Offended Buddhists

[Rob H]

PS - By the way, no place else worth sticking this ... so will drop it here. Apparently from a couple of years ago, I never knew! I wonder how Martians treat their Buddhas?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIBOfM0vewY

I think it is like finding Jesus in burned toast.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/arielknutso...-in-their-food

n.jpg
Sorry, Jundo Sensei. It was the first thing that I thought and I couldn't help myself...

Gassho.
Rob.

ST

[Kotei]

Hello,

once a week, on my long running trail through the fields, I come across a house in a small village.
In the middle of the driveway, between some artificial coloured pebbles, there sits a large Buddha, offering a one handed gassho.
It's all arranged in a quite cold 'lifestyle' setting, that leads to the thought that this Buddha is there just for ornamental reasons.
Every time I come by, I stop for a moment, wait for my heart rate to come down a bit. Offer a deep sincere gassho and continue on my trail.
The first months, the owner looked obviously angry at me, when seeing me interacting with her property.
Some weeks ago, she started smiling at me, greeting with a small nod.

Gassho,
Kotei sat/lah today.

[Sterculia]

To me, it's an oxymoron, however it came to my attention today that there is a whole movement afoot trying to get people to stop using Buddha as a decoration.

The general theme seems to be "Buddha is not for decoration respect is common sense" see knowingbuddha.org or 5000s.org. We had some discussion recently about cultural appropriation and apparently there are quite a few people ticked off by the fact that Buddha is used as a decoration or tattoos.. etc.

I'm curious what people's thoughts here are about that. What do you feel is "appropriate" or "offensive"?

Gassho

Sat Today
lah

Here's a very large billboard in Bangkok from the organisation you refer to. From my understanding there is a law in Thailand about disrespecting the Buddha.

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[Ryudo]

It is nice that people who are not Buddhist like Buddha.

Gassho/SatToday

[Seishin]

Our house is full of various sized Buddha statues which my wife started collection many years ago. The garden also ! And this started even before my Martial Arts journey started drawing me towards Zen 20 odd years ago. She is not a practising Buddhist but appreciates the concepts and supports my practice but maybe not so much non-attachment .
She recently reorganised our entrance hall, replacing a collection of "Wedgwood" crockery, with a white and gold set that she bought aeons ago. The other week a new "gold" Buddha arrived to take centre stage on the dresser.

So I am comfortable with the Buddha image being appreciated by all, practitioners or not. As Jundo says, let the Thais be the Thais, as I am also with the "Buddha is everywhere" brigade, literally in this household.

[Ishin]

I even read a recent Buddhist discussion about the famous Koan where Master Danxia Tianran burned the Buddha Statue on a cold night, and it was thought by a scholar that even then he would have bowed first, then before burning briefly "deconsecrated" the statue (literally, Buddha Statues have ceremonies in Zen temples in which "life" is put into them by painting in the eyes with an ink brush). Here is one such "Eye Opening" Ceremony for Soto group in the USA.



Gassho, J

STLah

Yes, that was the story! I could not recall. I am posting it here in it's entirety so people can read it.

Once, Ikkyu was staying in a temple. The night was cold and there were three wooden Buddhas in the temple, so he burned one Buddha to warm himself.

The priest in charge of the temple woke up and noticed something was going on, so he looked to see what Ikkyu was doing.

The Buddha statue was burning and Ikkyu was sitting there warming his hands over the fire.

The priest got angry. He said, “What are you doing? Are you a madman?—and I thought you to be a Buddhist monk, that’s why I allowed you to stay in the temple. This is profane.”

Ikkyu said, “But the Buddha within me was feeling very cold. So it was a question whether to sacrifice the living Buddha to the wooden one, or to sacrifice the wooden one to the living one. And I decided for life.”

The priest was so angry that he couldn’t listen. He said, “You are a madman. You simply get out of here! You have burned Buddha.”

So Ikkyu started to poke the burned Buddha with a stick. There were ashes; the Buddha was almost consumed by the fire.

The priest asked, “What are you doing?”

Ikkyu said, “I am trying to find the bones of Buddha.”

So the priest laughed and said, “You are either a fool or a madman. And you are absolutely mad! You cannot find bones there, because it is just a wooden Buddha.”

Ikkyu laughed. He said, “Then bring the other two. The night is still very cold. I haven’t burned the Buddha. I’ve burned a wooden statue. And you called me the crazy one.”


Gassho
Sat today lah

[Washin]

Yes, that was the story! I could not recall. I am posting it here in it's entirety so people can read it.

