Buddha

For the article about the first historical Buddha see Siddhrtha Gautama

The title of Buddha (a term Sanskrit - Male or neutral, feminine: - "alert", perfect passive participle of the root "awake") .

Many of the Buddhas, the most known being the founder of Buddhism , Gautama Siddhrtha , archetype of "pure and perfect Buddha" ( samyaksambuddh).

The word buddha is in Sanskrit , the part past liabilities of the verbal root bhudh ( budh by operation of law Grassmann ). It explains the dsapiration budh-ta-dha bud by law Bartholomae. The root meaning "awakening" of the same etymon Indo-European that the ancient Greek (punthnomai) "Resources" or the German and English to bieten bid (after deep semantic changes), among others many derivatives in the Indo-European languages , the word buddha literally means therefore "has awakened". Western languages have borrowed the Sanskrit term, adapting to their spelling (in French Buddha, Buddha in English, etc.)..

The Sanskrit word was transcribed phonetically in Chinese way (see this article for details ) by characters , reading currently and abbreviated The Japanese have taken the form just as phonetic reading, often abbreviated (butsu) also delivered

Three types of arousal

Statue of Buddha, not localized

From the outset, the Pali texts distinguish three paths to enlightenment :

• Is rvakabuddha (Sanskrit-Pali savaka buddha), listener, one who has attained Nirvana through the teaching of a Buddha. It is more often called arhat and is not always considered a Buddha.
• Is pratyekabuddha (Sanskrit, Pali pacekka-buddha), solitary Buddha, one who found the way by himself, but lacks the capacity to free other beings.
• Is samyaksambuddha (Sanskrit, Pali sammmsam-buddha), pure and perfect Buddha, one who has attained the pure and perfect enlightenment (samyaksambodhi) by itself and has the capacity to teach the Dharma. Achieve this awakening request to follow the career of the bodhisattva.

It is this latter type that most often refers to the term Buddha. The most famous example is the historical Buddha, Shakyamuni , but other samyaksambuddha are recognized and revered.

After his nirvana, the Buddha is free from any link ( samyojana ), but can still be affected by the disease or poison, if his body has thirty-two marks are distinctive, it is nevertheless composed of four elements and thus perish. However, some texts describe the virtual invulnerability of the perfect Buddha, a result that it has evacuated its bad karma , especially by sacrificing many lives during parts of her body or her life. The wound inflicted by Devadatta Shakyamuni is thus interpreted as a sign of a slight remainder of bad karma.

In the Theravada

Maitreya , the Buddha of the future, with the vial containing the nectar of Dharma in the left hand; art of Gandhara , II ^century.

Early Buddhism or Theravada Buddhism considers that very few people take the path of the bodhisattva , culminating in the awakening of the pure and perfect samyaksambouddha who can "spin the wheel of Dharma" and spread the doctrine worldwide. They have vowed many lifetimes ago before a Buddha of the past. Details of the bodhisattva career could vary from school to school. The Buddhavamsa describes a process comprising three aeons before entering the existence in which the bodhisattva becomes a Buddha. Having reached Nirvana , the Buddha (as the arhat) saw his last life, death signals the total extinction ( parinirvana ).

From the beginning, Buddhism recognizes, in addition to the Buddha of our era, a number of past Buddhas who preceded him. The Digha Nikaya and the Samyutta Nikaya acknowledge six other pieces of twenty-four, the Buddhavamsa twenty-seven; the Apadana of Khuddaka-Nikaya goes up to thirty-five. Regarding the future Buddhas, Maitreya announced by Gautama himself, is the only known to the Pali canon, but post-canonical texts as Dasabodhisattuppattikatha and in Dasabodhisattaddesa have nine, seven are appointed to their place of Residence: Metteyya (Maitreya), Rama, Pasen, Vibhuti live in paradise Tusita , Subhuuti, Nalagiri, Parileyya reside in paradise Tavatimsa .

In the Mahyna

Buddha pagoda in Frejus

According to Buddhism, Mahayana and Vajrayana , everyone can have the ambition to become a Bodhisattva and Buddha nature (tathagatagarbha) can be recognized in all sentient beings. The Buddha is no longer strictly the one who attained Nirvana, but rather one that has transcended duality Samsara / Nirvana. Moreover, a Buddha manifests in three aspects called the Trikaya :

• the "body transformation" nirmanakaya , appearance in recorded human history, the only perceived by humans;
• the "enjoyment body," sambhogakaya , perceived by some bodhisattvas;
• the "dharma body" absolute, Dharmakaya , the fruit of the highest wisdom, the Buddha nature, emptiness (Sunyata) where dualities vanish.

The first two bodies are just ways to teach due to compassion.

In the Vajrayana

The Vajrayana incorporates the concepts of Mahayana. In addition, the absolute body is sometimes called Adibuddha ( tib. Thogme sangya) or "self-created Buddha" and may be a fourth body sahajakya transcendent, primordial, unchanged, indestructible, formless and without action, although it may give rise to visible fumes. He was appointed Dainichi in Buddhism Shingon , Samantabhadra in the oldest Tibetan school ( Nyingma ) and Vajrasattva or Vajradhara in the future as current Kagyu and Gelug.

