Every Buddhist "God" explained in minutes

(Greg Knows All) Every major Buddhist "God" explained in 38 minutes

• These are the "Gods" of faith-based Mahayana, Vajrayana, Jodo Shinshu, Nicheren, Shingon...rather than the much smaller (10%) back-to-basics Theravada Buddhist tradition, which recognizes countless brahmas and devas, particularly Great Brahma and Sakka (Sakra, Indra), King of the Devas, but neither worships them nor regards them as "Gods" in the Western sense.
• Pure Land (Sukhavati) of Amitabha Cosmic Buddha

Buddhism and Meat-Eating

Home for Animals, a Sanctuary (heimat-fuer-tiere.de); Wisdom Quarterly

"Well-being creates an atmosphere of trust; on the other hand, eating meat creates an aura of aggressiveness." (Lankavatra Sutra)

"The consumption of meat kills the seed of great mercy toward all living beings." (Mahaparinirvana Sutra)

Look at the animals! They are often present and safe around the Buddha, who speaks on their behalf and promotes human compassion toward them.

"Eating meat always means that one is eating the meat of living beings, whose core of being is identical with one’s own person. Eating meat means to [destroy oneself and another, as if one were to] eat one’s own flesh." (Angulimaliya Sutra)

"A meat eater smells of death, because the meat eaten became available only through an act of killing." (Mahaparinirvana Sutra)

"Out of love of purity an enlightened follower of the Buddha should abstain from eating flesh… Out of fear of taking in the terror of death of other living beings [energetically and through excreted hormones], an enlightened follower of the Buddha, who through self-discipline seeks compassion, should reject eating meat." (Lankavatara Sutra)

When the first Buddhist monastics went [from India as missionaries] to Sri Lanka, the first thing they did was to dissuade the inhabitants from hunting. More

Will I get old? (Gwyneth Paltrow music video)

Wisdom Quarterly

No topic is more popular than aging, except for all other topics. Gwyneth proves she's vital with Cee-Lo Green. She's in your face when a "Glee" cheerleader accuses her of being too old to be hip. But, as Betty White proves, 80 is the new 74.... and as "Hanna" (actress Saoirse Ronan, who celebrates a birthday today) shows, 16 is the new 21. In other words, there's no rule.

We crave to continue pleasure, to put away pain, and to escape neutral feelings, which we find distressing and "boring." This is dukkha (suffering, unsatisfactoriness, woe). This is the very thing Siddhartha set out to find a solution to. We are born (in whatever plane of existence we can imagine).

"Lost the Comic" (ytorf.com)

It is possible due to karma. But the force of karma eventually becomes exhausted. And we fall away -- sadly, even from heavenly states and, fortunately, even from states of perdition. What is the cause? Ignorance, craving, aversion, and fear lead to suffering, when our mental-verbal-physical actions bear fruit. How can we ever get off the merry-go-round the ancient Indians called Samsara?

Siddhartha became the Buddha, the "Awakened One" precisely because he rediscovered the solution. Buddhism is the teaching, the practice, the instructions that lead to enlightenment and liberation from ALL suffering.

Old Age, Sickness, and Death

Dharma Talk by Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Sensei

A pivotal moment in the life of the Buddha was the day he ventured outside the gates of his home and encountered three aspects of human life that changed him profoundly: old age, sickness, and death....

There are many things in our life that move us to practice, issues that arise in our life and demand attention. We begin to see the infinitely various ways that our greed, anger (one manifestation of which is fear), and ignorance become sources of turbulence and suffering....

But old age, sickness, and death are something we can’t get around. When these become real for us, they can’t be ignored.... [S]ickness, old age, and death constitute the major impulse behind the religious search, our desire to understand and come to peace with all that we see, feel, and experience.

They are the great equalizers; they touch us all. There’s nothing we can do [ultimately, even though there is a great deal we can do to be healthy and vital no matter what the calendar says] -- no measure of accomplishment, prowess, cunning, bribery, deviousness, or cleverness that can ultimately help us with these problems....

How much of what we do, of how we go about our lives, is colored by the constant awareness that our lives are not forever?

