Found these beautiful, precious & quite unique Buddha murtis in Jaipur's Pink City today, made entirely of lapis! Each is uniquely crafted &, as you can see, the pieces of lapis themselves have unique natural colour variations. They are priced by weight. Lapis Lazuli is often referred to in Buddhist prayers when making mental offerings of a perfect environment, or in descriptions of Buddha-realms (places entirely suited to training for enlightenment), where the ground is said to be as smooth as lapis lazuli. Also, crafting & venerating images made of precious materials is seen as particularly auspicious, meritorious & also an offering to that which is represented (as also seen with Jade Buddhas in Chinese Buddhism, & flawless marble Jain statues of the Tirthankaras) despite the fact that such personages themselves eschewed owning or even touching precious stones/materials! We use precious substances to honour those who have entirely renounced them...we offer the absolute best to those who have given up dualistic notions of precious/non-precious. Of course, such offerings pale in comparison to offering one's practice with both a pure compassionate intention and an accurate view of the nature of reality.
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