How to set up a Buddha statue in home and Garden?

Guide to set up Buddha statue in your home

Buddha statues have become widely admired and yes, they are more obtainable than before. People prefer Buddha statues or figurines in their home decor or garden decoration. Buddha statue represents and remind us of hope for peace and tranquility.

However, it is not necessary the owner has to be a Buddhist or devoted to Buddhism.  A lot of people not belonging to any specific religion often prefer religious art. Some people find beauty in religious art while some get consoled by the moral of the art.

Flaunting Buddha statue or figurine in one’s home or garden bring a sense of harmony and purpose in life. It motivates us to develop kindness and compassion within ourselves. It indirectly influences our subconscious mind and tames us to be calm and peaceful. These beautiful Buddha statues stand as a symbol of truth and peace. They can boost up our mind and spirit and lend our home and garden the feeling of a sanctuary, a place to meditate and find peace.

Significance of a Buddha Statue for spiritual growth:

Even devoted Buddhists honor Buddha statue and take it as inspiration for spiritual growth. It stands there to constantly remind us of teachings of Buddha. This is the reason Buddhist keep some form of Buddha rupa in their home. And this very philosophy applies to all of us. Main purpose of having a Buddha statue in your home and garden is to inspire you to make environment peaceful and spiritual to help you become calm, peaceful and spiritually awakened.

A question arises now, how to set up Buddha statue in home and where should a figurine be placed? Conventionally, it is believed that a statue should be placed on a tall and neat place. It should not be placed beneath the sole of the feet. Indeed, it has to be placed in an auspicious place in your home or garden. It is a due respect shown to the statue by placing it in a special place of honor. Do not place a Buddha statue where it would face inappropriate objects or activities like in a toilet, bathroom or a kitchen.

So let’s focus now on how we can setup a Buddha statue to place it properly in your home, garden or meditation altar.

Setting up your Altar to place a Buddha statue

It is no doubt that placing your Buddha statue in a traditional Buddhist altar in your meditation room is the most obvious method. An altar Table should be set up to place a Buddha Statue in the centre. A Buddha statue is never placed on the floor. It needs to be kept on the higher grounds. So a table can be used to place a Buddha statue. It should be high enough at eye level of a person meditating or doing a prayer.

This altar table should give some space for other mediation objects like incense burner, offering rice bowls also called gompa in Tibetan and Newari language, holy water bowls, bell & Vajra, singing bowls, butter lamp, candle etc. which make it a nice looking altar. Meditating Buddha should be placed in your altar or quiet corner of your house. Buddha statue should face east.

This is a typical Buddhist tradition how you can setup your Buddha Statue. However, there are other modern popular methods nowadays for placement of your Buddha statue.

Again a Buddha statue should be placed on a higher ground or level in such a way that it is visible to inspire you whenever you look up to it. Here we suggest the most used places for your Buddha statue.

Placing your Buddha statue in a shelf.

It is not necessary to have a meditation room with an altar table entirely. If you have a small shelf not necessarily altar, you can place the Buddha statue in it along with some other spiritual objects like mentioned above. Place it in a quiet place where there is less traffic. This is a common practice nowadays in Buddhist tradition. The Buddha statue is placed at the highest point above other objects to signify the superior significance of the Buddha image

Place a Buddha statue in your living room.

It can be kept in your room facing the front door. There is a common belief placing statue this way will keep out the evil spirits. This is more sort of fantastic viewpoint.  Placing a Buddha statue in your living room can serve as both decorative purpose as well as purifying the environment of the space. As mentioned above Buddha statue can indirectly make environment peaceful and calm. It has also subtle affect in our subconscious mind to keep our monkey mind calm.

Zen Garden Decor

A garden can be a very peaceful place to meditate. It is in fact the very environment Buddha meditated and achieved nirvana. He sat under a bodhi tree in open environment close to nature and meditated to get enlightened. You can arrange a best place in a garden to set up Buddha statue in home. If you have a tree in your garden, it is also ideal place to keep a Buddha statue under the protection of it.

Like said earlier a Garden Buddha statue should be placed on an elevated place high above the ground and above your eye level. This elevation can be achieved by placing piles of stones or wooden table or blocks creating a higher platform perfect to place your Buddha statue.

Also, safety should be considered before placing the statue. Some materials are not designed for outdoor purpose. You have to make sure that the statue is outdoor version so that it doesn’t crack and rot under the sun or rain. For this purpose stone, bronze and copper Buddha statues fit well. Like in the video below statue should weather the harsh condition such as heavy rain. The Garden Buddha Statues are all made of copper.

Video: Garden Buddha Statue Setup Surviving Harsh Condition of Heavy Rain

In conclusion, Buddha statues should be honored by placing them on a higher level where they will be visible to devotees or spiritual practitioners. It should be an inspiration, a source of strength, representation of light of wisdom Buddha has attained and a reminder of Buddha’s teachings and benefits of following his path.