Q: Two Different Buddha's
declared by Amarkosha
A: Amarsinglia compiled many Buddhist scriptures and books.
Many of these fell into the hands of Shri Shankaracharya, save and except
"Amarkosba", he burnt all other books. The book preserved by him
incorporates the details about Buddha, we are gathering them for your
information :
-sarvajnah sugato buddho dharmarajah tathagatah
-samanta bhadro bhagawan marajit lokajit jinah
-sadabhijno dasablo advayavadi vinayakah
-munindrah shrighanah Sasta munih
-
-shakyamuni tu yah sah shakyasimhah sarvarthasiddha
-sauddhodanah ca sah
-gautamah carkabandhuh ca mayadevisutah ca sah'
Above sloka contains eighteen names of Buddha, from the word 'Sarbajna' to
'Muni', from 'Sakyamunistu' to, Mayadevisutascha sah' meant for
Shakyasingha Buddha. The aforesaid Buddha with eighteen aliases and
subsequent Buddhas with seven aliases are not the same Buddha; on this
point we may refer to the commentaries written by Shrila Raghunath
Chakraborty. We shall try to convince the reader by quoting the required
portion, those three slokas were divided by Raghunath Chakraborty in two
parts, first portion till Muni, remaining portion e. g., till the word
Muni. 'Astadash Buddha' means from 'Sarbaina Munih' to Buddha. So, Sugata
also means Vishnu Buddha, and the commentary of `Ete sapta
Shakyabangshabatirneh Buddhamuni bisheshe" i. e., that is from Shakyamuni
till "Mayadevi Sutashca" from Shakya dynasty. From that sloka and
commentary it appears, clearly that Sugata Buddha and Shakya Singha Buddha
are not the same person.
Q: Do other Buddhist books
describe two Buddhas
A: Besides, Shri Shankaracharyas favorite 'Amarkosha' many
other Buddhist scriptures like Prajnapiramita Sutra, Ashtasahasrik
Prajnaparamita Sutra, Shatasahasrik Prajnapdramita Sutra, Lalita Distara
and others give proof of three classes of Buddhas. Human Buddha,
Bodhisattwa Buddha and Adi Buddha. Among human Buddhas, Goutam is one. He
came to be called as 'Buddha' after the attainment of Bodhi. Saihanta
Bhadra is mentioned among Bodhisatwa Buddhas. Besides, eighteen names of
Buddhas as incarnations of Vishnu, we find the mention of other Buddhas in
the above books.
Q: Do the Veda's predict
Buddha's incarnation?
A: In the Srimad-Bhagavatam there is a list of the avataras,
and there is mention of Lord Buddha's name. This Srimad-Bhagavatam was
written five thousand years ago, and it mentions different names for
future times. It says that in the future the Lord would appear as Lord
Buddha, his mother's name would be Anjana, and he would appear in Gaya. So
Buddha appeared twenty-six hundred years ago, and the Srimad-Bhagavatam,
which was written five thousand years ago, mentioned that in the future he
would appear.
Q: Is there more than one
avatar incarnation of Buddha?
A: This incarnation of Lord Buddha is not the same Buddha
incarnation we have in the present history of mankind. According to Srila
Jiva Gosvami, the Buddha incarnation mentioned in the Vedas appeared in a
different Kali age. In the duration of life of one Manu there are more
than seventy-two Kali-yugas, and in one of them the particular type of
Buddha would appear. Lord Buddha incarnates at a time when the people are
most materialistic and preaches commonsense religious principles. Such
ahimsa is not a religious principle itself, but it is an important quality
for persons who are actually religious. It is a commonsense religion
because one is advised to do no harm to any other animal or living being
because such harmful actions are equally harmful to he who does the harm.
But before learning these principles of nonviolence one has to learn two
other principles, namely to be humble and to be prideless. Unless one is
humble and prideless, one cannot be harmless and nonviolent. And after
being nonviolent one has to learn tolerance and simplicity of living. One
must offer respects to the great religious preachers and spiritual leaders
and also train the senses for controlled action, learning to be unattached
to family and home, and enacting devotional service to the Lord, etc. At
the ultimate stage one has to accept the Lord and become His devotee;
otherwise there is no religion. In religious principles there must be God
in the center; otherwise simple moral instructions are merely subreligious
principles, generally known as upadharma, or nearness to religious
principles.
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