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This Buddha is at a monastery
near Lhasa called Pabonka. Notice the money on the glass covering
of the image. The money is placed there by pilgrims, who believe
they will recieve a blessing from this specific Buddha. The stone
"bowl"in front of the Buddha contains yak butter with wicks inside it.
It is called a butter lamp. This lamp will be lit all the time before
the image. |
| This Buddha is found in
the Jokhang Temple. It was in a carpentry shop inside the Jokhang
where Different things for the temple were being made. When we were
there the carpenter was making a shelf. This Buddha was hanging on
the wall. Notice the picture on the button at the top. That
is a picture of a high lama that has died. There is also some sort
of worship or reverence given to that image as well. The white scarf
around the image is a "kada". This is a scarf that is given in honor
to people as well as to the idols. They are often given out a weddings,
goodbye parties, graduations parties, etc. The longer the kada the
more honor is being given. |
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This is called the 100
hands and 100 eyes Buddha. If you look carefully you will see
3 heads and many pairs of hands. And then in the background around
the image you will see something that looks like a fan. That is actually
arms and hands extending out of the image. In each image there is
an eye. If you count them there should be 100 of each.
I of course did not. Notice on the glass there is no money.
That is because this is actually a small chapel that is closed to the public
right now because of construction. A monk took us back there and
allowed us to see the image. In the from you see lit butter lamps. |
| This is the long life
Buddha. It is in a small temple right beside the one above.
The smaller image at the left is the Buddha of the past. There is
also one on the right which is the Buddha of the future. This Buddha
has alot of pilgrims coming to it because it offers long life. The
heads you see in the front are pilgrims circumambulating (walking in a
clockwise direction around a sacred object) infront of it. In front
again you see many butter lamps. And in between the images you see
a kada. |
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This is a protector Buddha.
You can recognize them by their black face and fierce look. The red
and blue colors are often seen around them. Notice again the money
on the glass and the kada. Many times the protector Buddhas have
their face covered with a cloth or a veil of some type, especially if it
is the specific protector of that temple or monastary. It is also
interesting to note that not all the Buddhas will have butter lamps infront
of them because each Buddha has it's own appetite. So some Buddhas
will have wine in front of them, some will have tsampa (roasted barley
flour), some might have beer. It all depends what that specific Buddha
likes. |