Once, Ikkyu was staying in a temple. The night was cold and there were three wooden Buddhas in the temple, so he burned one Buddha to warm himself.

The priest in charge of the temple woke up and noticed something was going on, so he looked to see what Ikkyu was doing.

The Buddha statue was burning and Ikkyu was sitting there warming his hands over the fire.

The priest got angry. He said, “What are you doing? Are you a madman?—and I thought you to be a Buddhist monk, that’s why I allowed you to stay in the temple. This is profane.”

Ikkyu said, “But the Buddha within me was feeling very cold. So it was a question whether to sacrifice the living Buddha to the wooden one, or to sacrifice the wooden one to the living one. And I decided for life.”

The priest was so angry that he couldn’t listen. He said, “You are a madman. You simply get out of here! You have burned Buddha.”

So Ikkyu started to poke the burned Buddha with a stick. There were ashes; the Buddha was almost consumed by the fire.

The priest asked, “What are you doing?”

Ikkyu said, “I am trying to find the bones of Buddha.”

So the priest laughed and said, “You are either a fool or a madman. And you are absolutely mad! You cannot find bones there, because it is just a wooden Buddha.”

Ikkyu laughed. He said, “Then bring the other two. The night is still very cold. I haven’t burned the Buddha. I’ve burned a wooden statue. And you called me the crazy one.”


Gassho
Sat today lah

Thank you for sharing this, Ishin

Gassho
Washin
sat/lah

[Kyonin]

Hi guys,

I think this is a very interesting topic. I understand why some would be offended on the wrong use of the Buddha. I myself try to be as respectful as I can and never use his image as decoration.

But I also understand that at least here in the Spanish Speaking world, people is not educated on Buddhism and they use whatever evokes peace and spirituality.

With the local sangha I encourage people to be respectful to the Buddha, but not to be attached to images since the Buddha is beyond material stuff.

I have to admit that some Buddha decorations are nice

Gassho,

Kyonin
Sat/LAH

[Jishin]

To me, it's an oxymoron, however it came to my attention today that there is a whole movement afoot trying to get people to stop using Buddha as a decoration.

The general theme seems to be "Buddha is not for decoration respect is common sense" see knowingbuddha.org or 5000s.org. We had some discussion recently about cultural appropriation and apparently there are quite a few people ticked off by the fact that Buddha is used as a decoration or tattoos.. etc.

I'm curious what people's thoughts here are about that. What do you feel is "appropriate" or "offensive"?

Gassho

Sat Today
lah

There is nothing difficult about the Great Way,
But, avoid choosing!
Only when you neither love nor hate,
Does it appear in all clarity.

- Hsin Hsin Ming

Gasho, Jishin, __/stlah\__

PS:. And to borrow a saying from another tradition:

"What would Buddha say?" or "what would Buddha do?"

[Mp]

What happens when Buddha decides to go for a ride?

Gassho
Shingen

Sat/LAH

[Meian]

Statues are irrelevant to me, but I am quite passionate about respecting others' beliefs. So if I find out that something I am doing publicly is offensive to others, I try to correct it and learn more about it. If it's on my private property and they're complaining -- that's another matter.

I don't intentionally do anything harmful or wrong. However, my Pema Chodron calendar may cross the line, even as it is calming when dealing with executive functioning stress.

This illustrates to me how something can be both religious and cultural, and not just with Buddhism. Fascinating study in behavioral psychology. Thanks for posting.

Gassho
Kim
St lh

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[Jundo]

Yes, that was the story! I could not recall. I am posting it here in it's entirety so people can read it.

Once, Ikkyu was staying in a temple. The night was cold and there were three wooden Buddhas in the temple, so he burned one Buddha to warm himself.

Small History Wonk Footnote ... not Ikkyu, and this is a very fictionalized version of the traditional Koan. The original is Master Danxia Tianran (different guy, Chinese and centuries earlier, except of course, that everybody is everybody).

https://terebess.hu/zen/mesterek/danxia.html

I believe in being respectful both to Buddha and to the stories of old dead Zen guys.

Anyway, Ikkyu was too drunk and hanging out with the girls in the brothel.

https://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showthread.php?17063-Ikky%C5%AB-S%C5%8Djun&p=243222&viewfull=1#post243222

Please now return to what you were doing.

Gassho, J

STLah

[Shoka]

I’m going to be the voice of dissent in this conversation. I will start by saying that I do agree with what everyone is saying. For me, just little old me sitting here in myself, I don’t really care if Buddha is printed on a bikini bottom or someone gets a Buddha tattoo. I’m much more concerned with how people actually behave than about symbols.

