Why Images of the Buddha Shouldn’t Be Printed on Merchandise.

Images of the Buddha are created for Buddhists to use in paying respect. They remind us of His infinite kindness toward mankind. Before Prince Siddhartha became the Buddha, He sacrificed many things including a luxurious lifestyle. He even practiced extreme asceticism while searching for a way to end the cycle of rebirth. After He attained enlightenment, He began teaching people to end their suffering and to reach Nirvana. He continued this until the end of His life. Therefore, He should be respected by everyone.

After the Buddha went to Nirvana, His disciples created objects to represent Him, for instance, Buddha statues, pagodas, and paintings. Buddhists use them to pay homage and to recollect His teaching to end suffering. However, nowadays, many people print His images onto merchandise such as clothes, hats, cups, and even socks. This is extremely inappropriate for the following reasons:

1. Such items degrade and disparage the Buddha because they are made for daily use and not for paying homage. Images of the Buddha represent the Buddha Himself and aren’t just simple images that can be printed on anything. Images of the Buddha must be put in a proper place for paying respect.

2. Printing images of the Buddha on clothes is extremely inappropriate because human bodies are full of sweat and other bodily excretions. When clean clothes are worn, they become dirty. When clothes are washed, shirts, pants, socks, and underwear are all washed together. The image of the Buddha should not be subject to such degradation. Therefore, it is inappropriate to print His images onto clothes.

3. It taints Buddhism. The Buddha is the prophet of Buddhism, so printing His image onto merchandise shows disrespect and causes people to lose reverence for the Buddha. Therefore, it destroys Buddhism overall.

4. It erodes individuals’ beliefs. It makes people think that merchandise bearing His image are merely pieces of art, and that His image can be used for anything. Some may even think the story of the Buddha is just a fairy tale, and that he never existed.

5. It creates confusion and conflict. Some people might think that it is acceptable to print the Buddha’s image on merchandise because they refer to His teaching saying that we should let things go. In fact, the meaning of “letting things go” is to rid oneself of feelings of love, greed, anger, and delusion. It doesn’t mean letting go of respecting people, common sense, or basic decency.

6. It causes other people to imitate this wrong behavior and therefore causes the desecration to spread and makes the situation worse than it currently is.

Please help us spread the word and stop disrespecting the Buddha and Buddhism