a Buddha's-birthday repost (edited)

I somehow missed the fact that tomorrow is the Buddha's birthday in South Korea. My boss reminded me of the event. So we have tomorrow off. This birthday is celebrated at different times of the year in different countries, but for South Korea in 2024, it's on May 15—tomorrow, a Wednesday. Because Vesak is a national holiday here (Koreans don't say "Vesak"; they call this day 부처님오신날/Bucheo-nim oshin-nal—Buddha-arrival day—or 석가탄신일/Seokga tanshin-il—Shakyamuni's day of birth), Koreans are supposed to get a weekday off, so Wednesday has been chosen as that day.

When you create a Dalma-dō (picture of Bodhidharma), certain traits need to appear:

(1) a big forehead, bushy eyebrows, and a beard;

(2) an expression of intense, almost constipated concentration;

(3) pendulous Buddha-ears with an earring;

(4) a big, hula-hoop halo;

(5) huge, glowering eyes because Bodhidharma supposedly ripped his eyelids off during his nine-year meditation so as to keep himself from falling asleep;

(6) a bit of hair by the ear (this is optional), and the suggestion that the robed monk is a mountain, with the halo representing the sun rising over the mountain's peak (symbolizing enlightenment). Also, very often but not always, the characters bul and shim (佛, 心), meaning Buddha and mind.

None of the above is a picture of the Buddha, except in the Mahayana sense that we can all be Buddhas, expressive of and incarnating Buddha-nature. Specifically, these are all past attempts at depicting Dalma-daesa, a.k.a. Bodhidharma, First Patriarch of Zen Buddhism and Indian father of Chinese kung fu. Since I don't normally draw the Buddha himself, these images will have to do.

So! Do you have any special plans for the Buddha's birthday? Since it's going to be raining, I'll be spending my day cooking and maybe writing up a review of "Invincible," Season 2.