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Showing posts with label Buddha. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Buddha. Show all posts
Friday, August 10, 2012
Wednesday, February 02, 2011
The Buddha was bald
Please read the original article here: The Buddha was bald.
Written in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 2010, with special thanks to Rev. Nyanatusita (of Kandy, Sri Lanka) for drawing my attention to several sources quoted in this article.
§1.
One of the most obvious fallacies of modern Theravāda Buddhism is the depiction of the Buddha with a full head of hair. Living in Southeast Asia, asking the average Buddhist about this results in a range of answers, from a shrug and smile (admitting that it is incorrect but supposing that it is not worth worrying about) over to the opposite extreme of taking offense and demanding to know how anyone could dare to raise the question. Some might ask how we could know what the Buddha looked like after so many centuries, if we didn’t blindly trust in a succession of statues and amulets. It is needless to say that the Pali canon does not contain photographic evidence, but it does contain evidence of another kind, and this article tries to answer the question (that almost nobody dares to ask) in as few words as possible, by working from the primary sources.
In broaching this issue, we deal with another in passing: the core of the Pali canon does contain some useful descriptions of what the historical Buddha looked like, however, these are not found in devotional poetry that simply provides effusive praise of him (without providing useful details). Although the issue is not philosophical, the method used to find the answer is much the same as we use in the study of Buddhist philosophy: the details emerge from the context of debate, from contrasting claims and (sometimes) even accusations and insults.
December 30th, 2010
By Eisel Mazard, Guest Contributor
The Buddha was Bald … but is Everywhere Depicted with a Full Head of Hair
By Eisel Mazard (大影)
Written in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 2010, with special thanks to Rev. Nyanatusita (of Kandy, Sri Lanka) for drawing my attention to several sources quoted in this article.
§1.
One of the most obvious fallacies of modern Theravāda Buddhism is the depiction of the Buddha with a full head of hair. Living in Southeast Asia, asking the average Buddhist about this results in a range of answers, from a shrug and smile (admitting that it is incorrect but supposing that it is not worth worrying about) over to the opposite extreme of taking offense and demanding to know how anyone could dare to raise the question. Some might ask how we could know what the Buddha looked like after so many centuries, if we didn’t blindly trust in a succession of statues and amulets. It is needless to say that the Pali canon does not contain photographic evidence, but it does contain evidence of another kind, and this article tries to answer the question (that almost nobody dares to ask) in as few words as possible, by working from the primary sources.
In broaching this issue, we deal with another in passing: the core of the Pali canon does contain some useful descriptions of what the historical Buddha looked like, however, these are not found in devotional poetry that simply provides effusive praise of him (without providing useful details). Although the issue is not philosophical, the method used to find the answer is much the same as we use in the study of Buddhist philosophy: the details emerge from the context of debate, from contrasting claims and (sometimes) even accusations and insults.
Saturday, May 09, 2009
Buddhism: Vesak Fesival or Buddha Birthday
May 8, 2009
By Ashin Mettacara
OpenEdNews.com
By Ashin Mettacara
OpenEdNews.com
Wesak Day aka Vesak Festival celebrates three major events in the life of Lord Buddha: His birth, Enlightenment and passing away (achievement of Nibbana). Lord Buddha was born as Prince Siddhattha Gotama on a full moon day in the month of Wesak (in Indian which is month of May in present day calendar) in 623 BC. Siddhattha began his search for enlightenment at age 29 and after six years realized the eternal truth, thus becoming the Buddha - which means the Awakened One. This auspicious event took place at dawn in the month of Wesak in 588 BC, which was also a full moon day. Lord Buddha taught the truth for 45 years until his final passing away into Nibbana on a full moon day in 543 BC.
Thus, all the three major events in Lord Buddha's life happened on a full moon day in the month of Wesak. As such Buddhists of both the Theravada and Mahayana tradition throughout the world celebrate this thrice-blessed day.
Lord Buddha's Enlightenment is the central event in Buddhism, and Enlightenment is an ideal to which all Buddhists aspire. Wesak Day is therefore the most important festival of the year. This year, Wesak Day falls on 8th May which is today.
