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| This is a picture of a Laughing Buddha on a hotel green in the Dominican Republic back in 1990. Little did I know I'd be posting this for Yard Art on Thursdays in 2010. Neither did the hotel. I wonder if it's still there? Budai (Chinese: 布袋; pinyin: bùdài), pronounced Hotei in Japanese, is a Chinese folkloric deity. His name means "Cloth Sack," and comes from the bag that he carries. He is almost always shown smiling or laughing, hence his nickname in Chinese, the Laughing Buddha (Chinese: 笑佛). In English speaking countries, he is popularly known also as the Fat Buddha. Budai is often depicted as having the appearance of an amply proportioned bald man wearing a robe and wearing or otherwise carrying prayer beads. He carries his few possessions in a cloth sack, being poor but content. His figure appears throughout Chinese culture as a representation of contentment. His image graces many temples, restaurants, amulets, and businesses. Amongst Westerners new to Buddhism, Budai is often confused with the historical Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama. However, the two are visually very distinct. Gautama is commonly depicted as being tall and slender in appearance (although since no images of him from his lifetime exist, this depiction of him is unverifiable and possibly idealized); Budai is short and overweight. (Buddha means "one who has achieved a state of perfect enlightenment" and there are several people who have been given the title.) |
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| A fairy with wings adorns this garden. |
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| From Blossoms by Li-Young Lee From blossoms comes this brown paper bag of peaches we bought from the boy at the bend in the road where we turned toward signs painted Peaches. From laden boughs, from hands, from sweet fellowship in the bins, comes nectar at the roadside, succulent peaches we devour, dusty skin and all, comes the familiar dust of summer, dust we eat. O, to take what we love inside, to carry within us an orchard, to eat not only the skin, but the shade, not only the sugar, but the days, to hold the fruit in our hands, adore it, then bite into the round jubilance of peach. There are days we live as if death were nowhere in the background; from joy to joy to joy, from wing to wing, from blossom to blossom to impossible blossom, to sweet impossible blossom. Hey everybody it's Ruby Tuesday again and I though you'd like this peachy peach that my husband Vinny was eating. Lucky I took the shot when I did 'cuz it was gone in the next few seconds. Happy Ruby Tuesday! |
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| Here are two postcards from Seoul, Korea. I bought them when we were there back in the 1980s and waiting in the airport to fly to Hong Kong. We had no time to travel into town before our plane took off so I bought these cards. I found them just recently (today) and so I wanted to share them with you. |
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