Jesus and the laughing Buddha

We can learn a lot about what is missing in each religious tradition by looking at the religious art and icons in each tradition. Just close your eyes for a minute. Visualize three people: Jesus, Bodhidharma (an arhat and a famous Indian Buddhist saint) and Buddha. What do you see?

Jesus, in the popular imagination, tends to be always shown as a suffering savior — as the Jesus who is nailed on the cross. Bodhidharma may be an unfamiliar figure for some Westerners. According to legend, he is one of the first Indian masters who brought Buddhism from India to China. He is also the first patriarch of Chinese Ch’an (Zen) tradition. Bodhidharma is typically shown as a stern and fierce-looking Indian man. He is credited with the founding of Chinese martial arts at the Shaolin Temple. Bodhidharma is known to be an arhat (an enlightened sage). It is interesting to note that in Chinese Buddhist temples, the arhats are often portrayed as fighting tigers and riding wild beasts.

What about the image of Buddha? There are many different images of Buddha, depending on geographic location. Buddha is typically portrayed as a smiling figure in a meditation pose. In popular Chinese Buddhism, however, he is sometimes represented as a laughing man with a big belly. Why? In our modern society, to be portrayed as being fat is not complimentary. However, the big belly of the Chinese Buddha…