Eastern / Buddhist / Oriental wall hangings

[callippo]

I've always found Buddhism to be free from dogma. I've studied Zen a little and this is quite open, but i know Tibetan Buddhism is a little more dogmatic and ceremonial. Yet still, searching for information only brings up your own post. I'm not doubting you, i'm just saying i've never read this before.

 

try visiting one of the half a dozen countries in the world that are 95% Buddhist, especially those that practise Thereveda as opposed to Mahayana Buddhism and you'll find that what I've said is true. This isn't any sort of dogma, just social norms in countries like Thailand, Cambodia, Laos etc, where 19 out of every 20 people you see walking around are Buddhist. Buddhas should be displayed reverentially.

 

export of Buddhas is restricted in these countries, and you need to apply for a license, precisely because they are afraid they will be regarded fetishistically or frivolously. Many Buddhists were basically pretty suspicious of the hippie movement from the 1960s that in the eyes of many of them, made a 'cult' of aspects of their belief system - a belief system that does not proselytize - you may not like it but that's the fact of the matter. They just don't think that all that many self-professed western Buddhists are all that sincere and that quite a lot of them are just trivialising it and making a fetish about it.

[Chris_Sleeps]

Many Buddhists were basically pretty suspicious of the hippie movement from the 1960s that in the eyes of many of them, made a 'cult' of aspects of their belief system - a belief system that does not proselytize - you may not like it but that's the fact of the matter.

I don't consider myself Buddhist, it's just something i have read. I subscribe to some things and reject others. I don't believe in reincarnation, for example, but other things i like, such as The Four Noble Truths.

 

The use of the word fetish is odd, but i think the aspects of the hippy movement that followed Eastern philosophy were sincere in their approach. Most hippies didn't move much further than drugs and a Summer of Love - i find the majority of the hippy movement quite insincere personally, but that is my judgement. Those who followed some elements of Buddhism and Eastern religions had their heart in the right place. For example The Beatles had a summer of playing with their spirituality, but George Harrison took it further than a fetish. You can't dismiss all the hippies, it was an early step by society into Eastern ideas.

[onewheeldave]

real Buddhist people, from Buddhist majority countries and whose ancestors have been Buddhists for a millenia plus, find any Buddhas in the bathroom or kitchen, pretty offensive, ....

 

The crux of this is the bit I've put in bold.

 

Buddhism has been around a long time and is well known for transforming and adapting to each new culture it comes across.

 

The truth is, some buddhists will be offended by buddha statues in the bathroom etc, and, some won't.

 

Buddhism, at it's heart, is a doctrine meant to provide the follower with a solution to the problem of suffering- as such, many practitioners will be well above getting offended by what others choose to do with their buddha statues.

 

e.g.

 

Originally Posted by purdyamos

There's even a Zen (I think) story where a monk is in a freezing hut with barely any fuel, meditating in front of a wooden statue of Buddha. The Zen master finds him and throws the statue on the fire because it's *just a bit of wood* and worshipping a bit of wood rather than understanding the underlying meaning of things is daft.

 

which is a well known story from the Zen buddhist tradition.

 

When it comes to several east asian countries like Thailand- buddhism has there become what amounts to a state religion and, you're right, people from those lands may well take offence, largely, I'd argue, for cultural reasons rather than buddhist ones.