Who's the Fat Guy?
 

I've been asked this before, so...

We've all seen his laughing statue in Chinese restaurants. He generally gets called Buddha but doesn't look like other representations???

If one rubs his belly, does it bring good luck?

Any ideas?

Note


This is the Beginners Forum ....so that's who this question is for, its not members who are already established practitioners !

Thanks http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ilies/grin.gif

does that mean only beginners can reply?

If staff write topics or questions in this Beginners forum then they're obviously intended for newbies, so yes, only the beginners can reply to the questions. I deleted some replies to Kris's above post which were from established practitioners in the group who probably hadn't noticed which forum they were in.

If beginners ask questions to the rest of the group, then everyone can reply.

I hope that's clear enough ! http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ilies/grin.gif

Lol actually I had no idea only beginners could reply and I was just teasing Kris in good sense. http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ies/tongue.gif I hope he didn't misunderstand my post. http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...lies/peace.gif

No, he definately didn't, Deshy :hug:

He's called Pu Tai, he was a 10th century monk who revealed himself to be an incarnation of Maitreya.

Here's a link with some info:

http://buddhism.about.com/od/buddha/...hingbuddha.htm

Thanks l.t. and welcome on board.

Thanks Justin - good to hear from you again. http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ilies/grin.gif

I've been reading threads even though I haven't been posting. This a good board though, very calm. Spent most of today reading Bhante Gunaratana's mindfulness in plain English, great book on meditation for beginners, does what it says on the tin. Also got eight mindful steps to happiness by the same author about the eight fold path. There's some good advice in the first one, I was getting disheartened that I wasn't making much progress but I've realised after reading it you don't break forty plus years of conditioned thinking over night. Just got to stick with the practice.

Definately http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...lies/hands.gif

The books really good, it explains somethings that aren't in Ajahn Jaysaro's videos. The thing is I found myself looking at thoughts and sensations with a sense of detachment as described in the book and its right, they dissapear, might take a while to get the hang of doing it all the time, particularly with some of the more conditioned ones. Its right what the Buddha said though, to paraphrase check it out and see for yourself if it works. I think this is what I've been looking for all my life.

The thing I find myself asking myself is if the thoughts and sensations dissapear when you look at them, did they really exist?

Well they don't exist if they've dissolved again - because they're impermanent - so why worry ?

http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ilies/wink.gif

Doh, I've read that so many times. My memory is a little shot, guess I'll have to re-read some of my books a few times to get ideas like that fixed in my mind.

Its good for us to be aware of what's happening and contemplate these things though, Justin, and then we begin to see how we form a personality view and reinforce a sense of "I", "me" and "mine" through our metal processes.