Since Buddhism focuses on taming one's desires ... why was Buddha himself so pudgy wudgy?

Question

Did he EVER learn the true art of taming his desires regarding an appetite for food? Or was this merely an individual rare case of someone who's anatomy 'stayed' overweight w/out eating too much? hmmm, awfully uncanny.

Answer 1

Wrong Buddha dear.
Siddhartha Gautama was the Buddha and was not pudgy. You are most likely thinking of the Boddhisattva Maitreya.

Answer 2

Ah! I just has this conversation Saturday night with a friend.

The pudgy little fellow you are speaking about is Budai or Budai Luohan the laughing Buddha and is a Chinese interpretation of the Bodhisattva Maitreya, the Buddha of the future age. He is depicted as fat and cheery because he is a caricature of a Chinese Monk named Qieci. Chinese custom has a potbelly as meaning happiness, good luck, and plenitude and the bag or sack often seen in pictures and statues of Budai either on the ground beside him or draped over his shoulder, depicts unending wealth that Budai distributed to people. This 'wealth' was considered to be both knowledge as well as food and drink.

According to Chinese lore when the Monk Qieci was about to die, he composed a poem about the many reincarnation of Maitreya and how sometimes people recognize him and sometimes they do not. Based on this poem and the nature and wisdom of, many Buddhist believe that the Monk Qieci was a reincarnation of the being who will be the next Buddha, called Maitreya.

What I can’t figure out is that if you ask people what nationality do they think the pudgy Buddha figure is, they almost all say Chinese. But if you ask them where Buddhism started they'll answer India. So then I ask, why would Buddha be depicted as a fat Chinese monk?

As a note, Gautama Buddha, the Historical Buddha who founded Buddhism, is almost exclusively depicted as extremely thin and having hair. Most depictions also have Gautama Buddha having elongated earlobes. Remember, Gautama Buddha was Indian, not Chinese or Tibetan.

I hope this helps.

Answer 3

There are actually numerous Buddhas recognized in Buddhism including women.
"The" Buddha, Gautama, the founder of Buddhism, was not fat; the laughing Buddha we often see is a different person.

Answer 4

The fat guy is not Siddhartha Gautama (The Buddha). The fat guy was a monk that spread Buddhism in China. He is depicted as fat because that is the Chinese stereotype for being wealthy with wisdom.

Only wealthy people were fat in Chinese history. The notion that fat is bad is a Western idea.

Answer 5

as mentioned above, i think you are refering to Chinese images of Maitreya Buddha. As for the real Buddha:

1. he did not eat after midday, and begged for food like the other monks.
2. very early buddhist worship often used the symbolism of the stupa and other relics. no (extant) buddhist images are to be found from his time, but appeared after, which indicates the images were made by people who never saw him (though descriptions would have been handed down by word of mouth, I'd presume), had nothing visual to work with, and they probably constructed them in light of cultural/religoius/artistic norms at that time. it may be noted that many have Hellenic features (ie, Greek).
3. the images are slightly different in different locations, reflecting differences in artistic style and asthetic norms. in Thai images, the Buddha is extremely skinny.
4. and most importantly, after starving himself to a near skeletal state as an asthetic, he discovered the 'middle way' - which means, in a small part, that one should not torture or deprive ones body for spiritual gain (as was common in India at that time), but observe the principle of moderation.

Hope this answers your question!

Answer 6

siddhartha gautama, the founder of Buddhism, was actually rather thin. On his quest for enlightenment he studies with a group that that believed enlightenment was reached though deprivation of all worldly things, including food. After collapsing and nearly drowning he realized that path wasn't the way.

The fat image was a monk named Qieci

Answer 7

You are confused with animations.
And the Statue of Laughing Buddha.
Actually he is not pudgy. Fattness shown on him indicates happiness or bliss he was in as was signified by being pompous and fat in old days cause only rich people could afford to be fat in Old days

Answer 8

That is just a symbol from centuries ago.....so don't put too much store in what the statue looks like.

Answer 9

That was not Buddha, that was a Monk from China, I believe. He is recognized for his belly as it was a source of humor.

Answer 10

You're thinking of Budai, not Siddhartha.