Vesak is celebrated as a religious and a cultural festival in Sri Lanka on the full moon of the month of May, for a duration of one week. During this week, the selling of alcohol and flesh is usually prohibited. Prisoners who are eligible for parole are often released. Celebrations include various religious and alms giving activities. Electrically lit pandols called toranas are erected in various locations in Colombo and elsewhere, most sponsored by donors, religious societies and welfare groups. Each pandol illustrates a story from the 550 Jataka Katha or the 550 Past Life Stories of the Buddha. In addition, colourful lanterns called Vesak koodu are hung along streets and in front of homes. They signify the light of the Buddha, Dhamma and the Sangha. Food stalls set up by Buddhist devotees called dansälas provide free food and drinks to passersby. Groups of people from various community organisations, businesses and government departments sing bhakti gee or Buddhist devotional songs. Colombo experiences a massive influx of public from all parts of the country during this week.
Vesak is an annual holiday observed traditionally by practicing Buddhists in many Asian countries like Myanmar, Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Indonesia,Pakistan, India, and Taiwan. As Buddhism spread from India it was assimilated into many foreign cultures, and consequently Vesak is celebrated in many different ways all over the world.
Thus, all the three major events in Lord Buddha's life happened on a full moon day in the month of Wesak. As such Buddhists of both the Theravada and Mahayana tradition throughout the world celebrate this thrice-blessed day.
Lord Buddha's Enlightenment is the central event in Buddhism, and Enlightenment is an ideal to which all Buddhists aspire. Wesak Day is therefore the most important festival of the year. This year, Wesak Day falls on 8th May which is today.
Vesak is celebrated as a religious and a cultural festival in Sri Lanka on the full moon of the month of May, for a duration of one week. During this week, the selling of alcohol and flesh is usually prohibited. Prisoners who are eligible for parole are often released. Celebrations include various religious and alms giving activities. Electrically lit pandols called toranas are erected in various locations in Colombo and elsewhere, most sponsored by donors, religious societies and welfare groups. Each pandol illustrates a story from the 550 Jataka Katha or the 550 Past Life Stories of the Buddha. In addition, colourful lanterns called Vesak koodu are hung along streets and in front of homes. They signify the light of the Buddha, Dhamma and the Sangha. Food stalls set up by Buddhist devotees called dansälas provide free food and drinks to passersby. Groups of people from various community organisations, businesses and government departments sing bhakti gee or Buddhist devotional songs. Colombo experiences a massive influx of public from all parts of the country during this week.
Vesak is an annual holiday observed traditionally by practicing Buddhists in many Asian countries like Myanmar, Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Indonesia,Pakistan, India, and Taiwan. As Buddhism spread from India it was assimilated into many foreign cultures, and consequently Vesak is celebrated in many different ways all over the world.
Saturday, February 24, 2007
India rediscovers its Buddha roots
Feb 24, 2007
By Raja M
Asia Times (Hong Kong)
MUMBAI - Indian Tourism and Culture Minister Ambica Soni and her team have decided to promote intensely the "Buddha Circuit", historical places in India associated with the Buddha's life (Bodhgaya, Saranath, Rajgiri. etc) and very popular with Asian tourists as part of the successful "Incredible !ndia" worldwide campaign.
The Incredible !ndia campaign, ranked as the highest "recall advertisement" worldwide by the Travel and Leisure magazine, helped increase foreign tourist arrivals from 3.92 million in 2005 to 4.43 million in 2006, a 14.2% increase, according to the Tourism Ministry.
In its annual readers' poll, the London-based Conde Nast Traveller, the world's top travel and tourism magazine, has ranked India among the top four preferred holiday destinations in the world (after Italy, New Zealand and Australia, with Thailand ranked seventh, following South Africa and France). India was also overwhelmingly voted (97.91%) the country with the most fascinating culture in the world.
Sure enough, the Indian government has decided to showcase the crown jewel in India's cultural wealth, the universal, practical teachings of Gautama the Buddha. This month the government hosted an international conference in Bodhgaya where Gautama the Buddha attained enlightenment, to celebrate the 2,550th anniversary of the Buddha passing away (attaining parinibbana). Prime Minister Manmohan Singh headed the organizing committee as chairman.
The celebrations are part of a significant revival of the Buddhist culture in India, the birthplace of the Buddha, where for centuries his teaching was ironically frowned upon and feared as harmful and full of delusions, even though the Buddha himself was revered personally as a great being. Much to the dismay of Theravada countries such as Thailand, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Cambodia, the Buddha was even considered in India as a reincarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu. That is changing.
After a sustained, respectfully persuasive campaign by eminent Indian followers of the Buddha's teaching, Hindu religious and political leaders such as from the Bharitiya Janata Party have acknowledged that the Buddha's teaching are not an offshoot of Hinduism. More accurately, the Buddha is being seen more as a guide pointing to a universal way out of suffering than as founder of any religious sect.
