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Does Buddha consider as one of the Dhasavatharam?

MariappanM

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I am.surprised to see Buddha in Dhasavatharam. What is going on in Wikipedia?

No surprise at all. Buddha is considered an avatar of Vishnu by many all over India. Even the well known Dasavatara Stotram by M.S. Subbulakshmi which was recorded decades ago mentions it.

 
Some Hindus consider Budha as an avatar, whereas others consider Balarama as an Avatar.
For Buddhists, Buddha is not an avatar of Vishnu.

Clearly, for more than a thousand years, Buddhism and Hinduism were rivals. But they influenced each others’ philosophies and mythologies. Adi Shankaracharya was accused of being Prachanna Bauddha, masking Buddhist ideas in Vedic lore, for example; and Buddhist concept of heaven and hell reveal a strong Puranic influence.

Initially, followers of the Vedas (Nigama traditions) were opposed to followers of the Puranas (Agama traditions) as they valued yagna rituals over the puja rituals of the temple. But gradually, the Nigama and Agama schools merged, and the brahmachari-sanyasi acharyas became heads of monastic orders as well as temples. This happened about a thousand years ago. Around this time, Buddha came to be seen as an avatar of Vishnu. However, this Buddha was not Gautama Buddha of the Buddhists.

In some texts, such as Bhagvata Purana, Vishnu takes the form of a hermit to trick asuras away from Vedic rituals, enabling devas to defeat them. Here, the hermit is associated with Buddha as well as Jina (from the monastic Jainism, another rival religion). In other texts, such as Gita Govinda, Vishnu takes the form of a hermit to save animals from animal sacrifices, referring to the idea that at least some Vedic sacrifices involved offering of animals (an idea that many orthodox Hindus reject and see as wrong interpretation). Over time, Vishnu’s ninth avatar was seen as the hermit, perceived by some as Buddha and by some as Jina. This was, perhaps, a strategic move to get many Buddhists and Jains to become a part of Vaishnavism, and later Hinduism. Or maybe it was a sincere move to show how, sometimes, to save the world, Vishnu has to renounce the world and become a hermit-teacher.

For the Buddhists, Sakyamuni Buddha is a historical figure who lived 2,500 years ago, and a metaphysical figure (Adi Buddha) who manifests as the compassionate Bodhisattva for the benefit of humanity. There is no Vishnu, or Shiva, in their worldview. Different truths exists in different periods of history and different geographies of the world. We need to respect the faith of the faithful, rather than imposing our views about who Buddha really was or was not. And, it is important to recognise the politics underlying such assertions.

 
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Perhaps the most important reason for the decline of Buddhism as a separate religion was the absorption of its founder in the Hindu pantheon of gods - indeed an irony for one who denied their existence! There are many incarnations of Vishnu of which the Dasavatar or the ten incarnations are the most well known. In the Southern tradition they are: matsya (fish), koorma (tortoise), varaha (boar), Narasimha (the man-lion), Vamana (the dwarf) Parasurama (the angry prince), Rama (the perfect human), Balarama, his younger brother Krishna (the divine statesman) and Kalki (the redeemer of righteousness in the kali yuga, who is yet to appear). In the Northern tradition Balarama is replaced by Buddha who appears as the ninth avatar after Krishna, his mission being to purify Hinduism. Srimad Bhagavatam (circa 900 AD, according to Farquhar) takes the stand that Krishna is the original form of Vishnu and the incarnations were all his. In its list of Dasavatar, which many consider as the most authentic, both Baladeva (or Balarama) and Buddha appear. Krishna is not mentioned because he is the original god. The Dasavatara Stotra of Jayadev (12th century), parts of which are included in Adi Guru Granth compiled by Guru Arjun Singh, follows the list of Bhagavatam. In this scheme, Buddhism was like the reformation movement of Martin Luther in Christianity. Once Buddha himself became an incarnation of Vishnu there was no need for the religion to exist separately in this country.

 
A JOINT DECLARATION: BUDDHA IS NOT AN AVATAR OF VISHNU

'Siddhatta Gottama', The Actionist, 5 June 2010

The above cartoon is based on the article 'Compassionate Goodwill' by S. N. Goenka originally published in the December 1999 issue of the Vipashyana Patrikā and later in the Vipassana Newsletter (Dhamma Giri Edition), June 2000. The issue the cartoonist brings to light is the error of considering the Buddha (Siddhatta Gotama) to be an incarnation of Vishnu. Goenka explains that this is an insult to Buddha because Buddha's goal was to liberate people from the cycles of birth and death, and Vishnu is clearly an evolutionary being who incarnates repeatedly. The real joke is that the Hindu sage Shankaracharya is more than happy to sign a joint statement regarding Buddha NOT being an incarnation of Vishnu because those upholding the Vedic wisdom know it is an insult or error to consider Buddha to be among the evolutionary avatars who incarnate in specific (fixed) astrological ages to improve (not escape!) the conditions of life on Earth. In short, the Vedic wisdom does not consider transcendence/negation of physical existence and cycles of death and birth to be the highest goal of spiritual or evolutionary attainment.

