• Calling the Earth to Witness:  With palm inwards, the right hand touches the ground and “calls the earth to witness” the Buddha’s enlightenment.  The gesture symbolizes unshakable faith and resolution and is the most common posture for Southeast Asian temple images.
• Passage to Nirvana: The reclining Buddha representing the Buddha’s death.  The posture symbolizes complete peace and detachment from the world.
• Offering or Wish Granting: Hand points down with palm facing out.  The gesture represents the offering of Buddhist teaching to the world.  Sometimes the teaching, and its benefit, is symbolically represented by a small piece of medicinal myroloban fruit.  One particularly majestic style of standing offering image with the robes flared out is also known in Thailand and Laos as the “Calling for Rain” posture.

Each of these positions can be associated with a moment in the Buddha’s life that has an important lesson, although the description of these scenes varies considerably.  For example, Burmese temple murals of the moment of the Buddha’s enlightenment depict the seated Buddha being challenged by an army of demons summoned by the devil, Mara.  The Buddha’s hand touches the ground to summon the Earth Goddess who wrings out her hair to unleash a flood that sweeps away the demons.  A substantially different version of the story has Mara verbally challenging the Buddha: “Who knows that you have attained enlightenment?”  The Buddha touches the ground and calmly replies: “Mother Earth knows.”  Seated images are normally based on a lotus leaf, a symbol of spontaneous (i.e. divine) birth. An example of traditional art showing scenes from the Buddha's life is here.