The world's largest Buddha carved from gem-quality jade arrived Wednesday in Escondido to begin a two-week stay that includes a Sunday unveiling ceremony expected to attract up to 3,000 people.
"It has an enormous impact," Ian Green said about how people react to seeing the sculpture, officially called the Jade Buddha for Universal Peace. "It was in Vietnam three months, and in that time 4 million people came to see it. People were in tears."
Green is director of the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion in Bendigo, Australia, which commissioned the Buddha carving and organized a worldwide fundraising tour that includes Escondido as its first American stop.
The Buddha, consecrated in December by the Dalai Lama, arrived at Escondido's Phap Vuong Buddhist Monastery by truck about 6 p.m. Wednesday after a nine-hour-plus customs delay in Long Beach. A small crowd that gathered for its arrival included Buddhist monks dressed in orange robes, who bowed in respect as the container doors opened to reveal an alabaster throne and the statue, wrapped in a protective covering.
At 4 tons and nearly 9 feet high, the sculpture is the largest Buddha ever carved from gem-quality dark-green nephrite jade, although a larger one is being carved in Vietnam from light-colored jadeite.
Its final destination will be the Great Stupa, which Green explained is a mound-like building that symbolizes the Buddha's mind and contains relics. Buddha, which means "enlightened one" in Sanskrit, is the name that the spiritual teacher Siddhartha Gautama was given by his followers in about 500 B.C. and is the basis for a religion followed by 325 million people worldwide.
The jade Buddha statue was completed in 2008 after two years of carving in Thailand. The $250,000 cost of the carving and the initial $1 million purchase of the jade itself is being funded by donations and sales during the Buddha's worldwide tour.
The creation of the Buddha began with an unexpected call in 2003 from Cheyenne Sun-Hill, a jeweler in Santa Cruz.
"He spoke like a 'dude,' like out of a movie," Green said.
Sun-Hill told Green he was a jeweler who had heard of a large jade stone discovered in Canada, where a high-quality translucent nephrite called polar jade was discovered in the late 1990s. A Buddhist, Sun-Hill had been trying to find a monastery interested in using the 18-ton stone called "Polar Pride" for a Buddha carving.
"I liked him," Green said about his meeting with Sun-Hill. "He was a fun guy, but a devoted Buddhist, too."
Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Green's spiritual master at the Australian stupa, also took a liking to Sun-Hill. After throwing Tibetan Mo dice, which are used for divination, Green said his master told him the stone "must be made into a jade Buddha as a holy object to be offered to the world."
I have a question.....I had visited the Jade Buddha when in was in Farifax Virginia and when I was at the Temple I bought a piece of the Jade I just wanted to know what kind of writing is on the jade necklace? Does it stand for the word Buddha but in Sanskrit? I also have another question since my oblong jade pendent came from the "Polar Pride" offcuts of the the Jade Buddha for universal piece does it mean that my necklace is considered live jade?
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen one of the pendants, so I don't know what is written on them. I would have to see a picture or something. I also don't know about it being "live" jade, but since it comes from the jade boulder that the Buddha was carved from, it certainly has a powerful connection with that holy object. When you look at the pendant or even think about the pendant, don't you also think about the Jade Buddha? I am still looking forward to seeing the Jade Buddha when it gets to California. Maybe then I can also see one of the pendants. You might also try writing here to ask your questions: http://jadebuddha.org.au/en/contact
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