"Foreign owners need educating about Buddhist feelings" as Buddha head on beach angers Thais

[oldhippy]

5 minutes ago, Moonlover said:

The Thai Buddha is as much the Prince Siddhartha Gautama, as are the many paintings and images of Jesus Christ.

 

Man's imagination writ large!

Aha!

So you are aware of the Greek origin?

 

[HiSoLowSoNoSo]

I wonder what the Nepali people think about the "Disney land" that the Thais has build at lord Buddha's birth place at lumbini?

[Catoni]

31 minutes ago, ChrisY1 said:

So a Chinese Buddha image is different from a Thai Buddha?...How many buddhas are there?

    The fat, sometimes laughing "buddha" is not a representation of Lord Gautama Buddha.  It is actually a representation of Budai... a Chinese monk  who lived in the later Liang time about 907 - 923  C.E./A.D.  Apparently he was from Zhejiang and his Buddhist name was Qieci ("Promise this") .

   People at the time said he was a good and loving monk.  Some people confuse him with Maitreya.  But many westerners mistakingly think the "laughing fat Buddha" is actually a representative of Lord Gautama Buddha.    Nope ! !    

 

By the way.... as far as the number of Buddhas.... there were and are many.  You are a Buddha.... you just don't know it yet, and you may not know it for a very great number of lifetimes to come....   Same with me...... 

 

 

[csabo]

I wonder how many of the posters here have some other historical nonsense draped around their own necks. 

[Destiny1990]

How about these accountable nationwide Thai shopowners who are Buddha statue sellers? Dont they need  education and shopclosure for upsetting  Buddhist feelings?

 

 

[owl sees all]

Simply a lump of concrete painted a gold colour. Where I am in Isaan; Buddism is more akin to English paganism 100s of years ago. Just where is the 'love'?

[Petchou]

They should say, most Thai are born Buddhists but a very small minority know and follow Buddha teaching.   Most have no clue what Buddhism is.  

[jenny2017]

 

The photo shows one girl of a group of Morlam dancers. The event was on the grounds of the local temple with plenty of drunk people dancing in the temple. I'm not saying that some of them were high on drugs, that would be speculation. 

 

         

 

  

 

   

 

  

[BwindiBoy]

Look out. It's those pesky foreigners again. Thailand - hub of no self-awareness! Take some responsibility, you xenophobic fools!

[saminoz]

1 hour ago, Proboscis said:

Not a depiction of the Lord Buddha

Looks more like Prawit on R&R to me!

[jacko45k]

4 hours ago, canuckamuck said:

The Buddha was famously opposed to bikinis and sand. He has no problem bouncing around on the dashboard of a Bangkok taxi however.

Watching the driver lie and cheat.

[quandow]

Newsflash - Buddha don't CARE!!!

[Bangkok Barry]

2 hours ago, Zonka said:

It is also innapropriate for monks to enbezzle money, rape minors, steal underwear from a washing line, use and deal in drugs..........

.... own expensive cars, ride in private jets wearing designer sunglasses, shop for top-end phones.......

[hashmodha]

And to think that the iconic buddha face is only a Greek's artist impression of what Buddha might have looked like....
 

Spot on...it is only an artist's impression...!nice as it is all the same!

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[jenny2017]

The OP doesn't say foreigners in bikinis, it says naked people and a bit more serious accusations of foreigners who mostly live here with full respect of other cultures.

 

From the article, not sanook:  It does not take into account the appropriateness of the culture and traditions of most Buddhist cities. The head of the Buddha is worshiped by the people. Set up outdoor showroom near the beach. This is where naked tourists are often sunbathing in this area.

 

 

 

[hashmodha]

The Buddha was famously opposed to bikinis and sand. He has no problem bouncing around on the dashboard of a Bangkok taxi however.

Let me see now...2500 years ago...Sidhartha Gautama...was opposed to Bikinis.....worn by who???.'..did they wear Bikinis???..and Sand??..Goes to show who writes this tripe?

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[Bangkok Barry]

1 hour ago, Easy Come Easy Go said:

Exactly, I find it funny how they have a totally skewed 180 degrees view of Buddhism. Buddha would see it for what it is, a lump of stone.. and furthermore that it's empty. 

This reminds me of when I was waiting outside of a 7/11 some years ago, I saw somebody begging outside. It didn't see as if they were getting any luck at all, yet literally 50 feet away there was a Buddhist shrine statue with drinks, water, food and all sorts draped around it. Just goes to show.. 

