http://www.cleverscampcamp.com/canister-carrying/
Want to learn more about my Buddhas?
I have 3 buddha’s I would like to learn about… One is standing carrying a bag, and has a flat canister in his hand looks like to me anyways. I have another one carrying a bag and a lantern it looks like in his other hand and a buddha that is sitting down with one leg bent and one up can anyone tell me a little bit about these guys.. Thanks
The first two Buddhas – the fellows with the bag – are actually not representations of Shakyamuni Buddha. Instead, they are representations of Budai, a Chinese monk who lived around 950 CE in central China. Budai was known for many things, including generosity (the bag contains treats for all beings), good fortune (his big belly), and the ability to foresee the future. After he died, people believed that he was an incarnation of Maitreya, the future Buddha.
Here are some images of Budai (Hotei in Japanese). You can check to see if your statues look something like these guys:
http://images.google.com/images?client=safari&rls=en&q=hotei&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi
The third statue – sitting with one leg up – is most likely a representation of the Guanyin, the Bodhisattva of Compassion. Again, this character is not Shakyamuni Buddha, but an image of the deeply enlightened energy within all people that can hear and respond to the suffering cries of the world.
Guanyin in shown in many guises, but yours sounds like “Water Moon Guanyin” – the bodhisattva the represents change (water) and illusion (moon). She is popular in the Zen school. You can check this image to see if it looks like your statue:
http://www.worldtaichiday.org/photos/NelsonAtkinsBoddhisatva.jpg
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