Tell Me (only) A Ture Buddhist…..why Lord Buddha`s Statue Is (sometimes) Shown As A Big Guy With Big Belly?
Sunday, December 13th, 2009 at
12:48 am
According to my knowledge he was a kind of person who meditated and fasted a lot in his time. His figure supposed to be as thin and in meditating position.
Look at more Buddha Garden Statues
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Filed under: Buddha Questions and Answers
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Okay, first of all, Buddhists do not consider Siddhartha Gautama to have been the only Buddha. The word Buddha is simply a title that means ‘The Awakened One’. A Buddha is considered anyone who has become Enlightened (i.e. having awakened to the truth, or Dharma) on their own, in a time when the teachings on the Four Noble Truths or the Eightfold Path do not exist in the world. Hence, Siddhartha Gautama, also known as Shakyamuni Buddha is in fact one of many such beings who have existed in the past, and will continue to exist in the future. Some Buddhists believe the next great Buddha will be one named Maitreya. While anyone can become Enlightened and experience Nirvana, some Buddhist texts such as the Lotus Sutra imply that all beings will become Buddhas at some point in time.
Hotei, the obese, Laughing Buddha, usually seen in China. This figure is believed to be a representation of a medieval Chinese monk who is associated with Maitreya, the future Buddha, and it is therefore not technically a Buddha image.
Chinese Buddhists have adopted Hotei as the Laughing Buddha into the Mahayana Buddhist pantheon and his image may be found in the first hall of many Buddhist monasteries. Ch’an temples will usually have Hotei located at their entrances & courtyards. Hotei was attributed the title of Maitreya Buddha because of a poem allegedy written on his deathbed that read.
“Maitreya Maitreya, everyone is looking for Maitreya. They do not realise that he is already here.”
(Another Translation reads: Maitreya, True Maitreya. His body takes myriad forms, but at the times he manifest himself to men, none of them recognize (him).
Maitreya cult has been established as early as the time of Dao An (314-385). At the time of the Liang Dynasty (502 – 550 CE) the figure of Maitreya was very popular due to political turmoil and a great many Buddhists venerated Maitreya in the hope that he would soon come to spread the dharma. Buddhists at the time took the poem to mean that Hotei had been Maitreya all along and thus the title was attributed to him in popular folklore. Maitreya (as Pu Tai) was the religious figure in many contemporary Chinese religion cults from the sixth century as saviour who descend in the time of chaos to cleanse the world from evil and salvage the good. Most modern Buddhists now view Hotei’s poem as an allegory for seeking one’s salvation in the present moment rather than looking to an imagined future.
The original Buddha was Siddhartha Gautama, who was thin. The fat Buddha statues you see are what they think the NEXT Buddha will look like.
Happiness may assume any form. Skinny, chubby,…
Like you sad yourself, “sometimes” is the answer.
Sitting meditation is only one of many kinds of meditative positions. You can do walking meditation for example.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laughing_Bu…
I ignored your request for “buddhists only” because the link I provided does in fact contain the correct answer to your question.
Buddha , Gautam Siddharth is not shown with big belly.
Chinese figure is different, its a good luck deity, often confused with Siddhartha.
opium makes you fat no disrespect for the guy.i have Buddhist friends. oh and being large =prosperity
The big guy with the big belly as u have mention here is refer as The coming Maitreya Buddha .
Maitreya , in the old Buddhist text language derived from maitre ( if i spell it correctly ) means Metta ( Loving Kindness )
So , the Maitreya Buddha is a Buddha which bears the title of Loving Kindness .. The big belly He has symbolize that He undertook all the world sufferings and stores them inside His stomach . However , all this is just a symbol done by Mahayana Buddhism as in other form of Buddhism , there is such image produced .
Nowadays , artisan add a lot more size to the Maitreya Buddha image as an art and not as a Buddha statue making it look funny and a whole lot more chubby which gives the opportunity for people’s of other religion to condemn it . Most of them can’t seem to find any fault out of Buddhism and they take it all out on the Big belly Buddha statue don’t they ?…