The stereotype I decided to right about is one that I can relate with. Before I ever knew anything about Buddhism I always assumed that a jolly fat man with a pot belly, was an accurate depiction of Buddha. I think this is a stereotype that many people in the West believe to be true, and that's because we only know what we see. However, from my learnings of Buddhism, Siddharth Guatama is Buddhas true name, and he was a man in search of enlightenment. Siddharth started towards his path of enlightenment by fasting. He did this by only eating six gram of rice as day, and it got so extreme that he almost died and changed from six grams a day to a bowl of rice a day. This picture of Buddha is obviously not of a man who eats only a bowl of rice per day. One of the ten precepts is to eat moderately, and this is definitely not a picture of a man who eats in moderation. Also, one of the things that the 'fat' Buddha signifies is wealth, and in class we learned Siddharth came from wealth but gave it up to go on his path to enlightenment.
In chapter five of Brad Warners book, he talks about the misconception of Buddhism in the West. He doesn't talk specifically about the 'fat' Buddha vs. Siddharth, but he does however talk about how people in the West are so quick to get things miscontrued. The examples he gives of this are how people are quick to spend there money on a 'quick path' to enlightenment scheme, but that there is no 'quick path' to enlightenment. "Buddhist practice is difficult and takes a lot of time, effort, and energy. I know no one likes hearing that. But tough titty if you don't. There are no shortcuts" (p. 31). For anyone who knows the story of Siddharth and his search for enlightenment you see that it was anything but easy. He gave up a lot to achieve enlightenment, it's definitely something that money can't buy.
The fat "Buddha" is actually a Buddhist monk named Pu Tai, among a few other names. He's a pretty interesting figure if you feel like looking up more about him.
ReplyDeleteI had also made the assumption that the "laughing Buddha" was the same as the historical Buddha. And I too, was confused by the idea of a man who ate so little, and believed in moderation to be portrayed so fat. I googled Pu Tai and learned that the fat Buddha is a Chinese folkloric deity and is not in any way supposed to be a visual image of the historical Buddha. All this time, I had a little laughing Buddha in my bathroom for good luck, and I never knew. Thanks for posting this!
ReplyDeleteBefore this class anytime I saw an image, like you, I immediately thought this a correct depiction of Buddhism. Now being in the class and repeatedly being told that specific Buddhists one had one bowl of rice a day, (and that was indulging!). How did this image come about? There are so many stereotypes about Buddhism in the West. The image of Buddhism and a quick fix for enlightenment are two more common misconceptions of Buddhism in the West.
ReplyDeleteKelly, Pu Tai was a monk historically, he is a kind of Buddhist "Santa" now. He is a fat, jolly man who carries a sack which contains gifts. So it's not so bad having a statue of him around, haha.
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