Question about the Buddha as an incarnation of Vishnu

Namaskar Vinayaka :)

Actually, I am not a Vaishnavite either, although I was raised one. My family followed Lord Krishna, although I converted to Shaivite in my 20's, but my son has chosen to follow Lord Krishna (I say it skipped a generation lol). I truly appreciate your empathy here.

You are correct, the worship of The Buddha as an avatar was added, they think, around the eighth century CE. Since my family included him as the ninth avatar, I have for my son, and I would like to continue with that tradition. I know there are others, but he is the one I consider belonging there.

Thanks again for your kind reply, it is much appreciated

[anand]

Hello kiran
The reality is that when buddha was in his body,around 2500 years ago he had to face the wrath of hindu brahmins for his teachings . At that point of time Hindu brahmins were dominant and the common people were burdened with rituals sacrifices,castesism and it was a novel way by brahmins to retain their supremacy.
Buddha preached what he himself expereinced.
Authentic religion is inward oriented rather thanperforming rituals,shlokas,sacrifice of animals in yajna as these reached their prime at that time.
The buddhist monks were forced to leave india and thus buddhism later flourished in Tibet.
Brahmins later had no explanation to life''s existential problems so they had to accept buddha but they labelled him to be an incarnate of vishnu.

[anand]

I have been reading hindu mythology for long and most of the times in current life and society ,dont find hindu mythology giving me answers to my problems.

On ghe other hand buddhist teachings as 'THE DIAMOND SUTRA',gave me relief
still sometimes i read about Rama,vishnu because of my upbringing and conditioning

[anand]

To ponder over the Hindu religious texts ,seekers like us get confused because there is a multiplicity of texts.For example many texts on RAMA consider him to be an avatara while the most authentic by valmiki describe Rama as a human being to which I agree as like all of us he himself was not all knowing who couldnot even locate his estranged wife sita on his own
I may sound offensive to orthodox hindus but my obervation on avataras is they were born as human but rose to be God after going through life sufferings .
Krishna- born in captivity with threat to his life.
Rama -Exile and then wife got estranged
Buddha- born a prince but realized his enlightenment.

[Miss Hepburn]

Originally Posted by ajay00

The Buddha never preached atheism.
He only remained silent,when asked about the
existence of God or gods, and never gave an answer.
This has been blatantly interpreted as atheism by some, which is not true.

I have had a Buddhist look me intently in the eyes, after I said the word God..."I don't believe in God." twice.
She was new to it at 68. This post helped.

Well, yes, honestly, I have always found it offensive when people talk about Hindu mythology and mean religious texts, which I think you did here? But I've had people do that to my face my entire life, so I'm pretty used to it. Funny, though, I cannot imagine anyone going up to a Christian, at least not in the US, and calling the Bible "Christian Mythology".

And, just as Jesus is supposed to have been a historical figure, The Buddha, Lord Krishna and Rama were all supposed to have lived human lives, but also have been incarnations of God. I don't find that at all confusing. If God could have come to Earth once, why not many, many times? Many more than we know of, even?

And, yes, there is a multitude of Hindu texts; I actually find that a great asset in Hinduism. You don't have to follow all of them, and most Hindus don't. You can find the one that you most closely adhere to, and follow that one. I prefer the Upanishads, myself, my son, The Gita. We are both Hindu, we both have the same basic beliefs, we can have great philosophical and religious discussions, and enjoy each others opinions without having to try to change them, because we both have the same overall feelings of our religion. And there is always a multitude of other texts for us to study, as you noted, something we both greatly enjoy :)

[jonesboy]

Originally Posted by Kiran65

My son and I have long had this discussion, and I need some other points of view.

I love the Buddha, and love Mahayana Buddhism. My son, sadly, does not--nor did my husband. My husband was raised by Christians (he was Punjabi, adopted by Americans, did not know he was Indian until after he was 18 and could research his birth parents). When I met him, he considered himself an atheist, but, over time, moved towards Hinduism, with much respect for Sikhism--but, even as a self proclaimed atheist, he said he found Buddhism terrifying--the whole, "life is suffering and then non existence" thing, in a simplified version.

Well, my son, who never heard this from his dad, as he passed away when my son was four, has basically told me the same exact thing, verbatim. And he does not understand why, as an incarnation of Vishnu, he would have preached atheism. And, frankly, neither do I? And that the ultimate goal is non-existence, vs Moksha?

And so you know, I am well aware of the theory of how the Buddha was incorporated, historically, into Hinduism; I'm speaking specifically from a Hindu point of view. How do you reconcile an incarnation of Vishnu preaching atheism, and this ultimate goal?

That is not what Buddhism is about. That is not what being a Buddha is about.

Yoga, or most of it has a goal of cessation. Buddhsim seems to have a few paths. You can become an Arhat, an Immortal, a Boddhistavva or a true Buddha.

Emptiness does not mean non-existence.

A good place to start is to ask.

Does everyone know what a Buddha is? It does not mean enlightened....

Buddha is a Sanskrit word for ' awakened one ' someone who has realized enlightenment.

[jonesboy]

A Buddha is a creator of worlds. Buddha creates what we know as the universe and all the deminsions associated with them as well from his body.

Hence the three Buddha bodies.

Our current Buddha is the sixth Buddha. Each Buddha passes on Wisdoms to the next Buddha. Each new Buddha upgrades the system making it easier for people to progress.

Bodhisattva are Buddhas who choose to stay within the current system to help others realize self and progress.

A lot of advanced Buddhist practices involve calling on Buddhas and bodhisattvas for help.

The response can be powerful.

** Please refer to the lotus sutra to validate above statements.

[jonesboy]

Enlightenment being achieving sambhogakaya combined with clear light awareness.

Here is the process one goes through http://www.berzinarchives.com/web/en...tantra_08.html

I will say that even still a Buddha depth is much deeper than this. Enlightenment does not equal Buddhahood.