Please forgive me if this is the wrong newsgroup for this topic please,
google pulled it up with BUDDAHISM, so I assumed I could ask the
question here please:

Most images of THE BUDDAH show a bald, smiling figure with a big belly.

I have always heard a legend that you rub the BUDDAH's belly for good
luck (or his head).

This is the image that people think of 99%% of the time when you say
BUDDAH. I also commonly see these BUDDAH's in Chinese restaurants. The
one place I go has the BUDDAH laying on a bed surrounded by a bunch of
coins that people have put there. The lady tells me that when you put a

coin near the BUDDAH that it will bring good luck (or maybe even grant
a wish?).

But here's where I get confused. Apparantly there are other, "sitting",

"meditating" figures that are also called BUDDAH's that have *NO*
resemblence to the smiling, sitting BUDDAH that most people associate.
This BUDDAH is thinner, taller, sits upright with eyes closed and I'm
not sure but may even be a woman. There seem to be several different
variations on THE BUDDAH. One thing is for sure: The big, smiling
buddah always seems to be awake with his eyes wide open, and all of the

The Space Boss wrote:

Pictures I've seen of Buddha often show the dot on the forehead. From
what I understand this is a Hindu thing which would make sense, but
comes from the practice of Bhakti or devotion. Does this imply that
Buddha practiced bhakti, the dot is shown as artistic impression, or
I've misunderstood the dot?

Of the four yogas defined in Hinduism, bhakti is the one that seems
missing, yet also the one that is taken as the easiest and obviously in
the world most commonly practiced.

It looks as if a lot of Buddhists devote to Buddha. I suppose this does
make sense. We know who and what Buddha was, so no danger of unexpectedly
meeting your God ;-) and he was obviously someone who deserved respect.

Still, a different kind of devotion.

- Richard

Richard Corfield wrote:

Richard Corfield wrote:

DT: The Urna is the 31st of the 32 physical marks of the Buddha,
according to the Pali Canon, in the discourse titled "Sutra of the
Marks" (Lakkhana Sutta) in the Digha Nikaya.... Btw, the 32 physical
marks of the Buddha are really bizarre. Some folks take them literally
(as some take literally mental claims of the Buddha having psychic
powers and past lives), but I see them as part of the fascinating
texture of Indian mythology. Some other 'marks' of the Buddha are the
Usnisha or bun of hair on top of his head, flat feet with wheel marks
on the soles, webbed hands and feet with extra long fingers and toes
and long arms that reach down to his knees without bending, 40 teeth
(instead of 32) that are super-white, evenly spaced and have no gaps
between them, a super-long tongue, long earlobes...

DharmaTroll wrote:

Robert: freakin' alien, eh?

DT: "If you see the Buddha on the road, kill him" is makin' more and
more sense.

--My Divine Grace Yabba Dabba Dukkha Dharmakaya Trollpa

Robert Epstein wrote:

Norbu: The 32 marks seem to be symbolic, especially in light of the
vast majority of suttas

DT: Or how about just in light of that the 32 marks make him out to be
a frakkin' alien?

Sure, of course they're symbolic, and they are useful to quote when
people take other symbolic mythology to be literal, for, if you're
going to start taking paranormal mental claims literally, then you've
gotta also swallow the more tangible claims about the Buddha's very
tangible appearance, and the Buddha is going to end up lookin' like a
frakkin' alien freakshow!

Btw, thank you for the excellent collection of sutta/sutra quotes.
Surely this is what authentic Buddhist practice is all about:

"(Monks, a fool is characterized by his/her actions. A wise person is
characterized by his/her actions. It is through the activities of one's
life that one's discernment shines.) AN 3.2"

Fritz: funny that you took it in that direction because the davinci
code conspiracy buffs take their jesus thing first to vampires and then
to aliens. they are actually claiming that christ and others are
aliens/vampires. certainly will make another interesting [yawn] movie
of the week

DT: I actually used to make both of those claims as a kid when I was
in Catholic School! Do you think I can sue for royalties?

I must confess that I haven't read or seen "The Da Vinci Code". To My
Divine Grace, the silly preachers on television are no different from
any other alien conspiracy theorist, astrologer, or crystal channeler.
They all have the same blind spot: an utter ignorance of mythology and
legend.

I have, however, read an excellent book by the wonderful scholar Bart
Ehrman, called "Truth and Fiction in the Da Vinci Code: A Historian
Reveals What We Really Know about Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and
Constantine"...