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The Fayuan is the oldest Buddhist temple of Beijing. The current buildings date from the Zhengtong Period (1436–1449) of the Ming Dynasty. The Main Hall houses three guilded statues, the middle one representing the Vairocana Buddha. Vairocana is a celestial buddha who is often interpreted as the Bliss Body of the historical Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama). […]

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Tian Tan Buddha, also known as the Big Buddha, is a 34 meter tall bronze statue of a Buddha Amoghasiddhi. The statue is located near Po Lin Monastery in Hong Kong and symbolizes the harmonious relationship between man and nature, people and religion. It is a major center of Buddhism in Hong Kong, and is […]

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Guanyin, known as Gwan(s)eum in Korea, is the bodhisattva associated with compassion as venerated by East Asian Buddhists, usually as a female. This statue is part of a water fountain at the Naksan temple, Sokcho, South Korea. The Buddha is holding a small jar downward with the right hand from which water pours into a […]

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The Buddha of the Future is shown in a typical, pensive mood. He is contemplating mankind’s need for salvation, which will induce him, in an unimaginably distant future, to descend from Tushita Heaven and reinstate Buddha’s Law on earth. This famous 83 cm tall bronze statue is especially praised for the delicate pose of Maitreya’s […]

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This beautiful head of the Buddha was once part of a large-scale narrative panel modelled in high relief. It formed part of a life-size figure, probably of Gautama the Buddha as a young man. The statue is now at the Victoria & Albert museum in London. The head displays several of the characteristic auspicious marks […]

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The Ethnological Museum in Leiden bought this large bronze statue of a seated Amida Buddha from Japan in 1883. The original location of the statue is unknown. Amida Nyorai is the Celestial Buddha of Infinite Light, of the setting sun and of afterlife. He resides in the Western Pure Land, not so much a real […]

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The Vairocana Buddha stands in the Fenxiang, one of the Longmen Grottoes which house tens of thousands of statues of Buddha. It is one of nine huge carved statues. This highly impressive image of Vairocana Buddha is sculpted on the back wall of the Fengxian. The image is 17.14m high and has 2m long ears. […]

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Mount Naksan in the northern part of South Korea is crowned by the Buddhist statue of Haesugwaneumsang (Bodhisattva of Compassion), known as the goddess Gwanseum-Bosal, facing southeast standing 15 meters (49 ft) high on a 2.8-meter (9 ft) high pedestal. The white granite statue stands in a clearing at the top of the hill, eyes […]

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This Buddha is seated in a hall of the Tibetan YongHeGong temple in Beijing. The full name of the Medicine Buddha is Bhaishajyaguru Vaiduryaprabha, the Healing Master of Lapis Lazuli Radiance. The most distinctive feature of this Medicine Buddha is his color, the deep blue of lapis lazuli. This precious stone has been greatly prized […]