Lerab Ling just received a new statue of Buddha, which has been placed in front of the temple.

This stone statue, two metres tall, represents Buddha standing with his right hand raised in the gesture of ‘blessing and protection against fear’.

Made in Orissa, one of the Eastern states of India, it was hand sculpted by an artist who holds a tradition that goes back to the eleventh century.

It is a copy of the “Standing Buddha” of Saranath, the city in the north of India where Buddha taught for the first time after reaching enlightenment.