[Buddha-l] Remaining in Samsara

Tue Nov 11 00:54:54 MST 2008

Good day,

I posed myself a question of how exactly the idea of 'remaining in 
Samsara to help others' originated in Buddhism, especially in Theravada.

Evidently, among Theravadin countries, this started in the 8th century 
in Sri Lanka (see citations in the end of the message). Simultaneously 
there developed the cult of Lokesvara Natha (Sri Lankan version of 
Avalokitesvara).

"The cult of Avalokitesvara also spread to Sri Lanka. This is a little 
surprising as Sri Lanka primarily follows Theravada Buddhism, while 
Avalokitesvara was originally a strictly Mahayana conception. In Sri 
Lanka, he is called Natha, which is an abbreviation of Lokesvaranatha, 
which means "Lord of the World". He has become identified with the 
bodhisattva Maitreya, the "future Buddha". He is also seen as being 
identical with several Hindu gods. Natha is seen as the guardian deity 
of Sri Lanka, and is reportedly worshipped primarily because he is 
regarded as a pragmatically useful source of advantages in the 
phenomenal world. Although I have been able to find very little 
information on it, apparently the cult of Natha has also spread with 
little change to other Theravada Buddhist countries, such as Cambodia 
and Burma.

In Nepal, Avalokitesvara is conflated with the Brahman deity 
Matsyendranath. He is worshipped in elaborate rituals which are 
performed by a priestly caste. Ordination is handed down from father to 
son, with some important positions being sold to the highest bidder from 
within the caste. According to one reporter, the meanings behind the 
rituals have been largely forgotten. However, they continue to be 
performed because they are customary and are considered to bring luck."

Avalokitesvara and Tibetan Contemplation, by Karen M. Andrews
http://www.dharmaweb.org/index.php/Avalokitesvara_and_Tibetan_Contemplation,_by_Karen_M._Andrews

The name Natha, and the Avalokitesvara connection, points to the Nath 
(Mahasiddha) tradition. There we find the statements like:

"According to a recent Nath Guru, Shri Gurudev Mahendranath, another aim 
was to avoid reincarnation. In The Magick Path of Tantra, he wrote about 
several of the aims of the Naths,

     "Our aims in life are to enjoy peace, freedom, and happiness in 
this life, but also to avoid rebirth onto this Earth plane. All this 
depends not on divine benevolence, but on the way we ourselves think and 
act."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nath

"Mahasiddhas are a form of bodhisattva, meaning they not only have the 
spiritual abilities to enter nirvana whenever they please, but they are 
so compassionate they resolve to remain in samsara instead to help others."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahasiddha

So it seems that the idea of remaining in Samsara emerged under the 
influence of such notion in Mahasiddha (Nath) tradition.

Has any author explored this connection?

Best regards,
                Dmytro

"By the eighth century C.E., the amalgamation between the institution of 
kingship and bodhisattvas became even stronger. At this time, we find 
evidence of certain Theravaadin kings in Sri Lanka, Burma, and Thailand 
who openly declared themselves to be bodhisattvas. For example, King 
Ni`s`sanka Malla (1187-1196 C.E.) of Polonnaruva, Ceylon, states that "I 
will show my self in my [true] body which is endowed with benevolent 
regard for and attachment to the virtuous qualities of a bodhisattva 
king, who like a parent, protects the world and the religion." (38) In 
other epigraphical markings, there is a reference to King 
Paraakramabaahu VI as "Bodhisatva [sic] Paraakrama Baahu." (39) Finally, 
the conflation of kings and bodhisattvas on the island of Sri Lanka is 
established most strongly by King Mahinda IV, who not only referred to 
himself as a bodhisattva as a result of his bodhisattva-like resolute 
determination, (40) but who even went so far as to proclaim that "none 
but the bodhisattas would become kings of prosperous La^nkaa." (41)

...

51 - There is evidence that suggests that certain lay people living in 
Sri Lanka took bodhisattva vows to attain buddhahood. For example, we 
find that two Sri Lankans, after freeing their children and wives from 
slavery, dedicated the merit derived from these actions "for the.benefit 
of all beings" (Epigraphia Zeylanica, 4:133, nos. 1-4) as well as to 
their own attainment of "Buddhahood as desired" (ibid., 4:133, nos. 
2-3). We also find a similar wish made by a "lay" person who lived 
between the fifth and eighth centuries and who sculpted or commissioned 
the sculpting of a rock in the shape of a stuupa.

http://www.budsas.org/ebud/ebdha123.htm

"In Sri Lanka, in the 10th Century, King Mahinda IV (956-972 AD.) in an 
inscription proclaimed that "none but the Bodhisattvas would become 
kings of Sri Lanka (Ceylon)". Thus it was believed that kings of Sri 
Lanka were Bodhisattvas.

