most subjective area so whatever your opinion please feel free to comment on our blog.

Along with our companion blog The Buddha's Face and our merchant website The Buddha's Face we hope we can educate,inspire and delight you information scoured from our own experiences and from those of countless others on the world wide web.

In conjunction with this blog we have also set up a dedicated You Tube Channel Statues of the Buddha and a companion Twitter account.


Welcome to Statues of the Buddha



Welcome to our very first blog entry where we will bringing you information about the Buddha ,his life,philosophy and impact on the world. In particular we will be focusing on the countless and many beautiful statue and sculpture representations of his image that have appeared over the centuries.

Along with our companion blog The Buddha's Face and our merchant website The Buddha's Face we hope we can educate,inspire and delight you information scoured from our own experiences and from those of countless others on the world wide web.

In conjunction with this blog we have also set up a dedicated You Tube Channel Statues of the Buddha and a companion Twitter account.