...What we can do is concentrate on NOW. If the way we die is the way we live, then how are we living? What can we do about that? Not just for the moment of death, but for this moment too.

New painkiller discovered by science: mindful Zen meditation (medindia.com).

[Zen] Master Dogen said: Life and death itself is the life of Buddha [awakening]. If you despise and reject it, you lose the life of Buddha. Consequently, when you are attached to life and death you also lose the life of Buddha and are left with only the outer form. Only when you do not hate life and death, or desire nirvana, will you enter the mind of Buddha. Do not try to define it with your mind or describe it with words.

When you cast off body and mind and enter the realm of Buddha, Buddha will lead you. If you follow this way, you achieve detachment from life and death and without effort or using your mind, you become Buddha. If you understand this, there is no longer attachment. So if we despise and reject life and death, we lose the life of the Awakened One, we lose the life of our own true, unhindered nature.

Can we live and die without attachments on either side? When we cling to life or death, sickness or health, youth or old age, then all we’re left with is the outer form of the Awakened One, the shell. It’s hollow and so is our experience of today. Only when we completely release our grasp can we allow the mind of Buddha to be manifest.

So how do we not despise and reject that which we are afraid of? How can we transcend our fear? What are we afraid of? ...This sickness and health we attach to, that we alternately love and hate, where is it? How can we not despise one and attach to the other? We can’t will ourselves to do this....

Origins of the Lankavatara Sutra

The Buddha levitating to Sri Lanka, alighting atop Adam's Peak (Sri Pada)

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Lankavatara Sutra

Dharma.org.ru

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The title of the sutra [discourse], Lankavatara ("entering, or attaining to, Lanka), seems to have something to do with the basic way of thinking and practice in Mahayana Buddhism, though the Gunabhadra version of the ancient text apparently does not offer much help in this regard.

The title seems to have derived from the legendary story passed down among the Theravada practitioners of the island (modern Sri Lanka), which is recorded in the Dipavamsa ("Royal Lineage of the Island Lanka"), a history they compiled.

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The Buddha's [alleged] visits

According to the first two chapters of the story, Gautama Buddha [a.k.a., Shakyamuni] came to the island three times:

• (1) nine months after attaining enlightenment ("awakening")
• (2) five years after and
• (3) eight years after.

(1) When the Buddha saw all the world with his fivefold eyes, he saw the island, where yaksas (spiritual apparitions, literally "something quick") and raksasas (when yaksas get angry they are said to be "flesh-eating goblins" or raksasas, literally, "anything to be guarded against") were abiding and afflicting people, groaning loudly and sucking human blood. The Buddha was afraid some strange teachings might flourish in that situation to worry people further. Using supernatural power, he came from India and expelled the terrible yaksas and furious raksasas by having them shift their dwelling place to a lonely island named Giri far out in the ocean. He then returned to Urvela in the state of Magadha, India (Chp. I).

The real Adam's Peak, Island of Sri Lanka, where the Buddha landed and left a footprint

(2) After he left, in the island's highland mountains, land-snakes and marine-snakes struggled for sovereignty over the island, both being nagas [reptilians, dragons, supernatural serpents] with supernatural power, violent and cruel, arrogant and drunk with power, though different in size. The situation worsened to the extent that wherever they went, everything became contaminated and burned out. The Buddha, far away in India, felt he could not leave things as they were. Again he came to Lanka, which he had emptied of yaksas. He put both parties of snakes under control, reconciled them, and returned to the Jeta Forest (Chp. II).

(3) Three years later, the king of the Lanka snakes, Maniakkhika, invited the Buddha together with five hundred disciples to the island in return for the Buddha's work as peacemaker. The party came flying from the Jeta Forest. The Buddha went to Mahamegha Forest and predicted that in the future the very Bodhi Tree beside which he had attained buddhahood would be planted at the site in Lanka where bodhi trees had grown for previous buddhas (Chp. II).

