Daily Picture Grade 4 - Day 151

Natalie feeling a little run down this morning. I think she had  low-grade fever last night. Thought maybe she was teething (that is a joke and the standard answer I give her when she runs a fever with no other symptoms). So we used the Four-Faced Buddha to help. Four-Faced Frank was originally facing Sad Sack, but I see she rotated to Angry Dude.  


You find these four-faced Buddhas's everywhere right now in Shanghai. Fake market, luxury stores, furniture stores, and Dongatai Lu is just silly with them in every stall! So of course I had to get one. But then I started wondering why these are so popular nowadays? You used to see the Laughing Buddha ( 布袋; pinyin: Bùdài) everywhere but he seems to be replaced by this more "utility" Buddha? I mean if I can use the Buddha not just for  Ready for an insight into how complicated "Buddhist" culture is here in China? Did you know that the worship of this particular Buddha is quite common by nin-mainland Chinese in Macau, Hong Kong, and especially Taiwen? The Buddha is actually the Thai representation of the Hindu god Brahma. (yes stole that from Wikipedia). In Thailand is is referred to as Phra Phrom. However a little research indicates that current popularity is probably due to the XUAN TIAN SHANG DI 玄天上帝 popularity in Taiwen. The Shanghai temple (sorry, couldn't find the name, just the description) is actually considered Taoist. The Laughing Buddha, much more of a Chinese Culture Buddha, who generally represents "contentment" seems to have been replaced by a deity representing "prosperity to industry". That is a very interesting shift (indicated by foreign shopping zone stock). Of course,  there is no easy answer as to "why is the four-faced Buddha so popular" but perhaps it is simply due to the number of foreigners purchasing it from cheap icon stalls thinking it represents ancient Chinese culture (it doesn't) and Chinese shoppers purchasing thinking it represents ancient non-Chinese culture (it does). Or it could really represent a deep shift in Chinese Culture from peasant contentment to industrial greed? I guess we won't know the answer to that before I get my sea shipment, so Four-Faced Frank will get a spot in the new house.

"Omkarabindunatam uppannam brohmasahapatinama atikappe su, a, kate pancapatunam tisva namobuddhaya vandanam. Siddhi kiccam siddhi kammam siddhi kariya tadakato siddhi teco jayoniccam siddhi labho nirantaram sabbakammam prasiddhime sabbasiddhi bhavantu." (Traditional Thai prayer used for Phra Phrom)