Why does the Buddha have big ears?
Recently at a talk, someone pointed to the Buddha statue and asked me, “Why does the Buddha have such big ears?” Buddhas and bodhisattvas are always portrayed as having large, pendulous ears. In Western culture small ears close to the head are thought to be the most beautiful, but in the Orient large ears are looked upon as auspicious because they indicate wisdom and compassion. So, the Buddha is depicted as having big ears because he is the compassionate one. He hears the sound of the world – hears the cries of suffering beings – and responds. The important thing for us is not how large our ears are, but how open are our “mind ears.” At our last Enlightenment Day ceremony, Zen Master Seung Sahn gave a talk in which he posed the question, “If Buddha got enlightenment today, what kind of enlightenment would he get?” He then answered himself, “Crying for the suffering of this world.” What does this kind of enlightenment mean? Our morning bell chant uses the phrase “dae ja dae bi.” “Dae j
