Jesus in Buddhism: Buddha, Devadatta

Jesus in Buddhism: Jesus as a bodhisattva

(BuddhaVerse) Some Buddhists perceive Jesus as a bodhisattva — a being trying to become fully spiritually enlightened to "save" others by guiding them to spiritual enlightenment, as all beings at some time or other are striving for liberation from suffering and rebirth.

• [The Ayutthaya Kingdom was in ancient Siam (modern Thailand), which resisted Christian missionaries and their Catholic (Vatican) hegemony.]
• Where did Jesus get his famous Seamless saffron robe [Vajrayana-like Buddhist tunic smock like some swamis, such as Parahamsa Yogananda, use] of Jesus?
• Why do swamis wear pajama robes rather than real robes? 
• [Who is Devadatta? He was once a great monk who made the mistake of pursuing magical powers rather than liberation, squandering his great fortune to know and be close to the Buddha. Devadatta is the Judas Iscariot figure in Buddhism who, rather than practicing for awakening, grew an ego so big he tried to usurp the Buddha and take over the Sangha ("spiritual community" the Buddha had built, which may have had 80,000 or more members since many of those members were members because of their attainment of the paths-and-fruits, and the majority of them would have been devas (angelic light beings visiting or living on the human plane) rather than humans on Earth. Devadatta was the Buddha's cousin, the brother of his former wife (Bimba Devi, known as Princess Yasodhara, with a long history of envy and rivalry with the buddha-to-be or the Bodhisatta, as the Buddha referred to himself when talking about times and events before his great enlightenment). Devadatta held a grudge, and though he did much good in becoming a monk and practicing for 40 years or so, he was rotten and one of the very worst people in the history of Buddhism, almost on par with Mara Namuci. He was not the Buddha's brother, whose name was Nanda, the sibling of their sister Sundari Nanda, who became enlightened monastics like so many of the Scythians/Sakas/Shakyians did, even Devadatta's sister Ven. Yasodhara (who is obscured in Buddhism as badly as "Mary" is in Christianity, hidden by the use of many names to refer to her: Rahulamata or "Rahula's Mother"), Bhadda, Bhadda Kaccana Theri, Bhaddakacca, Bhadda Sundari, Bimba Devi, and Subhadakka, who after the Buddha's return home became a nun, a knowledgeable disciple of the Dharma, an unbeatable debater, and a respected and beloved fully enlightened elder (theri) Buddhist nun, along with the Buddha's mother and many Scythian/Saka princesses and family members, including their son Ven. Rahula, "foremost in doing quiet good."]

Some beings commit to striving not only for full awakening (arahantship) but also supreme or perfect awakening (samma-sam-buddhahood, Sanskrit samyak-sam-buddha) to be able to effectively help others gain realization or bodhi and achieve liberation or nirvana, which is the extinction of ignorance because only an illusion came into and goes out of being.

• [One can argue that there are three types of buddhas: (1) the fully supremely enlightened, (2) the fully enlightened nonteaching or "silent" (pacceka) buddha, and (3) the fully enlightened personal buddha (arahant). All three experience the exact same awakening to the truth, but the first two have special knowledge, and the first has special abilities (the ten powers) beyond. What makes a buddha so extraordinary is that he (as there seems to be no shes because any being bent on supreme enlightenment, a bodhisatta, needs two things to succeed, at least according to Theravada Buddhism, and in doing so will repeatedly be reborn as a male, as the Dalai Lama and Vajrayana Buddhism agree with the ancient Theravada commentaries. Those two are a vow of strong determination to achieve self-awakening at a time when the Dharma no longer exists and no one is being liberated and a sure prediction of success by a current buddha. When the historical Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, aka "Shakyamuni" or the "Sage of the Scythians/Sakas," determined to become a buddha, he did so in the presence of Dipankara Buddha aeons ago, or at least many generations ago as kappa/kalpa may also refer to an ordinary human lifespan at the time, and this span is very variable, going from less than 100 years up to 80,000 years, Dipankara Buddha knew his determination and gave him a prediction of eventual success. How long it takes to eventually succeed is hard to fathom and/or calculate. If a kappa/kalpa is translated as it normally is, it can be millions or hundreds of millions or hundreds of billions of years, astronomical time, archeological time, epochs, ages, which does not make sense since in that deep past there were Vedas ("Knowledge Books") and Sanskrit  language texts and Brahmins (brahmanas) and wandering ascetics (shramanas) and things that seem like much more recent developments on the human plane, which would not seem to have existed millions and billions of years ago. But that is the official Theravada line. We prefer to think that buddhas and tirthankaras like Mahavira, the Nigantha Nataputta (aka Vardhamana), the founder of Jainism, arise much more frequently than that, something more in the range of being separated by thousands or tens of thousands of years rather than aeons. The historical Buddha Gautama named 24 or so previous buddhas and many pacceka buddhas, never suggesting to anyone they pursue those careers but constantly, daily, encouraging and helping countless human and deva beings to become arhats or fully enlightened disciples as quickly as possible. Why? Everything can wait, but our pursuit of wisdom and compassion cannot wait. The opportunity to ever hear and practice the Dharma/Dhamma is so incredibly rare that we have to seize the day and practice, learn, hear, and ask teachers NOW. There's only now.]

