How did the custom of making Buddha statues arise?
After his Enlightenment, it is said that Shakyamuni spent time in the heavens of the thirty-three gods where his mother had been reborn. King Udyana of Vatsa or Kausambi, who was very devoted, was worried that He would not return. Buddha’s disciple Maudgalyayana used magic to send an artist (some say 32 of them) up to heaven to capture the likeness of the Buddha in a 5-foot figure carved out of sandalwood. This image was so accurate and imbued with devotion, that when Shakyamuni returned, it rose up to greet him. The Buddha acknowledged then, the power of the rupa to inspire and to teach the dharma to future generations. • Creating a rupa (form, statue.) • Images as used in a Chogye Korean Buddhist temple as compared to others. (Scroll down past the two addresses by the late venerable teacher.
