The Cutification Of Buddhism

[camerata]

More images from Japan. This one is of stone rakan (arhats). When the temple moved to its current location it invited sculptors nationwide to contribute an image. Some of them are holding kittens or singing karaoke. According to the temple leaflet they are supposed to put a smile on the face of visitors.

This is the cover of a pilgrimage book dedicated to Yakushi, the healing buddha.

[thaibebop]

This is pretty much Japanese thing is it not? I don't see many Thais or Chinese with "cute" Buddhas. This is becoming bigger in American though.....

[leisurely]

They look like garden ornaments

[camerata]

This is pretty much Japanese thing is it not?

Yes, this is something I've noticed in Japan where just about everything is cutified.

I don't see many Thais or Chinese with "cute" Buddhas. This is becoming bigger in American though.....

Well, the classic example all over Asia is the so-called Laughing Buddha, which supposedly represents the Chinese Chan monk Budai and also supposedly is a reincarnation of Maitreya. The Laughing Buddha also reached Japan as Hotei and became one of the "Seven Lucky Gods" of Shinto.

On a recent visit to Kinokuniya in Bangkok I noticed a "Buddha Box" on top of the bookshelves in the Religion section. In it was a tacky plastic Laughing Buddha which, the instructions explained, could "absorb all your negative energy with his fat belly." New Age meets pop-Buddhism.

Incidentally, you might like this essay on Narcissism and Spiritual Materialism: The New Age Legacy by an American Zen monk.

[camerata]

They look like garden ornaments

I think that's what they are in some places, a sort of religious garden gnome. I've seen two types in a moss garden at another temple. One is standing with hands in prayer and the other looks like a frolicking baby. The temple leaflet didn't mention what they were, but I have seen the baby type in a shop window. The praying type might be a derivative of Jizo Bhodisattva statues, which you see all over Japan by roadsides. Jizo is the protector of travellers and children. Women make offerings to Jizo when they have abortions or stillborn babies in the hope he can save the baby's spirit/soul if it falls into a he11 realm.

One amusing story I came across on the net was an American student doing a thesis on Jizo images. While in Japan he came across a small Jizo statue that had been made at a Zen monastery in California which was run by an abbess. He noticed the statue had distinctly female features. American gender equality meets Japanese Buddhism.

[chownah]

It was traditional in some places at some times historically to portray the Buddha with a somewhat feminine body...including breasts..to a degree...or so I've heard....the explanation was that it showed that his perfection transcended gender.

[thaibebop]

This is pretty much Japanese thing is it not?

Yes, this is something I've noticed in Japan where just about everything is cutified.

I don't see many Thais or Chinese with "cute" Buddhas. This is becoming bigger in American though.....

Well, the classic example all over Asia is the so-called Laughing Buddha, which supposedly represents the Chinese Chan monk Budai and also supposedly is a reincarnation of Maitreya. The Laughing Buddha also reached Japan as Hotei and became one of the "Seven Lucky Gods" of Shinto.

On a recent visit to Kinokuniya in Bangkok I noticed a "Buddha Box" on top of the bookshelves in the Religion section. In it was a tacky plastic Laughing Buddha which, the instructions explained, could "absorb all your negative energy with his fat belly." New Age meets pop-Buddhism.

Incidentally, you might like this essay on Narcissism and Spiritual Materialism: The New Age Legacy by an American Zen monk.

That Buddha box crap is sold in the states as well. Borders Books and Music loves to carry Buddhist pop stuff.

[sabaijai]

Incidentally, you might like this essay on Narcissism and Spiritual Materialism: The New Age Legacy by an American Zen monk.

Nice article. Alan Watts said something similar, only slightly more conciliatory, back in 1958 when he wrote an essay called 'Beat Zen, Square Zen and Zen'.

[fxm88]

Source: http://mattstone.blogs.com/photos/sacred_i...s/jdreamer.html