People who are engaged in Buddhism-related industries in Nepal must all believe in Buddhism. These people generally inherit by ethnic group, such as the common Buddha statues of the Sakya tribe, Thangkas of the Newari tribe, and Tamang tribe. thangka and so on. Therefore, these thangkas and Buddha statues named after ethnic groups are inherited by families or ethnic groups, and the craftsmen or painters engaged in this category must belong to this ethnic group.
▲ Johnny (descendant of the Sakya clan)
Ok, then the question is, they are all made by the Sakya clan, but the prices vary widely. Apart from size, what other criteria are there to judge?
The difference in the price of Buddha statues is mainly reflected in the two aspects of craftsmanship and material. This time we will not talk about the quality of and , the complexity of the engraving lines, and how much and gilded are. Let us talk about some dry facts so that everyone can start from Let’s look at the production system of Buddha statues to understand the differences in price and quality.
We divide Buddha statues into two types: original Buddha statues and replica Buddha statues. Nepalese Buddha statues are made using the lost wax method. The mold making craftsman carves a Buddha statue out of wax, then uses this wax statue to make a mold, and then uses this mold to make the Buddha statue. This is called the original Buddha statue. It sounds a bit like a matryoshka doll! But this is the authentic Nepali Buddha statue making process.
So, a replica Buddha statue is a mold that a second-level businessman uses the finished Buddha statue to reproduce himself. Buddha statues made with such a mold are called replicas.
The cost difference between the original Buddha statue and the replica Buddha statue is very big. One is original and only one, and the other is a reproduction and resold. Some brothers directly showed me pictures and videos and said, "I want this Buddha statue. You can make it exactly the same for me." Even if you are born with a holy hand, you cannot make it exactly the same. To give an easy-to-understand example, when we cook the same dish, the weight, seasoning, and thickness of each vegetable leaf will be different between the first time and the second time.
In addition to the difference in molds, generally speaking, poor replicas of Buddha statues will use copper-zinc alloy to make the body, while the original Buddha statues are basically made of pure copper. In terms of materials, the price difference between the two is It's also huge. Moreover, if the gold on the gilding process is made of pure copper, the gold will be very bright, but if it is copper-zinc alloy , the luster will be dark and black.
In addition to these two points, there are also whether the engraving process is complicated, whether the face is special, and whether it is gold-plated or silver-gilt. These have no fundamental impact on the price as mentioned above.
Of course, I don’t mean that all re-engraved Buddha statues are bad. Generally speaking, the first or second re-engraved Buddha statues have generally good shapes, but after too many re-engravings, they will naturally The appearance of the Buddha statue will become unclear, just like when we use a photocopier to print documents. Re-engraving is inevitable. This is determined by the production model of Nepal's Buddha statue industry. Workshops that purchase original molds will also re-engrave the molds for others and charge a certain fee to reduce their own costs.
Many of the shapes of the Buddha statues that have been reproduced too many times are inaccurate, and the face of the Buddha statue has become relatively flat, completely losing the elegance and accuracy that a Buddha statue should have. Such Buddha statues are just handicrafts and cannot be used as The purpose of practicing visualization. Therefore, I have always believed that if you want to buy a Buddha statue, you must buy a better one. This one is not expensive, but has an accurate shape and a unique Buddha statue. Only by placing such a Buddha statue at home and meditating on it from time to time can you purify your body and mind.
All the Buddha statues in this article were made by Johnny himself. You can click on the image to view his profile.
