Kushinagar | Maitreya Buddha Project

[dreadathecontrols]

Originally Posted by lostashmish

Quite frankly the political mindset of India will not encourage this, simply because such an act of promotion would be seen as unsecular. It sounds crazy but thats how political establishment in India is. Forget promotion, temples in India are mandated to be run by "secular" trusts and we can understad what does it mean in India..

As far as i know that is not always the case.Many temples get state & gov funds administered by 'trusts' on behalf of the local brahmins.Its comitees of them who decide what gives in the end.

[IndiansUnite]

Dept told to complete Maitreya Buddha project in Maya’s regime

Lucknow, May 27 Following a directive from higher-ups, the proposed 500-ft Maitreya Buddha statue at Kushinagar will come up within the next four years. Officials in the department of culture said that they had been asked to speed up the work and ensure that the monument was completed within the present reign of Chief Minister Mayawati.

The sitting Buddha statue, which will be the highest in Asia, is part of the project conceived by the International Maitreya Foundation in 2005, after the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddha. The foundation is based in Japan and Indonesia.

The project was getting delayed by hurdles of selecting suitable land and ensuring proper compensation to farmers. The department officials said they were told to ‘clear the deck’ for the foundation as the chief minister wanted it to be accomplished during her tenure.

Culture Minister Subhash Pandey said that they were trying their best to ensure that it was completed within the time. “Our job is to acquire the land and give it to the foundation. We are in the process of completing all formalities related to acquisition,” said Pandey. Culture department has already acquired the land at a cost of nearly Rs 100 crore.
...

[kronik]

Mayawati thinks she has the copyright on Dr. Ambedkar and Lord Buddha. She's an evil woman, she is!

But good to see that this project will speed up.

[phaedrus]

as long as it gets done mate!
let these politicians get some work done, even if it is just to take credit.

[Jai]

Hopefully we'll see some more movement on this front now

The Maitreya Project Relic Tour passed thru HI a couple months ago. The Buddha's relics were on display for several days, but I literally found out about it the day they left!

I missed the tour in Sanfran by a day too!

[phaedrus]

aah, some things arent meant to be!

[a_niranjan]

Folks,

I am new here so this post may come across differently than I intend my question to be. Perhaps, this has been discussed before, but who designed Buddha's face for this project? I grew up in the region where Buddha was born and died and have a good idea what folks look like over there. The Buddha in this statue looks like he is from Beijing or Tokyo. Are they funding this project and hence feel like they can make the Buddha look like themselves?

[a_niranjan]

Its been two weeks and there has been no reply ...

makes me wanna believe that indeed Japanese and Chinese tourist $$ have bought India ...

we are happy to make Siddhartha look like a foreigner if it earns us a few bucks... Shame!

[kronik]

Originally Posted by a_niranjan

Its been two weeks and there has been no reply ...

makes me wanna believe that indeed Japanese and Chinese tourist $$ have bought India ...

we are happy to make Siddhartha look like a foreigner if it earns us a few bucks... Shame!

A Niranjan, if you really believe something, post more than a few lines. Tell us more, get people interested. Give us some more opinions from more people. Your few lines will probably not get the masses behind you. You do nothing for two weeks and then come back sitting on your supposed high moral ground.

Give us pictures, give us some examples of temples, places where we can see Buddha in the Indian art style. Thats what you need to do dude. everybody has a vague opinion on everything.

[Jai]

Originally Posted by a_niranjan

Folks,

I am new here so this post may come across differently than I intend my question to be. Perhaps, this has been discussed before, but who designed Buddha's face for this project? I grew up in the region where Buddha was born and died and have a good idea what folks look like over there. The Buddha in this statue looks like he is from Beijing or Tokyo. Are they funding this project and hence feel like they can make the Buddha look like themselves?

It's a fusion of Tibetan and Indian artwork and architecture. The first post details the founders of the project and its aims.

[a_niranjan]

Originally Posted by kronik

Give us pictures, give us some examples of temples, places where we can see Buddha in the Indian art style. Thats what you need to do dude. everybody has a vague opinion on everything.

I assumed that folks were familiar with the Buddha. Ok, here we go.

First, here is a link to a picture of Bodhgaya Buddha (I don't have an ID so can't download): http://travel.webshots.com/photo/271...47837447kGKjWG

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Sarnath Buddhas




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Kushinagar Buddha



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Compare to the render on page 1 of this thread ... look at the differences in the chin, nose, eyes ... pretty much the entire face.

