Laughing Buddha statues are often seen in restaurants temples and businesses because he is the deity of contentment and prosperity. You almost always see Ho Tai carrying a linen sack, always full with candy for children rice plants which symbolize wealth food or the suffering of the world. Much like Catholicism’s St. Nicholas, Ho Tai is the patron saint of children and the weak and the downtrodden.

A laughing Buddha statue portrays a stout, chubby bald man whose generous potbelly stomach can be seen through his loose robes. While Ho Tai could definitely benefit from a few stomach crunches, his ample belly is symbolic of good fortune and plenitude. Along with his chubby belly and happy grin the laughing Buddha nearly always carries a gnarled walking stick in one hand and his ever present sack in the other.

The laughing Buddha is most often depicted in statuary in either a sitting, standing or in a reclining position. The reclining position most likely was born from the “sleeping Buddha position,” which depicted the Buddha’s last moments on earth before he ascended to Nirvana. Most often the laughing Buddha statue is displayed in the home as a symbol and talisman of good fortune and prosperity.

Other accoutrements often seen in sculptures and statues of the happy Buddha include a rosary necklace symbolic of prayer, a begging bowl associated with the laughing Buddha’s lack of worldly possessions or an oogi. The oogi is a Chinese “wish giving” fan used in the past by Chinese aristocracy has an affectation to demonstrate that their wishes would be granted.

In western culture, the laughing Buddha is often referred to as the “fat Buddha.” As a jolly fat man who frequently distributes candies and presents to children, Ho Tai most closely resembles what Westerners think of as Santa Claus. However, his tidings of good fortune can be enjoyed year round.

It’s believed that if you rub the belly of a laughing Buddha you are sure to enjoy good luck, prosperity and wealth. Ho Tai is also considered the patron of bartenders and restaurant owners and is frequently seen displayed prominently in Asian restaurants. Overindulgence in food and drink are often credited to the influence of the laughing Buddha.

Buddha means enlightened one and although many people have now earned this distinction as there is a huge following for the Buddhist faith. You do need to follow the faith to have Buddha garden statues and many people have them throughout their gardens. They are often bought simply because they are calming to sit and look at. You can choose to make a statement with your Buddha statues when they can be very large, these will look very impressive in your garden.

Buddha statues can represent many different things and you will need to know what each of them mean before purchasing them. There are many variiuos sizes, styles and even colors of Buddha garden statues to choose from. The most common pose for your Buddha is the sitting position with its legs crossed, the left hand in the lap and right hand on the right knee. The fingers are often pointing towards the earth on the Buddha statues. This is to represent the Buddha’s enlightenment and shows the Buddha touching the earth.

How you choose to design your garden is entirely your choice and you may select to have different regions. Having your garden zoned is ideal if you have a family and then you can have an area for the children to play and a more relaxing are for the adults. Buddha garden statues look great in these areas as they can help you to get the comfortable feel you want. They are ideal with water features and fountains as well as these are also very relaxing. The whole are can be transformed into your tranquil area to retreat to at the end of the day.

If you want a genuine Buddha statue then you may need to go to a reputable dealer although often you can find very nice Buddha statues at your local garden centre. Many people purchase them because of the way they look and not for the meaning behind them. You will need to think about the material that your Buddha garden statues are made from as they will be outside in all weathers. Stone, copper or bronze ones are ideal as they will remain in good conditions even in the bad weather. Wooden Buddha statues are more designed for indoor use as they will rot if left outside.

Whatever design of Buddha statues you choose to have your garden will look fantastic and be the perfect place for you and your friends to sit and relax. Any work you do in your garden will look great and add value to your house. If you go to sell the house then the garden being completed and looking great is a fantastic selling point.

The message of the Buddha is traditionally known as the Four Noble Truths. The last of these four truths sets out eight steps to happiness, which are: skillful understanding, skillful thinking, skillful speech, skillful action, skillful livelihood, skillful effort, skillful mindfulness, and skillful concentration.

Gunaratana explains in his book “Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness”, that the Buddha’s path is grounded in common sense and in careful observation of reality. The Buddha understood that if we looked carefully at our lives we would realize that the choices we make lead to either happiness or unhappiness. And once we understand this principle thoroughly, we will be able to make good choices, because we want to happy.

Gunaratana adds the following: “The basis of Buddhist morality is that acting in unskillful ways leads to unhappy results, and acting in skillful ways leads to happy results. This simple principle of cause and effect is an aspect of what Buddhists call kamma (or karma).”

