Reclining Buddha


A reclining Buddha is an image that represents Buddha lying down and is a major iconographic theme in Buddhist art. It represents the historical Buddha during his last illness, about to enter the parinirvana. He is lying on his right side, his head resting on a cushion or relying on his right elbow, supporting his head with his hand. After the Buddha's death, his followers decide to build a statue of him lying down. They first built the reclining Buddha inside the Wat Pho Temple then, decades later, they started making the sculpture everywhere in South East Asia.
This pattern seems to have emerged at the same time as other representations of the Buddha in the Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara.

In Thai art

For Thai Buddha attitudes, the reclining Buddha can refer to three different episodes, whilst the attribute of each remains unclear.
Cambodia:
China
Pakistan:
India:
Indonesia:
Japan
Malaysia:
Sri Lanka:
Tajikistan:
Thailand:
United States
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