In fact, the faces of Kushinagar Buddha and Bodhgaya Buddha don't agree a whole lot either but they look Indic and not Chinese.



----

The upper lip is completely different also!

I suppose they can be given artistic license for adding the third eye/dot on the forehead but it is not traditional.

[a_niranjan]

Originally Posted by Jai

It's a fusion of Tibetan and Indian artwork and architecture. The first post details the founders of the project and its aims.

Yes, thanks for the detailed posts. They are very informative. I gather that the original concept was something like this.




So, it has changed a lot since then. That part is not explained. There is always the possibility that I missed it.

There is not much that folks in Eastern UP are proud of besides producing great religious figures: Buddha, Ram, Kabir etc etc.

This image robs them of that ... how will they convince their children that the Chinese looking dude was among their ancestry/heritage?

[kronik]

As far as i can gather, the 3D pictures have the oriental Buddha. The face of the Sarnath Buddha is the best render I can see in all the pictures below.

The picture you have posted below is with open eyes, but the architecture around him is very oriental. Look at the Pagoda style roofs and the smiling Buddha at the front gate.

[VaastuShastra]

If Maitreya Buddhism is an East Asian form of Buddhism, it explains why the Buddha is depicted that way - i.e. they are simply copying other East Asian statues of Maitreya Buddha.

[jodhpur]

it's not a sect actually... maitreya Buddha is basically the future buddha... some sects of Buddhist believe that there will a new buddha and he is called maitreya....

[India101]

It will look great when complete. I wanna see this U/C.

[kronik]

Rare Buddhist relics visit Medford's Kurukulla Center

Cowan said the goal of the tour is to raise money through donations for the Maitreya Project, in order to build a 500-foot bronze statue of the Maitreya Buddha.

Once finished, the statue will resident in a park to be located in Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh, in northern India, very close to the place where the historical Buddha died. The facility will be open to the public and act as not only a spiritual place for visitors, but as a center for education and medicine.

There is currently no date to begin construction.

“There have been quite a few delays, but ultimately, it will make a stronger foundation with the Indian people,” said Cowan, of the 20-year effort to construct the statue. “The final phase is to relocate families from the lands. We intend to build a statue that will last thousands of years. Hopefully, it will be begin next year, but we’ve had dates before.”

Crown added once the statue is finished, the idea was to place the relics at its very heart. However, only part of the objects will now be placed inside the heart in order to keep the relics traveling throughout the world for people to experience.

Wendy Cook, a member and organizer at the Kurukulla Center, said part of the reason the project is taking so long is simply because of bribery. Because the Buddhists will not be a party to bribery, there have been problems with the Indian government.

Hmm, I doubt its the Indian Government that he means, but hopefully Nitish Kumar will get this off the ground before Bihar goes to elections again.

[kronik]

Thai Buddha Vihar in Sarnath to have 80 ft statue of Lord Buddha by next year

According to a UNI report, an 80 ft statue of Lord Buddha will be installed at Thai Buddha Vihar premises in Sarnath, Uttar Pradesh by next year. Bhante Rashim, Founder, Buddha Vihar said that Sarnath, a sacred place and prime tourist attraction and part of the Buddhist circuit will see increased number of tourists’ after the statue is installed. He informed that the statue is being prepared from Chunar stones. Sarnath holds religious importance for the Buddhists as Lord Gautam Buddha had delivered his first sermon at Sarnath after gaining enlightenment at Bodh Gaya.

Rashim added that earlier in 2001, Rajnath Singh, Former Chief Minister, Uttar Pradesh had announced that a 500 ft tall Buddha statue will be installed at Kushinagar, about 60 kms from Gorakhpur, but there was no progress on the project. According to Rashim, since the Kushinagar project failed to materialise, the Buddha idol at Sarnath can be claimed to be the tallest one in the world.

[Marathaman]

Originally Posted by VaastuShastra

If Maitreya Buddhism is an East Asian form of Buddhism, it explains why the Buddha is depicted that way - i.e. they are simply copying other East Asian statues of Maitreya Buddha.

Maitreya Buddha = Future Buddha.

[India101]

Finally theres some news on this. Thought it was a dead project.