Once we understand that everything we think, say, or do is a cause, which will inevitably lead to some effect, we will naturally want to think, say, and do things which will lead to positive results. At the same time, we will avoid having thoughts, saying things, and doing things that will lead to negative results. Taking this approach will allow us to focus our attention on making choices that will lead to a happier life.

In order to act wrongfully, Gunaratana adds, you have to be lying to yourself about cause and effect. That is, you would be acting against the basic truth that actions have consequences. If you train yourself to be mindful of what you do, and ask yourself whether it’s likely to lead to positive or negative results, you’ll be heading in the right direction. You’ll be heading toward happiness.

The Noble Eightfold Path Is:

Right views, right aspiration, right speech, right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right contemplation. As the Enlightened One the Buddha statue represents other values as well. The individual is not recognized in Buddhism. All that happens to individuals is based on an impersonal moral “karma.” Once an individual follows all of the steps on the Noble Eightfold path they reach an enlightened pure non-existent state called “nirvana.”

The First Statue

It is believed that the first Buddha statue was not created until four or five hundred years after the death of Buddha out of respect. Therefore, the statues are not an exact replication of the person and there is no “right way” to represent him. The artist had artistic freedom of expression in that area. But, there are certain characteristics and symbolic elements that you will find at least one of in every Buddha statue.

• If the hands are resting in the lap this represents meditation.

• The hands crossing over the chest are a symbol of Dharma-or a state of “being.”

• In the earliest Buddha statue, the figure has both hands raised with the ring finger on the left hand touching the thumb and the index finger on the right hand is touching the thumb to make a circle with the three other fingers held aright. It is not certain what this symbolizes.

Buddhism Exists In Three Forms Today

The first is Mahayana, which reveres Buddha as a God like figure and still uses the Buddha statue to represent him. It is called “the Greater Vehicle” and is the most practiced form of Buddhism in the world today. The second is practiced by just over a third of the Buddhists in the world and is called Theravada, or the “Doctrine of the Elders.” It is atheistic in nature and philosophy but still reveres the Buddha statue. Vajrayana is the least common type of Buddhism and uses the occult and shamanism. It is practiced by just 6 percent of the Buddhists.

Many people looking on the Buddha statue find it a source of happiness and serenity. It is a symbol of the end of suffering and true peace. The Buddhist philosophy that we must strive for perfection and control over our personal cravings to work for the good of all is not a bad philosophy. If society as a whole would adopt at least some of these concepts there would be much more peace and tolerance in the world-we could begin to come to a state of nirvana.

Chant meditation: Traditionally, monks would give thanks to their teachers as well try to gain insight from them through chants, which they would repeat over and over again. Other chants involve invoking a certain kind of feeling (often times love and compassion). You can create your own chant. This kind of meditation is great for changing a deep seated habit within yourself.

TM meditation: This is the most popular form of meditation in the West. Like chant meditation, it involves repetition, except in this case it is just one or two words. you have seen many different spins to this meditation. Some people use two words, others just one. You should do what is most comfortable for you. Experiment.

Sound meditation: You focus on a sound you hear. Many people choose to meditate to music (including me). Interestingly, it does not have to be relaxing music. Occasionally I will find it very easy to meditate to hard rock. Experiment, and see what works and when.

Body meditation: In this meditation, you focus on the sensations you feel. If you’re sitting down, you focus on how your butt feels on the chair. If you’re lying down, you can study how your body mass is spread across the bed.

Sight meditation: This form of meditation is great for beginners who wish to transition to inner-object meditation. You choose an object to look at and you focus on its shape, color, size. Keep that image in your mind. For example, Buddhists would choose a statue of Buddha to meditate on.

Inner-object meditation: This is when your object of focus is something that naturally occurs within your body, such as your breath or heartbeat. You study the occurrence as you would with any other meditation (you could say that TM and Chant is inner-object meditation).

Object-less meditation: This meditation is essential for increasing your self-awareness. The name of the meditation stands for what IT IS NOT. In this form of meditation, you pay attention to anything and everything to pops into your mind, and then let it go so another activity can take place.

That covers all the common ones. we have to mention that meditation can take any form. You can meditate on walking, and call it “walking meditation”. You can focus on playing your guitar, and call it the “guitar meditation”. It’s less important as to what your object of meditation is, than the process involved in the meditation. The process across these meditations is always the same.

There are a few levels of attainment for practitioners of Theravada Buddhism;

(1) Anagami (Non-Returner) – The person has eradicated a series of hindrances and would never be reborn into any worldly systems, but to a heavenly realm in which he would attain enlightenment from there.

