2 questions about Buddha

[bookie baitface]

Hi people keep giving me little pendants of Buddha, I have one on my chain around my neck but Thai lady said I shouldn't put on bracelet, was just wondering why?

Second question how do you praise Buddha out loud in English? Chok dee?

[camerata]

For Thais, the lower parts of the body are considered "unclean." That's why you don't point your feet at people. Since a Buddha image is sacred, you only put an amulet round your neck, not on a bracelet or in your back pocket.

[only1]

You are not supposed to 'praise' Buddha

Follow the Dharma...yes.

I've never seen a bracelet pendant here...as said, hang around the neck

It won't lead to you to enlightenment though.

People wear it around their neck as a sign of respect, reminder or good luck, not necessarily for enlightenment. Or maybe for publicity too if they hang it outside the shirt, like other religion.

Enlightenment needs knowledge and practice.

[only1]

For Thais, the lower parts of the body are considered "unclean." That's why you don't point your feet at people. Since a Buddha image is sacred, you only put an amulet round your neck, not on a bracelet or in your back pocket.

I find it silly to show off any religious item or design on the body so I keep my in my bag. My friend who presented it to me don't like it and said I don't respect it and it will not being me the good effects that it's supposed too.

I told him I don't believe in supernatural effects and I am happy keeping it in my bag and I can still benefit from the placebo effects, especially when travelling.

[camerata]

I keep amulets people give me but i don't wear them or carry them. The author and Buddhist John Blofeld wrote how he had had terrible nightmares all his life until a Tibetan monk gave him an amulet to put under his pillow at night and a mantra to chant. He never had nightmares again. This is the "power of suggestion" IMO, but it is interesting the way the human mind works.

[only1]

Simply put, it's placebo effects; just like belief in any god or religion. It will work for a believer, but it will not work for a non-believer.

If to be understood in details, it may involve the spirits/soul/ghost that caused the nightmare. When a person believed that no spirits will disturb him(since he has the amulets), his belief will cause him not to "sense" those things. Scientifically, they are of different wavelength now(since he now believe those things will not get near.

This is the same reason that someone who don't believe in Gods or ghosts will not "encounter" them, and believers do. Same like some people who believed in God and claimed they see god or believe God talked them.

[Catoni]

Around neck is best.....If on wrist.... certainly not the wrist of the hand you clean yourself with when using hand held "bidet". 

For sure not below waist level..      I've seen westerners...usually young people in their late teens or twenties or early thirties with a tattoo of Buddha on the calf of their leg. Ignorant and insulting.

   ....You can actually be arrested and fined and kicked out of Myanmar/Burma for that. 

[grobec]

It is usually the image of a monk and respected teacher rather than a Buddha image. The concept of a Buddha image was discouraged until is was commercialized. Just like Xmas


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[Spidey]

On ‎1‎/‎14‎/‎2016 at 4:06 AM, only1 said:

I find it silly to show off any religious item or design on the body so I keep my in my bag. My friend who presented it to me don't like it and said I don't respect it and it will not being me the good effects that it's supposed too.

I told him I don't believe in supernatural effects and I am happy keeping it in my bag and I can still benefit from the placebo effects, especially when travelling.

My wife, a devout Buddhist, has several amulets. She keeps one in her handbag and the rest in a box which is kept on one of her "Buddha shrines" in the lounge. She never wears them.

[cooked]

22 hours ago, grobec said:

It is usually the image of a monk and respected teacher rather than a Buddha image. The concept of a Buddha image was discouraged until is was commercialized. Just like Xmas


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My wife got visibly upset when I started to explain that a "Buddha" wasn't one of the guys in orange robes living in the temple but an actual person that died a long time ago. I never broached the subject again.

[grobec]

Actually she could be correct although unaware why.

Siddhartha Gautama ( actual name) obtained “enlightenment” and then qualified and was later given the title of a BUDDHA meaning “awakened one.
He would have rejected any title other than “teacher” as well as any image of him that could be treated otherwise.
Title and images came probably 400 years after his death.


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[grobec]

In Buddhist theory anyone who reaches that enlightened state could be considered a Buddha.

There are texts describing Jesus as a possible Buddhasatva and Theravada Thais consider that one step before becoming a Buddha.


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[The Deerhunter]

On 11/19/2015 at 11:51 AM, vinniekintana said:

You are not supposed to 'praise' Buddha

Follow the Dharma...yes.

I've never seen a bracelet pendant here...as said, hang around the neck

It won't lead to you to enlightenment though.

Correct.  It is Buddhism not Islam.  I don't think there is any Buddhist equivalent of  Allahu Akbah.  (I think I got that mostly right.)

[grobec]

Like any theology ( or even a good joke) the more a concept is passed on orally or even translated, the more the chance of distorting the original.
That being said, it was prioritized by Sidhartha that his teachings be shared without the “poetic language” that often contaminates an original.
His realization that we all suffer and that much of that suffering is self induced, is a simple explanation but that meditative and compassionate contemplation, expanding awareness ( or today’s buzzword Mindfulness) and practice can alleviate much of that suffering is more difficult to teach and to understand.





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[cooked]

22 hours ago, grobec said:

Like any theology ( or even a good joke) the more a concept is passed on orally or even translated, the more the chance of distorting the original.
That being said, it was prioritized by Sidhartha that his teachings be shared without the “poetic language” that often contaminates an original.
His realization that we all suffer and that much of that suffering is self induced, is a simple explanation but that meditative and compassionate contemplation, expanding awareness ( or today’s buzzword Mindfulness) and practice can alleviate much of that suffering is more difficult to teach and to understand.





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I have read of isolated Buddhist communities that passed down the oral traditions for centuries. When contact with other Buddhist communities was resumed, little distortion was found to have taken place.

[grobec]

Yes and in particular Bhutan and Tibet.

When leaving due to Chinese insurgence monks memorized texts and rewrote them on arrival to safety. Tibetan medicine included which was influenced by
Indian Ayurvedic practices with a few magic spells thrown in for extra seasoning.


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[grobec]

Often when an enlightened monk teaches his disciples direct transmissions, they are instructed to return the teachings verbatim to him upon his next reincarnation.

Often he will describe in great detail when he will die, where and when he will return and how to verify that it is really him.

Don’t we all wish as teenagers that we knew what we know now .
A great system


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