A Thera named Maha-Tipitaka Culabhaya who wrote the Milinda-Tika (about 
the 12th Century AD.) in the Theravada tradition of the Mahavihara at 
Anuradhapura, says at the end of the book in the colophon that he 
aspires to become a Buddha: Buddho Bhaveyyam "May I become a Buddha," 
which means that this author is a Bodhisattva.

We come across at the end of some palm leaf manuscripts of Buddhist 
texts in Sri Lanka the names of even a few copyists who have recorded 
their wish to become Buddhas, and they too are to be considered as 
Bodhisattvas. At the end of a religious ceremony or an act of piety, the 
bhikkhu who gives benedictions, usually admonishes the congregation to 
make a resolution to attain Nirvana by realising one of the three Bodhis 
- Sravakabodhi, Pratyekabodhi or Samyaksambodhi - as they wish according 
to their capacity.

http://www.budsas.org/ebud/ebdha126.htm

"By about the tenth century, this belief had become so strong that the 
king of Sri Lanka had not only to be Buddhist but also a Bodhisatta. The 
Jetavanarama Slab Inscription of Mahinda IV (956-972 AD) proclaimed

"None but the Bodhisatta would become kings of Sri Lanka …….(who) .... 
received assurance (vyaran) from the Omniscent Buddha."

http://www.lankalibrary.com/Bud/establishment.htm

"The bodhisattva concept had its influence in the evolution of kingship 
in Sri Lanka, too. For some time between the fourth and the eleventh 
centuries CE, the kings of Sri Lanka began to be regarded not as 
ordinary human beings but as bodhisattvas. The Jetavanarama 
slab-inscription of Mahinda IV and the Pritidanakamanapa inscription of 
Nissanka Malla are instances where the rulers refer to themselves as 
bodhisattvas. The Rajatarangani (p. 470 and the Nikayasamgrahava, ed. 
Kumaranatunga, p. 24) also bear evidence to this. Parakramabahu II says 
that he would become a Buddha (Mahavamsa, ch. 86, stz. 7).

http://www.budsas.org/ebud/ebdha238.htm

In Burma, the relationship between kings and bodhisattvas is exemplified 
with King Kyanzittha, who claimed himself to be "the bodhisatva [sic], 
who shall verily become a Buddha that saves (and) redeems all beings, 
who is great in love (and) compassion for all beings at all times... 
[and] who was foretold by the Lord Buddha, who is to become a true 
Buddha." (42) In another instance, King Alaungsithu wrote that he would 
like to build a causeway to help all beings reach "The Blessed City 
[i.e., nirvaa.na]." (43) Finally, kings `Srii Tribhuvanaaditya, Thilui^n 
Ma^n, Ca~nsuu I, and Naato^nmyaa all referred to themselves as 
bodhisattvas. (44)

42 - Epigraphia Burmanica, 1:146.

43 - P. M. Tin, "The Shwegugyi Pagoda Inscriptions, Pagan 1141 A.D.," 
The Journal of the Burma Research Society 10 (2) (1920): 72.

44 - T. Tun, "Religion in Burma, A.D. 100-1300," The Journal of the 
Burma Research Society 42 (1959): 53.

http://www.budsas.org/ebud/ebdha123.htm

After a war between the Mon and the Myanmar in which the Mon initially 
attacked and then conquered Ava itself, the Myanmar king Alaungpaya 
(1752-60), who believed himself a Bodhisatta, crushed Mon resistance 
once and for all. After Pago had fallen into his hands in 1756, Lower 
Myanmar was devastated and many of the Mon survivors fled to Thailand or 
were deported as slaves.

...

Bodawpaya is also reputed to have been beset by a form of megalomania. 
He wanted to force the Sangha to confirm officially that he was the 
Bodhisatta of the next Buddha to come in this world cycle, the Buddha 
Metteyya.

http://www.cambodianbuddhist.org/english/website/lib/bps/wheels/wheel399.html

In Thailand, a similar connection is drawn. One example of a Thai 
bodhisattva-king is Lu T'ai of Sukhothai who "wished to become a Buddha 
to help all beings... leave behind the sufferings of transmigration." 
(45) The relation between King Lu T'ai and bodhisattvahood is also 
manifested by the events occurring at his ordination ceremony that were 
similar to "the ordinary course of happenings in the career of a 
Bodhisattva." (46)

http://www.budsas.org/ebud/ebdha123.htm