Below is Goenka's 'Compassionate Goodwill', which includes his logic for excluding Buddha as an avatar, as well as his dialogue and
joint communiqué with H. H. Shankaracharya, followed by Sri Aurobindo's thoughts on Buddha's misunderstanding of the evolutionary journey and the goal or height of human existence.

 
We popularly believe that, Lord took 10 Avatars to protect the world. But, ancient texts do not support Dashavatara theory. In the Srimad Bhagavatam (1st Skanda, 3rd part), it is said that, Lord took 22 main avataras. It adds to say that, there are countless minor Avataras and that, every great personality is a part (Amsha) of Lord.

May be, one of the most confusing and least discussed Avatara is that of Budda Avatara. Many people believe that, Goutam Budda (Siddartha) is Lord’s Avatara. Many people argue against this, as many of the preaching of Goutama Budda is against Sanatana Dharma.

The Story on original Budda Avatara is as follows:

Tripurasura was a demon who had a very pious and chaste wife. Since she was always praying for her husband’s good health and long life, the demigods were unable to violate her good conduct and kill the demon. Hence, Rudra, popularly known as Shiva, along with the demigods, sought the help of the Supreme Lord Vishnu.

Tripura’s wife was a chaste woman who went on a pilgrimage to temples to pray for the longevity of her husband and security of her status as a married woman. At one place she saw very beautiful handsome Buddha who was digambara or nude and lost her heart to him and embraced him in ecstasy forgetting her mission. This Buddha was the avatara of Vishnu meant to mislead all demons to hate the Vedas by his mesmerising words. So once her chastity was lost, the devas were no longer honor bound to fulfill her prayers (as she has become sinful) and it was easy for Rudra (Shiva) to kill Tripurasura.

In most of our temples, Dashavatara statues are carved on the doors or on sides. More often, we can find that, Budda is carved as a naked man. Even, in the dashavatara slokas, we mention “Battale Nintiha Boudha” (Budda standing naked).

Nowhere in the history of Goutama Buddha, there is a mention that, he stood naked. Only Jain religion talks about Digambaras and not Buddist. So, we can conclude that, the Budda that we believe an avatara of Lord is not Gautama Budda.

If we believe that, Goutam Budda is Lord’s Avatara, then all his preaching will become as sacred as Bhagawat Gita itself and we cannot question anything. He did rejected many of the sayings in Vedas and Puranas. I have no doubt that, Gautam Budda was a very learned person and he did a great help in introducing Ahimsa into Sanatana Hindu Dharma. As Bhagavat says, “Every great personality has Lords Amsha in him”, Gautam Budda must have Lord’s amsha in him. But, I will stop short of accepting him as an Avatara of Lord himself.

 
How many Avatars of Vishnu are narrated so far?
There are twenty two + Avatars (incarnations) of Vishnu in the Bhagavatha Purana. Sikh’s Dasam Granth written by Guru Gobind Singh has listed 24 Avatars of Lord Vishnu.

But Bhagavatha Purana says his incarnations are innumerable. Whenever Vishnu comes down in some form to help a devotee, it is considered an Avatar. But later Puranas made Ten Avatars more popular and grouped them under Dasavatar. The strange thing about this list is suddenly Buddha’s name was inserted as an avatar of Vishnu!! In short Buddha was Hinduized or reconverted to Hinduism!!

After Buddha’s death some fanatics started “Buddhasizing” everything. The entire ancient Hindu stories from proto Panchatantra folklore, Ramayana and Mahabharata to Puranas were converted as stories of Buddha’s previous Avatar. Six hundred such stories were collected as Jataka Tales. In short they “stole the Avatar concept” from the Hindus and converted all the characters as Bodhisatvas. Bhagavatha Purana of the Gupta period included the Buddha in the Avatar list. Then came a clever man among the Hindus by name Jayadeva (1200 CE), the author of Gita Govindam, who gave a final blow to the already dying Buddhism, by including Buddha as an avatar of Lord Vishnu in his Gita Govindam. Nobody bothered or objected to it. Hindus can digest anything that comes their way. They digested all the invading western tribes. In the same way Buddhism was also absorbed by including the Buddha in the list of Ten Greta Avatars.

Jayadeva’s hymns known as astapathis included Buddha in the following sloka:
“O you merciful heart denounced the Veda where the slaughter of cattle was taught. O Kesava, you in the form of the Buddha, victory to you, Hari, the lord of the world”.
The commentator also said the Buddha did not condemn the whole Veda but only the part of it which supported sacrifices.

In the next verse Jayadeva listed all the ten incarnations of Vishnu :-
“Who upheld the Vedas , supported the universe,
Bore up the world, destroyed the demons, deceived Bali,
Broke the force of the Kshatriyas, conquered Ravana , made the plough, spread mercy, who took the ten forms. Prevailed over aliens, Homage. O Krishna”.

