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By Jayaram V
"But the Buddhism of Kanishka difered much from the
ethical creed of the great Maurya. the human teacher of the four noble truths
and the noble eight-fold path now became not merely a deva(deity) but
devatideva (the god of gods). Like the Blessed Lord of the Bhagavatas or
Vaishnavas he is repeatedly born in the world of the living to remove the
affliction of the creatures and reveal to them the true law." - An
Advanced History of India by R.c.Majumdar, H.C.RayChaudhuri and Kalikinkar
Datta.
A new school of Buddhism known as Mahayana Buddhism or Mahayana
school of Buddhism or Mahayanism became
prominent during the reign of Kanishka who ruled large parts of the Indian
subcontinent in the late second century A.D. Mahayana literally means a
greater vehicle. Although its exact origin is not clearly known, it is argued
that the basic tenets of this school can be traced directly to the teachings
of the Buddha himself. Followers of this school of Buddhism did not believe
that they deviated from the teachings of the Buddha, but rather they
rediscovered his lost teachings. Mahayana Buddhism differed from
the orthodox Hinayana School in many ways. Some of the basic differences
between the two schools are discussed here.
Buddha was deified and revered as the Highest Being
The Buddha
did not make any attempt to validate the existence of the first cause or the Cause of the causes.
In the early Buddhism there was no mention of any Absolute God akin to
Brahman of the Upanishads. The followers of Mahayana deviated from this early
stand of the Buddhists and declared that Buddha himself was the first cause
and that as the Absolute Being he pervades and presides over the whole
universe.
Mahayanists describe this being as Adi Buddha, whose
manifestation on earth was the corporeal Buddha who came to the earth and
preached the Dhamma. This Being, the Eternal Buddha, has three bodies or
three manifestations. They are the body of essence (Dharmakaya), the body of
bliss (Sambhogakaya), and the created body (Nirmanakaya). The body of bliss
presides over the highest heaven, while it is the last one, the created body,
which manifests on the earth for the welfare of earthly beings.
The body of essence is the ultimate Buddha, the supreme
lord of the universe. It is the One, the eternal and the absolute. It is
omnipresent and omniscient and manifests itself as the other two bodies. It
presides over the entire universe and all the numerous Buddhas who rule other
heavens and other worlds in various parts of the universe. Mahayana
scriptures especially speak of five Buddhas, namely Vairochana, Askshobya,
Ratnasambhava, Amitabha and Amoghasiddha.
The body of bliss exists in the highest heaven and will
continue to exist till all the beings attain Nirvana. Sukhavathi is the name
of the heaven over which it presides. Here enlightened beings remain seated
infront of the Buddha's throne, in lotus buds, floating amidst a lovely lake.
Amitabha is the name that is given to the Buddha who rules this heaven. The
created body is a manifestation of this body of bliss.
The interpretation of Nirvana
The Buddha discouraged all speculations about the true nature of Nirvana. The Mahayana
school made a radical departure from the original teachings of the Buddha in
this respect. According to its tenets, Nirvana is not just a final liberation
from the suffering of continuous becoming, but also union with the Buddha's
Body of essence. Thus Nirvana that we are talking about here is not very much
different from the Vedanta concept of the blissful union of the soul with the
Eternal.
While it is difficult to speculate on how and why the
Mahayana school emerged so many centuries after the Buddha's death, we have
to admit that its cause was rooted in the ambiguity that surrounded the early
Buddhist stand on such concepts as soul and God.
But definitely the foundations of this school did not lay
in the scholastic and speculative exercises of some innovative minds, but
probably in the inner revelations that emerged out of deep spiritual
experiences during deep meditations and contemplations.
The idea of Bodhisattva as a savior of the world
According to the original doctrines of Buddhism, a
Bodhisattva attains Buddhahood after passing through many births and deaths
and performing many noble deeds. But according to Mahayana, a Bodhisattva
cannot be a selfish being who would think of his own salvation when the
entire mankind is steeped in sorrow and ignorance. True to his compassionate
nature, he would defer his own salvation for the welfare and deliverance of
other beings.
Thus Mahayana School shifted the emphasis from
personal salvation to universal salvation, from the ideal of Arhat to that of
the Bodhisattva, and the concept of accumulating merit for ones own benefit
to transferring of ones merit to the benefit of others. A monk should not be
a lamp unto himself, while there is darkness every where.
He should if necessary sacrifice his own salvation in
order to help others to achieve it. Out of his unbound love and compassion,
he should sacrifice or share the merit of his own good deeds with all the
sentient beings so that they too may secure liberation. Surely the
Bodhisattva, the most purified being, would not remain quiet when there are
chaos all around.
Thus when a follower of the teachings of the Buddha,
attains the status of a Bodhisattva, he takes upon himself the sorrow of all
the worlds and all the beings. He suffers willingly in order to mitigate the
suffering of others. He resolves to improve the merit of others, through
self-example and immense sacrifice.
The Mahayana school speaks of many Bodhisattvas.
Avalokiteswara, also known as Padmapani, is extremely compassionate and
reaches out to extend help to beings of all the worlds, even of the lowest
purgatory. Manjusri stimulates understanding among beings, by destroying
error and falsehood. He also helps the beings to cultivate the ten spiritual
perfections, such as charity, good conduct, courage, meditation, insight,
etc, which are essential for the evolution of each into a Bodhisattva.
Vajarapani, another Bodhisattva, holds a thunderbolt in
his hands like the Indra and fights against evil and sin. Kshitigarbha is
another Bodhisattva who rules over the purgatory more as a moral and fatherly
guardian than a torturer of the sinful, working in the interests of their
salvation or alleviation of suffering. Finally we have Visvapani, the
Bodhisattva who is awaiting his birth in this world as the Maitreya Buddha.
Resemblance with Christianity
It is to be noted that these Bodhisattvas reside in the
higher worlds out of compassion, by deferring their own salvation, by taking
upon themselves the sorrow of all beings, and working for others' salvation.
They can attain Nirvana any time they want. But they do not do so till every
one, even the smallest insect had attained it.
They are personification of boundless compassion and
extreme self-sacrifice. Thus the idea of suffering saviors is a concept that
the Mahayana introduced newly into Buddhism. The same concept exists in
Christianity also. For a follower of Mahayana Buddhism, Christ is very much a
Bodhisattva, while the body of bliss (Sambhogakaya Kaya) is the father in the
heaven.
Speculative theories of Mahayana
The Buddha prohibited the monks from indulging in
unnecessary speculation on such subjects as the existence of God, the nature
of reality or Nirvana. But Mahayana school did not seem discourage
speculation, for it produced many systems of philosophy concerning the nature
of reality and existence. Two important schools of philosophy are worth
mentioning here: Madhyamika and Yogachara.
The former was based upon the Sunyavada (Theory of Void)
of Nagarjuna, according to which the entire existence, samsara as well as
Nirvana, is unreal. What is real is the Void, the emptiness, which is the
Body of essence or the Adi Buddha. It alone can be termed as the true
existence.
The Yogachara school considered the world as unreal as a
dream because it is also made up consciousness. The only reality is "Suchness,"
also called Dharmadhatu, which is akin to Nagarjuna's "Void". The
Yogachara school produced many great philosophers like Asanga, Dignaga and
some important works like the Lankavatara Sutra.
Suggested Further Reading
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