The Buddahs Earlobes

On Saturday I really enjoyed visiting Nara. It was amazing to see the architecture of Kasuga Taisha and Todaiji. I really liked how Kasuga Taisha was located in the forest, it really gave the shrine a old traditional feel. The amount of lanterns that were lined up along the paths was also amazing. Its crazy to think that those were made one by one. Seeing the huge Buddha at Todaiji was an awesome experience. The Buddha was even bigger than I imagined it was seriously astounding. While there I wanted to find a detail about the Buddha that I could write about so I was looking at it for a while. I eventually realized that the ears on all the Buddha were really big so I took some pictures and decided to search online and see if there was any symbolism or deeper meaning behind the ears. After some researching I learned that Siddhartha Gautama before becoming Buddha was very rich and wore big gold earrings which eventually stretched his earlobes. After he renounced his royalty he took out the ear lobes leaving his earlobes stretched and droopy. These stretched ears have turned into a symbol of letting go of material wealth and status in exchange for the search of enlightenment. In Buddism there is a focus on letting go of material things so that after death one can reach Nirvana so this interpretation fits well within the religion and its beliefs. It is said that there is also a second meaning behind the elongated ears. They symbolise the Buddhas ability to "hear the sufferings of the word",  showing his attentiveness and care for the beings in this world. 




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