There is no doubt that such stories were made on the basis of other more historical stories, also recorded in the Dipavamsa, that the transmission of the Buddha's teaching [the Dharma] to the island had begun during the reign of King Devampiyatissa (B.C. 241-207). In response to the gift of treasures from the Lankan King Tissa, King Asoka sent messengers from India with a gift and a message that he had taken refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.

King Asoka's son, Mahinda, who was an elder monk (mahathera), came (Chp. XI), and King Tissa of the island had a temple complex -- the famous Mahavihara -- built in the suburbs of his capital, Anuradhapura, as the center for practice and study for monks under Mahinda's guidance (Chps. XIII, XIV).

Ven. Mahinda had a messenger sent to King Asoka, and had him bring back a portion of the Buddha's relics. Then a dome (stupa, pagoda) erected for them (Chp. XV). Mahinda's sister, Ven. Sanghamitta, also came to Lanka. She brought a branch of the Bodhi Tree and had it planted in the woods of Mahamegha, near the Mahavihara (Chp. XVI). Mahinda died in B.C. 199 (Chp. XVQ), and Sanghamitta passed the following year (Mahavamsa, Chp. XX).

Indian Epic

The legendary stories of the Buddha's three visits to the island, however, seem to derive from one of the famous epics of India, the Ramayana.

Rama, the hero, came to attack raksasas on the island. He killed Ravana, their chief, and returned home to India with his beloved wife Sita, who had been abducted and forcibly taken to the island.

The Buddha was a hero equivalent to Rama, an avatar of Vishnu. But unlike Rama, the Buddha killed no one. He expelled "evil" spirits who had been devastating Lanka.

The role of peacemaker played by the Buddha for the two snake groups also seems to be rooted in the Ramayana. There, two groups of monkeys followed Rama and helped him in his attack on the Lanka demons, because Rama had worked as peacemaker for them during conflicts on the Indian subcontinent.

"Entering Lanka"

Thus, we know that the Theravada document, the Dipavamsa, invented the story of the Buddha entering Lanka on the basis of history and legends. But we need to consider what was meant by the Mahayanists' use of the title "Entering Lanka" (Lanka-vatara) for their famous scripture.

The Lankavatara Sutra, in the Gunabhadra version, begins with the description of the spot where the Buddha, the Sangha, and the bodhisattvas met, and how one bodhisattva named Mahamati from among other "bodhisattvas of mahamati" (see note) stood up and asked the Buddha for a teaching.

"On one occasion the Buddha stayed for a while in the town of Lanka on a mountain top, on the coast of the southern sea..."

Now the Bodhisattva Mahamati, who together with [other] "bodhisattvas of mahamati" (i.e., of great wisdom), with an attendant in every "Buddhaland," through the Buddha's influence stood up from his seat... Read more
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NOTE: The word "mahamati," used here both as a common noun and a proper noun, reveals a close connection between the Lankavatara Sutra and the Dipavamsa. In the latter, the word was used only as a common noun, to show a deep respect when excellent mendicants were referred to...

Lankavatara Sutra: Mahayana Scripture

Traditional text with explanatory notes by WQ editors

See unmodified text by Suzuki and Goddard

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There are many Mahayana "discourses" that were not literally-historically uttered by the Buddha but rather were synthesized by teachers into a dialogue involving him, fitted to the cultures they were being taught in, expounding ideas and teachings of the Mahayana school. This is one such discourse, fictional perhaps, but aimed at a higher truth, explaining how one is to succeed in the Path of the Bodhisattva Ideal. (See many more such texts at PurifyMind).

Lankavatara Sutra (budismochanssulun.org)

THE FRUIT OF SELF-REALIZATION (Chapter 9)

Mahamati asked the Blessed One: "Pray tell us, Blessed One, what is the fruition that comes with self-realization of Noble Wisdom?"

The Blessed One replied: "First, there will come a clearing insight into the meaning and significance of things, and following that will come an unfolding insight into the significance of the spiritual ideals (paramitas, "ways to cross," listed below) by reason of which the bodhisattvas (beings bent on becoming buddhas to save others) will be able to enter more deeply into the abode of "imagelessness" (animitta, signless, state of concentration transcending the use of a meditative counterpart sign) and be able to experience the higher samadhis (states of utmost singlemindedness yielding superlative bliss, the dhyanas, Ch'ans, Seons, Samtens, Zens), gradually to pass through the higher stages of bodhisattvahood.