"Buddhism is a way of life, not a religion, to emancipate the exploited class in the country," said Tamil Nadu state Finance Minister K Anbazhagan. Inaugurating the 2,550th anniversary celebrations of the Buddha's Mahaparinibbana organized by the government of this southern state, the minister pointed out that the Buddha's ideals are very much relevant in today's India as it advocates the end to the caste system and establishing a society where good conduct, not birth, establishes one's social status.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Muthuvel Karunanidhi said the Buddha taught love, and his teachings were universal and against casteism. "Buddha had also said women too could attain sainthood, and his teachings were simple enough to be followed by all. This is why the Buddha's teachings were accepted by social reformers like Periyar and Ambedkar," he said.
In 1954, Babasaheb Ambedkar - known as the father of the Indian constitution - went to Burma (now Myanmar), was inspired by the Buddha's teaching and returned to India to direct hundreds of thousands in India's so-called "untouchable castes" to the Buddha's path, one of the most significant events in modern Indian history.
"Many see Ambedkar's action as a religious conversion from one religion to another," said Satya Narayan Goenkaji, considered worldwide as one of the foremost teachers of Vipassana, the practical quintessence of the Buddha's teaching. "But for me, his action was a social conversion, from inequality to equality. Ambedkar was against sectarianism. That is why he enshrined the non-sectarian, secular nature of the Indian republic into the Indian constitution."
Vipassana, as taught by S N Goenka in the tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin, is practiced in more than 100 countries, and practitioners visiting Buddha-related sites and Vipassana centers such as Dhamma Giri, near Mumbai, the largest meditation center in the world, form another increasing segment of visitors to India.
The spread of the Buddha's practical meditation techniques in India and the rest of the world has led to an unprecedented reawakening to a truth that the Buddha was not the founder of any religion. A new conviction sees the Buddha more as a super-scientist who explored and shared a way out to cope with the impermanence of all things in life.
The Indian Tourism Ministry's drive coincides with the revival of Buddha's teaching in the subcontinent, and benefits the troubled badlands of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, the two Indian states with a wealth of Buddha-related heritage.
A Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce (FICCI) study says the two states have potential to generate US$1 billion worth of Buddha-related tourism. Sarnath (where Buddha gave his first discourse after Enlightenment) and Bodhgaya are the most important destinations on the circuit.
Other sites such as the ancient cities of Rajgir, Kushanagar and Vaishali where the Buddha taught are being given upgraded attention. The ministry is promoting these sites as part of the "Walk with the Buddha" campaign. The Indian government also plans to start a Chinese website and have Chinese-speaking guides for tourists from the big neighbor where the Buddha's teaching is again taking deeper roots.
Countries such as Japan are only too willing to assist, with the Japan Bank for International Cooperation funding four projects in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra totaling $273 million. Institutions in Taiwan have been funding major projects to publish the Buddha's teaching.
Eleven Indian states are expected to harvest big benefits from the Buddha Circuit. Besides Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Orissa, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Himachal Pradesh are part of the route. Other major emerging attractions for visitors worldwide include the Global Pagoda in Mumbai (see Asia's spectacular monument of gratitude, Asia Times Online, October 26, 2006) that houses the world's largest meditation hall and enshrines relics of the Buddha.
The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corp Ltd, the marketing arm of the Indian Railways, is expected to start an eight-day tour package on a luxury train called the Mahaparinirvan Special Express next month from Delhi to help tourists visit the Buddha sites. The FICCI study estimates that this segment of tourism can draw more than a million visitors to India by 2012, a 400% rise of Buddha pilgrims.
After millennia, India is awakening to the Buddha, and the world is dropping in for a visit.
The Incredible !ndia campaign, ranked as the highest "recall advertisement" worldwide by the Travel and Leisure magazine, helped increase foreign tourist arrivals from 3.92 million in 2005 to 4.43 million in 2006, a 14.2% increase, according to the Tourism Ministry.
In its annual readers' poll, the London-based Conde Nast Traveller, the world's top travel and tourism magazine, has ranked India among the top four preferred holiday destinations in the world (after Italy, New Zealand and Australia, with Thailand ranked seventh, following South Africa and France). India was also overwhelmingly voted (97.91%) the country with the most fascinating culture in the world.
Sure enough, the Indian government has decided to showcase the crown jewel in India's cultural wealth, the universal, practical teachings of Gautama the Buddha. This month the government hosted an international conference in Bodhgaya where Gautama the Buddha attained enlightenment, to celebrate the 2,550th anniversary of the Buddha passing away (attaining parinibbana). Prime Minister Manmohan Singh headed the organizing committee as chairman.
