Shakyamuni Buddha Statue | 12.5″ Fully Gold Gilded | Handmade Nepal

This Shakyamuni Buddha sculpture is fully fire gilded in pure 24K gold — crown protuberance to lotus throne, the entire surface bonded in real gold using the traditional mercury gilding method. The statue was produced using the traditional lost wax sculpting method, a technique the Newar artisans of Patan have refined and passed down through family lineages since the 10th century CE, with hand-carved engravings covering the monastic robe hemlines and lotus pedestal, and the face hand-painted to give the figure its characteristic lifelike expression of serene enlightenment.

Shakyamuni Buddha — the historical Buddha, born Prince Siddhartha Gautama in Lumbini, Nepal in the 6th century BCE — is the supreme figure of the Buddhist pantheon, the only being to have transcended the cycle of rebirth entirely and permanently. The Newar artisan tradition depicts him with the 32 physical characteristics of a great being described in the Pali Canon: the ushnisha crown protuberance, elongated earlobes, urna (third eye), three neck folds, and the serene upward curve of the lips that appears on every authentic Shakyamuni statue. The Newar artisans of Patan have been the preferred source of sacred Shakyamuni sculpture for Tibetan monasteries for centuries — and this statue reflects that tradition in every carved and gilded detail.

Shakyamuni Buddha Statue Mudras

This Shakyamuni Buddha sculpture depicts the Bhumisparsha mudra — the earth-touching gesture that is the most distinctive and widely depicted mudra in all of Himalayan Buddhist art, and the one most exclusively associated with the historical Buddha. The right hand drapes over the right knee with the palm facing inward and the fingertips lightly touching the ground — the gesture Shakyamuni made at the moment of his enlightenment under the Bodhi tree at Bodh Gaya, calling the earth itself to witness his realization. Explore the Bhumisparsha mudra’s meaning and history in our complete guide to Shakyamuni statues.

His left hand rests in the lap in the Dhyana mudra — the meditation gesture, palm facing upward — with an alms bowl resting in the open palm. The alms bowl is the symbol of the Buddha’s monastic renunciation and is understood to contain the three nectars that eliminate the three poisons: ignorance, greed, and hatred. The simultaneous display of both the Bhumisparsha and Dhyana mudras is uniquely characteristic of Shakyamuni Buddha statues in the Tibetan and Nepali sculptural tradition.