I'm sure that the vast majority of Thais who claim to be Buddhists have very little idea of what it actually entails. All they have is a vague, often totally wrong, concept. But like in any religion anywhere, most of them are complete hypocrites anyway when it comes to knowing the 'rules' and living by them. I suppose top of the heap are Catholics who can just pop into a box, say sorry about what I've done and the priest says that's okay my son, next please.

[Rimmer]

Some derogatory/slur/ troll posts have been removed

[oldhippy]

2 minutes ago, hashmodha said:

Spot on...it is only an artist's impression...!nice as it is all the same!

Sent from my HUAWEI LUA-L21 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

Though some might criticize the original sculpturers for giving Buddha curly hair, a bit of a faux pas.

[owl sees all]

13 minutes ago, jenny2017 said:

The head of the Buddha is worshiped by the people.

It's not the head of anything it's a lump of concrete.

 

I've seen what extreme religion (worship) can do; naked ladies rolling and writhing about in the mud en-mass to the sound, and beat of the big drum. while others look on chanting.

[Snackbar]

When a close friend with a wife and young child decided to leave and take a hallucinogen fuelled trip around the world all and sundry berated him for being a scumbag, lowlife loser. 

 

During his travellers he became very popular to the point of worship by likeminded people.

 

 

[Artisi]

5 hours ago, missoura said:

But that is different, no foreigners involved , and besides it looks like one the Buddha's sisters is dancing.

[Moti24]

"Sanook said that comment online after the post by "Saipars Saipars" was widespread with people suggesting that the owners of the resort must be foreigners who don't know about the feelings of the majority of Thais who are Buddhists."

 

The owners must be foreigners!  Why must they?  Thailand is 95% Buddhist, that still leaves 5% of approximately 67 million people, that's 3.35 million people that could have commited this terrible crime!

 

Perhaps the foreigners can sue these people who made these widespread comments, under the computer crimes act, for tarnishing their reputation with the biggest bullshite comment of the decade.

 

Sanook should know better than to print this crap!

[jenny2017]

7 minutes ago, owl sees all said:

It's not the head of anything it's a lump of concrete.

 

I've seen what extreme religion (worship) can do; naked ladies rolling and writhing about in the mud en-mass to the sound, and beat of the big drum. while others look on chanting.

The sentence is from "Sanook". 

[sambum]

2 hours ago, Proboscis said:

Not a depiction of the Lord Buddha

So, a depiction of what/who?

[wvavin]

How can they do this to a country of staunch Buddhists? 

[Xaos]

Every Thai I asked what's Buddhism about got no answer for me. Go and ask one.

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[shy coconut]

2 hours ago, dotpoom said:

I sometimes wonder about how "outraged" Thai people  seem to get on social media over certain issues...but never appear to vent the same outrage when it is badly needed in a public place where they can actually do something about a bad situation. I am talking about "loud noice" of course and the lifelong damage it can do to children's ears.

   I was at the week long market in the College grounds in Banampur a few days ago. Many families strolling  around with babies in arms and strollers.....when all of a sudden "music" starting blareing out, it was, without exaragation, off the ricktar scale. I have Tinnitus, bad hearing , lived here 18 yrs. so am used to it in Thailand but never ever anything like this. I had to actually leave the market with my hands covering my ears. I asked the wife....why do Thai people never approach the person (DJ in this case) responsible for this racket and ask them to lower it down for the sake of their babie's hearing and the irrepairable damage he is doing to their ears. She just shrugged her shoulers and said "they grow up with it" ..???

The music caused an earthquake????

[smileydude]

6 hours ago, Enoon said:

 

"Many said they should be visited by the authorities to educate them about how inappropriate this was,"

 

Is that what Buddha would have done?

 

Is that what Buddha would suggest they do?

 

It's just a lump of stone folks.........let it go...........detach yourselves.

 

 

As a Buddhist and a Thai I will agree with this logic because Buddhism is actually a way of life more then a religion in its purest form.  Amulets, statues were all created because human nature has evolved these teachings to believe in a power above but need something to represent it.  

 

A lot of people wear crosses as jewelry and it doesn’t necessarily irk ALL Christians, maybe some.   What one person finds offensive another may not so I think its always better to know the norms in each country and respect it for what it is to them without necessarily having to understand or rationalize it because you can’t from a different value perspective.

 

Best is if both sides chill and not make it a big deal but agree to not agree.

[Gecko123]

What someone posts on their Facebook feed and how their friends respond to it isn't necessarily news.

 

Thais seem to be undergoing a resurgence of pride in their cultural and national identity. Taking umbrage at perceived cultural offenses, which can on occasion come across as petty and hypocritical, seems to be  part of this trend.