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Long Bin-Chen, a New York-based artist originally from Taipei, sculpts books. He’s especially fond of depicting the Buddha, such as this sculpture made out of phone books. The artist explained that this is an effort to make the Buddha meaningful to the West:
Since colonial times, Westerners have taken Buddha heads from the Buddha statues in Asia and brought the Buddha heads back to the West. Today, while one finds so many Buddha heads in Western museums and galleries, equally many Buddha bodies in Asia are headless. The Buddha head is an important cultural image from Asia. Yet, by and large, it is misunderstood in Western societies. In this project, I chose the most beautiful Buddha head I found at a museum to use as a model and created this Buddha head from New York City telephone books. The Buddha Head contains the names and numbers of millions of New York residents. The Head will represent a caring Buddha, a Buddha from the East who has come to take care of the West.
Link via Dude Craft | Photo: New York Optimist
The Buddha’s Hand is an unusual fruit rarely found in American grocery stores, but common to parts of China and India. It’s so named because its fingers are said to represent the hands of the Buddha praying:
In China the fruit is often carried in the hand or simply placed on a table in the home to bring those who live their good luck, happiness and long life. Its Chinese name, fo-shou, means exactly that when it is written alongside other characters. As well as culinary and household use the fruit, before maturity, is often prescribed as a tonic.
Link via The Presurfer | Photo by Flickr user gumdropgas used under Creative Commons license
You’ve seen square watermelon and even heart shaped cucumbers, but Buddha pears? They are made with a cool plastic mold that is attached while they are still little. I’d love to say more about them, but I don’t speak Spanish Portuguese, so I can’t read the original site. Any of you Neatorama readers care to help translate?
Link Via BoingBoing
