Speaking For The Buddha?

[camerata]

I came across an interesting discussion on Buddhism and the Media yesterday on the UC Berkeley website. Worth checking out.

I never knew that the 90s movie Jacob's Ladder was based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead - I thought it was about acid flashbacks.

[thaibebop]

I thought the ladder was a bible thing?

[thaibebop]

I think the discussion on Buddhism in the media is important. I don't think Americans have any real respect for any of the Buddhist teachings. Most just know what they have gathered through the media and then think that is all there is to it.

My wife is upset when ever we enter a Target. Every Target has this Far East section of the store that sells "cute stuff" from Asia. Little knick knacks that white women from the burbs by to decorate their $300,000 homes. Well, their is always a Buddha somewhere on the selves. I don't know who's idea it was but someone decided to make Buddhist heads and put them on the end of poles and attach those poles to a black base. One of those things that you find a place from to decorate. My wife hates this. She says, "They wouldn't do that to Jesus, why so they do it to Buddha?"

[camerata]

I think the discussion on Buddhism in the media is important. I don't think Americans have any real respect for any of the Buddhist teachings. Most just know what they have gathered through the media and then think that is all there is to it.

A comment I've seen several times lately is that a lot of Westerners are making use of Buddhist ideas to improve their stressed-out lives but few are actually becoming Buddhists.

There's a comment in the discussion on Buddhism in the media that Asian-American Buddhist leaders didn't attend because they didn't consider what was being discussed to be Buddhism!

My wife is upset when ever we enter a Target. Every Target has this Far East section of the store that sells "cute stuff" from Asia. Little knick knacks that white women from the burbs by to decorate their $300,000 homes. Well, their is always a Buddha somewhere on the selves. I don't know who's idea it was but someone decided to make Buddhist heads and put them on the end of poles and attach those poles to a black base. One of those things that you find a place from to decorate. My wife hates this. She says, "They wouldn't do that to Jesus, why so they do it to Buddha?"

You see these in museums too. I think that's where the idea comes from. I guess the relic-robbers can't transport a life-size stone statue so they hack off the head and sell it. Last month in Nara National Museum I saw a whole row of Buddha heads from Northern Pakistan and along the Silk Road. I find them a bit creepy, but I guess it's better the museums have heads than nothing at all. I'm sure if there had been stone sculptures of Jesus in Pakistan we'd be seeing Jesus heads in museums now too.

I saw some really tacky "Jesus Saves" and Buddha mousepads in Emporium last year. Jesus looked like Charlie Manson and the Buddha face (Amida?) was barely recognizable. I suppose that makes it all right to sell them, as far as the store is concerned. But actually Thais and Asians in general seem to accept martial arts movies with extreme violence frequently happening in Buddhist temples. The faces of the Buddha images (usually Amida) are generally rather un-Buddha-like, but they are still recognizably Buddhas. It's just a different type of commercialization - using temples simply because they are exotic settings for a battle.

[thaibebop]

I think the discussion on Buddhism in the media is important. I don't think Americans have any real respect for any of the Buddhist teachings. Most just know what they have gathered through the media and then think that is all there is to it.

A comment I've seen several times lately is that a lot of Westerners are making use of Buddhist ideas to improve their stressed-out lives but few are actually becoming Buddhists.

There's a comment in the discussion on Buddhism in the media that Asian-American Buddhist leaders didn't attend because they didn't consider what was being discussed to be Buddhism!

I would agree with this. Mark Epstien wrote books about such things, but I remember him making the disticntion between good advice and Buddhism. I have also come across many sources that claim one doesn't have to give up Christianity to practice Buddhism. So, it seems the philosophy of Buddhism is more excepted in the West, niot the religion.

My wife is upset when ever we enter a Target. Every Target has this Far East section of the store that sells "cute stuff" from Asia. Little knick knacks that white women from the burbs by to decorate their $300,000 homes. Well, their is always a Buddha somewhere on the selves. I don't know who's idea it was but someone decided to make Buddhist heads and put them on the end of poles and attach those poles to a black base. One of those things that you find a place from to decorate. My wife hates this. She says, "They wouldn't do that to Jesus, why so they do it to Buddha?"

You see these in museums too. I think that's where the idea comes from. I guess the relic-robbers can't transport a life-size stone statue so they hack off the head and sell it. Last month in Nara National Museum I saw a whole row of Buddha heads from Northern Pakistan and along the Silk Road. I find them a bit creepy, but I guess it's better the museums have heads than nothing at all. I'm sure if there had been stone sculptures of Jesus in Pakistan we'd be seeing Jesus heads in museums now too.

I saw some really tacky "Jesus Saves" and Buddha mousepads in Emporium last year. Jesus looked like Charlie Manson and the Buddha face (Amida?) was barely recognizable. I suppose that makes it all right to sell them, as far as the store is concerned. But actually Thais and Asians in general seem to accept martial arts movies with extreme violence frequently happening in Buddhist temples. The faces of the Buddha images (usually Amida) are generally rather un-Buddha-like, but they are still recognizably Buddhas. It's just a different type of commercialization - using temples simply because they are exotic settings for a battle.

I know some cases they didn't have the body, just the head. So, I don't blame the Museum rather whoever cut the head off in the first place. I still side with my wife that while Asians except some commericalism of Buddhism the West is worse. She likes to watch these interior design shows and one thing that is done often is placing a Buddha at the head of the bed on a head board of some kind, or on a dresser facing the bed. For some reason Asian themes in the Bedroom are very popular and they always put the more sacred objects, not just Buddhas, in these places. Saying that though my wife is also unhappy with some commericalism in Thailand as well.