The Buddha Dordenma Statue

Around the time I left for college in August 2006, work on the Buddha Dordenma Project began on a hillock overlooking Thimphu. The media touted it as the “largest Buddha statue in the world.” It is a statue of the Shakyamuni Buddha, the present Buddha.

The project was initiated by the Menjong Chhothuen Tshogpa and the chief sponsor was a Singaporean businessman, Rinchen Peter Teo, and the rest of the donations came from within Bhutan and well-wishers from abroad.

Bhutanese sculptors built a 12 meter high model statue of the Buddha and it was taken to Nanjing, China, to a Chinese company called Aerosun Corporation. They were to build a bronze statue and transport it to the site. The total cost of the whole operation was estimated at US $ 20 million.

The site itself is called Kuensel Phodrang where the palace of the 13^th Druk Desi, Sherub Wangchuk, once stood. The palace is now in ruins.

According to the Project website, the Buddha Dordenma statue, apart from commemorating the centennial of the Wangchuk dynasty, would also fulfil two prophecies.

“In the twentieth century, the renowned yogi Sonam Zangpo prophesied that a large statue of either Padmasambhava, Buddha or of a Phurba would be built in the region to bestow blessings, peace and happiness on the whole world.

Additionally the statue is mentioned in the ancient terma of Guru Padmasambhava himself, said to date from approximately the eighth century, and recovered some 800 years ago by Terton Pema Lingpa.”

The statue and the throne it sits on would accommodate 17 storeys of lhakhangs inside it.

According to Kuensel, “The lhakhangs will have, among other things, 25,000 12 inch copper and gold gilded images of Buddha Dordenma, eight 10-feet standing bodhisattvas, eight 10-feet sitting medicinal Buddhas, 16 six-feet high arahats, King Hashang, Dharmata Tiger, Sutra Holder, and the third storey up to the top will accommodate 100,000 eight-inch statues of Buddha Dordenma.”

The surrounding areas would have public galleries, restaurants, large parking spaces, camping grounds, dharamsalas and quarters for monks.

The statue stands at a height of 169 feet, or 51.5 metres. The statue has been completely fabricated and the installation and consecration of the Dzomyu (third eye) has been performed. The Dzomyu is a thousand piece diamond studded on 18 carat gold in the shape of a conch and weighs about 10 kg.

When it is completed, it would be approximately the 22^nd tallest statue of any kind in the world and around the 15^th tallest statue of the Buddha.

A project is already underway in Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh, India, to build a 152 (500 feet) statue of the Maitreya Buddha, the future Buddha.

A list of the tallest statues in the world can be found here.

When I complete my studies and return home next year, I hope to make it to the consecration of the Buddha statue.