[Buddha-l] Re: Maitreya statue discussion

[Erik Hoogcarspel]

Margaret Gouin schreef:
> 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?
>   
Anyway, it seems to me not to be the middle way. And besides there are 
environmental issues involved.

-- 


Erik

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