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PLEASE VISIT MY "ONE FAITH" COLUMN ON saragrahi.org TO LEARN ABOUT

HOW THE ORIGINAL DEVOTIONAL FORM OF BUDDHISM WAS RELATED TO

VAISHNAVISM.

 

SO FAR I HAVE POSTED TEN PAPERS IN THIS SERIES THERE.

 

Pure Land Buddhism as Vaishnavism

 

Part Ten: Review and Preview

 

By Bhakti Ananda Goswami

 

In a nutshell, the original Buddhism is actually a form of Radha-

Krishna-centric Vaishnavism. It pre-dates the appearance of the

historically late Sakyamuni by thousands of years, and was once the

dominant Bhakti Tradition of major portions of the human family. The

historical and theological core of this Bhakti Buddhism has been

called 'Pure Land Buddhism' by modern scholars. This is taken from

the title of one of the Tradition's most important Scriptures, the

SUKHAVATI VYUHA. This Scripture describes, originally in Buddhist

Sanskrit, the PURE LAND created by the ADI BUDDHA, ADI PURUSHA,

DHARMA KAYA, CHAKRAVARTIN, BHAGAVAN, Supreme Buddha AMITABHA. The

two-armed Form of Amitabha (HRIH) is worshiped as the Dharma Kaya or

Original Body / Form of the Buddha in Northern, Mahayana or Pure Land

Buddhism, from Nepal and Tibet (identified with CHEN REI ZEI),

through Afghanistan, China, and Korea to Japan, where He is called

AMIDA, KANNON, HRIH, and identified with various forms of LOKESHVARA

(VISHNU FORMS).

 

 

 

Tridandi Sannyasi Bhakti Ananda Goswami 2002 - All Rights

Reserved

 

 

 

 

HARE KRISHNA !

 

SRI SRI GURU and Gauranga ki jaya !

 

Dear Saragrahis,

 

Please accept my humble obeisances.

 

Because I have received so many inquiries over the years regarding

Buddhism, I began a series of short articles on this site (please

see) to outline my understanding of Buddhism, based on my more than 3

decades of interdisciplinary study comparing Buddhism to other

ancient religious traditions in India and elsewhere. This series is

thus a little introduction to Buddhism, voiced to Vaishnavas in

particular, who generally mistakenly believe that all of Buddhism was

originally atheistic.

 

Here is a summary of what I have wanted to eventually cover in this

series. I have yet to finish my description of Nepalese-Tibetan

Buddhism. This will include an introduction to:

 

Pancaratrin-related rites and Sanskrit Vaishnava prayers and mantras

in the Cult of Tara,

 

The relationship of the Egyptian Book of the Dead to the Tibetan Book

of the Dead,

 

Common lila forms of Lokeshvara and Vishnu,

 

Mahadeva (SHIVA) as AN EXPANSION OF LOKESHVARA, Leontocephalous Maha

Kala or Kala Bhairab (Bhairava SHIVA) as Nara Hari Rupa,

 

YHVH worship as the Bhagavad-Gita and Exodus-related wrathful Form of

the Lord as Time, JAH HUM BAM HOH at the Tibetan Buddhist 'Vatican'

the PATALA,

 

The relationship of Platonic Heliopolitan Egyptian PTAH etc. to

BUDH's birth traditions, and expansions and incarnations of Buddha-

Lokeshvara in Egyptian and Heliopolitan Jewish traditions,

 

The supposed origins of 'Buddhism' from Sakyamuni's time, in Nepal

and India.

 

Then I hope to move on and show:

 

Devotion to the Lord as THE OPENER / PTAH in the Old Testament

Tradition of PETACH-YAHU, PETU-EL, and how He was invoked to enter

and possess PERSONS, ICONS, AND TEMPLES, INCLUDING THE GREAT TEMPLE

IN JERUSALEM AT ITS CONSECRATION AND RE-CONSECRATION,

 

Connections to the GOOD SHEPHERD Tradition of Rhodes and

Christianity, including the amazing story of Siddhartha Buddha's

promise to return as THE GOOD SHEPHERD WHO WOULD DIE AS A VEDIC

SACRIFICE IN PLACE OF HIS SHEEP !

 

Connections between ASCLEPIUS-SERAPIS, JESUS the GREAT PHYSICIAN,

ANANTA BALARAMA as CHARAKA THE AYUR VEDIC GREAT PHYSICIAN , and the

Tradition of YAKUSHI-JI the 'MEDICAL BUDDHA' Form of Lokeshvara in

the HRIH (Amida) cult of Japan.

 

The association of Sakya Muni Buddha with VISHNU, the Deity of the

Shal Grove, in the traditional story of His restoration to God-like

beauty and power, just before his final battle with Mara.

 

The pivotal TULASI and RADHA Tradition in Buddhist lore, and

connections between the Shaktis of Amitabha-Lokeshvara and the

Shaktis of Krishna-Vishnu.

 

How two schools of Buddhist iconography emerged (Gandharan and

Mathuran ), both showing Greek Rhodian connections,

 

How the earliest Buddhist centers were all Vaishnava centers.

