If a pregnant woman refers to her enlarged abdomen as a "Buddha-belly", should "Buddha" be capitalized?
Posted by Christine (Member # 1646) on :
Yes, although as a pregnant woman I take offense to that anology. Posted by Elan (Member # 2442) on :
As a pregnant woman you should be referring to yourself as "Shamu."
I think it depends on whether you are referring to buddha as a noun or a proper name:
1) Some people revere Buddha as a spiritual teacher.
2) The monks taught us we can all be buddhas.
Personally, I would capitalize "Buddha-belly" as it would reference a specific individual, more or less, rather than a generic group of people.
(Edited to add a smiley so Christine knows I was joking!)
[This message has been edited by Elan (edited October 04, 2005).]
Posted by Christine (Member # 1646) on :
I assumed she was referring to the man, Buddha, since he is the one with the belly.
Shamu? grrrrrrr
Posted by Robyn_Hood (Member # 2083) on :
Thanks for the feedback. It is intended as a term of endearment. In a story the husband rubs his wife's tummy every morning before going to work because "it's good luck for the baby."; as a result the wife starts refering to her tummy as her "Buddha-belly".
Posted by Corky (Member # 2714) on :
I thought the one whose belly you rubbed for luck was a Chinese fellow named Ho Tai (or something like that).
So I went and checked on Google and found out he's a Zen monk as well as the Chinese god of Good Fortune and Guardian of Children (so that connection works for pregnant women, in a way).
Posted by Corky (Member # 2714) on :
He's called "the Laughing Buddha" as well, and he carries a sack of goodies for children (reminds me of someone....)
Posted by Ahavah (Member # 2599) on :
That was my comment about capitalization, I believe. I thought it should be lower case, since buddha-belly was being descriptive and wasn't actually referring to Buddha. It jarred me, but perhaps it's just a personal preference. Sorry if that's the case.
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
I suppose it would depend on what cultural point of view it was coming from. I generally see the spiritual leader referred to as "Buddah," but I've seen the statues referred to both as "little buddahs" and "little Buddahs."
When reference is made to the little statues of Jesus one sees around, I've never seen "Jesus" not capitalized.
Posted by Christine (Member # 1646) on :
Ahavah, this isn't a matter of preference so much as correctness. Buddha, in this case, is referring to a man. We know that because we're talking about his belly. Let's say you wanted to compare someone else's belly to my belly:
She has a christine-belly.
She has a Christine-belly.
The first just isn't right.
Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :
It's also the implication. The quality being described attaches to Buddha the person, not to buddhas.
There is a little bit of a...because Buddha's fat belly is symbolic of his contented state, just like his long ears show wisdom. But the implications of "Buddha-belly" as opposed to "buddha-belly" are still the important thing. Go with whichever one you want to use. I like "Buddha-belly" as having a straightforward and accessible meaning.
