[Buddha-l] Remaining in Samsara
Dmytro O. Ivakhnenko
aavuso at gmail.com
Tue Nov 11 14:24:18 MST 2008
Dear Justin,
Thank you for response.
I have read this article by Jeffrey Samuels, and quoted it in my
previous message.
There's a detailed article about Dutthagamani at:
http://www.vipassana.info/d/dutthagaamanii.htm
This king did not use any 'Bodhisatta ideal', since there was not such a
thing at that time.
Jeffrey Samuels writes that "he appears to demonstrate certain
bodhisattvic qualities", which is highly tenuous.
Mahavamsa just states that Dutthagamani was reborn in Tusita heaven, to
become later a chief disciple of Metteya.
http://lakdiva.org/mahavamsa/chap032.html
No 'remaining in Samsara to help others' involved. Mahavamsa was written
still before the Bodhisattva cult was introduced in Sri Lanka.
Best wishes,
Dmytro
Justin Whitaker пишет:
> Dear Dmytro,
>
> You might want to read Jeffrey Samuels' 1997 article looking at the
> Boddhisatt(v)a ideal:
>
> Samuels, Jeffrey. 1997. "The Bodhisattva Ideal in Theravāda Buddhist
> Theory and Practice: A Reevaluation of the Bodhisattva-Śrāvaka
> Opposition" In /Philosophy East and West/ Vol. 47-3: pp. 399-416
>
>
> Available online at:
>
> http://ccbs.ntu.edu.tw/FULLTEXT/JR-PHIL/jeffrey2.htm
>
> He suggests that as early as 101-77 BCE the Bodhisatta ideal was being
> used by Sri Lankan kings, namely Dutthagamani.
>
> (http://www.indopedia.org/Dutthagamani.html)
>
> "Though Du.t.tagaama.nii is not
> referred to as a bodhisattva in the Mahaava.msa, he
> appears to demonstrate certain bodhisattvic
> qualities. Just as a bodhisattva renounces the
> enlightenment of an arahant so that he could be
> reborn countless times in this world of impermanence
> and suffering out of compassion for all beings, so,
> too, did King Du.t.tagaama.nii renounce the world of
> the devas in order to return to this world of
> suffering for the sake of the Buddhist doctrine and
> out of compassion for all inhabitants on the island
> of Sri Lanka."
>
>
> - p. 405.
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Justin Whitaker
>
> --
> Justin Whitaker
> PhD Candidate, Buddhist Ethics
> Goldsmiths, University of London
>
> Administrative Officer
> The Center for Ethics
> The University of Montana-Missoula
>
> 2008/11/11 Dmytro O. Ivakhnenko <aavuso at gmail.com <mailto:aavuso at gmail.com>>
>
> 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 <http://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
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