Jade Buddha

Today we went to see the Jade Buddha again. The Jade Buddha festival is held Escondido right now for about a week. We went to see the Unveiling ceremony of the same Buddha but the place was so crowded it was hard to see anything. The strange thing is that this statue has a gold disk like a halo that seems to be attached to the back of the head. The one that is on display right now though has no disk attached. So it could be the same statue. It is supposed to be the largest Buddha made out of gem-quality jade. The third eye is made of rubies.

Jade Buddha made of gem-quality jade.

For comparison I inserted the picture of the model Buddha from a Buddhist monastery that is situated in the remote part of Escondido. As you can see the other statue does not look like it's made of jade.

This statue looks almost identical but of inferior quality.

Well, looks like we've got ourselves into a mystery. How many jade Buddha statues are around? Is golden halo disk attachable or not? Well, it does not really matter, I suppose. 

Speaking of Buddha statues, here's another interesting fact. In the remote monastery or the meeting place where the model Buddha is there is a kind of a temple that happened to be open. So we went inside. The upper part of the wall was decorated by three rows of miniature jade Buddha statues. 

Inside the Buddhist temple the walls are decorated with Buddhas. 

So what else? Another interesting thing is that some Buddha statues are decorated with swastika. The golden Buddha presiding the altar is just one example.

Multiple Buddha images decorate the inner space of the temple.

As you can see there are two big statures forming a double altar (one is behind the other). There are two more statures probably of some other deity other than Buddha that are behind the towers (you cannot see them on the picture). The towers are decorated by medals of Buddhas. Interesting. Very interesting. Quite different from the Christian churches.