 

I already touched-on the 'Buddhism' of Ashoka, whose guru's ashram of

10,000 was IN MATHURA, and how it is widely accepted by Western

scholars that Ashoka's missionaries were present in Judea, Greece,

and Egypt. I would like to write some more on this, and how Neo-

Gnostics and New-Agers are abusing the evidence of this to claim that

Jesus Christ and other prominent Mediterranean persons were

THERAVADIN BUDDHIST ATHEISTS ! This is basically the indirect claim

of the rabidly anti-Catholic Protestant Jesus Seminar Group and their

allies the Kersten and Gruber 'Tomb of Jesus' Ahmadi Muslim

mayavadis, and various related 'esoteric' groups. The Theravadins

have appropriated Ashoka, but there is NO evidence that

his 'Buddhism' was Hinayana or atheistic. ALL the real evidence (not

bogus tombs and writings like those of N. Notovitch and L. Jacolliot)

shows that originally Buddhism, both before and AFTER SAKYAMUNI was

at first indistinguishable from Krishna-centric Vaishnavism. The

late and then practically insignificant heretical Theravadins, who

were actually suppressed by Ashoka etc., diffused to Southeast Asia

through Sri Lanka, only because they were driven out of India by the

Bhakti Buddhists under the patronage of Ashoka. I have already

written some on the Sri Lankan connections, but would like to post

some photos of Vishnu's gate keepers at the entrance to ancient

Buddhist shrines there, as well as some painted icons from the

Buddhist shrine devalis showing the purely MAHAYANA / PURE LAND

DOCTRINE OF VISHNU DESCENDING TO INCARNATE AS BUDDHA.

 

I would also like to describe how Vaishnava-related M. Buddhism

spread to China, Korea and Japan, with voidism corrupting it as

an 'esoteric' tradition, associated with nirvishesha, shunyavadi and

mayavadi impersonalism in India (the Indian pilgrim problem). Both

Tantrism and Dhyana / Zen acted as vehicles for Theravadin anatta

soul-less impersonalism all the way into Japan, in the same way that

magical and elitist gnostic esoteric groups functioned to corrupt

Western bhakti traditions with impersonalism and voidism.

 

At least one article should be devoted to the popular Mahayana

Buddhist devotion to Sri Hanuman as the Servant of Mother Tara, and

patron protector of Pure Land Buddhism throughout its northern

range. Sri Hanuman ji is extremely popular in Chinese Buddhism !

 

The worship of Krishna and Radha, Vishnu and Lakshmi, devolved into

the separated Chinese worship of MA Kuan Yin, and Their attributes

also merged as Mahayana Buddhism spread through Korea (as KWANNON)

and into Japan as ASAKUSA KANNON, to be merged there with Krishna

Kana worship from South India. I have already written a little on

this in my short article on this site describing the RASA LILA DANCE

IN THE TANABATA FESTIVAL in Japan. The merged attributes of MANI

PADME remain in Japanese Buddhism today.

 

After describing ancient Japanese Pure Land, with its Catholic Mary

and Lakshmi-related 'Goddesses', Alvar KANAN and Tana Bata Festival

Rasa Lila, etc. connections, I want to briefly describe the popular

modern NEMBUTSU HARI NAM movements of HRIH / AMIDA and the JEWEL-

LOTUS MANTRA in Japan...including the present's SOKKA phenomenon.

 

Then I would like to relate a few of my personal experiences with

Pure Land Buddhism in Japan, and my initiation into NEMBUTSU in the

inner sanctum of the High Altar of Amida / ASAKUSA KANNON'S MAIN

TEMPLE in Tokyo. It would be nice if we could post both the ICON of

KANNON and a picture of Kannon's HIGH ALTAR for everyone to receive

the darshana of AMIDA / HRIH as worshiped by the Japanese Pure Land

Buddhists.

 

Then, hopefully I will finish with a description of the pre-Sakyamuni

strata of Mahayana Buddhism, beneath the late Sakyamuni Buddhism, in

the ancient East (Bon and YAB-YUM in Tibet, Chinese Taoist YANG-YIN

[Purusha-Prakriti], the Japanese Shinto Pantheon etc.), and how these

ancient traditions were related to Vaishnavism in both India and the

Heliopolitan Federations of the Mediterranean.

 

By briefly outlining these important Buddhist-related bhakti

tradition connections, I hope to establish the framework for a new

interdisciplinary field of studies focusing on in-depth research into

these specific areas of interest. Vaishnava scholars have too long

ignored Buddhism. Christian scholars who have studied Pure Land

Buddhism have ignored authentic Vaishnavism to the extent that they

are generally completely unaware of the connections between

Vaishnavism and the Pure Land Buddhist Traditions they are trying to

understand. In every case, the real understanding of Catholic

Christian and Pure Land Buddhist commonalities, long a subject of

Catholic and Buddhist scholarly interest, will continue to elude

everyone until they begin to seriously look at the BIG PICTURE of

these connections, as I have outlined them in brief here. Scholars

need to factor-in both the Heliopolitan Alexandrian-related Proto-

Catholic and the Indian Traditions of Vaishnavism, to really

understand the relationship of Buddhism to Catholicism. Vaishnavism

is the link.

 

Once I have outlined these connections, I hope other scholars will

flesh out the entire framework I have introduced in this short

introduction to Buddhism, in the context of World Emanational and

Incarnational, SALVIFIC Monotheism.

 

your aspiring servant,

Bhakti Ananda Goswami