The adibouddha generates fumes that create themselves other emanations, buddhas, bodhisattvas, wrathful forms, etc.. The archetypal model is the group of five Buddhas of meditation. The level which is a figure can vary according to the traditions or the type of Tantric practice. Thus, Dainichi, the central figure of the group of five Buddhas, is considered in the current Supreme adibouddha Shingon, but as an emanation of Samantabhadra adibouddha or Vajradhara in Tibetan Buddhism.

One hundred and twelve marks

The body of a Buddha is adorned with thirty-two major brands: for example, feet and hands are a representation of a wheel, the sex is hidden in a sheath, teeth are forty in number. There are also eighty minor marks, such as sex well developed, the juvenile aspect of the body, his hands marked with the swastika or scented hair.

These brands are considered by most Buddhists, including Theravada , as under the superstition or myth, in connection with the Brahmanic tradition of the time. It seems even more unlikely that a Buddha can be identified by physical characteristics as specific as in several suttas visitors Buddha Gautama who have never seen fail to recognize among the monks around him, and should inquire about his presence.

Buddha

The historical Buddha

The Buddha delivered the discourse of Varanasi on the four noble truths for the benefit of his former classmates, after full enlightenment.

Name and Dates

The founder of Buddhism is named Siddhrtha Gautama, Siddhartha (one who has reached his goal) is given as his name, but it's probably a nick of time. Gautama, attested indisputably, is probably its gotta but some see the term "son of Gautami Lady", the one that gotta to have amounted to the death of his mother . It is also called Gautama Buddha or Shakyamuni (sage of the Shakya ) because of his membership in this clan. It carries over many epithets, as Tathagata, "the one who came and" The beginnings

Mayadevi , wife of Suddhodana modest ruler (elected) of the small kingdom of Kapilavastu consists of a confederation of tribes Shakya, visits her mother in late pregnancy. As it passes near a grove of Lumbini , a small village in Nepal near Kapilavastu, she is taking pains. She gave birth to a boy under a sal. The legends say that the Buddha's mother would have conceived in a dream, imbued in a white elephant with six tusks, that the birth was painless and sal have purposely lowered one of its branches to it grabs, while the deities Hindu rained flower petals. No sooner born, the child would have stood up and took possession of the universe symbolically turning toward the cardinal points, or he was seven steps north and pushed the "roaring lion", a metaphor of Buddhist doctrine.

The legend, still tells how his father brought him, is the only LED Asita is the eight most famous seers of the kingdom. The first seven predict a young man a bright future successor of his father, the last he left the country . The king would have shut the bad omen. His mother died quickly (after seven days according to tradition) is high because Siddhrtha Prajapati Gautami would be his maternal aunt and co-wife Shuddhodana. The young prince studied literature, science, languages, was introduced to Hindu philosophy to a Brahmin. An officer tells him to ride a horse, archery, fighting with the spear, sword and sword. Evenings are devoted to music and sometimes dance. Later, he falls in love and married at the age of sixteen or twenty years Yashodhara , his first cousin, daughter of a nobleman in the neighborhood. The newlyweds moved into three small palace: a cedar wood for the winter, a marble for the summer and a brick for the rainy season. After ten years of marriage, they give birth to a son named Rahula.

Asceticism and Awakening

Siddhartha, who is bored in the palace, began one day for a walk with him forever. He meets an old man who walks in succession with hardly a plague bubo pus covered with a weeping family carrying the corpse of one of hers to the pile, and finally a bhiksou monk beggar, a bowl in hand, looking his food without stopping to keep their eyes downcast.

The prince then understands that if his condition puts on freedom from want, nothing will ever protect old age, sickness and death. He wakes with a start one night and asked his servant, Chandaka, to harness his horse. The two men gallop up to a wood near the palace. Siddhrtha servant abandons his coat, jewels and horses and endorse the holding of a poor hunter. It calls for him to greet his father, his adoptive mother and wife and say he left them to seek the path of salvation.

Gautama then began a life of asceticism and devoted himself to austere meditative practices. Six years later, when he is in the village of Bodh-Gaya , he realizes that these practices have not led to greater understanding of things and accepts a bowl of rice pudding from the hands of a village girl, Sujata, thus ending his mortification. He advocates the middle way which is to deny the excesses, as denying that the excessive austerity laxity. Considering this decision as a betrayal, the five disciples who followed him drop out. It therefore focuses on meditation, inspired by the memory of a moment of spiritual concentration experienced child, seated under a tree while he was attending the opening ceremony chaired by plowing his father.

Siddhrtha Gautama then takes place under a pippal ( Ficus religiosa ), vowing not to move until they reach the Truth. Several legends tell how Mara , the demon of death, afraid of the power that the Buddha was obtained against him by delivering men from the fear of dying, trying to get him out of his meditation by throwing him against hordes of scary demons and his three seductive girls. But it is a waste and Buddha reached enlightenment in one hand on the floor in the posture of making the earth to witness his past merits. He claims to have reached full understanding of the nature, causes of human suffering and the steps necessary for its elimination. He always insists on the fact that it is neither a god nor a messenger god, and that enlightenment ( bodhi ) is not due to supernatural intervention, but special attention paid to nature of the human mind, so it is possible for all Beings.

