Vietnam White Marble Minimal Meditating Buddha for a Modern Water Feature, 30 Inch

A meditating Buddha in a few planes

Most Buddha statues are read through their detail: the curls of the hair, the folds of the robe, the petals of the lotus seat. This design takes nearly all of that away. The Buddha sits cross-legged in meditation, but the body is reduced to a few large, smooth planes that meet in soft edges, so the whole figure reads as one clear silhouette from across a courtyard. Only two signs are kept, because they are what make him the Buddha: the ushnisha, the rise at the crown of the head with its small flame, and the long earlobes, a reminder of the heavy earrings he set aside when he left his life as a prince.

Made for a modern rill

The piece is designed to sit on a plain stone block over a narrow water channel, the kind of rill or water wall an architect draws into a minimal courtyard, hotel lobby or spa. With no carved ornament to compete with it, the moving water and the light on it become part of the work. The block lifts the Buddha clear of the water line, so he is never set at floor level, and gives the figure a quiet plinth that sits easily with concrete, stone and timber.

Stone, finish and size

The design is for Vietnam white marble, a dense, fine-grained stone that reads cool and milky white with only faint grey clouding. A soft satin polish suits the broad planes: light moves slowly across each surface and softens where two planes meet, without glare off the nearby water. Sealed, the stone handles splash and humidity well.

At 30 inches, the figure works as the single focal point at the end of a rill or in front of a water wall. Plan for a block at least as wide as the base, about 22 inches, and deep enough for its 15 inches.

Made to order

Each piece is carved to order by our sculptors in Jaipur, so the height, the proportion of the planes and the size of the plinth block can be worked out with you or your architect before carving begins. Send us the drawing or a photo of the water feature and we will confirm dimensions, weight and a quote, for delivery in India or abroad.