He has a thousand faces.
Gandhara, Pakistan. The first time anyone carved him, about 1,900 years ago. Every face after this one is an argument with it.
Thailand
Sukhothai พระพุทธรูป
A flame on his head and a smile you can see from the road.
Japan
Kamakura 大仏
His hall washed away in 1498. He stayed, outdoors, ever since.
Tibet
Lhasa སངས་རྒྱས
A cold-gold face, painted on by hand. Turquoise in the crown.
Sri Lanka
Gal Vihara බුදුන්
Cut from one rock face in the twelfth century. Eyes closed. Still there.
Korea
Seokguram 부처님
Granite, facing the sea, since the eighth century.
Nobody knows what he looked like. He asked people not to make images of him. For four hundred years, they didn't.
Then they did, everywhere, and every country gave him its own face.
Myanmar
Mandalay ဘုရား
Marble. Gold leaf pressed on by hand, one square at a time, by whoever came to pray.
Cambodia
Bayon ព្រះពុទ្ធ
A face the size of a house, smiling from the temple towers. Some say it is the king's.
China
Longmen 盧舍那佛
Carved straight into a cliff, seventeen metres tall, finished in 675.
India
Sarnath बुद्ध
Where he gave his first talk. This face was carved there nine hundred years later.
Vietnam
Hanoi Phật
Lacquer over wood. The gold worn through to red where hands touched.
China
Tang 佛
Gilded bronze. The face most Chinese families know, because it is the one on the shelf.
0 countries. One man.
They could not agree on his face. They agreed on what he said.
- Nothing lasts. Not the good weeks, not the bad ones.
- Clinging hurts. Holding on is where most of the pain comes from.
- There is a way through. It is ordinary, and you can start today.
Start with one question.
You met 0 faces on the way down. You do not need to know any of their names. Ask a real question and get a plain answer, free.
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