Buddhas & Boddhisatvas

Representations of the Lord Buddha were absent from early Buddhist ritual. Devotees were expected to contemplate symbolic reminders of his existence: a stupa containing a relic, a bo tree grown from a sapling of the tree under which the Buddha attained nirvana or a stylised footprint which represented the passing of the Buddha through the world. The first images seem to have appeared in Sri Lanka during the 2 nd century and today no temple is complete without at least one Buddha statue.

From earliest times Buddha images were required to conform to a strict system of iconography and the early Pali canons set out thirty-two special features or laksana which should be incorporated in any representation. The image was regarded not as a physical representation to be worshipped, but rather as a reminder of the life and teachings of the Buddha and as an aid to contemplation.

Sri Lankan Buddha statues usually adopt one of three poses: the standing figure holds his right hand erect with palm facing forward in the abhaya mudra or ‘have no fear’ posture; the seated figure shows a meditative posture known as samadhi mudra; the reclining figure represents the Buddha at the moment of nirvana. They range in size from huge statues cut out of the living rock, such as those at Buduruwagala and the Polonnaruwa Galvihare, to tiny figures of carved wood or stone which are found in household shrines — and yet all conform to the same general stylistic and iconographic systems.

Collection of Buddha and Boddhisatva figures

SAPSRI offices: the second-floor concourse