Why The Different Statues Of Buddha?
Friday, February 26th, 2010 at
12:49 am
Often Buddha is depicted as slender, feminine looking man as seen often in temples in Thaliand and South East Asia. Other times, possibly more in India as someone told me, Budda is depicted as a jolly fat fellow. What is the difference, do they represent different incarnations of Buddha?
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Filed under: Buddha Questions and Answers
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The ’slim, feminine, Buddha is more in keeping with the historical image of Buddha, Prince Siddartha of hte Gautama clan, and is prevalent in Tibetan Buddhism. The ‘jolly fat fellow’ is actually more often seen in East Asia as the image encapsulates wisdom, wealth and power combined, and is in keeping with their cultural mores. A few features are present in all aspects of the Buddha though, one of which is the long earlobes. This denotes age which fruther denotes wisdom. I have yet to see a n image or statue of the Buddha without this distinguishing feature.
Look for books and sites on Buddhist iconography which explain the differences!
This question probably belongs in Art ?
Some of those statues you think are Buddhas are actually Boddhisattvas.
yeah really, and those fat one’s laughing are dumb lookin
the other elegant type buddhas are a delight to help w/gardening decor
hmmm, i do not laugh when i meditate
Nobody really knows what Siddhartha Gautama looked like, so they tend to portray him as one of their countrymen. Like Jesus is painted in Europe, looking very European, not Jewish at all. Across Asia in different countries he looks different, like he came from there.
The fat jolly ‘Buddha’ in China is not Buddha at all but Ho Tai, a Chinese monk. He is considered sort of like a saint, the bringer of good fortune and the protector of children.
Because there are different Buddhas. The more slender one is probably Siddhartha Gautama Buddha.
Oh, and this is to “deeterluvscj”. Why would anyone cry “Buddha save me?” The Buddha was just a man, he never claimed to be divine.
people imagine him in different ways according to their cultural heritage
It depends on what country the statue is from. Different buddhist countries depict Buddha in different ways. Also, the Buddha statues have different hand gesture that mean different things.
Buddha gained “Enlightenment” after sitting under a Bud-hi tree for 40 days and 40 nights,,,,,his depiction will differ as there were no photos of him,,the same way we in the west depict Jesus differently,,northern European looks in northern Europe and more Mediterranean around the Med,,even though he would have had more of a darker skinned completion
well their are different Buddhas, Buddha is a title like Christ or prophet meaning enlightened being, and then their are Bodhisattva’s who have postponed the entry into nibbing to help all sentient beings, so not all statues of Buddha are the historical Buddha, but that said the image you are talking about of of the slim boney Buddha is of the historical Gautama but not of a Buddha it is of him before he became a Buddha when he was still practising the mendicants practise of self mortification, and allot of images of the Buddha are of different stages in his life. The fat Buddha is actually Chinese in origin although i cant remember which one and is more of a santa clause figure normaly dopicted with a bag of gifts for children, and if you look at the sutra of the five heaps you will find 35 Buddhas titles depending on what they do.
a false god if ever
Why Budda at all?……………..Sorry, but it is a statue!
Who says” Budda save me?” When their airplane is plummeting to the ground? Or their house is engulfed in flames? No, they cry out to God! The One and Only God!