The bronze Amazarasti-no Hotoke (the Buddha That Sits through Sunny and Rainy Weather without Shelter) in Golden Gate Park.

The 200-year-old Buddha was taken to the conservation lab of Baird/Rief in Grass Valley where old repairs and corrosion were carefully removed and filled with new materials before restoring the patina. Meanwhile, back at the park, the old rotted wooden pedestal was replaced with a hand-cut black granite base that will seat the Buddha for a century or two more. To insure that the Buddha doesn’t shift or slump, a new armature rises from the base and supports the weight of the satori that rings the Buddha’s head. Amazarasti-no-Hotoke (Buddha Who Sits through Sunny and Rainy Weather without Shelter) will bless the Tea Garden for a long time to come. The carpenters at the Recreation and Park Department completed the project by enclosing the Buddha with an elegant fence. This $173,000 project was partially funded by the Adopt-a-Monument program with the help of Gump’s Department Store and the Recreation and Parks Department. Contractors on the project besides Baird/Rief were Robert Bailey, Structural Engineer, Atthowe Fine Arts Services, Rocket Science and Edwin Hamilton.