(2) Sakadagami (Once-Returner) – The person has eradicated or weakened a series of hindrances whereby he would be reborn once again to a human or heavenly realm and would attain enlightenment from there, and

(3) Sottapanna (Stream-Returner) – whereby a person would be reborn no more than 7 times again into either the human or heavenly realm.

Apart from the Four Noble Truths, Theravada Buddhism also touched upon subjects such as karma and rebirth, interdependent origination, the three universal characteristics of existence, the five aggregates and meditation.

Meditation is a large subject within Theravada. There are two main branches of meditation practiced by Theravada Buddhists, namely the samatha and the vipassana. The most common technique is the awareness of breathing. The meditator closed off his senses to the outside world and examined inward using breathing as a calming technique.

Buddhists believe in the teachings of the Buddha, the Awakened One. The traditional summary of the teaching is given in four categories, the so called Four Noble Truths:

1. The Truth of Suffering (Dukkha)
2. The Arising of Suffering (Samudaya)
3. The Cessation of Suffering (Nirodha)
4. The Truth of the Way (Marga) that leads to the cessation of suffering.

If you understand the first Truth of Suffering, you understand all of the Four Noble Truths by implication. The truth of suffering is expressed in the simple claim that All is Suffering. All the things in human experience cause suffering.

The second Truth of The Arising of Suffering says that suffering arises essentially from ignorance. From that ignorance comes desire or craving. And then, out of that craving or desire comes reincarnation. Ignorance leads to desire, desire leads to birth. If you want to stop rebirth, what you have to do then is to remove ignorance. Somehow chip away at that basic misconception that people have about the world, and as a result, diminish desire.

The third Truth of the Cessation of Suffering is the famous Nirvana. Nirvana means literally to blow out. You might say that Nirvana is the cessation, is the extinction of “self” that wanders constantly from one life to the next. What’s so great about this? You must remember that the process of reincarnation is a burden for Buddhists and Indian religious people in general. They see it as a really serious problem, and Nirvana is the final solution.

Buddhists also see Nirvana as freedom from ignorance and the perfection of a human being. When the Buddha achieved Nirvana, he didn’t just stayed there enjoying his enlightenment, he went on to tell the secret of how to reach it to other people. During his life, the Buddha showed how people should be with his own example.

How do you achieve Nirvana? The fourth Noble Truth of way tell us how. The Path of Nirvana is often divided in eight categories, The Noble Eightfold Path. It includes the concept of right understanding, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration.

The Path becomes a little bit more clear if we take these eight categories and reduce them or group them together into three. Sila, or moral conduct. Samadhi, mental concentration. And Panna, or wisdom.

Well, but, what a Buddhist has to do to achieve Nirvana? First of all, you should abide basic rules of moral conduct. Why? Because otherwise you might end up coming back as a worm or a mosquito in a future life. It is very difficult to try to achieve Nirvana if you are a mosquito.

Which are the rules? No killing, no stealing, no lying, no abuse of sex and not drinking intoxicants. Pretty simple. This applies to lay people as well to monks. Monks observe other precepts and regulations, as you might expect. These rules form the Sila or moral conduct.

The next Buddhist practice is mental concentration. The term here is Samadhi, to concentrate the mind. Maybe you think that meditation is the most fundamental thing that Buddhists do, and that’s certainly true in many parts of the Buddhist tradition.

What you try to do is to situate yourself very stably, keep your back straight, and then just breath. Concentrate your attention as much as you can on that place where your breathing centers. With this you allow your thoughts in your head to simply drain out of your mind. It is a way to stop all of those distractions and all of that negative tendencies that tie you to the experience of death and rebirth.

Finally, and the most important thing you should do in Buddhism, is to cultivate wisdom. To try to know the nature of the world and to know where it is going, so you can become detached from it and begin the process that leads to Nirvana.

“Not to do any evil, to cultivate good, and to purify one’s mind. This is the teaching of the Buddha.”

To do good and to avoid evil. Every religion teaches you that. That last bit is what makes Buddhism unique: “To purify one’s mind.” That’s the Buddha speaking. You’ve got to find some way to purify the mind of ignorance and desire. Then you can really strike the root of the issues of evil and good. This is the teaching of the Buddha.

