Fat Buddha?

Question

Why is the Buddha almost always depicted as being extremely overweight?

His teachings talked about moderation and selflessness; about following the middle way. of not over indulging but not starving either. Historical records mention his constant fasting and malnutrition. (the period before his enlightenment)

Why then, would he be fat?

NO, its not because he's the 'happy' Buddha. Thats not it. The man reached Nirvana, of course he's 'happy'. That doesnt mean that he'd completely stray from his own philosophy.

Answer 1

I suspect it's common artistic depiction. 'Fat' in many cultures is shorthand for 'rich enough not to have to worry about it', you know, they can afford to eat too much. I think it's the same species of artistic conceptualization that put the Disciples in Renaissance wear in a lot of Italian paintings, and lengthened Jesus' hair (and blued up his eyes) past what was likely given the cultural situation at the time. Art is pretty inextricable from time and place.

One other thought: it's a conflation of Buddha with Chinese or Japanese luck gods.

Answer 2

There is more than one kind of Buddha statue out there.

I personally like the thinner Buddha, with the obvious third eye.

The larger Buddha, commonly seen, know as the "Happy Buddha", which is just a name used to describe this particular statue, is my least favorite. And for the same reason it just goes against the "middle way", and it interrupts my meditation. I just can not use it as a "tool" to keep me grounded, when all I can think of is how that statue deviates from the "middle way".

So I don't use it. I use the other one.

Answer 3

The statue that most people associate with the Buddha is not a depiction of Siddharta. It is another icon of the religion that has been referred to both as the "happy Buddha" and "Bohdisatva of Happiness".

The story I've heard most of how this statue came to be thought of as "Buddha" is that Western soldiers in Asia mistook it as such and carried souveniers and mistaken impressions back home.

Answer 4

Buddha vs fat Buddha i think of maximum people are conscious of the two variations of Buddha, the thin and the fat one. the unique Buddhist photograph depicted is of him being skinny or of an elementary physique sort. It extremely has continuously stricken me that specially interior the western worldwide I’ve continuously seen the “fat” Buddha or “giggling Buddha.” motives why the fat version of Buddha is talked approximately as the giggling Buddha is by using the fact interior the photographs and statues depicted of him he's in lots of situations giggling or smiling. even regardless of the undeniable fact that this giggling version of Buddha replaced into extremely first presented in China. it somewhat is using fact in classic China, being overweight signified good well-being and fortune. as a result it made experience to create a picture of somebody so enlighten like Buddha to be overweight and smiling. even regardless of the undeniable fact that interior the chinese language Buddhist faith there's a monk by the call of Budai who has been depicted as finding like the “fat buddha” so there ought to have been confusion in some element in time. in case you bypass to India, Thailand, Korea or different international places interior the eastern hemisphere you will locate that Buddha is depicted in statues and pictures as skinny, that's how he replaced into seen initially.

Answer 5

Actually there are thousands of depictions of Buddha in Asia that depict him as skeletal. Each statue of Buddha represents different stages and means different things to each Buddhist, however, it is not a sign of gluttony.

Answer 6

and there are so many buddhas that humans created.

the fierce buddha, the thousand hand buddha, the guangying buddha, the fat one, the buddha..etc etc..

buddha did not even tell people to worship him in the first place.

Answer 7

He is only almost always depicted in that way in some traditions, in China for instance. In southeast asian cultures he's pretty buffed out.

Answer 8

You are refering to "hotei" "the fat buddha"
Many depictions of buddha are slimmer.
Heres the first example I found....

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.buddhapath.com/buddha1.JPG&imgrefurl=http://www.buddhapath.com/&h=812&w=450&sz=106&hl=en&start=15&um=1&tbnid=PA3JOyVSnqVNwM:&tbnh=144&tbnw=80&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbuddha%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den

Answer 9

He is only fat in america

Answer 10

man boobs are bliss