[HinduCalendar] Buddhism and astrology

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Dear Thanks for the piece. It made for interesting reading.Though there are such historical records of Lord Buddha speaking against astrology and other such animal arts, nowadays it is being offered under the banner of " buddhist astrology " (very much like the " vedic astrology " package) on a large-scale basis.

One can only speculate, that if, Lord Buddha had not challenged the position of the ritualists and divinists in the ancient " hindu " society, probably Buddhism would have gained much more acceptance in the land of its birth.

RegardsDipikaOn Fri, Jun 6, 2008 at 4:50 AM, Todd Caldecott <todd wrote:

There was request a few weeks back asking for specific information

with regard to Lord Buddha's perspective on astrology. At one time I

had a significant collection of Theravadin buddhist literature, but I

think I have those books packed up somewhere. However, I did a

little cyber-sleuthing, and came up with a couple sources on Buddhism

and astrology, one from the Vinaya pitaka, and also the Jataka tales,

as follows. There may be other sources in the literature as well,

and if I can find these I will send them along.

 

From the Vinaya pitaka: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/

thanissaro/bmc2/bmc2.ch10.html

 

" Whereas some brahmans and contemplatives, living off food given in

faith, maintain themselves by wrong livelihood, by such " animal " arts

as:

reading marks on the limbs (e.g., palmistry);

reading omens and signs;

interpreting celestial events (falling stars, comets);

interpreting dreams;

reading features of the body (e.g., phrenology);

reading marks on cloth gnawed by mice;

offering fire oblations, oblations from a ladle, oblations of husks,

rice powder, rice grains, ghee, and oil;

offering oblations from the mouth;

offering blood-sacrifices;

making predictions based on the fingertips;

geomancy;

making predictions for state officials;

laying demons in a cemetery;

placing spells on spirits;

earth-skills (divining water and gems?);

snake-skills, poison-skills, scorpion-skills, rat-skills, bird-

skills, crow-skills;

predicting life spans;

giving protective charms;

casting horoscopes —

he abstains from wrong livelihood, from " animal " arts such as these. "

 

 

And also from a Jataka tale (www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/jtwebv1p.pdf)

 

Once upon a time, there was a rich family living in Benares, in

northern India. They arranged for their son to marry a good and

honest girl from a nearby village. Being very pretty as well, they

were sure they could not find a better wife for their son.

 

The groom's family decided on a date for the wedding. The bride's

family agreed to meet them in the village on the wedding day.

 

Meanwhile, the rich family also had their own special astrological

priest. When he found out they had picked the wedding day, without

paying him to consult the stars, he became angry. He decided to get

even with them.

 

When the wedding day arrived, the astrological priest dressed up in

his finest robes, and called the family together. He bowed to them

all, and then looked at his star charts very seriously. He told them

that this star was too close to the horizon, and that planet was in

the middle of an unlucky constellation, and the moon was in a very

dangerous phase for having a wedding. He told them that, not seeking

his advice, they had picked the worst day of the year for a wedding.

This could only lead to a terrible marriage.

 

The frightened family forgot all about the wonderful qualities of the

intended bride, and remained home in Benares.

 

Meanwhile the bride's family had arranged everything for the village

wedding ceremony. When the agreed upon hour arrived, they waited and

waited for the future husband and his family. Finally they realized

they were not coming. So they thought, " Those city people picked the

date and time, and now they didn't show up. This is insulting! Why

should we wait any longer? Let our daughter marry an honourable and

hard working village man. " So they quickly arranged a new marriage

and celebrated the wedding.

 

The next day, the astrological priest said that, suddenly, the stars

and planets and moon were in perfect positions for a wedding! So the

Benares family went to the village and asked for the wedding to take

place. But the village people said, " You picked the date and time.

Then you disgraced us by not showing up! "

 

The city people replied, " Our family priest told us that yesterday

the stars and planets and moon were in terrible positions. It was a

very unlucky day for a wedding. But he has assured us that today is a

most lucky day. So please send us the bride at once! "

 

The village family said, " You have no honour. You have made the

choice of the day more important than the choice of the bride. It's

too late now! Our daughter has married another. " Then the two

families began to quarrel heatedly.

 

A wise man happened to come along. Seeing the two families

quarrelling so,. he tried to settle the dispute.

 

The city people told him that they had respected the warnings of

their astrological priest. It was because of the unlucky positions of

the stars and planets and moon, that they had not come to the wedding.

 

The wise man said, " The good fortune was in the bride, not in the

stars. You fools have followed the stars and lost the bride. Without

your foolishness, those far off stars can do nothing! "

Caldecott

todd

www.toddcaldecott.com

 

 

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