Buddha Statue In Yard

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Many a time I had tea and lunch at the Asia Society in Manhattan and visited the exhibits. I don’t think that’s breaking God’s law. We are not required to be ignorant of other beliefs. Knowledge and even appreciation from an artistic standpoint is not something to fear.
 
We had a statue of the Blessed Mother in the back yard. There’s a world of difference between that and a statue of a false god.
 
I didn’t ask you what you have in your yard. We are talking about giving away a Buddha and you think it is wrong. I asked you to explain why. You seem to think a cultural organization should not have a Buddha if it so desires.
 
Randolph said:
Pope Francis encounters many religious leaders and are given many gifts.
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Should the head of the Catholic Church accept a Satanic object through which demons can possess your soul?
Of course not.
I will go with the actions of His Holiness the Vicar of Christ, Pope Francis. After all, he has been given the keys from our Lord and Saviour.
 
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Margaret_Ann said:
There’s a world of difference between that and a statue of a false god.
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Indeed, throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament, and the life of the Church, our faith has repeatedly warned us about false gods—paganism. But yet, it just keeps on creeping back under the false pretense of tolerance and ecumenism. It confuses the faithful about the One God—Father, Son and the Holy Spirit with the many false gods.

It’s the very first Commandment…
 
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@Randolph gave a good explanation in his reply to me.
 
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AlNg said:
Should the head of the Catholic Church accept a Satanic object through which demons can possess your soul?
Of course not.
I will go with the actions of His Holiness the Vicar of Christ, Pope Francis. After all, he has been given the keys from our Lord and Saviour.
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Help me understand your point… Because Pope Francis—our Holy Father/Vicar of Christ—accepted statues of Buddha as gifts from religious leaders, therefore we can have statues of Buddha (or other pagan statues) in our homes??

False gods are real. They are dangerous to the souls. That was precisely the reason why Scriptures were so against them.
 
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Randolph said:
Pope Francis—our Holy Father/Vicar of Christ—accepted statues of Buddha as gifts
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I think we should all follow the wise example and the solemn teachings of Pope Francis. After all he is the representative of Christ on earth, is he not?
As His Holiness Pope Francis has said to the Supreme Sangha Council of Buddhist Monks:
“ It is a great joy for me to be with you. … I express my esteem for the all those in Myanmar who live in accord with the religious traditions of Buddhism. Through the teachings of the Buddha, and the dedicated witness of so many monks and nuns, the people of this land have been formed in the values of patience, tolerance and respect for life, as well as a spirituality attentive to, and deeply respectful of, our natural environment. As we know, these values are essential to the integral development of society, starting with its smallest but most essential unit, the family, and extending through the network of relationships that bring us together – relationships rooted in culture, ethnicity and nationality, but ultimately in our common humanity. In a true culture of encounter, these values can strengthen our communities and help to bring much needed light to wider society. … If we are to be united, as is our purpose, we need to surmount all forms of misunderstanding, intolerance, prejudice and hatred. How can we do this? The words of the Buddha offer each of us a guide: “Overcome the angry by non-anger; overcome the wicked by goodness; overcome the miser by generosity; overcome the liar by truth” (Dhammapada, XVII, 223). … Dear friends, may Buddhists and Catholics walk together along this path of healing, and work side by side for the good of everyone who lives in this land. In the Christian Scriptures, the Apostle Paul challenges his hearers to rejoice with those who rejoice, while weeping with those who weep (cf. Rom 12:15), humbly bearing one another’s burdens (cf. Gal 6:2). On behalf of my Catholic brothers and sisters, I express our readiness to continue walking with you and sowing seeds of peace and healing, compassion and hope in this land. “
 
