The dhamma sharing speakers are Brother Kian Foh and Sister Guat Cheng.
Venue: SR3 (1.09)
Time: 7.50pm - 9.30pm
Date: 2 March 2010 (Tuesday)
“Just as rust, arisen out of the iron, so do his own deeds lead the transgressor to an evil state.” –Mala Vaggo –Dhammapada
Starting on a very realistic note, the February Newsletter has a different twist. This month we will be looking at various Buddha Statues worshipped in various countries.
First and foremost what does a Buddha statue represent?
Statues or models of the Buddha is called Buddharupa in Sanskrit which literally means “Form of the Awakened One”. There are two major schools of thought regarding the absolute purpose of the Buddha Statue, Theravada Buddhists do not believe in worshipping the Buddha Statue but show respect towards it. Mahayana Buddhists believe that worshipping the Buddha Statue brings them closer to enlightenment.
Across cultures there are various depictions of the Buddha:
A well proportioned figure is depicted in Indian, Tibetan and other South-asian cultures.
Buddharupa found in
The “laughing” or “Happy” Buddharupa is most often confused with Gautama Buddha. The “laughing” Buddharupa is one of a Chinese Buddhist monk Budei, who considered himself to embody the Buddha.
The Buddha preached the Dhamma for 45 years of His life with many hardships and obstacles out of compassion and love towards the suffering beings of this world. And the best way to appreciate the Blessed one, our Teacher, the incomparable one is to see him through the Dhamma. Understand the Dhamma and live accordingly. When you go about this and worship the Blessed one, when you look at him you will realize who he was, and what he did for this world. It will bring new meaning to the word “worship” as now you will see beyond a mere statue venerate the Buddha for his qualities and teachings which will ultimately lead you to the state of highest Bliss, Nibbana .
Sukhi Hotu
Sadhu Sadhu Sadhu to Chathu for writing this wonderful article.
The details are as follow..
We will be doing it pot luck style this time. So a list of stuff that needs to be brought is out:
On behalf of the IMU Buddhist Society, I would like to wish everyone a HAPPY NEW YEAR! May everyone of you be blessed with good health, success and peace of mind.
The society was under a two month hibernation recently for a revamp. You read it right, REVAMP...pooofff... This would mean that you will be getting lots of different activities from the usual. I will not burst the bubble here just yet, so stay tuned for updates from the blog. Those who have attended the final Friday Gathering of last year would have got a sneak preview of our upcoming activities already.
I am really sorry for not continuing with the health topic from the previous newsletter. For this month, I will be focusing more on Buddhist symbols.
The word symbol is synonymous with representation, description and meaning. It exist in almost every corner of the world, thus the term "signs and symbols". In Buddhism however, we rarely use symbols to represent physical objects but rather physical symbols to represent a particular quality, except of course the Buddha image.
Buddhist are very famous for using colours in art and symbols. Lets take this for example:
the Buddhist flag
This flag has five colours, easily one of the most colourful religious flag in the world. Each colour represents a particular Buddhist quality.
Blue (Nila): Loving kindness, peace and universal compassion
Yellow (Pita): The Middle Path - avoiding extremes, emptiness
Red (Lohita): The blessings of practice - achievement, wisdom, virtue, fortune and dignity
White (Odata): The purity of Dharma - leading to liberation, outside of time or space
Orange (Manjesta): The Buddha's teachings - wisdom
Another common symbol is the lotus, which happens to be the logo of the society as well.
Simliar to 周敦頤's 爱莲说, the lotus symbolizes purity of the body, speech, and mind as while rooted in the mud, its flowers blossom on long stalks as if floating above the muddy waters of attachment and desire, thus the phrase 出淤泥而不染. It is also symbolic of detachment as drops of water easily slide off its petals.
The Wheel of Dhamma, Dhammacakka, known in Chinese as 法轮 is one of the most philosophical symbol in Buddhism because it represents the summary of Buddha's way to enlightenment. The spokes of the wheel are very significant as they symbolize the Dhamma. The first discourse of the Buddha after his enlightenment, the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta (转法轮经) literally means "Turning the Wheel of Dhamma".
*those deers were placed beside the wheel because the first discourse was taught in a deer park in Vārāṇasī (Benares) in northern India.
There are many more Buddhist symbols which have their individual value and meaning to it. By studying these symbols, we get to learn wholesome values what are applicable in our daily life. Some people may think that wearing ornaments with symbols could protect them. Perhaps it was the values which were inculcated which avoided them from harm rather than any supernatural power.
Sukhi Hotu
