Pidta

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Phra Pidta

The closed eye Buddha, called Phra Pidta in Thailand, is a uniquely Thai posture in which the Buddha covers his eyes to see no evil and at times also covers his ears, belly and private parts. Some people conjecture that this unusual style evolved several hundred years ago to show the Buddha attempting a form of sensory deprivation to assist in attaining Enlightenment, which is a blissful state of pure knowledge leading to Nirvana at death or a release from the cycle of birth and rebirth.

A more folk interpretation is simply that the Buddha turns a blind eye to the sins of the bearer of the image while still protecting him/her from danger, which is the reason Thais wear these amulets or keep them on the family altar when in the form of a larger statue.