But let’s look at some examples, and see if we can understand why people might be offended by the use of the Buddha.

Have you had your Enlightenment Beer today?

Buddha Beer.jpg

This is Lucky Buddha beer, which is called “Enlightenment Beer”. From their marketing they say, “The “Laughing Buddha” depicted on Lucky Buddha beer is actually not THE Buddha and therefore is not religious but cultural.”

They go on to use an Ancient Taoist saying, “If you think that enlightenment is separate from the drinking of beer you have not yet understood.”

What do you think… is this a good use of the symbol?


Case number 2: ZenDesk

ZenDesk Logo.png

I will note that this is their old logo, and was probably changed due to pressure from groups who were offended by the use.

But can you see how people would be upset to see a symbol of their religion being used to represent a customer service company?

Final example,

This is the opposite of the others, but I’ll give an example from my life that helps me to put into perspective why some Buddhists are upset of the use of the Buddha as decoration, beer bottles, etc.

My grandmother was a Catholic and was very devoted to praying the rosary. One summer when I stayed with her; she would take me to church and teach me about different aspects of Catholicism. One of those items was the rosary. She taught me how to pray the rosary and how to show it respect. She said it was not jewelry, and not something to be shown off. It was a practice, an item to help you say the prayer. And when it wasn’t being used for that, it should be stored with care.

Over the years, I watched my grandmother pray the rosary more times than I can remember. Someone was sick, she would pray. Someone had passed away and she would pray. Over the years through seeing her faith and respect for the item, I grow to hold it with respect. I remembered what she had taught me when I was young, and the rosary she gave me was always storage with care and not shown off.

Recently I have started to see rosaries used as imagines on printed t-shirts so it looks like you are wearing it. And often I see people who have them draped around their rearview mirrors. When I see those things there is a small part of me that goes, “ugh… that’s not right.”

I let it go, but that little momentary “ugh” is where being offended starts.

Think about feeling that walking in a grocery store to see something scared to you on a beer bottle or being used to represent “happy” customer service.

Perhaps there is a cherished “scared” item in your family or life that you can apply this to. Would you care if someone printed it on a t-shirt or used it as decoration?

So while I don’t personally care what people do with the imagine of the Buddha, I do respect the fact that there are an estimated 500 million people who practice Buddhism around the world, and some of them might feel like the imagine of the Buddha should be respected and not used in some ways. Perhaps they had a grandma like mine, who engrained in them a sense of respect for certain items related to their religious practice.

I’m like Jundo, I’m overly accepting, do what you want with the imagine and it does't bother me personally. But I understand and respect those who aren’t. And because of this I don’t decorate with the Buddha. I have one Buddha statue that sits on an altar at home. The altar and statue have moved over the years from being in the living room, where they were more a part of decorations of the house to now being in the office where they are clearly on an altar for the purpose of spiritual practice.

On occasion when work is really bad, I think it would be nice to have a small Buddha at work on my desk to help remind me of practice; but I don’t want it to appear like a decoration. So instead I’ll get a rock or twig from outside and set it on my desk instead. For me it is just as much a representation of the Buddha as anything else and doing so also respects those who feel like the Buddha shouldn't be used as decoration.

Gassho,

Shoka
sattoday

[Jakuden]

This appeared at my work today


Gassho,
Jakuden
SatToday/LAH


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[Sekishi]

As with everything we encounter in this life, whenever "appropriate" and "offensive" arise, they are a good opportunity to practice.

For 20 years we heated our house with wood in the winter. Taking the wood of a living tree and placing it in a stove releases the sunlight of 40, 50, or 100 summers, mixed with CO2 and particulate matter. Seen from the perspective of a tree or a bird (even sometimes as a human), perhaps it was a deeply "offensive" act. Seen from the perspective of my cold wife or child, it was a deeply "compassionate" act. One-sided views abound.

That said, my dear mother-in-law recently offered me a life-sized teal ceramic Buddha head. She purchased it some time ago at a thrift store and was hoping I would put it in the practice space in our new home. What arose more or less simultaneously was gratitude for her kindness (for both respecting my chosen path and thinking of me in the moment she saw it), and revulsion at what the "Buddha head statue" represented to me (colonial trinket hunters decapitating ancient statues to sell, religious intolerance and strife, etc.).

I thanked her for her kindness in thinking of me, and offered that we could place it anywhere in our home, but not in the practice space, and tried to explain why. It was an honest response, but I have found myself coming back to it periodically over the past few months and wondering what one of our ancient ancestors would have done without "picking and choosing".

Gassho,
Sekishi
#sat #headattached