Talk about Swag!

So I was just doing research for the next paper I have due this Tuesday, and blipping some songs to listen to as well, when the mail lady came down our gravel driveway honking the horn of the SUV she drives. Hubby, who was reading a Stephen King novel, jumped up to go get whatever mail was out there because it is usually for him whatever it is. I shot at him as he left "now what have you gotten this time?" but he didn't answer as he raced downstairs to get the mail. A minute later he brought up a package for me~whoa~ and it was from Monkey Muck, down Tennessee way. Hubby raised his eyebrows at me and asked if he should be jealous? "No", I tell him in a small voice and rip the package open. It is a book called If You Find the Buddha. Wow, what a neat book too! Forget research, I gotta check out this book!

From the forward written by Jeff Greenwald:

The Buddha doesn't simply represent a non-grasping state of mind; he reminds us that everything we're experiencing, right here and right now, is exactly as is must be--and utterly transitory. The only way to avoid suffering (i.e., wishing things had been better in the past, or that they will be better in the future) is to inhabit the present moment with our entire being--whether we're caught in traffic, running a bank, or spinning a hula hoop.

The most ironic thing about Buddha images is that they exist at all. Buddha himself forbade any likenesses of him--and for half a millennium he directive was honored. His presence was symbolized not by the image we know today but by evocative symbols. These included the lotus (which is rooted in muck but blossoms into purity), the eight-spoke wheel (a reminder of the Eightfold Path to liberation), and the Bodhi tree (a ficus religiosa, which sheltered the meditating Buddha).

As the centuries passed, though, a couple of things happened. First, traffic along the Silk Road brought artists and techniques from the Greco-Roman world to the Indian subcontinent--specifically to Gandhara, in what is now northern Pakistan. The legendary Buddha was an irresistible subject. Most Asian art collections have examples of these third-and fourth-century Buddhas. Tall, imposing, and sporting neat moustaches, they look more like Greek martinee idols than Nepal-born sages.

The reason these images endured is that Buddha's followers began to get restless. It's no wonder; anyone who has visited the Indian subcontinent is aware of how seductive her gods and goddesses can be. Take Laxmi, with her opened hands dripping gold coins, or Shiva, with the drum of creation in one hand and flames of destruction in the other. And who can resist elephant-headed Ganesha, Remover of Obstacles, gesturing with one hand while the other palms his favorite snack?

A wheel, or even a tree, has nothing on these guys. If Buddhism wanted to stay on the map, it had to offer its followers an image they could identify with.

On one hand, this was a mistake--the first step toward turning Buddha into a god, and Buddhahood into a divine state, beyond the reach of humans. I think Buddha himself would have been perturbed (as much as Buddha was ever perturbed) by the sight of people praying to his image; idol worship was some of the bad habits he was trying to quell in ancient India. Not only that, treating Buddha as a god undermines his whole achievement. The most encouraging thing about Buddhism (which brims with tough-love teachings) is that Siddhartha Gautama, the historical Buddha, was not a god. He was a human being--a guy who worked hard, meditated with conviction, and transcended the snarls of desire and attachment.

On the other hand, he's a great visual. I mean, here's a guy sitting down, eyes half-closed, in a state of total relaxed awareness. In one traditional mudra his fingers are entwined, teaching; in another, he's touching the Earth, inviting the planet itself to witness his awakening. His face, half-smiling, has the hypnotic effect of a cloudscape. It's virtually impossible to look at a Buddha for any length of time (including those fat, laughing Buddhas, who actually depict the Zen begger-monk Hotei) without feeling a sense of calm and well-being.

And then there are the pictures! The pictures were taken by Jesse Kailsher and comprise the rest of the book. There are a few pages of explanation at the beginning, from which I've quoted from at some length, and then the book has lots and lots of pictures of the Buddha in every setting imaginable!

Thank you so much Monkey Muck for sending me this book! It is a ray of sunshine in this day of chores and studying.