"After experiencing the 'turning about' in the deepest seat of consciousness, they will experience other samadhis even up to the highest, the vajra-vimbopama, which belongs to the Tathagatas (fully enlightened buddhas) and their transformations.

"They will be able to enter into the realm of consciousness that lies beyond the consciousness of the mind-system, even the consciousness of Tathagatahood.

"They will become endowed with all the powers, psychic faculties, self-mastery, loving compassion, skillful-means, and ability to enter into other Buddha Lands.

"Before they attained self-realization of Noble Wisdom, they had been influenced by the self-interests of egoism. But after they attain self-realization, they will find themselves reacting spontaneously to the impulses of a great and compassionate heart endowed with skillful and boundless means and sincerely and wholly devoted to the emancipation of all beings."

thezenfrog.wordpress.com

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Mahamati said: "Blessed One, tell us about the sustaining power of the Tathagatas by which the bodhisattvas are aided to attain self-realization of Noble Wisdom."

The Blessed One replied: "There are two kinds of sustaining power, which issue from the Tathagatas and are at the service of the bodhisattvas, sustained by which the bodhisattvas should prostrate themselves before them and show their appreciation by asking questions.

"The first kind of sustaining power is the Bodhisattva's own adoration and faith in the Buddhas by reason of which the Buddhas are able to manifest themselves and render their aid and to ordain them with their own hands.

"The second kind of sustaining power is the power radiating from the Tathagatas that enables the bodhisattvas to attain and to pass through the various samadhis and samapattis (attainments) without becoming intoxicated by their bliss.

"Being sustained by the power of the Buddhas, the bodhisattva even at the first stage will be able to attain the [dhyana (jhana), meditative-absorption] known as the "Light of Mahayana." In that samadhi, bodhisattvas will become conscious of the presence of the Tathagatas coming from all their different abodes in the ten directions to impart to the bodhisattvas their sustaining power in various ways.

"As the bodhisattva Vajra-garbha was sustained in his samadhis, and as many other bodhisattvas of like degree and virtue have been sustained, so all earnest disciples and masters and bodhisattvas may experience this sustaining power of the Buddhas in their samadhis and samapattis.

"The disciple's faith and the Tathagata's merit are two aspects of the same sustaining power and by it alone are the bodhisattvas enabled to become one with the company of the Buddhas.

"Whatever samadhis, psychic faculties, or teachings are realized by the bodhisattvas, they are made possible only by the sustaining power of the Buddhas. If it were otherwise, the ignorant and the simpleminded might attain the same fruition.

"Wherever the Tathagatas enter with their sustaining power, there will be music. Not only music produced by human lips and played by human hands on various instruments, there will be music among the grasses and shrubs and trees, and in mountains and towns and palaces and hovels.

"Much more will there be music in the hearts of those endowed with sentiency. The deaf, dumb, and blind will be cured of their deficiencies and will rejoice in their emancipation. Such is the extraordinary virtue of the sustaining power imparted by the Tathagatas.

"By the bestowal of this sustaining power, the bodhisattvas are enabled to avoid the evils of passion, hatred, and enslaving karma. They are enabled to transcend the dhyana [jhana] of the beginners and to advance beyond the experience and truth already attained. They are enabled to demonstrate the Ten Perfections (paramitas) and, finally, to attain the stage of Tathagatahood.

"Mahamati, if it were not for this sustaining power, they would relapse into the ways and thoughts of the contentious philosophers, easygoing disciples, and the evil-minded, and would thus fall short of the highest attainment. For these reasons, earnest disciples and sincere Bodhisattvas are sustained by the power of all the Tathagatas."

Prajnaparamita, the "perfection of prajna (wisdom)" dharmanet.com

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The Ten Perfections (paramitas)

1. generosity
2. self-discipline
3. patience
4. diligence
5. concentration
6. wisdom
7. skillful-means
8. aspiration
9. spiritual power
10. knowledge