Buddha Collections
So over the years I have started picking up trinkets here and there. Most of my trinket collection consists of Buddhas of various sizes and colors. The chubby joyful little fellow is a nice site to look at and envy.
I don’t know much about his story, garments and various objects he holds, or the religion itself. I simply collect them because they are nice to have near by. Some were gifts.
The three purple Buddhas are set evenly spaced out over the top of my bedroom door on the trimming. The big brown one setting down migrates around my room and sometimes sets in front of me next to my monitor. The brown one standing sets on a shelf over my bed. The rest set on the other shelf in my room with many other trinkets.
One of the kids likes to play with the big brown one setting down and the mini red Buddhas. We like to pretend that he is going to eat them. Then he turns out to be there best friend and protects them. It is all fun and games.
So I’m starting to wonder what the Buddhas are really for. Are they simply trinkets? Are they religious items? Is there any superstitions that go with them? Any stories?
Also, it seems that there are two different kind of Buddhas. One Buddha is the jolly heavyset guy who is all smiles. The other I see from temples of a thinner, younger man who appears to be meditating. Why are there two different Buddhas?
Tags: Buddha, Trinkets, Collections, Religions
September 8th, 2005 at 10:18 am
Buddhas are supposed to bring good luck. I keep one in my bed room. It has yet to fail.
Dr. Fil
http://dr.fil.ph
September 8th, 2005 at 8:43 pm
I hope you get an answer about the two styles of Buddhas… I’ve wondered about that myself.
Although one thing I’ve noticed is that different cultures seem to adapt their Buddha to resembles their features.
September 9th, 2005 at 6:22 pm
The basic story behind Buddha is that he started off life as a prince of some town or tribe or some such in india around 2500 years ago. His mother had a vision that foretold him to either become a king or a monk. She died shortly after he was born and his father, wanting him to be a king, sheltered him from suffering as much as possible. Buddha apparently a kind person and as he grew up and eventually did get glimpses of the world as it really was, he became obsessed with discovering why people suffer. At the age of 29 he left his wife and child to become a monk. He wandered the countryside for 6 years until he eventually came to meditate for several days under a fig tree, which is when he attained enlightenment. It is at this point that he became the Buddha, as the term buddha refers to an enlightened one. The idea is that there were many before and after him, but he’s the famous one because he devoted the rest of his life to teaching what he had learned. There’s a lot more detail out there if you look around, of course, but that’s the gist of it.
People sometimes think that Buddhists worship Buddha, but it is really more of a “giving thanks” kind of thing than a worshiping as a god kind of thing. Buddhism actually specifies no god. It’s more of a way to live your life than a worshiping of a god, which is basically what all religions are when you get right down to it. So it is a religious symbol, but not in the same way that some symbols are used in other religions. Also, the figure has taken on a more general meaning in our culture?kind of a good fortune thing I think.
I believe that the skinny Buddhas are representative of him when he was younger, before he was enlightened (before he was Buddha) whereas the fat one is him later in life, as a buddha and enlightened. Part of his wanderings before he became enlightened included giving up food, so this fits as well.
September 10th, 2005 at 8:02 am
Lucas, thanks for the very insightful information.
September 12th, 2005 at 7:39 pm
OMG! I have some of those Buddhas in my room!!
The red ones, but not exactly the same, but it must be the same company who made them! OMFG!
/Sven