Head first sangha (spiritual community)

During the forty-five years of his life, Buddha trip to the region of the Ganges and its tributaries. He teaches his meditation practice and founded the community of monks and nuns, Buddhists, the sangha , to perpetuate his teachings after his death. His school has generally supported the kings of Magadha and survived a first attempt at schism from Devadatta.

Feeling his death approaching, he asked his disciple Ananda to prepare him a bed between two Sal and dies Kusinara in the current Uttar Pradesh , at the age of eighty years. He reassured the blacksmith Chunda who offered him his last meal and was concerned, given the symptoms, having perhaps the ascetic intoxicated. The name of the dish served skaramaddavam, consists of "pork" (sukara) and "delight" (maddavam), and its exact nature, pork or mushrooms (delicious pigs), remains unknown. In any event, if vegetarianism is an ideal Buddhist monks and nuns, who beg for food, are encouraged to accept all offers made to them, even meat .

The Buddha's last words are: "Impermanence is the universal law. Work diligently to your own salvation. "

Male model

Buddhist scriptures which depict the life and character of Buddha speak of:

• Completed his education and training in relevant fields to a warrior aristocrat, such as martial arts, management of agricultural fields and literature, but also his deep understanding of religious and philosophical ideas of his culture and his time. Siddhrtha Gautama was a sportsman, skilled in martial arts such as wrestling and archery, which could travel for miles and camping in the wilderness
• His teaching ideal, which is always the appropriate metaphor, and that fits perfectly his message to his audience, whatever
• His courage and calm under all circumstances, both during a religious discussion than deal with a prince parricide (Ajatasattu) or a murderer. It is however evidence of exasperation when monks distort its teachings
• His moderation in all bodily appetites. It keeps celibacy since the age of twenty-nine years until his death. It will also be indifferent to hunger and the harsh climate.

Dipankara

Dipankara is one of many Buddhas of the past. It was during his era that the future Gautama Siddhrtha uttered the wish to become Buddha in the future; Dipankara assured him he would. Their meeting is a theme often addressed in the iconography of Buddhism in Central Asia.

Bhaisajyaguru

Bhaisajyaguru is another Buddha of the past whose help is sought to fight against diseases and disasters. It is sometimes called Buddha doctor.

Maitreya

Maitreya Buddha is sometimes called the future: both the Mahayana the Hinayana view it as the next Buddha. The Prophecy of Maitreya described his coming. He will be born into a family Brahmin , Siddhartha Gautama was then that the military officer caste Kshatriya.

Amitbha

Amitabha or Amida (Japanese) is a current Hinayana Buddha ignored. He reigns over the "Western Paradise of the Pure Land." The recitation of his name is an important practice of the school known as the Pure Land which is the main deity, some branches even consider that this exercise is enough to give access to his paradise. It also has its place in the Vajrayana Buddhism as one of the five Buddhas of meditation

Dhyanibuddhas

The five dhyanibuddhas, "Buddhas of meditation" or "Buddha of wisdom" of the Vajrayana are the emanations of the primordial Adibuddha representing various aspects of consciousness illumination ( Dhyani ). This is Dainichi (below), Amitabha (above), Akshobhya , Amoghasiddhi and Ratnasambhava.

Dainichi

Dainichi , Dainichi Maha or "Great Sun" or "Great Light", is the Buddha's central group of five dhyanibuddhas of Vajrayana, it is particularly important in the Tantric Buddhism Japanese Shingon adibouddha where it is essential. It also plays a central role in Chinese and Japanese Mahayana schools Tiantai - Tendai and Huayan -Kegon.

Samantabhadra

Usually regarded as a Bodhisattva , Samantabhadra is the primordial Buddha tradition Nyingma , "the old translation" of Tibetan Buddhism.

Vajradhara

Vajradhara is the primordial Buddha in the traditions Sarmas , "the new translation" of Tibetan Buddhism.

Buddha and Hinduism

In the Hinduism , Buddha is regarded as the ninth incarnation of Lord Vishnu. This comes from the time when the popularity of Buddhism, especially in the lower castes, was beginning to worry the Brahmins .

In section Dasavatara-stotra his Gita Govinda, the famous poet Vaishnava Jayadeva Goswami (XIII ^century AD) includes Buddha among the ten main avatars of Vishnu, and he wrote a praise as follows:

"O Keshava! O Lord of the universe! O Lord Hari, who has taken the form of Buddha! All the glory belongs to you! Oh Buddha compassionate heart, you decry the slaughtering of poor animals performed during rituals. "

This last theory is the idea that Vishnu descended to earth to stop the arrogant attitude of the Brahmins and purify Hinduism: the new doctrine he preached as the Buddha explained that anyone could escape from cycle of reincarnation by exemplary behavior, related primarily to the Ahimsa .

References

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