His selfless actions and willingness to sacrifice himself for others align with the ideals of a Buddhist bodhisattva [and his training in ancient Tibet/ now India at Hemis Buddhist Monastery in Ladakh in the Himalayas, where Vajrayana (a form of Mahayana) Buddhist lamas are taught to strive for bodhisattva careers rather than personal enlightenment and liberation.

• See the work of Nicolas Notovitch, Swami Abhedananda, Holger Kersten, American cult leader Elizabeth Clare Prophet (The Lost Years of Jesus: Documentary Evidence of Jesus' 17-Year Journey to the East), and many others for documentation concerning the "lost years" of Jesus of Nazareth or Saint Issa as he was known in the East or Isa as he is referred to in Islam].

The Dalai Lama has repeatedly expressed admiration for Jesus Christ [who is explained with shocking clarity as a mystery school leader by Ancient Greek biblical scholar Dr. Ammon Hillman], calling him a great teacher of love and compassion. He emphasizes that Christianity and [Mahayana] Buddhism can learn from each other despite doctrinal differences.

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• BuddhaVerse (video), Jan. 8, 2025; most of text and all commentary by Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Life of Siddhartha before Buddhahood (Sims)

Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; Eliroc, Sims Fiction (Chp. 4)

Charioteer Cunda and Prince Siddhartha see a pyre (simsfiction.wordpress.com)

Prince Siddhartha, 29, on the verge of quest

...Although Siddhartha's father ensured that the prince was provided with everything he could want or need, Siddhartha was always a little troubled and dissatisfied.
 
As much as he tried, the opulent life in the palace could not fulfill him. It was disappointing and so had to get bigger and bigger. Siddhartha was growing tired of his lavish lifestyle.

 

At night, he had dreams he could not explain. He sensed something was off, but he did not know what.

Yasodhara (Bimbadevi, Rahulamata...)

“What is the meaning of these dreams? Is there something beyond these walls?” he thinks aloud.

“What is it, My Lord? What’s going on?” asks (Bimbadevi who is known as) Yasodhara trying to comfort him.

 

“Nothing, a bad dream, don’t worry,” Siddhartha replies, while sitting up and covering his face with his hands.

 

“But you look so troubled, My Lord. Is it something I have done? Please, tell me what is bothering you. Let me help!” Yasodhara insists.

“Everything is all right. You’re the perfect wife, and I love you very much. I just need fresh air. Go back to sleep. I’ll go for a walk in the garden. The sun is almost up,” the prince answers gently, while getting up and walking toward the door.

 

But Yasodhara is too worried to fall asleep again. She changes and follows him to the garden.

She finds him mesmerized by the sound of a beautiful song. As she approaches, his gaze still resting upon the female musician, he asks, “Yasodhara, what is this song? I've never heard it before. It’s so melancholic and beautiful.”

 

“It is a song from a far away land, My Lord, evoking the beauty of a country she knew as a child. The mountains and the lake she can never forget.”

 

“How strangeDo such places exist? Places as beautiful as here?” Siddhartha asks.

 

“There is only suffering beyond these walls, My Lord.”

 

“You speak like my father. What do you mean suffering?”

 

“Your father loves you very much. He’s given us everything we could ever want. There’s no need to go anywhere else when there is such beauty around us.” Yasodhara insists, trying to bring his thoughts back to the beautiful life of the palace.

 

“It’s true. We have everything, and everything is perfect. So what is this feeling I have, Yasodhara? My dreams? If the world is so beautiful, why have I never seen it? I’ve not even really seen my own country. My father will not stop the chariot and allow us to walk in the villages, see the common life, talk to the people. I must see the world, Yasodhara, with my own eyes!”

 

With these words, Siddhartha goes off. Yasodhara lingers a while, lost in her thoughts. She is familiar with the prophecies and fears the day Siddhartha sees the real world, which may be closer than the king imagined.

Overcome by curiosity, Prince Siddhartha orders Channa, his faithful charioteer and friend, to show him the world beyond the palace walls. Unnoticed by his father, they set upon a series of rides through the countryside.

