Buddha Statues - Buddha Statue
- Jade Buddha

-Buddhist sites are always decorated with representations of the teaching of Buddha, it wont mater if the Buddha statues are antique or contemporary,

such as the footprint (the Buddha's impact) and the wheel (the Buddha's teaching described as the "wheel of law"). The most basic role of Buddha sculptures and images of Buddha is to convey the good mood of calm that reflects mental discipline having control over negative emotions, fear, greed and other weird stuff. A Jade Buddha express serenity and set an example for all Buddhists, quiet, smiling, peaceful, beautiful and value.

A Buddha image, Buddhist art etc. has  an important impact in conveying teachings, especially in traditional societies. Classic Buddha postures are associated with particular lessons and events in the Buddha's life. Production of religious Buddhist art has always a "merit making" component in it since it helps spread Buddhist teaching and relax people's mental suffering, some of the most beautiful and valuable is a Jade Buddha.

We not only show the nature of Buddha image and statues in relation to environment around them but also some relationship to relicts. Nobody know if worship of Buddha images and statues was sanctioned by the Buddha and if the dhamma or textual body of the Buddha is the higher or truer approach to his teachings. Worship of objects has lead to practices of magic, miracles and misunderstanding in the past. Many highly respected monks and abbots in the Buddhist world were and are critical of image worship. One of the most venerated statue is the Jade Buddha in Shanghai, created from white jade.

-About statues of Buddha and images a lot has been written in the past.

Here we combine this with Buddha pictures to approach it from the optical point of view. A ancient Buddha image today have quite a high money value, they

are traded like other objects in antique shops all over the world and very prominently in the antique shops of Bangkok, Singapore and London. At London plenty of antique statues, images and sculptures are on display in shops around the big auction houses such as Sotheby's and Christie's.

All kind of Buddha images are there, ceramic Buddha's, others made from wood, bronze, brass and even gold. Brass Buddha dealers in Burma or Myanmar are mainly in Mandalay at the vicinity of the Maha Muni temple and pagoda. Antique statues of Buddha are mainly available at the antique shops in Yangon, Bogyoke Market, Mandalay and at Pyin Oo Lwin the former Maymyo close to Mandalay. Marble and other stones are used for statues plus woodcarving, jade carving, brass and bronze casting to make sure the statues look good and are ok for a long period of time. Buddha figurines always create an oriental magic, tranquility and a mystic charm, they are for sure not only used as a religious expression.

Contemporary Buddha Statues today are made from marble, are a Jade Buddha, by woodcarving and other materials. Most Buddha figurines and other objects have been smuggled out of Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and Myanmar or Burma and brought to the global antique market. But if you see a great antique Buddha for sale, in particular at Bangkok and Singapore, they are usually fake. But made in a very good way to look just like a ancient Buddha's statue. Be very skeptical, even if this antique dealer present you all kind of certification papers, also this papers are mostly fake. A very well known procedure, especially in Thailand is to take some old paper clean the surface and write something new onto it, if this is made orderly its really hard to distinguish it from originals.

Be aware that in most Asian countries it is strictly forbidden to export any antique Buddha images, statues and sculptures. If they catch you you end up in lousy Asian jail.

If you want to buy Buddha figurines from different materials such as wood, marble, masonry, brass, bronze and jade there are several places to do so. The best is the Bogyoke Market in Yangon, Myanmar or Burma and the various handicraft manufacturers in the city. Mandalay would also be a excellent sourcing place, most of the workshops are around the Maha Muni Temple and Pagoda.

In Thailand the 3 main places to buy Buddha statues are, first Bangkok in the shopping centers and big hotels, notably

ask the hotel where you can find one.

Very attractive contemporary laughing Buddha statue are made in Myanmar from jade by carving, this are almost all the time the fat jade Buddha statues and carved from white jade with some other colors visible, usually with some lapis lazuli color and lavender.

Other jade Buddha statues are made from green jade, but rather seldom since good green jade is prohibitively expensive for larger statues of Buddha.

The best jade items whatever the object is one can buy in Myanmar or Burma, there is a so called Emporium twice per year in Yangon or Rangoon to sell jade and other precious stones like rubies, sapphires and plenty of other stones.

The statues show the Buddha in several hand and leg postures or gestures, called mudras, all of them symbolizing some parts of the Buddha's life.

Basically a Buddha image or statue is depicted in four mudras, a Buddha standing statue is a representation of his descent from heaven. A Buddha walking statue represents him taming the 'Nalagiri' elephant sent by his cousin Devadatta to kill him. Buddha seated statues are the most common postures.

The three different seated positions are, legs crossed with both feet hidden; legs crossed with feet on thighs and soles turned upward, this is the co called lotus position, and legs straight down.

Buddha reclining statues with his head pointing to the north symbolizes his death and entry into nirvana. If the head is pointing to any other direction, it means him sleeping.

- Cambodia is a very sad example what vandals

are doing with antique Buddha's and other antique objects. They break the antique sculptures off the temples and smuggle them out of the country. In particular during the French colonial occupation of Cambodia hundreds of beautiful and very valuable Buddha figures and other antique artifacts were stolen by French people. It is necessary to indicate that also the lunatic Pol Pot was educated in France and obviously got his mad ideas there. Even today people do this on a smaller scale since most of the temples and monuments are not guarded.

Even at Angkor Wat today there are plenty of ancient sculptures and artifacts still unexcavated   and looters are digging. Since Western collectors