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Ramseth

I believe everybody has seen one or more Buddha statue before. The Buddha is always sculptured with long curly hair tied up in top knot. Whereas the Buddha obviously had never shaved his head, why do Buddhist monks shave their heads?

Mid

A: When the prince who was to become the Buddha left his palace to seek a way beyond ageing, sickness and death, it is said that one of the first things that he did was to shave off his hair and beard and put on the yellow cloth . Buddhist monks always completely shave their head and beard, showing their commitment to the Holy Life (Brahmacariya) of one gone forth into the homeless life. (In India some ascetics tear out their hair, while others never touch it so that it becomes a tangled mass.) A rule states that a bhikkhu should not allow his hair to grow beyond a certain length or time, so he will shave usually at least once a fortnight or month, sometimes more frequently. To do this he uses his razor, which is also one of his requisites. 'Hair-of-the-head' (kesa) is one of the five parts of the body mentioned in the ordination ceremony and is used to recollect the true nature of the body. The bhikkhu is also not allowed to dye or pluck out any grey hairs, for they are useful reminders of old-age and impermanence. (Just consider how much time and money is wasted by people trying to make their hair remain beautiful and young-looking.)

FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) on the Buddhist Monks' Rules.

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Ramseth

Thanks lots. But then why isn't Buddha statue sculptured with shaven head?

DrAndy

I thought they were

what looks like hair on some is in fact snails

they crawled onto his head to protect him from the sun whilst he was meditating

Mid

pass .......

Frankenstein

The Buddha was not a buddhist monk.

Ramseth

Wasn't the Buddha is the first founding Buddhist monk?

DrB0b

Not all Buddha statues have hair, just the majority. The earliest Indian Buddha statues showed the Buddha with a shaved head.

Older traditions, preserved in the Nikayas, state that Buddha was a "Mundaka", a shaven headed monk. Later tradition, from the Mahavastu, the Nidanakata, and the Lalitivistava say that the Buddha cut his hair with a sword, leaving some of it intact, and that after the he never needed to cut his hair again. This is now the most popular tradition and the Buddha is usually represented as conforming to this image. Also, one of the thirty-two marks of a Buddha is having hair in ringlets which curl to the right so it was a convenient way of showing that a particular image was of the supreme Buddha and not of a disciple or a lesser Arhat. The topknot is also not a topknot, it's a lump, called Ushnisha, symbolising wisdom attained through enlightment.

Only the very earliest Buddha statues attempt to show the genuine physical likeness of the Buddha, almost all those now in existence are purely symbolic and are meant to be "read" rather than just looked at.

From the Nidanakata:

"Then he thought, These locks of mine are not suited for a mendicant. Now it is not right for any one else to cut the hair of a future Buddha, so I will cut them off myself with this sword.' Then, taking his sword in his right hand and holding the plaited tresses together with the diadem on them with his left, he cut them off. So his hair was thus reduced to two inches in length, and curling from the right, it lay close to his head. It remained that length as long as he lived, and the beard the same. There was no need at all to shave either hair or beard any more. The Bodhisattva Guatama then threw the hair and diadem together towards the sky. Sakka received them into a chedi in the heaven of the Thirty-three gods"

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Ramseth

Another interesting observation. Most if all not Buddhist statues depict the Buddha's features as somewhere between an native continental Indian and an East Asian. How could this be true? Prince Siddharta was an Aryan. He should look like somewhere between a German, Polish and Italian. Most if not all paintings of Moses and Jesus depict them as blue-eyed blondes. How could this be true? They're native middle-eastern semites who should look like somewhere between Arabs and north Africans.

vinlyn

I think you misunderstand the word Aryan as used in regard to Buddha.
Aryan: A Much Misunderstood Word

Ramseth

Wow...that's a response almost a year in coming...thanks.

DrB0b

^Go check out the thirty-two signs of a Buddha and forget the Western idea that art is representational, in Asia it's not - it's symbolic.

Ramseth

I've heard this version. Early Buddhism had no statutes for some 300 years or so until Alexander the Great invaded India and brought along with him the Greek idea of statue worshipping.