Here ya go…

Notorious B.U.D.D.H.A.… the common man who ultimately transcends the boundaries. As Biggie rhymed in his classic “Juicy“:

I made the change from a common thief
To up close and personal with robin leach

Rather than sitting under the Bodhi tree, Notorious BUDDHA achieves enlightenment free-styling on the street corner, mic in hand. He then comes back to the world (hits it big with a record deal) to teach others the path to enlightenment. His left hand points downward to his motto of enlightenment (also from “Juicy”):

If you don’t know, now you know, nigga

In Buddhist statuary, the Buddha also is sometimes shown with his hand point downward in a gesture relating to “Calling the Earth to Witness.”

With palms inwards, the right hand touches the ground and “calls the earth to witness” the Buddha’s enlightenment. The gesture symbolizes unshakable faith and resolution and is the most common posture for Southeast Asian temple images.

Another motto rises from the BUDDHA’s microphone: “Ready to Die”. It is both the name of his break-through 1994 album, and a statement about overcoming opposites, achieving enlightenment, and ready to cross the final threshold. It is also an omen to his own death. Above his other shoulder is a compass rose, the meaning of which is two-fold. First it is a pun on the East-meets-West combination of the Buddha with a “gangsta” rapper. Second, it is also reference to the East Coast vs. West Coast “beef” which eventually took the life of both Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur. It’s a symbolic reminder that there’s only a razor’s edge separating the transcending of boundaries and falling prey to them.