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What do think of Buddha being four-faced?
footiam
Veteran
In Bangkok,Thailand, there is a very famous shrine which housed the four-faced Buddha? When did Buddha start having four faces? How many face/s has Buddha?
0
Comments
It's actually a depiction of Brahma, not the Buddha. The four faces represent the four Vedas. Apparently in Thailand, Brahma (or Phra Phrom) is revered as a protector and giver of good fortune, and each face offers or represents different blessings.
The name Buddha really confuses, don't you think?
Also certain images of Buddhas in tantra depict them with more than one face. Generally the imagery symbolizes different aspects or "faces" of the certain Buddha or Bodhisattva.
This one of the 1,000 armed Avalokiteshvara has 11 faces.
Do you suppose this has to do with Buddhism being influenced by Hinduism?
@footiam
The dipiction of the Buddha has gone from a wheel/ Bodhi tree/footprints/ Greek god/ bald monk/ to the dappling of his head with snails, to elongating his ears and on & on.
A more interesting question is how many faces do we have?
Indeed
In many ways I feel the facades of Tantric deities are idealisations of our arisings. For us beginners, the kind faces of bodhisattvahs are required as we are often too hard on our[many]selves. We cling to the demon faceted aspect of our arising, rather than the compassionate face of our fear, anger, disappointment etc.
I could use four faces. Then I could smile x4
As long vas he's not two faced...I just could not trust him then.
The shrine the OP is talking about is the Erawan Shrine in the main business district of Bangkok. It is, as Jason said, a Hindu shrine, although the vast majority of people (other than tourists) who visit the shrine are Thai Buddhists. It is busy 24/7, and quite an interesting place. You'll see the typical offerings of incense and candles and flowers, as well as various little statues (often made of wood), but also pigs heads are quite common.
The shrine was built in 1956 when the "new" (now demolished) Erawan Hotel was being built on the site. There were many construction delays and an unusually high number of deaths of construction workers. A sort of "spirit doctor" was called in and said that the spirits who once lived at the site were feeling "put out" by the construction. The spirit house housing the image was built to placate the spirits, after which the construction was quickly finished without further problems.
Several years ago a vandal (who apparently was mentally ill) attacked and severely damaged the statue with a hammer or axe. He was beaten to death on the spot by worshippers at the shrine.
A fairly common offering is a wooden elephant statue (usually small, but sometimes somewhat large). You can read about Erawan at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airavata .
I have at least two. One for you and one for me.