 

On this first journey, Siddhartha notices an old man painfully making his way. He had never ever seen old age of such decrepitude. And not understanding what is wrong with the man, he asks Channa, “What is the matter with this good man? Why is he walking like this? And why is his face all shriveled?”

Aging, the first sign/divine messenger

“That’s an old man, My Lord.”

 

“Old? What do you mean?” asks the prince as he approaches the man to study his features.

 

“Old age destroys strength, memory, beauty...”

 

“Why? What did he do to become old?”

 

“Do, My Lord? He was born. Everybody becomes old eventually. It is natural and belongs to life.”

 

“It happens to everybody? Even you?” Siddhartha asks alarmed, still resting his gaze upon the old man.

 

“Yes, My Lord. Even a prince cannot avoid it. It is a natural aspect of life. No one avoids it at all.” More

The Shocking life of Devadatta

Women and Enlightenment

Great Mandala Study Group (gakkaionline.net)

Devadatta [swallowed by the earth] (Gohonzon #19, Devil King of the Sixth Heaven).

[NOTE: This article deals with how one Buddhist group has come to terms with Devadatta's alarming and unbelievable behavior as a Judas-figure in Buddhism. Soka Gakkai, a Japanese movement, has turned a negative character into a representative of our shadow side. Devadatta is dealt with not as a satanic figure so much as a transformative and redemptive one. This is done alongside the young, semi-human Dragon King's Daughter, a yin symbol of feminine enlightenment. Thus, the approach and information are more magical and archetypal than literal].

Devadatta’s life is so very low that even the earth cannot hold him. In the picture above, his foot begins to sink into the earth [as soon as he climbs off his death cot. He suddenly grew very ill after repeatedly betraying the Buddha and had to be carried around on a cot due to the severity of his symptoms. Realizing that he was going to die, he wanted to get to the Buddha to apologize.]

He represents:

• the "evil" [greedy, hateful, deluded, and fearful] nature in all of us
• the inseparability of past present and future
• opposition as fuel to Buddhist practice

He is on the Gohonzon because, in this form of Buddhism [Soka Gakkai], instead of burying our negative internal nature, we embrace our own internal fears and delusions as a part of life.

We work constantly on enlightening this part of our life. We realize that when we call forth Buddhahood from our lives -- through chanting Nam Myoho-Renge-Kyo -- these fears and delusions dissipate like dew in the morning sun.

Dragon King’s Daughter (Gohonzon #22, Eight Great Dragon Kings)

Of all Shakyamuni’s teachings, only in the Lotus Sutra do women attain enlightenment.

[Of course, in the Theravada tradition -- the oldest authentic teachings of the historical Buddha -- women, both nuns and laywomen, frequently attain enlightenment. The Therigatha is a collection of their accounts of becoming enlightened. Furthermore, although almost forgotten, the Buddha had two chief female disciples, one foremost in "wisdom," the other in "supernatural powers," Khema and Uppalavanna respectively. His stepmother, Maha Pajapati Gotami, is responsible for founding the bhikkhuni Sangha, or "Order of Buddhist Nuns," based on the argument that women are equally able to attain enlightenment in this very life.]

Shakyamuni challenges our misconception that time is needed to attain enlightenment. He also challenges us to realize that enlightened life exists not just in old learned men, but in the very young as well. That’s why there is no distinction among believers. The Dragon [Naga] King’s Daughter is:

• not fully human [but half naga, or hybrid reptilian]
• female
• she attained enlightenment in an instant

Two different pictures of the Dragon King's Daughter [above and right]. In one, she is offering a jewel to the Buddha.

Enlightenment is a state of life that is even difficult for Buddhas to fully comprehend. Yet, this state of life is available to us at every moment. The Dragon King’s Daughter represents attaining that enlightenment at this moment and then perceiving our life from this state. We use this wisdom available to us to constantly move our lives in a positive and happy direction.

Devadatta and the Dragon King’s Daughter Together
(From "Persecution by Sword and Staff")

"The fifth scroll contains the heart of the Lotus Sutra, for it reveals that the dragon king’s daughter attained Buddhahood in her present form. Devadatta represents the spiritual aspect of enlightenment, and the dragon king’s daughter, the physical aspect. The principle of attaining Buddhahood in one’s present form can be found nowhere else in the Buddha’s entire lifetime of teachings."

The key point is that no matter what your spiritual state of life and no matter what your physical condition, the joy and wisdom of Buddhahood is always available to you at this moment.

• More special characters
• Original page
• Cult? Soka Gakkai NSA expose
• Soka Gakkai Buddhism (japantimes.co.jp)