The many faces of the Buddha

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Val and I are in Washington, D.C. for a week. Val is attending a training course in the city and I am on vacation mode, fresh from boot camp. 

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One of the fattest checks I've made on my bucket list was visiting the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. Its two Asian art galleries are the Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. It took me two visits to see the galleries because the collection was so extensive. I wasn't sure if I wanted to see the artwork because I thought that the exhibits would be very similar to what I've seen in Bangkok, in Hyderabad, in Manila, or in San Francisco. My hesitation was noted by the guard, who then encouraged me to talk with one of the docents so that I could find a theme I could focus on while on my self-guided tour of the galleries.


I'm so glad that I walked in because I found "Encountering the Buddha" to be a fascinating exhibit. Note that I have almost no understanding about Buddhism and the first question I have been wondering about is why does the Buddha have so many different faces? 


There were four Buddha busts on display (from Thailand, Indonesia, India, and Pakistan). They all definitely looked thinner than the fat, smiling, and jolly Buddha statues that I've grown up seeing. Reading more about the differences, I learned that the smiling Buddha statue actually represents Budai, a saint in Zen Buddhism; he is distinct from Gautama Buddha, whose different representations were exhibited. The four Buddha busts all showed that he had elongated ears, curly hair tied into a top bun,  and the dot between his eyes. All these features indicated that he used to be a rich prince (the heavy earrings stretched his earlobes) who had reached perfection after he renounced Earthly possessions.

In museums, Buddha statues are typically looked upon as art pieces. But these statues are also sacred to the people who practice the religion. So one part of me was hesitant in taking photos because I didn't want to be disrespectful. In one part of the exhibit, there's a Tibetan shrine room. Continuous chanting and dark interiors made me rethink about going into the room; I might be disrespecting Buddhists as they prayed inside. However, it wasn't an active worship site and viewers typically just took a look and left. This was in such large contrast from the Buddhist shrines I've seen in Bangkok: people were actually praying, hence, I had to be very quiet as I looked at the artwork... and I had to pay attention about what I was allowed or not allowed to do as a tourist.


As I took a closer look at the statues, I thought that maybe not all of them are Buddha statues. Some statues might be of Buddhist saints... it's just difficult for me to differentiate one from the other because they shared the same pose (at first glance). 

There were so many exhibits to see at the Freer | Sackler galleries; hence, I didn't have a chance to dig deeper into the Buddha's teachings and cultural importance. Little by little, I'll understand the Buddha's narrative. But in the meantime, it was time to visit the other exhibits.

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