Statue is made from massive boulder found near Yukon

By Angela Lau, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

John Gastaldo / Union-Tribune

Visitors began arriving yesterday to see a jade Buddha at Escondido’s Phap Vuong Monastery. The statue is the centerpiece of a weeklong celebration for universal peace. Escondido is the Buddha’s first stop in a 20-city tour. 

Photo by John Gastaldo - Union-Tribune

A dragon made of food adorned the altar. The dragon is said to symbolize courage.

Photo by John Gastaldo - Union-Tribune

Lee Trung swept the area in front of the Jade Buddha at Phap Vuong Monastery in Escondido. The Buddha has traveled to Australia and Vietnam and is on a tour of the United States and Canada. Eventually, it will return to Australia.

ESCONDIDO — A 4½-ton statue of Buddha made of rare, dark jade has arrived in the county on its first stop in a U.S. tour to spread peace and happiness with its trademark smile of serenity and look of compassion.

The Jade Buddha of Universal Peace took five years from discovery of the jade boulder near Canada’s Yukon border to completion by master sculptors. It’s on display at Escondido’s Phap Vuong Monastery at 715 Vista. Ave. The 8-foot-10-inch statue is valued at $5 million.

An opening ceremony is scheduled for 1 p.m. tomorrow. The statue will remain until Feb. 16.

The monastery expects thousands of the faithful from around the region to pay homage, even on Super Bowl Sunday.

“Buddha came here to spread spiritual light and bring happiness to everybody,” said the monastery’s abbot, Thich Nguyen Sieu. “Right now, we have war and poverty. I’d like Buddha to bring compassion to the world and bless everybody.”

The statue depicts Buddha sitting cross-legged on a lotus base atop a white throne, his face painted gold to highlight his expression, and his forehead decorated with a star ruby surrounded by 48 small rubies that form his wisdom eye.

Behind him yesterday, the delicate flowers of two pink plum trees fluttered in the morning breeze as the faithful prayed on mats, hands closed at their chests.

Flanking the statue were two dragons made of pineapple halves that wrapped around a pyramid of fruit. The dragons had green chili and carrots for horns, garlic cloves for teeth and apples for tongues.

A sea of flowers, incense and a giant bowllike gong completed the display. A red carpet was laid on the steps leading to the shrine.

The Jade Buddha is not the first jade statue in the world. Others are in Buddhist destinations in Myanmar, Thailand and China. But this one comes with a story as dramatic as the artwork itself.

In 2000, a gem-mining company discovered the largest boulder of a gem-quality jade, called polar jade, south of the Yukon border. Polar jade, which the Chinese used in the medals of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, is known for its clear and vibrant green.

When miners cut open the boulder to haul it down a mountain, they found a virtually flawless, translucent green stone that became known as Polar Pride. An internationally known gemologist said it was perhaps the find of the millennium.

In 2003, Ian Green, chairman of The Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, an Australian Buddhist organization, heard of the boulder and embarked on a long journey to raise money to buy it and carve a Buddha statue.

The sculpting was done in Thailand’s oldest jade factory, which made four prototypes in clay and fiberglass. When the final one was approved by Nepalese Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Green’s spiritual adviser, the actual carving with diamond saws began.

It took two years, until December 2008, to finish, and every chip remaining was made into mementos for sale at tour venues.

The Dalai Lama consecrated the Jade Buddha in Sydney, Australia, in December 2009. From there, it went to Vietnam, where 4 million people viewed it.

The statue traveled around Australia, and was later shipped to Long Beach in a locked container equipped with tracking devices. From there, it was trucked Wednesday to the Escondido monastery. The abbot there was the first in the United Stated to request a display, Green said.

It was assembled Thursday afternoon with a crane and a forklift, and is under guard around the clock. After Escondido, the statue will head to Florida, Texas, Tennessee, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Canada, back to the United States, and then to Europe.

When the touring is done, the Jade Buddha is expected to stay in the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion in Australia, Green said.