LAOS | Thursday, 29 November 2012 | Views [3441] | Comments [1]
Giant reclining Buddha (when he's lying down like this it symbolizes the moment he reaches Enlightenment)
The Reclining Buddha statue is representative not of the Buddha’s moment of enlightenment, but his moment with parinirvana or (nirvana-after-death). To put it simply, Nirvana is transcendence from the material world. The Buddha is dying; not to be reincarnated but to “reach nirvana” and transcend. Enlightenment, however, is the state of attaining spiritual insight or knowledge, and specifically in the story of the Buddha, that which allowed him to reach nirvana and nirvana-after-death.
Heather Apr 10, 2020 6:25 AM
