Why is the Weeping Buddha crying?

Factual Questions
1

I’m visiting my nephew who has a statue of the Weeping Buddha. We both are wondering why is he weeping? Checking google only gives answers for why others are crying. Anyone know why the Weeping Buddha is crying? Would appreciate hearing from you. Thanks

2

Garsh, I’m a Buddhist and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a weeping Buddha.

Got a picture?

3

Here’s what Google gives

http://images.google.com/images?svnum=100&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q="weeping+Buddha"&btnG=Search

4

Dukkha?

Why does Buddha weep? The world is profoundly sad, they say, and someone must always weep for its sorrows, so that you and I can be joyful.

5

A friend of mine brought me back a Weeping Buddha from Indonesia, and his explanation from the craftsman he bought it from was that the world is basically a deeply sad place, ergo the Weeping Buddha cries so we don’t have to.

I’ve heard other Buddhists say that the Weeping Buddha is basically nothing more than a piece of fine art sold to Westerners and should be appreciated for it’s aesthetic value, but really nothing more. That’s why I have it and that’s why my friend brought it back for me, though I find the story the craftsman spun for him to be sweet.

IANAB, clearly.

6

Oh, now I see.

Well, when I was visiting Indonesia many, many years ago I purchased one of these, they come in every imaginable size and quality.

It was called a Yoga man back then. I don’t think it’s a Buddha, sorry.

And as far as I know, it’s a practise exercise for wood carvers. These are the carvings you get to work on until you hone your skills, then, and only then, do you get to move on to more complicated things. You get the practise of shaping body parts, muscle and tendon, good training for later full body shaped sculpture, without the having to struggle with more difficult parts like faces, hands, ears etc. I was told this story by a master carver in a wood carving village outside of Ubud.

I’ve heard them called all sorts of things in market places but this is the first time I’ve ever heard of it being called a weeping Buddha. Of course you can call anything whatever you want, it might increase sales who knows, but it doesn’t change what it really is.

7

I don’t think anyone is arguing the point that it’s a legitimate Buddha. That’s just what it’s commonly known as in the States/Western World.

8

…because he’s not attracting the credulous multitudes that a weeping Madonna would?

9

I’ve seen stories in English about Buddha weeping for having fought, when young, in a battle where you unkowningly killed his own son. This sounds way out of line of the normal buddha storyline, so I’m not sure how it was started or how this very non-buddha-like carving became called buddha, but I guess the commercialization of religion to the soft-hearted once again rears its sappy head.