The celebrations are part of a significant revival of the Buddhist culture in India, the birthplace of the Buddha, where for centuries his teaching was ironically frowned upon and feared as harmful and full of delusions, even though the Buddha himself was revered personally as a great being. Much to the dismay of Theravada countries such as Thailand, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Cambodia, the Buddha was even considered in India as a reincarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu. That is changing.
After a sustained, respectfully persuasive campaign by eminent Indian followers of the Buddha's teaching, Hindu religious and political leaders such as from the Bharitiya Janata Party have acknowledged that the Buddha's teaching are not an offshoot of Hinduism. More accurately, the Buddha is being seen more as a guide pointing to a universal way out of suffering than as founder of any religious sect.
"Buddhism is a way of life, not a religion, to emancipate the exploited class in the country," said Tamil Nadu state Finance Minister K Anbazhagan. Inaugurating the 2,550th anniversary celebrations of the Buddha's Mahaparinibbana organized by the government of this southern state, the minister pointed out that the Buddha's ideals are very much relevant in today's India as it advocates the end to the caste system and establishing a society where good conduct, not birth, establishes one's social status.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Muthuvel Karunanidhi said the Buddha taught love, and his teachings were universal and against casteism. "Buddha had also said women too could attain sainthood, and his teachings were simple enough to be followed by all. This is why the Buddha's teachings were accepted by social reformers like Periyar and Ambedkar," he said.
In 1954, Babasaheb Ambedkar - known as the father of the Indian constitution - went to Burma (now Myanmar), was inspired by the Buddha's teaching and returned to India to direct hundreds of thousands in India's so-called "untouchable castes" to the Buddha's path, one of the most significant events in modern Indian history.
"Many see Ambedkar's action as a religious conversion from one religion to another," said Satya Narayan Goenkaji, considered worldwide as one of the foremost teachers of Vipassana, the practical quintessence of the Buddha's teaching. "But for me, his action was a social conversion, from inequality to equality. Ambedkar was against sectarianism. That is why he enshrined the non-sectarian, secular nature of the Indian republic into the Indian constitution."
Vipassana, as taught by S N Goenka in the tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin, is practiced in more than 100 countries, and practitioners visiting Buddha-related sites and Vipassana centers such as Dhamma Giri, near Mumbai, the largest meditation center in the world, form another increasing segment of visitors to India.
The spread of the Buddha's practical meditation techniques in India and the rest of the world has led to an unprecedented reawakening to a truth that the Buddha was not the founder of any religion. A new conviction sees the Buddha more as a super-scientist who explored and shared a way out to cope with the impermanence of all things in life.
The Indian Tourism Ministry's drive coincides with the revival of Buddha's teaching in the subcontinent, and benefits the troubled badlands of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, the two Indian states with a wealth of Buddha-related heritage.
A Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce (FICCI) study says the two states have potential to generate US$1 billion worth of Buddha-related tourism. Sarnath (where Buddha gave his first discourse after Enlightenment) and Bodhgaya are the most important destinations on the circuit.
Other sites such as the ancient cities of Rajgir, Kushanagar and Vaishali where the Buddha taught are being given upgraded attention. The ministry is promoting these sites as part of the "Walk with the Buddha" campaign. The Indian government also plans to start a Chinese website and have Chinese-speaking guides for tourists from the big neighbor where the Buddha's teaching is again taking deeper roots.
Countries such as Japan are only too willing to assist, with the Japan Bank for International Cooperation funding four projects in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra totaling $273 million. Institutions in Taiwan have been funding major projects to publish the Buddha's teaching.
Eleven Indian states are expected to harvest big benefits from the Buddha Circuit. Besides Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Orissa, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Himachal Pradesh are part of the route. Other major emerging attractions for visitors worldwide include the Global Pagoda in Mumbai (see Asia's spectacular monument of gratitude, Asia Times Online, October 26, 2006) that houses the world's largest meditation hall and enshrines relics of the Buddha.
The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corp Ltd, the marketing arm of the Indian Railways, is expected to start an eight-day tour package on a luxury train called the Mahaparinirvan Special Express next month from Delhi to help tourists visit the Buddha sites. The FICCI study estimates that this segment of tourism can draw more than a million visitors to India by 2012, a 400% rise of Buddha pilgrims.
After millennia, India is awakening to the Buddha, and the world is dropping in for a visit.
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