RYI STUDENT BLOG

There are many stories in Nepal. Because these stories are very interesting-- as last time I had shared the story about the Jacket from the Naga land -- I would like to introduce the story of the Golden Temple in Patan at this time.   When people talk about Patan, the Golden Temple will show up in everyone’s mind. The Golden Temple is one of the famous Buddhist temples in Patan. However, few people know that there was a love story, which was between a king and a queen, behind the holy Golden Temple . Once upon a time, there was a king called Marwad and he had a lovely queen called Pingala. They loved each other very much. As a return for his lovely queen, King Marwad planned to make an image of Shakyamuni as a gift to her. When the image had been finished, another king, from other country, asked for a gift as a sign of good relations with King Marwad’s kingdom. For the people’s safety in the country, Queen Pingala chose to give up the image for the peaceful relationshi...

Last year, I was looking for a Guru Rinpoche statue to present to my lama and that's how I discovered about the complicated work of statue making. There is a long tradition of handicraft in Kathmandu valley. The Newar people are the holder of this tradition, even though nowadays, it tends to be villagers from other ethnical groups who come to Kathmandu, and do these kinds of demanding works. Good statues are completely handmade and no detail should be neglected, if we wish the statue to be a good support for practice.  There are four stages during the making-process. First, the statue is designed in wax and casted into copper. The next step is to clean, smoothen and carve it. At this important stage, all the details of the design and facial expression are finalized. This is maybe the most creative part. After polishing, the statue is gold or silver-plated, with or without oxidizing touch, depending on the desired style. The last crucial stage is to paint the face with gold powd...