Trivia Question 2

[Ray]

 
Who (besides Jeff S) has been here and recognizes this place?
 
 
 

[robert angel]

“Of all the Buddha joints in all the towns in all the world, he walks into mine.”

(very loosely borrowed from Casablanca)

[Bob_S]

[Jeff S]

Yeah, but the real question is who's fed cookies to the deer there.

[Capstone]

Yeah, but the real question is who's fed cookies to the deer there.

I've fed cookies to the deer but I remember the great Buddha statue as being inside a temple and made from wood. Is there more than one big Buddha statue there?

[thekfc]

I haven;t been there but I have seen pics of the statue/place & it is on my list of places to visit when I do visit Tokyo.

[Jeff S]

Oh you're right cap - the deer park is the indoor Buddah - the world's biggest. I go the two mixed up. I was at the outdoor one Ray posted for shogatsu (New Years) in the 80s. Big to-do there every new years. Hint - not too far from the big US Navy base.


While at the indoor Buddah in Nara, did you try to crawl through the hole in the tree? I was a lot skinnier then and still didn't try it. No chance now.

[Ray]

The Great Buddha of Kamakura (or Daibutsu).
　
I was there in 1969. Like Jeff said, it’s just a short train ride from Yokosuka, where the US Navy base is. But the only deer I saw there were the 2-legged variety and no, I didn’t feed them cookies… 
　
The Buddha statue is made of bronze. You can go inside and climb the stairs to the head where you can look out of his forehead.
　
Quite an impressive sight and not expensive at all to visit.
　
Ray
　

[Capstone]

While at the indoor Buddah in Nara, did you try to crawl through the hole in the tree? I was a lot skinnier then and still didn't try it. No chance now.

LOL!! Yes, I did attempt it but after sticking my head & shoulders through I was afraid that I might get stuck and so I backed out. I believe that I probably still have a picture of me doing that. I remember that it looked more like a huge wooden wine barrel than an actual tree. The Todaiji temple in Nara is certainly a sight to behold - very beautiful.   

[Jeff S]

Ray - You did of course attach a paper good-luck fortune to the tree at Kamakura, right?


I liked that tradition much better than attaching a brass lock to the hanging bridge at Yangdongshan in China for good luck. The engineer in me was calculating the number of locks it will take to overstress the cables as I was counting locks along the span. I made my interpreter go first:





Cool place:





Better hope you put in the hours on a satirmaster before you go...

[Bob_S]

The big wooden temple one is called Todai-ji.  I uploaded a photo I took to the gallery.  I've been to that one, the one in Kamakura where you go inside the butt (the one Ray showed), and there's also a big Buddha on Lantau Island, Hong Kong, that I saw.  For those focused on China rather than Japan, it can make for a nice daytrip with your lady if you ever make it over there.

[Capstone]

there's also a big Buddha on Lantau Island, Hong Kong, that I saw.  For those focused on China rather than Japan, it can make for a nice daytrip with your lady if you ever make it over there.

The best part of visiting the Tian Tan Buddha at the Po Lin Monastery on Lantau is that you can get there by riding the Ngong Ping cable car. I much preferred the views from the cable car over the ones on the Victoria Peak tram. But the Buddha itself is pretty cool, it is the largest seated bronze Buddha in the world and the 3 levels of halls beneath the Buddha contain the cremated remains of thousands of Hong Kong residents, many of whom were very famous. During my visit, my wife spent a lot of time seeing who all was buried there - I guess a lot of actors/actresses call it their final resting place. One set of those cremated remains allegedly belongs to the Buddha himself.   

[Jeff S]

Not sure what they mean by the Buddha himself, but Siddhattha Gotama, the founder of Buddhism, never left India. Buddha is a state of being "awakened" rather than being a specific identifiable person, like Jesus or Mohammed. Becoming a Buddha (enlightened one) is said to be possible for anyone. So according to Buddhism, it is possible that there are many Buddhas' remains buried there.


Not to get preachy or overly cerebral, but I often hear people saying things like "praying to Buddha" as if it (or he) were some kind of deity. Buddha is a state anyone can strive for, like being an Olympic gold medalist, Pulitzer prize winning photographer, or the Next Food Network star. It's something for people to achieve here and now, in this life, and what you do today matters. The steps to achieve it are laid out. It isn't some vague concept of something that is unknowable and rooted in blind faith.


I bring this up since it is a fundamental concept in Asia, and most of us are connected to Asian cultures. A firm understanding of this enormous difference between Eastern and Western concepts of behavior and actions makes it important if you are to begin to understand Asian people.


Hmmm. should I hit "Post" or just hang out in the shallow end? .... OK

[Capstone]

Not sure what they mean by the Buddha himself, but Siddhattha Gotama, the founder of Buddhism, never left India.

From what I remember, some of the remains of the Buddha were transferred to Tian Tan by another Buddhist monastery in Sri Lanka - Siddhattha Gotama was never actually in Hong Kong during his life time.

[seattlejoe]

The Great Buddha of Kamakura (or Daibutsu).
　
I was there in 1969. Like Jeff said, it’s just a short train ride from Yokosuka, where the US Navy base is. But the only deer I saw there were the 2-legged variety and no, I didn’t feed them cookies… 
　
The Buddha statue is made of bronze. You can go inside and climb the stairs to the head where you can look out of his forehead.
　
Quite an impressive sight and not expensive at all to visit.
　
Ray

     
　

Hey Ray,
                    superman bar. In  Yohohamma China town, was it there, at your time
                    in Japan

[Capstone]

Not to get preachy or overly cerebral, but I often hear people saying things like "praying to Buddha" as if it (or he) were some kind of deity. Buddha is a state anyone can strive for, like being an Olympic gold medalist, Pulitzer prize winning photographer, or the Next Food Network star. It's something for people to achieve here and now, in this life, and what you do today matters. The steps to achieve it are laid out. It isn't some vague concept of something that is unknowable and rooted in blind faith.

My mother in law(who is Buddhist) often times refers to 'praying to the Buddha' - they may not view Buddha as a deity per say but none the less do still pray to the Buddha for guidance and even intervention in some cases. This practice may not be a strict following of the religion's original teachings but none the less is something that is done by many Asian Buddhists. 

[Jeff S]

Interesting. Guess I know a lot more about the Indian and historical Japanese (Zen) forms than as it is practiced today.

[Ray]

Hey Ray,
                    superman bar. In  Yohohamma China town, was it there, at your time
                    in Japan

Joe, it doesn't ring a bell.
 
There were so many bars back then that I couldn't keep track of them... 
 
Ray