Buddhism attained huge popularity in the early first century BC. Since the asceticism of the religion was beyond the understanding of the followers, an iconic image of Buddha transpired in Northern India and portrayed Buddha in human form, which still exists. Gandhara (now in Pakistan) and Mathura (in Central Northern India) were the primary centers for the production of the ‘Buddha Images.’ The ‘Gandharan’ image displayed Buddha in standing or sitting position, with wavy hair and well-draped shoulders, closely resembling the Greek God, ‘Apollo.’ The ‘Mathuran’ school, on the other hand, contributed to the lotus seat (depicting the importance of mediation and His enlightenment), sporting a standing Buddha, holding one hand high and wearing a robe, baring His right shoulder.

The ‘Buddhist Art’ in India continued to expand. The pink sand stone sculptures made during the Gupta period at Mathura are an exemplary of finesse and competent artisanship, with few dating back to even 81 AD. Some gold and copper currency coins of 78 AD carry the ‘Buddha Image’ on one side and Kanishka’s (the ruler then) on the other.

The historical ‘Buddha Images’ were depicted in five different positions, symbolizing the significant events of His life, such as birth, exit from home, enlightenment, first sermon, and death. The images are postured in four styles, standing, sitting, walking, and reclining with the position of hands conveying several connotations, such as:

Pacifying Relatives – Standing Buddha with right hand lifted to chest and the left one resting on the side

Calming the ocean – Standing Buddha with both hands raised up to chest

Subduing Mara – Crossed legged, seated Buddha, with his right hand on the right knee, pointing four fingers to the ground, while the left hand rests on His lap

Some fascinating details to be taken into account while creating the ‘Buddha Image,’ are the pre-defined measurements for physical proportion such as the exaggerated earlobes, and the “enlightenment-elevation” on the top of the head. Apart from the historical ‘Buddha Images,’ various other forms such as “Laughing Buddha” and “Medicine Buddha” are available in a variety of materials, such as sand stone, clay, gold etc. A renowned Buddhist follower once stated that “A Buddha image is not only a symbol of the historical person but the human qualities that he perfected; compassion, wisdom, patience, generosity, kindness, etc., worthy of bowing down to.”

Although Thai culture has had many influences including those from countries such as India and China, the real roots of Thailand’s art history are deeply imbedded in Buddhism. Thai-Buddhist’s strive for harmony and serenity, and this is clearly represented throughout their artwork. Stemming back thousands of years, Thailand’s traditional art began when Buddhism first reached the country. Its followers decorated the walls and ceilings of the monasteries and temples (wats) with murals depicting Buddhist customs and rituals together with scenes from their everyday life.

The Thai-Buddhist style incorporates many symbols and patterns that have special religious significance. However, unlike other Buddhist imagery, Thai-Buddhist art is pared down to its simplest form to ensure that it does not to detract from the Buddhist message. Here, perspective is not important, as the figures depicted are shown larger or smaller, depending upon their status. The end result is a highly stylized yet effortless form of narrative. Examples of which can still be found on the walls and ceilings of wats throughout Thailand today, and in particular in Wat Suthat in Bangkok and Wat Suwannaram in Thon Buri.

Together with imagery of the Buddha, Thai art also includes representations of monks, as well as demons or Kinnaras and Kinnarees (beings that are half human and half bird) and other mythical creatures. Throughout, intricate patterns are used as decoration and often incorporate symbols and motifs that are found in nature such as the lotus flower, the orchid, butterflies, birds and rice.

Buddhism venerates tradition and respect for the past as well as the future. Therefore, alongside Buddhist teachings, the traditional skills and expertise used to create such intricate works of art were passed down through the generations. These skills are evident in the silverware, ceramics, carvings, silks and paintings that are available today.

One such example is found in the geometrically decorated, hand painted bone china, Benjarong. Legend has it that this highly ornamented form of pottery was introduced to Thailand by a Chinese princess who married into the Thai Royal family sometime during China’s Ming dynasty (1368 – 1644). Meaning ”five colors”, Benjarong was traditionally painted in the five colors: red, white, green, yellow and blue. However, today Benjarong is decorated using a more elaborate palate, which also includes 18 carat gold.

Today, the popularity of much of Thailand’s art and craft is growing thanks to the Western world’s love of contemporary interior design. The contemporary style favors clean lines and a sleek look that has strong echoes in Buddhist philosophy. The simple, graceful shapes and delicate patterns found in Thai art and craft are timeless, therefore traditional Thai designs have managed to find a niche within a contemporary market. Thai art and craft is therefore unique, as in no other time has traditional, cultural designs been able to work in harmony within another design style.