Fat Boy Club

Every designer knows that when a client asks for a room which is calm and tranquil, there is just one route to choose the interior decoration, and that’s East. Consider fountains, bonzai, elegant plants, beautiful screens and exotic sculptures. It is possible to create a feel of the orient in many ways, however among the simplest would be to add a statue of the Buddha. There are over one hundred known positions and three distinct orientations for these statues, so there is likely to be one which will be perfect for just about any living space, even when it is an unusual shape or dimensions.

Buffets and desks all seem to cry out for a sitting Buddha, gardens and balconies may be perfect for the standing Buddha, but some areas need an item a lot broader than high. Here the optimal decor item is a reclining Buddha.

All Buddha statues share 32 features believed to have been bodily features from the original Gautama Buddha who was born in approximately 563 BC. They are also referred to as the ‘Thirty Two Signs of a Great Man’, and include:

•    flat feet

•    a pointed head

•    beautiful gold skin

•    long fingers all the same length

•    long toes all the same length

•    a robe draped over one shoulder

•    long ear lobes

The Buddha wasn’t in favor of representations of his own body, and therefore the real question is actually, why are there so many Buddha statues?

It appears this may be yet another matter which can be blamed on  the Greeks, and on one Greek in particular, Alexander the Great. When Alexander  occupied Northern India and Afghanistan, the leader placed lots of soldiers and artists in the regions, hence the artwork of this area had been greatly affected by classical sculpture, as well as through Greek ideas of Gods and mortals. Alexander was famous for taking pleasure in the imitation of his own visage, having understood the value of paintings and sculpture as items of propaganda.

This may be why Alexandrian India, with a partly Greek populace and ties to Greek tradition, was the first region to produce Buddha statues. These proved immensely popular and the idea spread with Buddhism itself, even so as Islam restricted the representation of the human form and considered such statues as idolatry,  many of the historic and beautiful statues of the Buddha in that area have since been destroyed.

Generally there are a few well defined poses for these sculptures which refer to distinct ideas or times in the life of the Buddha.

But the most fascinating is the reclining pose of the Buddha. There are 2 versions. The first portrays the Buddha, resting with his head in his hand. This is the sleeping Buddha, however the other similar pose, where Buddha’s feet are resting together, signifies the day the Buddha entered Nirvana.

Aged eighty, the Buddha sat down and told his followers he was about to enter parinirvana, the state that occurs whenever the physical body of a person who has accomplished total awakening or enlightenment ultimately passes away. He ate his last meal and after that became strongly ill. He asked his followers for any concerns that they had and when there were none he gave all of them his last instructions. “All composite things pass away. Strive for your own liberation with diligence.” Custom tells that when his body was laid between the sala trees, the plants bloomed, despite the fact that it was not the season.

This is the day symbolized by the reclining Buddha statue.  In Thailand the most common pose shows the Buddha with legs crossed and with his left hand in his lap while the right points to the ground, palm inward in a pose called ‘Calling the Earth to Witness’ and relates to the precise of the Buddha’s enlightenment.

Whichever shape your space, right now there is a Buddha statue that will certainly fit, delivering a feeling of peace and tranquility to your world and surroundings.

Every designer knows that when a client asks for a room which is calm and tranquil, there is just one route to choose the interior decoration, and that’s East. Consider fountains, bonzai, elegant plants, beautiful screens and exotic sculptures. It is possible to create a feel of the orient in many ways, however among the simplest would be to add a statue of the Buddha. There are over one hundred known positions and three distinct orientations for these statues, so there is likely to be one which will be perfect for just about any living space, even when it is an unusual shape or dimensions.

Buffets and desks all seem to cry out for a sitting Buddha, gardens and balconies may be perfect for the standing Buddha, but some areas need an item a lot broader than high. Here the optimal decor item is a reclining Buddha.

All Buddha statues share 32 features believed to have been bodily features from the original Gautama Buddha who was born in approximately 563 BC. They are also referred to as the ‘Thirty Two Signs of a Great Man’, and include:

•    flat feet

•    a pointed head

•    beautiful gold skin

•    long fingers all the same length

•    long toes all the same length

•    a robe draped over one shoulder

•    long ear lobes

The Buddha wasn’t in favor of representations of his own body, and therefore the real question is actually, why are there so many Buddha statues?

It appears this may be yet another matter which can be blamed on  the Greeks, and on one Greek in particular, Alexander the Great. When Alexander  occupied Northern India and Afghanistan, the leader placed lots of soldiers and artists in the regions, hence the artwork of this area had been greatly affected by classical sculpture, as well as through Greek ideas of Gods and mortals. Alexander was famous for taking pleasure in the imitation of his own visage, having understood the value of paintings and sculpture as items of propaganda.

This may be why Alexandrian India, with a partly Greek populace and ties to Greek tradition, was the first region to produce Buddha statues. These proved immensely popular and the idea spread with Buddhism itself, even so as Islam restricted the representation of the human form and considered such statues as idolatry,  many of the historic and beautiful statues of the Buddha in that area have since been destroyed.

Generally there are a few well defined poses for these sculptures which refer to distinct ideas or times in the life of the Buddha.

But the most fascinating is the reclining pose of the Buddha. There are 2 versions. The first portrays the Buddha, resting with his head in his hand. This is the sleeping Buddha, however the other similar pose, where Buddha’s feet are resting together, signifies the day the Buddha entered Nirvana.

Aged eighty, the Buddha sat down and told his followers he was about to enter parinirvana, the state that occurs whenever the physical body of a person who has accomplished total awakening or enlightenment ultimately passes away. He ate his last meal and after that became strongly ill. He asked his followers for any concerns that they had and when there were none he gave all of them his last instructions. “All composite things pass away. Strive for your own liberation with diligence.” Custom tells that when his body was laid between the sala trees, the plants bloomed, despite the fact that it was not the season.

This is the day symbolized by the reclining Buddha statue.  In Thailand the most common pose shows the Buddha with legs crossed and with his left hand in his lap while the right points to the ground, palm inward in a pose called ‘Calling the Earth to Witness’ and relates to the precise of the Buddha’s enlightenment.

Whichever shape your space, right now there is a Buddha statue that will certainly fit, delivering a feeling of peace and tranquility to your world and surroundings.