Painting My New Base--need Ideas!

[SaraDunn]

Alright, so most of you saw my post asking for some help in buying my first hookah.

I'm now painting the blue base with gold. I've already finished the outside of the rim with "Om Mani Padme Hum":


Which is a Tibetan Buddhist prayer.


"This is the "mani mantra," which is considered by many to be the ultimate expression of compassion in the universe. it is said that simply knowing that the mantra exists is enough to protect you in the ninth circle of hell - that it is the literal embodiment of the avatar of compassion. for me it is a spiritual armor." --some website


Is there any other cool things you would paint on the main base?


What have you guys put on your bases?


I've kinda run out of ideas...so I thought I'd turn to you guys.
Anyone know about Buddhist stuff I could put?

I'll post pictures of my painting once I find my digital camera.

[Jones]

Buddhists have a hell?

[SaraDunn]

Buddhists have a hell?

No idea, I'm Agnostic.
It's for my boyfriend, he's Buddhist. I'll ask him.

I don't think they do in the sense of a Christian one.

[art_official]

i havnt really painted anything on any of my bases, with how many people that go through my room smoking, my bases dont last too long unfortunetley ( i need one of ericas fund jars)

but thats really impressive you should post a picture when its all done!

[cymptom]

It's not a "hell" as normally perceived in the Western sense.... in Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism there are different levels of existence (6 and 10 respectively), the lowest of which is "Avichi" (Sanskrit), which is a place of constant (but not necessarily eternal) suffering. I'm not exactly sure how it's conceived in Tibetan Buddhism since I believe that draws on a number of different traditions.

That particular Mantra is so widely cited and has become such a pop culture fascination recently that I wouldn't really want it on my hookah... especially since it's in a language I can't understand except in others' translations. You see so many people now with Om tattoos and stuff like that, and it's really just kinda silly because most don't understand all that it implies nor are they dedicated to any kind of Buddhist "path" so to speak -- Eastern exoticism has always been superficially appealing to Westerners for a multitude of reasons. If I was gonna put something Buddhist on my hookah, it'd probably be something more Zen-ish like an empty circle or something, since I'm not so much into the cosmological sects. But I'd never claim to be Buddhist, so I probably wouldn't do that