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AlNg said:
I think we should all follow the wise example and the solemn teachings of Pope Francis. After all he is the representative of Christ on earth, is he not?
As His Holiness Pope Francis has said to the Supreme Sangha Council of Buddhist Monks:
“ It is a great joy for me to be with you. … I express my esteem for the all those in Myanmar who live in accord with the religious traditions of Buddhism. Through the teachings of the Buddha, and the dedicated witness of so many monks and nuns, the people of this land have been formed in the values of patience, tolerance and respect for life, as well as a spirituality attentive to, and deeply respectful of, our natural environment. As we know, these values are essential to the integral development of society, starting with its smallest but most essential unit, the family, and extending through the network of relationships that bring us together – relationships rooted in culture, ethnicity and nationality, but ultimately in our common humanity. In a true culture of encounter, these values can strengthen our communities and help to bring much needed light to wider society. … If we are to be united, as is our purpose, we need to surmount all forms of misunderstanding, intolerance, prejudice and hatred. How can we do this? The words of the Buddha offer each of us a guide: “Overcome the angry by non-anger; overcome the wicked by goodness; overcome the miser by generosity; overcome the liar by truth” (Dhammapada, XVII, 223). … Dear friends, may Buddhists and Catholics walk together along this path of healing, and work side by side for the good of everyone who lives in this land. In the Christian Scriptures, the Apostle Paul challenges his hearers to rejoice with those who rejoice, while weeping with those who weep (cf. Rom 12:15), humbly bearing one another’s burdens (cf. Gal 6:2). On behalf of my Catholic brothers and sisters, I express our readiness to continue walking with you and sowing seeds of peace and healing, compassion and hope in this land. “
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Pope Francis is our Holy Father and the Vicar of Christ. There is nothing wrong with what he said.
 
Well, what I suspect you have in your yard is a statue of the, “Happy Monk.” This is just to give greater awareness to Catholics. This figure is what you will typically see at Chines Restaurants. I don’t know too many details about him other than he is not a Buddha and is more like a Patron Saint, but of material things like good fortune.

There are different Buddhas with different traditions. So, for example under Tibetan the current Dali Lama is supposed to be the reincarnation of the original Buddha. There is Guantama Buddha who is featured in Herman Hesse’s Sidartha, from India. The oldest tradition of Buddhism is Mahayana which would be Chinese. There would be more Buddhists in the world were it not for Communism in China and the Cultural Revolution.

This is just for greater awareness for Catholics out there. I grew up with Buddhists but they were Vietnamese or Thai and likely Hinayana. My neighbor across the way from me is Buddhist and he plays peaceful bells all day, which are nice to listen to as I smoke my rolling tobacco. Again, just for clarification there are also many Catholic Vietnamese.

As for what you should do about the statue. Well, you say it’s big and heavy. I don’t know if there are Buddhists in your community, but you can use Craigslist to advertise if someone wants it. Or, if it doesn’t bother you it’s probably the Happy Monk. So, it’s not a Pagan Idle or an image of a god.
 
Didn’t Pope Francis condemn the destruction of those Amazon false idols they were putting in churches
 
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Man, that’s beautiful Pope Francis said that. Thomas Merton was among Buddhists before he died. I know now psychology takes a cue from Buddhism and calls the practice of meditation, Mindfulness therapy to secularism it.
 
GordonP said:
Of course we can. The Buddha is in no way a god of any sort. He was a human with no divine nature. Hence the First Commandment has nothing to say about him or a statue of him.

And of course, we can have statues of pagan gods, too, as long as we don’t worship them. The Vatican is packed with statues of Greek and Roman gods, and gods of many other religions, on open display.
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I agree that there are statues/paintings of Greek gods throughout the Vatican. They are there as arts and historical/fictional figures that are not to be worshiped. It’s noteworthy go point out that Greeks gods have been for quite sometime believed to be mythical.

Buddha is not mythical. He was a real person. His statue is an object of worship in world in the tune of tens of millions of people everyday and has been so even before the birth of Christ. Buddhism is a pagan religion—whether or not Buddha himself was divine.

I grew up in a Catholic home in Asia. The priests and nuns there taught us to stay away from Buddhism and his statue/picture. I strongly believe they were right. Buddha is extremely influential—so is his image.
 
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Kind of a separate question, but would it be wrong to have such a statue, one from another religion, just because you think it looks cool? Say, having a buddha statue or the likes and never even knowing that it’s a buddha statue. Maybe never even knowing of the religion from which it originated
 
In other words, just having it more as a piece of art, such as a painting or a statuette
 
Okay. You people sit tight, hold the fort and keep the home fires burning. And if we’re not back by dawn… call the president.

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If you’re not worshipping it, just leave it and tell your goddaughter it’s not her yard and to lay off.

A lot of us have some type of Buddha or Kwan Yin or Ganesha or whatever as a decoration that we don’t worship. Demons don’t fly down and possess it.
Irethegoat said:
Kind of a separate question, but would it be wrong to have such a statue, one from another religion, just because you think it looks cool?
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Assuming it’s not blasphemous to Christianity or otherwise offensive in and of itself (for example some kind of hideous devil statue), then no, it’s not wrong.
 
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I agree, 'Tis.

And I thought I posted this. Maybe it got edited out but up in Kansas City Atkins museum there is this huge (maybe10 foot tall) carved wood statue of Guan Yin. It is amazing and beautiful…
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