Greetings to you! As an occasional visitor to the JG forum, I have enjoyed your lively and interesting discussions from time to time.

I have not studied the sutra, but I assumed that Jizo Bosatsu was feminine, portraying the Koyasu Jizo of expectant mothers and child-giving. Still, spiritualism transcends gender and earthly existence.

Can you give any links to see her work?You made me curious!
Andrea

What does this mean mike, that women also can be bodhisattvas?

Hi all
please take your time ,visit link below and read sutra. Since most of you cannot read chinese Chracters, Look for "The ksitigarbha Bodhisattva sutra " translated by Yih-MeiGuo. there are 4 translations.

This sutra has 17 chapters. Chaper 1 and very last part of chapter 1 tell you Jizo bosatsu= ksitigarrbha Bodhisattva. If you want print all of the sutra, it will take 81 page of printing.
Just read the sutra then you will find it your self.
..........................Yama

Here is a link that might be useful: Buddhism sutras

Addtion to above information.
End of The ksitigarabha Bodhisatottva sutra, there is paninting of of Jizo Bosatus/Ksitigarbha bodhisattva . she has hair, covered her breast with cloth, and she is very beautiful.

Today's landscape archtects and garden writers ignored histrical fact and origine of Japanese gardens. They seeing as stone lantern or water basin as art piece,thory of landsace disgine origine of sutras and many monks who desigedted Japanese garden. Reading recent Japanese landscape archtects comment and Japaneas gardener who live in Japan and work eveyday as gardener may not have read one sutra his life time

Writer of JOJG Tamao Goda is attempting changing word of Riseki/ reihaiseski to " view stone " in term of Japanese gardening.
It is wrong , It is very wrong . Trying to change history without well reserched. meaning and concept of Reihai sheki / bowing to Buddha should not be charenged . I am sorry for those who beleived and trusted articles of JOJG. If JOJG want to debate about thire accuracy of history and its fact,instead of useing fake name of Kimura or Watanabe use own name and they should debated fair and square.

my 2 cents.....yama

Interesting...

Seems to be some mutability to many of the Japanese deities in that regard (Kwannon started over from China as a man, but became feminized in Japan fairly quickly). Many of the Buddha figures I have seen have been, let's say, ambiguous, in their sexual depictions; I was looking at a (picture of a) bronze Buddha with very feminine hips and DECIDEDLY feminine breasts (still labelled Shaka). The Jewish caballah treats God as an asexual being, perhaps some of that here as well?

I saw a Tibetan QuanYin/Kannon in a traveling exhibit of the Dalai Lama's religious articles at the Peabody Essex Museum (Salem, MA, USA) a few years ago. It was feminine, and the description stated that the figure was that of a woman, and that it was the "only female Bodhissatva" in the pantheon.

Perhaps individual sects or even individual sculptors or patrons of the sculptors put their own personal interpretations into some of the images. One wonders.

I don't think there is too much doubt about that Cady. Not only is interpetation a factor but also materials, tools and skill. If you saw the carvings in an Egyptian tomb you could easily imagine that ancient Egyptians were born with their heads on one side. Or you could assume that Italian men were statuesque from the way they are sculpted. You could ask why many statues of the buddha show him with curly hair when, being Indian it was most likely straight if he had hair at all. If you saw certain Indian sculptures you would imagine that they were all sex crazed contortionists and so on....
Even photographs can distort reality.

Hi all and Cady
I have been visiting Korean temple and occatioanly Chinese Temple. Chinese Painting of Seishi bosatus and Monju bosatsu some of them has long hair and aslo breast is covered. line of body is very soft and curvey.
I cannot tell much of Japanese statues. I am going to borrow a book from Mr Furuta. Mr Furuta's freind in Japan is exepert of Kannon stature. His freind wrote book about Kannon Bosatus. I borrowed once before his book. If you have more question I may able to send a letter and ask him.
as Scott mentioned. Kanon Bosatus was man when buddhism broutht from India to China, then Chinese and Korean buddhism seeing Kannon as female bosatus. The time Kannon came to Japan Kannon boatus was female. but some of old kannon statue donot cover chest with cloth and look like man.

I don't have many books about it. Information I have are
scattered.

all statue and alters are base on "GiKi" which is written instaction how Statue have to be made and alter have to made, all stature curver and alter craftman were made statue and atlter base on "Giki" curly hair and a little dot on his forehead has meaning. It is not cuver's imagination.
era, location and indvivual cuver made some diffrence
but all of them are made base on "Giki"
I hope this information helped you................ mike

I think I heard somewhere that Buddha's hair looks curly because it imitates a (complex, expensive) hairstyle worn by Indian nobles in Siddhartha's time, and indicates his princely status before he went to seek enlightenment. Does anyone know any more about this?

- Evelyn

Hi Evelyn

Top of head is called "Nikkei" . culy hair is called "Rahatsu" small dot on forehead is called "byakugo"
There are 32 distinctive body parts of Buddha.
I have to pack tonight , heading to North tomorow to see New England Snow and find out if I can suvive in cold weather. I can anwer your question but I am hopeing David explain it for you. If he dose not read this posting then I will. He might went to Hawai to see his mom.
Just matter of time you will know it..........mike

Aren't Buddhas earlobes also always depicted as very long, and long earlobes regarded as a sign of wisdom in some Buddhist cultures?

Yama-san,

Have fun in New England: with luck, you'll find a way to stay warm somehow ;)

- Evelyn

(PS. Please don't hurry to reply; please do start the New Year as you would like to go on ;)

Excellent that you are coming north, Yama-san. Not so excellent I will be going to Baltimore on Sunday (!) for a trade show all week. Dang the bad luck! Oh well I'm sure you and Cady will find things to do without me...;)

Scott

I worry for Mike. Coming north may shrink all 3 of his essential boby parts turning some of them blue.

[Okay, I know it's not nice to pick on typos, especially when I maek so many myslef, but I plead special circumstances in this case...]

Holy Camoley, Inky!
I didn't even know Mike had "essential boby parts", much less three blue ones! :)

I'll have to e-mail Cady privately next week, and see if I can get the full just-between-us-girls report :) :) :)

- Evelyn, who wonders if there's some guy named "Bob" out there who feels as if he might be missing something..

Hi guys!
Just want to let you know that Mike/Yama-san arrived safely last night, and he is in the kitchen cooking buffalo wings and some other interesting chemistry experiments with footstuffs. ;) (he insists that they are not experiments -- he just said, "I already know that they're good.")

The first thing he did when we left the airport terminal, was to up to a snow bank and kick it to see if the snow was for real. I showed him a bit of the fine art of making snowballs, probably to my eventual regret.

That's all for now. I'm going to go pig out on 'wings and bleu cheese dipping sauce!

Cheers!

Cady (and Yama/Mike)

Have fun you two. My sincerest bestest wishes to you both.

Mine, too!!!

:) Evelyn

Hi Evelyn
about Buddha's ear.
according the book of Kocho Nishimura " Butuszo no miwake kata" [ How to look statue of Buddha]. since Buddha was a prince untill he left castle, he must had earings and haveing big earing, and heavey earing made hole on ear.. the book did not mentioned wisdom. Most jizo statue do not have earings but have big ear. I have 6 Jizo bosatsu painting. one has hair like Buddha, rest of painting showing bold head.
...............................................mike