Darragh Ennis, one of the quiz masters on ITV’s The Chase, recently had his social media followers questioning their knowledge with a “mind-blowing fact that almost everyone gets wrong”. The Dublin-born Chaser, who regularly appears alongside Mark Labbett, Anne Hegerty, Paul Sinha, Shaun Wallace and Jenny Ryan on the popular quiz show hosted by Bradley Walsh, asked his followers to picture the Buddha in their minds.
Most people have a specific idea in their heads of what the Buddha looks like – but it turns out most people are picturing an entirely different person.
He then revealed that the commonly pictured jolly figure is not the Buddha at all, but a Chinese Buddhist monk named Budai who lived about 1,500 years after the actual Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama. According to Darragh, the real Buddha was “said to be very thin” due to regular fasting.
Siddharta lived over 2,600 years ago, and worked as a teacher whose ideas formed the basis of Buddhism. Darragh then shared a picture of the person most people think of, which you can see below. “If you think of this jolly, happy fella who clearly enjoys cake a bit too much, then you’re wrong, that’s not the Buddha at all. That is a Chinese Buddhist monk who lives about 1,500 years after the actual Buddha.”
The quiz expert went on to explain the figure is actually called Budai, which makes it “a bit confusing”. “But, he was a totally different person,” Darragh added.
According to Darragh, the Buddha was “said to be very thin” because he “fasted regularly”.
Instead, he showed an image of statues that are the representations of Siddhartha Gautama, similar to the ones you can see above. “He was a prince who renounced his privileged position and wandered around teaching his peaceful philosophy for the rest of his life. If you’re not aware what those teachings are, basically it’s about finding what’s called the middle way – be not too indulgent, not too strict on yourself and emphasis on things like kindness to others, meditation and mindfulness,” explained Darraagh.
Hundreds of people took to the comment section to share their amazement. “I can’t believe it’s not Buddha,” said one person. “My whole life has been a lie,” said another. A third commented: “Yep I thought he was the little happy guy,” and Darragh replied: “You’re far from alone.”