I've read from a Thai-blog that there is a museum that exhibits the 80 mudras (hand gestures/poses) of Buddha. As a temple guide, I'm always fascinated with the different mudras that Buddha displays in his lifetimes. Each mudra illustrating different episodes in the life of the Buddha. Thus, the bronze sculpture is display in the order of the baby Buddha to the reclining Buddha. There is a bilingual sign donated by the devote in front of each of the Buddha images which describes the story for each pose. Normally, there are only a handful of mudras that is display in the temples. So, it is really interesting to see so many different and rare kinds of mudras.
There were some really unusual images. Like the one, Buddha holds his hand up and touches the back of his head. That's when he plucked his hair and gave it to the merchants he met as a relic to signify his presence. There were also a few reclining Buddha. I always thought they were depicting the final moments of the Buddha before he died. Well, this is not true. The one holding his hand up in the middle is when he did his last sermon.
Because of this, I went to all major bookstores in Thailand to see if I can find a book that explains the 80 or more different Buddha's mudra. To my disappointment, I found the book in Thai language at the National Museum bookstore. Hopefully in the near future, I'm able to get that book in English version.
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