Reclining Buddha

This particular position of the Buddha is better known as the mahaparinirvanasana in Buddhism. Buddha is said to have known that his death was approaching while in this position, the Buddha asked his disciples to make a couch for him in a bush to make it easy for him to lie down. Although he had attained enlightenment and became the Buddha, as a human being, the Buddha had to leave his physical appearance. This moment is believed to have taken place in Kushinagara in India when he was eighty years old. Therefore, this physical demise of the awakened world is termed as Mahaparinirvana, the state beyond Nirvana