TGIF!

TGIF

Thank God it's Friday!

The FAT Buddha!

How many times have you met someone from the periphery of your own friends and somehow the conversation allows them to tell you that they are a Buddhist, and somehow you don't by it.  It goes kind of like this:

Them ~ "Oh, I used to be Christian, but now I'd consider myself a Buddhist."

You ~ "Really?"

Them ~ "Yeah, I like the whole thing about peace and understanding and meditation, its cool."

You ~ "How ofter do you meditate, and what tradition do you follow."

Them ~ "I don't really meditate or anything, but I definitely like the religion."

Now its not for me to say that they are not a Buddhist, but... I don't know how to finish that sentence.  Look, I'll admit that I knew about the same amount of info on Buddhism at one time, but when a real Buddhist gave a brief lesson in what its all about, I stopped thinking that I knew anything about it.  I started looking into it, and I saw it as something Much more.
In that research, however, I discovered something troubling...

This jolly fellow is NOT Buddha.
Now when I saw not Buddha, I am talking about the man, not the idea.  If we're talking Buddha the idea, which involves all conscious beings and says that they all have a deeper nature that is greater than the superficial material that makes up our ego, then yes, this is a Buddha. 
BUT, if we are talking the MAN, Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, then no, it most assuredly is not.

This is a representation of Siddhartha Gautama Buddha, with a little less flab.

This is Keanu Reeves as Siddhartha Gautama.  Yeah, that's what I said.

The real identity of the Chubby one is that of Hotei, an eccentric Zen monk out of China.  His name literally means "Cloth Sack" but its not supposed to be referring to him, but to the bindle he carries with him everywhere.  He would wander around, shelling out things from his sack for people, even sweets for children.  So that makes 'cloth sack" here a zen Buddhist Santa Claus, only, he doesn't judge you like St Nick.

And I'll bet santa never hid in his sack from dancing mice before.

 To be honest, making this distinction isn't as important as the distinction between the historical Buddha and the living Buddha.  The Living Buddha, that is each on of us, is what is more important than any historical figure.  You are the Buddha.

And once again, this is Keanu Reeves.