Pair of Thai Bronze Buddha Hands Fragments Repurposed as Bookends

In Buddhism, Buddha refers to a being who has attained Bodhi (lit.: “awakening”). Buddha is the honorary name of the Indian religious founder Siddhartha Gautama, whose teachings founded the world religion of Buddhism. According to Buddhist understanding, however, he is not the only possible Buddha.

In Buddhism, a Buddha is understood to be a being who has achieved the purity and perfection of his mind by his own efforts and has thus attained an unlimited development of all his potentials: perfect wisdom (prajna) as well as infinite and desireless compassion (karuna) with all living things . A Buddha, even if he leads a human existence at the same time, has achieved nirvana and, according to Buddhist belief, is therefore no longer tied to the cycle of death and rebirth (samsara) (although his human body is still mortal). Awakening and nirvana are transcendent in nature, incomprehensible to the mind, “deep and unfathomable as the ocean,” thus defying description in linguistic terms. This quality is incomprehensible to people who have not had the experience themselves.