Warning Signs on a Pagoda

This is another example of a cartoon by JMP where it seems the poor execution is obscuring a deeper meaning that is not quite accessible.

In the first image, a pagoda with a nasty-looking human face is beside a stream, with a sign that says, "Don't Swim." Then, a similar meanness is seen on the pagoda in the next panel, which is atop a long flight of stairs, with the sign, "Take Off Your Shoes." In the third panel, the same unpleasant pagoda has an outstretched human arm, with the sign, "Couples Not Allowed." Throughout these images, the Buddha looks on in stupefaction, until the final panel, when he has apparently destroyed a pagoda, and with a self-satisfied grin we see a sign reading, "Don't Build Pagodas Here."

Aside from his standard critiques on organized religion, it's unclear to me what JMP is really getting at here. One might suggest that the Buddha is taking his hammer to a collection of metaphorical rules that the pagoda manifestation is imposing on Burmese society. And yet, the Buddha's life was characterized by the guidelines he continually imparted to his lay and monastic followers, so it's not like he was an anti-rule figure. Or maybe JMP is asserting that the Buddha would not appreciate outwards structures of the faith at the expense of inner development. If so, this is a rather awkward way to indicate this point, and anyway, Buddhist pagodas came about in the first place as a structure to safely store and honor relics from the Buddha, himself. And as I've said in previous commentaries on JMP's cartoons, it is rather uncomfortable to see the Buddha depicted in the role of being an active agent of destruction, as this immediately contradicts anything we know of his life and teachings. In my opinion, JMP would do better to use another avatar to illustrate whatever points he is trying to make.

Perhaps I'm missing some other aspect of commentary that JMP is attempting here. If so, I invite readers to share their thoughts on the deeper meaning of this cartoon.