[Buddha-l] Photographs of buddha-l regulars

[Michel Clasquin]

On 01 Nov 2006, at 7:33 PM, Richard Hayes wrote:

> It always amazes me how little resemblance there is between how people
> actually look and how I imagine them to look
>
> I have looked in vain for on-line photos of a few other of my favorite
> buddha-l contributors.

Of course. Since we do not have selves, we see no point in self- 
aggrandizement. At least not something as obvious as splashing our  
image all over the net. Who do you think we are, Paris Hilton?

> One thing I have spent too many idle moments doing is trying to  
> imagine what
> the Buddha looked like.

Just for amusement, there is this portrayal from Gore Vidal's novel  
"Creation":

The Buddha was small, slender, supple. He sat very straight, legs  
crossed beneath him. The slanted eyes were so narrow that I could not  
tell if they were open or shut. Someone described the Buddha's eyes  
as being as luminous as the night sky. I would not know. I never  
actually saw them. Pale arched eyebrows grew together in such a way  
that there was a tuft of hair at the juncture. In India this is  
considered a mark of holiness.

The old man's flesh was wrinkled but glowing with good health, and  
the bare skull shone like yellow alabaster. There was a scent of  
sandalwood about him that struck me as less than ascetic. ... he  
seldom moved either his head or his body. Occasionally he would  
gesture with the right hand. The Buddha's voice was low and  
agreeable, and seemed to cost him no breath. In fact, in some  
mysterious way, he seemed not to breathe at all.

> Or was the Buddha even an Indian? After all, we have excellent  
> iconographic
> evidence that he looked like a slender Greek god, or a chubby  
> Korean. In
> another century or so I'm sure we'll have iconographic evidence  
> that he
> looked like a Dane, perhaps a bit like Ole Nydahl.

Apart from the beard, I have no problem with creating, I mean  
discovering long-buried iconographic evidence that the Buddha also  
resembled Andrew Weil . . .