Why Does the Buddha Sleep?
Every designer understands when a client asks for a space which is calm as well as tranquil, there’s only one route to go with the interior decoration, and that’s East. Imagine water features, bonzai, elegant plants, lovely screens and spectacular statues. It is easy to add a feel of the orient in lots of ways, however among the most straightforward is to add a sculpture of the Buddha. There are over one hundred ’standard’ poses and three different orientations for these statues, so there will be one which will be perfect for virtually any space, even when it’s an awkward shape or size.
Buffets and desks all seem to cry out for a seated Buddha, backyards and balconies may be just right for a standing Buddha, yet certain areas need an item much broader than it is tall. There the optimal decorate element is a reclining Buddha.
Many Buddha statues share 32 features said to have been bodily features of the original Gautama Buddha who was born in approximately 563 BC. These are also referred to as the ‘Thirty Two Signs of a Great Man’, and encompass:
•   flat feet
•   a pointed head
•   beautiful golden skin
•   long fingers all the same length
•   long toes all the same length
•   a robe draped over one shoulder
•   long ear lobes
The Buddha was not in favor of representations of his own form, and therefore the proper question is actually, why are there any statues of the Buddha at all?
It seems this might be another thing that may be blamed on the Greeks, and on one Greek in particular, Alexander the Great. When Alexander conquered Afghanistan and Northern India, he kept many soldiers and artisans in the regions, hence the artwork of this area was greatly affected by classical sculpture, as well as through Greek ideas of Gods and mortals. Alexander was well known for taking pleasure in the imitation of his own face, understanding the value of paintings and statues as products of propaganda.
This may be why Alexandrian India, with a partially Greek populace as well as ties to Greek tradition, was the first area to create Buddha statues. These became hugely popular and the concept propogagted with Buddhism itself, even so as Islam restricted the manifestation of the human form and looked at such statues as idolatry, countless historic and beautiful statues of the Buddha in that region have been destroyed.
Generally there are a couple of established poses for these statues that refer to distinct principles or occasions in the life of the Buddha.
But the most intriguing is the reclining pose of the Buddha. Presently there are 2 versions. One portrays the Buddha, resting with his head on his arm. This is the sleeping Buddha, but the alternative pose, where Buddha’s feet are resting together, symbolizes the day the Buddha entered Nirvana.
At age eighty, the Buddha sat down and told his disciples he was about to enter parinirvana, the state that happens when the body of someone who has achieved total awakening or enlightenment finally passes away. He ate his final meal and then became strongly ill. He asked his followers for any requests that they had and when there were none he offered all of them his last directions. “All composite things pass away. Strive for your own liberation with diligence.” Tradition says that when his body was laid among the sala trees, the plants bloomed, although this was not the time of year.
This is the occasion commemorated 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 refers to the exact of the Buddha’s enlightenment.
Whichever form your area, right now there is a Buddha statue that will probably fit, providing a feeling of peace and harmony to your world and surroundings.