Caring for the name and images of the Buddha.
Again and again, I either see for myself or I am told of yet another example of the Buddha or Images of the Buddha being used to promote clubs and bars, or advertise things so contrary to the life and message of the Buddha. And if it's not that it's the image of the Buddha used as decoration or fashion item: candles, on place mats, on bags of rice, on shoes and swimwear.
In the course of his life the Buddha was himself subject to abuse and taught that it should be endured, that in time it would pass and in any case that one should be glad that it hadn't been any worse. Not only that, but even if one were being hacked apart, limb by limb, one should not cease to have loving-kindness for one's abusers. But he also taught that to respect those worthy of respect was a great blessing and we Buddhists obviously believe the Buddha to have embodied the highest and best that any being can aspire to and therefore to have been the most worthiest of respect. The Buddha Image reminds us of all this. It reminds us too of a mind purified of all greed, hatred and delusion.
If we do nothing about the misuse of the name and image of the Buddha, how are we going to feel when we wake up to discover that people around us are associating the Buddha not with purity but with greed (the Greedy Buddha Restaurant in London's Wandsworth Bridge Road), with alcohol and intoxication (the Buddha Bars) and with sex (The Kaz Bar, a strip club in Stratford-upon-Avon decorated with Buddha Images). Don't think it can't happen. I don't suppose the creators of those lofty Buddha Images in Afghanistan's Bamian Valley all those hundreds of years ago ever thought those images would be deliberately reduced to rubble but it happened. And I don't suppose that anyone in Asia a century ago ever thought that that most ancient and revered symbol of the swastika would ever be associated with evil, and yet now hardly anyone in the West thinks otherwise when they see it and in some countries it's banned altogether!
What then can we do? Unfortunately, not much. Here we've tried using the Warwick Faiths Forum to take our concerns about the Kaz Bar to Stratford Council and it's emerged that unless the presence of the Buddha Images in that club are likely to cause trouble no action can be taken!
All that's left and I feel we must do it is to make our concerns known and continue to explain the meaning and importance of the Buddha and how contrary to his example and message are many of these places that are using his image and name.
In the course of his life the Buddha was himself subject to abuse and taught that it should be endured, that in time it would pass and in any case that one should be glad that it hadn't been any worse. Not only that, but even if one were being hacked apart, limb by limb, one should not cease to have loving-kindness for one's abusers. But he also taught that to respect those worthy of respect was a great blessing and we Buddhists obviously believe the Buddha to have embodied the highest and best that any being can aspire to and therefore to have been the most worthiest of respect. The Buddha Image reminds us of all this. It reminds us too of a mind purified of all greed, hatred and delusion.
If we do nothing about the misuse of the name and image of the Buddha, how are we going to feel when we wake up to discover that people around us are associating the Buddha not with purity but with greed (the Greedy Buddha Restaurant in London's Wandsworth Bridge Road), with alcohol and intoxication (the Buddha Bars) and with sex (The Kaz Bar, a strip club in Stratford-upon-Avon decorated with Buddha Images). Don't think it can't happen. I don't suppose the creators of those lofty Buddha Images in Afghanistan's Bamian Valley all those hundreds of years ago ever thought those images would be deliberately reduced to rubble but it happened. And I don't suppose that anyone in Asia a century ago ever thought that that most ancient and revered symbol of the swastika would ever be associated with evil, and yet now hardly anyone in the West thinks otherwise when they see it and in some countries it's banned altogether!
What then can we do? Unfortunately, not much. Here we've tried using the Warwick Faiths Forum to take our concerns about the Kaz Bar to Stratford Council and it's emerged that unless the presence of the Buddha Images in that club are likely to cause trouble no action can be taken!
All that's left and I feel we must do it is to make our concerns known and continue to explain the meaning and importance of the Buddha and how contrary to his example and message are many of these places that are using his image and name.
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