Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Have A Little Brass Buddha At Home

By Ines Brennan


Gautama, Siddhartha, and Shakyamuni are all names associated with the sage known as Buddha. He lived hundreds of years before the birth of Christ and founded a religion that millions of people around the world follow. Many of today's Buddhists have a little brass Buddha figurine at home.

Gautama is said to have taught somewhere in the northeastern region of India and his name translates to "awakened one". His teachings were became the basis of the religion known as Buddhism and were a somewhat middle ground between two extremes being taught at the time. Gautama's teachings, stories, and life accounts are said to have been recorded after his death. Many of this beliefs were passed down by oral tradition before they could be written down.

Gautama Buddha was born to the life of a prince and was expected to be great king. He led a very sheltered life from an early age, and never witnessed any pain and suffering until one day he wished to step outside of his palace walls. It was the new curiosity of the human condition that began his spiritual journey and sparked a religion that has to this day survived and thrived.

Although he was born a man and history suggests he existed and died, Buddhists have never traditionally regarded this sage as being mortal. Buddhist scriptures speak of the miracles, omniscience, and superhuman abilities of Gautama. In fact scriptures detail the man as having been a demi-god with all the abilities of a superman.

Nepal claims to be the birthplace of the great Siddhartha. There is no proof to his actual place and time of birth but modern followers of the religion celebrate his day of birth on April 8th. His short life as a prince was followed by a departure onto a quest for enlightenment and understanding of the human condition.

Gautama's quest led him to people who became his disciples and practiced his principles. His practices began as episodes of self deprivation. They would deny themselves basic needs and comforts such as shelter, food, and water. Somewhere along the line Gautama almost died from this lifestyle and decided to change his path to that of meditation and contemplation in order to achieve spiritual awakening.

Two thousand five hundred years later Buddhism has become the fourth largest religion in the world. It is exceeded only by Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism. It is uncertain how many adherents to the religion there are in the world. There are estimates of numbers anywhere between 350 million to 1 billion people, most of which live in China.

Having a statue of Buddha in their home is common place and good luck for his followers. Most of those who have a statuette of Gautama will have a little brass Buddha in a place of prominence. The choices of Buddha statues vary from the jolly fat man that most westerners are familiar with seeing and sometimes having, and the meditative serious figure of Gautama. Westerners sometimes have one form or the other for decorative purposes.




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