Buduruvagala
From TheBuddhism.Net
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Buduruwagala is an ancient buddhist temple in Sri Lanka. The complex consists of seven statues and belongs to the Mahayana school of thought. The statues date back to the 10th century. The gigantic Buddha statue still bears traces of its original stuccoed robe and a long streak of orange suggests it was once brightly painted. The central of the three figures to the Buddha’s right is thought to be the Buddhist mythological figure-the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara. To the left of this white painted figure is a female figure in the thrice-bent posture, which is thought to be his consort-Tara.
Location : Buduruvagala is located about 4 miles (6.4 km) southeast of Wellawaya in Monaragala district, Sri Lanka.
Size of the statues
The largest of the standing Buddha statues is 51 feet (16 m) from head to toe; is the largest standing Buddha statue of the island.
History
Authorities generally date them to the 9th or 10th century. Buduruvagala does not have much historical records. Even its original name is unknown. It is thought to be a hermitage for monks. The sculptures of Buduruvagala also include many sculptures of Bodhisattva images including Mahayana tradition.
The mustard oil lamp
On the same rock where the sculptures are carved, there is a carved shape of about 3 feet (0.91 m) wide and 4 feet (1.2 m) heigh. It is of the shape of a flame.
The inside wall of this carved shape is always wet of an oil that smells very much like Mustard oil. This oil comes to the carved shape with no explainable source or reason.
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I love to read and see ancient buddhist temple like Buduruvagala in Sri Lanka. Very interesting to visit places like these if we have the merits to. Thank you Rinpoche and blog team for this nice sharing. 😍👍🌈
Buduruwagala is unique heritage site because of its seven rock carved out sculptures belonging to Mahayana Buddhist tradition. The beautiful, 1000-year-old, rock-cut Buddha figures of Buduruwagala are the region’s biggest attraction. Amazing it seem that archaeologists have determined that these art work sculptures are of Century AD old. This is considered one of the rare examples of Buddhist art miraculous sculptures which tourist would like to see. There is a hole shaped like the flame of an oil lamp,are always found to be wet with a substance that smells like Mustard oil. Until today ,no one can explained the reason behin it. They discovered several square-cut holes in the rock which said to be a canopy may have existed in the early days.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this interesting and unique site.
Traces of Mahayana in Sri Lanka that is very interesting.