Shakyamuni statue I salvaged and then restored

OneLifeForm

I went on a walk with my mother the other evening and I found an avocado tree where they had just demolished a house! That was a samsaric delight for this life form and we walked onward.. turned down a side street we'd never been on before and could see it was a bit nicer than the neighborhood where we live. Came upon a clearly abandoned home.. the grass was extremely tall and there was a bunny waiting for us to leave so it could return back to its home somewhere in that yard. Some of the windows were open even but what is strange is how much decent looking stuff was left behind, as if they packed up a while ago and took off. Instantly my eye saw a Buddha statue! It looked like it might be made of metal of some kind but upon closer inspection and picking it was clearly not. It had a solar panel on the back and a light bulb where the lotus flower is so one could have it outdoors and it'd light up at night. The light was clearly broken, and the rest of the statue was in rough shape, there was a hole where the hand was and a few other small cracks/holes, and the fake bronze was chipped all over it.

I assumed that nobody wanted it as it was left near some trash and other things so I took it home. I removed all electrical things as that kind of irked me and patched up the holes with plaster then painted it a couple coats of white and began to paint with color.. just finished a half hour or so ago.

I converted the space where the light used to be into an incense burner. It is a rainbow lotus now.. I tried to get a decent shot of a couple different angles but it seems that colors don't show up well when I take pics with my laptop cam.

The statue was mass produced by Lowes and I included a picture of what they originally look like.

Every time I see a mass produced Buddha like that I recall reading about what Pabonga Rinpoche said about profiting off such things.. it is a terrible karma. Imagine factories of these statues. Perhaps their intent was to be of maximum benefit to all sentient beings. I don't really know.

The statue is well designed but I would have liked it to not have the electrical mumbo jumbo and I feel that fake bronze/brass/gold/stone etc. etc. is a bit tacky.

I have never owned a statue of Shakyamuni before.. this thing really makes my room explode with life.. the colors are intense.

Also wanted to note that I don't recall ever seeing a Buddha statue that had actual colors on it. Typically they are stone or gold or something solid.

Perhaps I've remodeled this statue wrong..

how

All buddhist statues are supposed to be a teaching. This is represented in body posture, hand mudras, what they hold or don't, and a variety of other things.
Why don't you check out what your rescued Buddha teaches?

Sile

How very cool to find a Buddha!

Today on the way to a gig I heard some dogs barking frantically; they were in an alley a car in a with the windows up (it's been in the 90s-100s here!) I went into the artsy store nearest the alley and asked if they were anyone's dogs; no one knew.

I went back to the car and was getting ready to call animal services when the back door of the artsy shop opened and out came some people with a ginormous Shakyamuni (like, the kind that costs $2500). They said it was their car and guiltily loaded the Buddha in with the sweaty dogs, lol. They'd probably only run inside just long enough to grab the statue, but the irony was hilarious.

At any rate, sounds like your new Buddha was destined for you!

OneLifeForm

All buddhist statues are supposed to be a teaching. This is represented in body posture, hand mudras, what they hold or don't, and a variety of other things.
Why don't you check out what your rescued Buddha teaches?

Good idea, thank you. All the different colors I painted mean something for each.. that much I am aware of.

Here's what I found about the posture. I recall reading about the event in a zen book;

It is believed that the origin of Zen lies in an interpretation of the Buddha’s Flower Sermon, in which Shakyamuni upheld a lotus flower before his disciples. Each of the gathering disciples was earnestly pondering about the significance of the lotus flower, held in the Buddha’s hand. One of them, Mahakashyapa, reacted by smiling without giving any comment about what he understood.


In a later stage, Zen monks interpreted the silent reaction of Mahakashyapa as an indication of a new teaching for communicating Buddhism - based on “silent transmission of insight”. Accordingly, Zen Buddhism originally does not rely on spoken words or on recorded sutras to reach enlightenment.


There are different explanations of the meaning of the Flower Sermon (which is believed to have occurred around the time of the Buddha’s preaching of the Lotus Sutra). Shakyamuni’s action of physically holding the lotus flower before his disciples can be perceived as a direct indication for the importance of his teaching of the Law of the Lotus (preached in depth in the Lotus Sutra). There is no evidence or any document in which the Buddha taught about the “importance of silence” in spreading Buddhism, as Zen masters believe.

How very cool to find a Buddha!

Today on the way to a gig I heard some dogs barking frantically; they were in an alley a car in a with the windows up (it's been in the 90s-100s here!) I went into the artsy store nearest the alley and asked if they were anyone's dogs; no one knew.

I went back to the car and was getting ready to call animal services when the back door of the artsy shop opened and out came some people with a ginormous Shakyamuni (like, the kind that costs $2500). They said it was their car and guiltily loaded the Buddha in with the sweaty dogs, lol. They'd probably only run inside just long enough to grab the statue, but the irony was hilarious.

At any rate, sounds like your new Buddha was destined for you!

I wonder why they didn't leave the windows cracked or anything, like you said they were probably expecting to be in and out real quick like.

Thank you though It seemed like a rather fortunate thing for me to come across the statue.





Is everyone able to see the images that I posted? For some reason when I first opened the thread to read the comments left, I could not see them, then when I clicked away and then back to it I could see them? Kinda strange..

footiam

I find it stranger that the statue and other decent stuff were left behind.

RebeccaS

Yeah I see the pictures. Looks good

OneLifeForm

Yeah I see the pictures. Looks good

Ok cool! Thanks

RebeccaS

It's funny, I compared the painted Buddha to the Lowes Buddha and painted Buddha seems a bit more smiley.

Making stuff and fixing stuff up is really cool. A little bit of love always goes into it. Not much of a creative personally (though I can build anything in the ikea catalogue ) so I do enjoy seeing people work on creative stuff.

OneLifeForm

Painted Buddha is pleased with his makeover

"Extreme Makeover: Buddha Edition!" heheheehe

I love reading your posts.. you have humor which is very important in progressing spiritually!