Philosopher Dr S Radhakrishnan said, “ Buddha utilized the Hindu inheritance to correct some of its expressions. He came to fulfil, not to destroy.”

Bhagavatham mentioned the following 22:

1)Purusha, the male progenitor or Four Sons of Brahma 2)Varaha, the boar 3)Narada, the great sage 4)Nara and Narayana 5)Kapila, a sage 6)Dattatreya, a sage 7)Yajna, sacrifice 8)Rishaba, a righteous king, father of Bharata (may be the first Tirthankara of Jains) 9)Prithu, a king 10)Matsya, the fish 11)Kurma, a tortoise 12) Dhanvantri, the physician of the Gods.13) Mohini 14)Nara-simha, the man lion 15)Vamana, the dwarf 16)Parasurama 17)Veda Vyasa 18)Rama 19)Balarama 20)Krishna 21)Buddha 22)Kalki
Hamsa (swan) and Hayagriva (horse faced) avatars also mentioned elsewhere.

Dasamagranth gave a slightly different list with 24 avatars by adding, Brahma, Rudra, Manu, sun, moon, Seshasayi, and Jalandhara by replacing a few. But all the main ten Avatars are there.
So the inclusion of the Buddha in the avatar list was a tactical move to neutralise the effect of Buddhism. They were paid back in their own coin!

 
hi
i heard that even srimad bhagavatham says buddha is avatar of vishnu...only 3 nasthikas accepted in hinduism..

charvaka,...buddhism....jainism....all three part of hinduism/hindu dharma...even adinath first theethagara

of jainism is vishnu's amsavathara....may be avatara/amsavatharas...
 
hi

according to bhagavatham....there are 10 avatars and 24 amsavathars of vishnu.....so with in 24 many

are included ....
 
You can include anyone in Hinduism, Christ, Mohamad, Guru Nanak, Babaji, ammas as gods.
Do other religions, or other Hindus accept it? It is a different matter.

Does a Vaisnava accept that Ganesha, Shiva or Durga as God?


But what does it do to anyone? What is the purpose?

It is a wasteful exercise and pointless discussion.
 
hi

according to bhagavatham....there are 10 avatars and 24 amsavathars of vishnu.....so with in 24 many

are included ....

Same is true in Buddhism also. Theravada Buddhism acknowledges 29 Buddhas but even the early Pali texts mention 7, Gautama being the last. All of them are either Brahmin or Kshatriya. Their roots in Hinduism was never in question in the early days. But the modern "intellectuals" and some religious leaders from both sides have tried hard to differentiate their product! Rewriting history is a good occupation.
 
Same is true in Buddhism also. Theravada Buddhism acknowledges 29 Buddhas but even the early Pali texts mention 7, Gautama being the last. All of them are either Brahmin or Kshatriya. Their roots in Hinduism was never in question in the early days. But the modern "intellectuals" and some religious leaders from both sides have tried hard to differentiate their product! Rewriting history is a good occupation.
hi

Rewriting history is a good occupation. ,,,

nice....i agreed too...in the name FREEDOM OF SPEECH....FIRST AMENDMENT...
 
Frankly speaking at some point.."who is an avatar or who is not does not matter"
what matters is the message brought by the "messenger".

Lord Buddha brought one of the best messages for self realization for the world.
 
While Buddhism is not a theistic religion and
The Buddha himself rejected the idea of a creator god, and Buddhist philosophers further argued that belief in an eternal god is nothing but a distraction for humans seeking enlightenment, where is the question of Siddharth Gowtama the Buddha is an Avatar ?

Yes, Buddhism does not argue whether gods exist or not, but Gods are seen as completely irrelevant to those who strive for enlightenment.
Buddhists believe that life is both endless and subject to impermanence, suffering and uncertainty. These states are called the tilakhana, (thrilakshana) or the three signs of existence. Existence is endless because individuals are reincarnated over and over again, experiencing suffering throughout many lives.
Buddha’s teachings are known as “dhamma.”(dharma) He taught that wisdom, kindness, patience, generosity and compassion were important virtues.
Brahmanyan,
Bangalore.
 
the compiler of amarakosha was a budhist. the names of vishunu were mixed up with budha.hence some confusion. goutama budha is not an incornation of vishnu under the popular dashavataras.
 
While Buddhism is not a theistic religion and
The Buddha himself rejected the idea of a creator god, and Buddhist philosophers further argued that belief in an eternal god is nothing but a distraction for humans seeking enlightenment, where is the question of Siddharth Gowtama the Buddha is an Avatar ?

The Buddha also said that there have been Buddhas before him and there will be future Buddhas as well. He also described the state of non-ego as sunyata which has been taken to be nothing or everything. So one can easily see how the Avatar principle has come into being where Buddhas appear periodically from that everything.
 

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