Tag Archives: Buddha

LEGO Creation of the Week (#16): The Water and Moon Guanyin Bodhisattva by dicken liu

Every week readers of the The Brothers Brick Telegram channel choose the Creation of the Week: one project that impressed all of us the most. In a tight competition Dicken Liu grabs the last week’s Creation of the Week award! His most chilled-out Buddhist deity you’ve ever seen in LEGO form joins our pool of the best creations of the year!

Meanwhile, the new vote is already on! Join our Telegram channel to follow all the best LEGO creations, latest news, and, of course, vote for your favorites. See you there!

The Buddhist deity of compassion, mercy, and looking cool as a cucumber

I’ve been a big fan of Dicken Liu‘s LEGO builds for a while now (find out why here), and my favourite type of build is when he dips into the traditions and mythology of Eastern Asia. The latest addition to that collection is this Buddha statue.  Named Guanyin of the Southern Seas, the restrained colours with the eye-catching gold look absolutely gorgeous here. Liu’s masterful posing also makes him incredibly suave. In fact, the builder also tells us that this pose has it’s very own name: Maharajalila – “royal ease”. The name is almost as smooth as the pose itself!

The Water and Moon Guanyin Bodhisattva-02

When Buddha inspires your LEGO builds...

Why not make a Buddha out of LEGO? Actually, while we’re at it, why not make a posable Buddha mech? That’s what inspired Moko to build this odd-but-beautiful creation, and the posable figure is actually quite intriguing. The body shape is nice, and the face, as well as the hair made with exposed studs on the head, are expertly crafted.

Buddha robot

Moko is also quite good at taking photos that really bring his characters to life. If you can read Japanese (or roughly approximate it with an in-browser translator), you can learn more about Moko and his build on his blog. Actually, even if you can’t, his plethora of pictures are quite interesting! Yes, a minifigure can indeed fit in the compartment behind that muscular chest, so we guess that makes this technically a mech.

Buddha robot

Panda-moneum in Hong Kong

Bizarre conservationist flash-mob movement 1600 Pandas recently visited famous landmarks in Hong Kong, and local builder Alanboar Cheung decided to commemorate the event with this panda-enriched model of the Tian Tan Buddha. If you ask me, the pandas totally look like they’re gonna eat those tourists!

3 Cheers for the Birthday Boy

Hong Kong’s Andy Hung (andybear) has created a striking mosaic to honor the birthday of the Buddha (Prince Siddhartha Gautama) on today this seventeenth of May, a national holiday in many parts of the world.

Lego Buddha 01

I will leave you with one of my favorite quotes from the birthday boy. “Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.”

Pop-up LEGO Todai-ji opens to reveal Giant Buddha

Back in 2009, the Internet marveled at Japanese builder talapz‘s mind-boggling pop-up Kinkaku-ji pavilion. Now, he’s at it again! This time, he’s built Todai-ji, a temple in Nara, Japan that houses the world’s largest bronze statue of Buddha.

Nara was one of Japan’s first capitol cities, before Kyoto and Tokyo. Todai-ji and the Giant Buddha (Daibutsu) are part of a UNESCO World Heritage site, encompassing treasures from the period of ancient Japan (AD 710-794) that shares the city’s name.

For those of you inclined to try building your own pop-up Todai-ji, there is hope! In the second half of the video, talapz provides step-by-step instructions (449 steps) to build your own pop-up Todai-ji temple from a parts list — complete with Bricklink IDs — of 8816 LEGO elements. Good luck!

The Great Buddha of Kamakura withstands typhoons and tsunamis

One of my favorite day trips from Tokyo was visiting the Great Buddha of Kamakura. Space2310 continues his series of excellent Japanese LEGO models with a microscale Amida Buddha.

LEGO Great Buddha of Kamakura

Like the real Buddha in Japan, this one has little windows on his back so visitors can look out. The cherry blossoms add a wonderful touch to the presentation of this LEGO creation.

Yungang Grottoes by Tiger0207

Yungang Grottoes are a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Datong, China. Tiger0207 presents a scene of a Buddhist monk meditating in one of the caves:

Via VignetteBricks.

Kwun Yam Temple

Taking another break from our usual Japanese fare, Brickshelf user Legokinsfolk presents Kwun Yam Temple. Here’s what Legokinsfolk has to say:

There is the Goddess of Mercy in the Kwun Yam Temple. The Goddess of Mercy has power to assume any shape to save those in distress. She is one of the most popular buddhas for her kindness among Chinese people.

An overview of the temple:

And my personal favorite, Kwun Yam herself: