This 18″ Shakyamuni Buddha statue is fully fire gilded in 24K gold — the entire surface permanently bonded in real gold using the traditional fire gilding method — handcrafted in Patan, Nepal by master artisans of the Shakya caste using the traditional lost wax sculpting method, with fine hand-carved engravings throughout the robe and lotus pedestal. At 18″ this is a substantial altar centerpiece, the right size for a formal home shrine room or a small Dharma center altar where the statue is the primary object of veneration.
Shakyamuni — “Sage of the Shakyas,” a Sammasambuddha who rediscovered and taught the Dharma in an era when it had been forgotten — was born Prince Siddhartha Gautama into the Shakya royal family in Lumbini, Nepal, deliberately sheltered by his father King Suddhodana from all experience of suffering. The story of what broke through that shelter is known in Buddhist tradition as the Four Sights: the young prince, venturing outside the palace walls, encountered for the first time an elderly man bent with age, a person suffering from illness, a corpse, and a wandering ascetic who had renounced the world to seek liberation. What he saw in those four encounters — the inescapable reality of aging, sickness, and death, and the possibility of a path beyond them — set in motion the Great Renunciation at age 29 and ultimately the enlightenment that his every statue commemorates.
Shakyamuni Buddha Statue Mudras
The right hand displays the Bhumisparsha mudra — the earth-touching gesture — draped over the right knee with the palm facing inward and the fingers extended downward toward the ground, commemorating the moment under the Bodhi tree at Bodh Gaya when Shakyamuni called the earth deity to witness his enlightenment as Mara’s challenge was defeated. His left hand rests in the lap in the Dhyana mudra — the meditation gesture, palm open and upward — with the alms bowl resting in the palm. The alms bowl is the emblem of Shakyamuni’s renunciation and holds the three nectars that counteract the three poisons of greed, hatred, and ignorance.
The statue bears the traditional physical characteristics of the historical Buddha as described in the Pali Canon — ushnisha, elongated earlobes, urna, and the clockwise-curling hair coils among the 32 marks of a great being — rendered with the precision that defines Newar lost wax craftsmanship at this scale.
Authentic, Handmade in Nepal
Every statue and ritual item is handcrafted in Patan, Nepal, using traditional lost wax casting and comes with a certificate of authenticity issued by Nepal's Department of Archaeology, verifying its materials, technique, and origin.
