I finally stopped to take a pic of the 9 buddhas arranged in a circle along the lake front path just north of Fullerton. All of them are facing toward the circle center except the southernmost buddha, who is facing southwest toward the outer drive. It appears that particular buddha was placed that way deliberately, as those guys are not easy to move. The green sign in the lower right hand corner of the shot says nothing about their purpose. It's just a generic request asking people not to disturb the artwork. There is no other description at the site.  I went to the Ten Thousand Ripples site and no mention was made about those particular buddhas but they are clearly of their design. 

Here's a cool article about the effect of a buddha statue placed in a bad area of Oakand, CA.

Ommmmmm!