Why is Buddha fat?
Long ago there was someone by the name of Siddhartha Gautama who achieved the ‘state of perfect enlightenment, or often called ‘the awakened one,. Buddha is the title given to those people that have reached this summit of perfection. Siddhartha is not really fat, he was described as masculine, tall and slender the perfect example of nobility. However, history has not recorded what he really looked like. People might have only given him that description because ‘that is what they believe nobles should look like,.
The model for the Fat Buddha or Laughing Buddha was taken from an eccentric Chinese monk that goes by the name Qieci which means ‘Promise me this,. He arrived during the later Liang Dynasty 850 A.D and died in 916 A.D. He was a fat monk and people would often see him always smiling or laughing. He was loved by many because of his good character. The only possession he has is contained in his ‘Cloth Sack,.
When people would ask him about nirvana he wouldn’t say anything and would just walk away. So when you see authentic statues of the Buddha, you may notice that he is a fat man that always smiles have a sack of cloth and sometimes holds prayer beads. Many historians believed that the monk was the model on which the people accepted on how someone with good nature should look like. With this concept, all Buddha statues are created the same way (especially the Chinese).
Buddhism is a belief on the spiritual practice to know the true nature/meaning of life. It is the religion to change oneself for the better and to gain kindness, awareness and wisdom useful in daily life. Since Buddhism doesn’t really have the concept of worshipping a god, many think that it is not a normal religion (when it comes to western culture). The teachings are practical, nothing is permanent, actions have consequences and change is always possible.
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