I was doing my daily morning scripture reciting when I saw the tea light candle my mom had placed in front of the little Buddha statue. The shadow that the Buddha cast on the wall was amazing. It wasn’t technically beautiful but it was just so inspiring to look at that it took my breath away. Even though I’m like ten times bigger than my little Buddha statue, I felt so very small sitting in front of it and its awe inspiring shadow. It was a great representation of how the physical size of something doesn’t mean anything. It’s what’s on the inside that counts. And that shadow spoke volumes to me about potential. The sheer size of it compared to the actual statue was like a metaphor for us humans all being future Buddhas. That we all have it inside of us but we just haven’t tapped into yet… but it’s there!
So you know I had to take pictures of this awesome phenomenon! I also wanted a photo of myself praying to the statue with my eyes closed. As I knelt there in front of the statue with my eyes closed, something interesting happened. Every time I closed my eyes, I felt that the light would increase in brightness as if I was right in front of the sun or something… it didn’t feel like it was going to blind me but I could feel the sheer intensity of it. But whenever I opened my eyes to peek, the brightness would go away. So then I’d close my eyes again and then it would happen again. It was really weird but really cool. Every time I closed my eyes and felt that super light, it was as if the real Buddha was standing right in front of me. It was so absolutely amazing that tears came to my eyes.
No, I am not crazy! This brings me to another point about Buddha statues and images. We don’t worship the actual wooden statues and the paper images. What we are doing is admiring and revering the spirit of the Buddha. We prostrate to these statues and images as a way to pay our respect to the Buddha and to thank him for all that he has taught us. These statues and images are only representations of the idea and the quality of the respective Buddha or Bodhisattva. For example, when we kneel in front of Guan Yin (Avalokitesvara) Bodhisattva, we are paying respect to the idea of compassion and mercy and love and aspiring to be just like the Bodhisattva. So please don’t misunderstand Buddhists when you see them prostrating or kneeling in front of statues and images at the temple. There’s a lot going on behind the scene… no, we are not catnapping! =)
Hello, kitty! Let’s go see the Hello Kitty Exhibition! (click on photo to see album)
This is the picture after Elaine tripped her. Too bad I wasn’t ready with the camera when it happened. I didn’t even know what was going on. I just saw a giant white blob pitch forward and then back up again… hahaaaaa!!!
when i see pictures like these, i can’t wait to have my own house. candle stands are bad ass.
I want a room like this in my house!!! I love that rock seat!
