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Meditative postures or meditation seats are the body positions or asanas, usually sitting but also sometimes standing or reclining, used to facilitate meditation. Best known in the Buddhist and Hindu traditions are the lotus and kneeling positions; other options include sitting on a chair, with the spine upright.
Variations include easy pose (Sukhasana), half lotus, bound lotus, and psychic union pose. Advanced variations of several other asanas including yoga headstand have the legs in lotus or half lotus. The pose can be uncomfortable for people not used to sitting on the floor, and attempts to force the legs into position can injure the knees. [2]
Guanyin Bodhisattva, sitting in the lotus position, the damaged hands probably performing dharmacakramudra, a gesture that signifies the moment when Buddha put the wheel of learning in motion; painted and gilded wood, China, Song/Jin period, late 13th century
Practitioners of the Rinzai school sit facing each other with their backs to the wall, while those of the Sōtō school sit facing the wall or a curtain. [8] Before taking one's seat, and after rising at the end of a period of zazen, a Zen practitioner performs a gassho bow to their seat, and a second bow to fellow practitioners. [ 9 ]
A single asana is listed for each main pose, whether or not there are variations. Thus for Sirsasana (Yoga headstand), only one pose is illustrated, although the pose can be varied by moving the legs apart sideways or front-and-back, by lowering one leg to the floor, by folding the legs into lotus posture, by turning the hips to one side, by placing the hands differently on the ground, and so on.
The statue is 18.5 m (61 ft) [1] high representing the Buddha seated in a meditation pose, or dhyana mudra, on a lotus in the open air. [2] The total height of the construction is 80 ft (24 m) of which the Buddha makes up 64 ft (20 m), the lotus on which the Buddha sits 5 ft (1.5 m) and the lower pedestal 10 ft (3.0 m).
Regarding practice, Dogen counseled a distinctly nonattached or nonclinging kind of action, that is, an activity completely unconcerned with benefits or the accomplishment of ulterior goals: the activity of 'just sitting' or 'nothing-but-sitting' (shikantaza) whereby self-seeking is set aside in a manner resembling a resolute 'dropping off of ...
Other styles of Indian Buddhist art depict the Buddha in human form, either standing, sitting crossed legged (often in the Lotus Pose) or lying down on one side. Iconic representations of the Buddha became particularly popular and widespread after the first century CE. [ 424 ]