[Buddha-l] Re: Maitreya statue discussion

[Margaret Gouin]

On Wed, Feb 27, 2008 at 2:51 AM, Sally McAra <sallymcara at fastmail.fm> wrote:

> eric wrote....
> >>>
> There is something else involved as well: the question of the relation
> between intensity and meaning. Is the meaning of a big statue different
> form a small one?
> >>>>>>>>>>>>>
> Sally writes in reply.
> Yes, I agree that this massive statue expresses a whole lot of things
> besides those that the designers (and builders, if it ever goes ahead)
> intend...


There seem to be a number of 'bigger is better' strands in the various
Buddhist schools--e.g. Buddhaghosa (if I remember correctly) said there was
more bad karma in killing a big sentient being than in killing a little one
(so karmically more damaging to kill a giraffe than a child??); and I've
seen meditation instructions that suggest that visualising large
representations of the chosen yidam is better than visualising small
representations. The idea that a bigger statue/thangka/whatever is better
than a smaller one may relate to amount of money/atoms/etc. involved, or is
FPMT just giving a rationalisation that would be acceptable to Western
donors for a practice that is accepted without question in Eastern Buddhist
practice?