“Buddhas in the Ten Directions”: Its Origins in the Early Buddhist Texts and Metamorphosis
2020, (27), pp.9-37
DOI : 10.29213/crbs..27.202004.9
Publisher : Geumgang Center for Buddhist Studies
Research Area : Buddhist Studies
-
Using major early Mahāyāna texts and the Āgamas/Nikāyas, this research demonstrates that in its earliest form, the so-called “buddhas in the ten directions” are actually transformation buddhas of the Śākyamuni Buddha, or duplicates of the Buddha in the infinite worlds. The research shows that the concept had its origins in the similes comparing the Buddha to the sun and the moon as well as the Twin Miracle Legend, both of whichare found in the Northern Āgamas and the Pāli texts. The research further shows that Buddha Akṣobhya is a transformation buddha; while Amitābha represents a metamorphosis of the concept of “transformation buddha” from being a duplicate of the Śākyamuni Buddha to a supposedly real celestial buddha in another world system. As such, the devotionalism toward Amitābha was a result of syncretism of early Mahāyāna and the Indo-Iranian religions at the northwestern frontier of Indian Buddhism’s sphere of influence. It is the culturally constructed Buddhism instead of the early classical Mahāyāna that is based on the Six-Pāramitās. Lastly, the research argues that early Mahāyāna Buddhists promoted the concept of “buddhas in the ten directions” to preach to the laity, as is consistently evidenced by the early Buddhist texts and the early Mahāyāna texts. Based on the analysis, the research argues that the early Mahāyāna Buddhists were devoted only to the Śākyamuni Buddha, and it is a myth that they truly believed that there were real buddhas in the ten directions.
-
[other] / SA Saṃyukta Āgama
[other] / MA Madhyama Āgama
[other] / EA Ekottara Āgama
[other] / DA Dīrgha Āgama
[other] / AN Anguttara Nikāya
[other] / DN Dīgha Nikāya
[other] / MN Majjhima Nikāya
[other] / SN Samyutta Nikāya
[journal] Amstutz, Galen / 1998 / The Politics of Pure Land Buddhism in India / Numen 45(1) : 69~96
[book] Aung, Shwe Zan / 1915 / Points of Controversy: Or Subjects of Discourse / Humphrey Milford
[book] Burlingame, Eugene Watson / 1921 / Buddhist Legends: Dhammapada Commentary Vol. III / Harvard University Press
[web] Conze, Edward / 1974 / The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines and Its Verse Summary / https://huntingtonarchive.org/resources/downloads/sutras/02PrajnaPāramitā/Astasahasrika.pdf
[book] Conze, Edward / 1985 / The Large Sutra on Perfect Wisdom: With the Divisions of the Abhisamayālaṅkāra, no. 18 / University of California Press
[book] Conze, Edward / 1983 / Buddhist Thought in India: Three Phases of Buddhist Philosophy / George Allen & Unwin
[book] Eitel, Ernest John / 1970 / Handbook of Chinese Buddhism: Being a Sanskrit-Chinese Dictionary of Buddhist Terms, Words and Expressions, with Vocabularies of Buddhist Terms in Pali, Singhalese, Siamese, Burmese, Tibetan, Mongolian and Japanese / Philo Press
[book] Hirakawa, Akira / 1990 / History of Indian Buddhism: From Śākyamuni to Early Mahāyāna / University of Hawaii Press
[book] Jayawickrama, N. A / 2002 / The Story of Gotama Buddha: The Nidāna-kathā of the Jātakaṭṭ hakathā / The Pali Text Society
[book] Lamotte, Ètienne / 1988 / History of Indian Buddhism from the Origins to the Śaka Era / Université Catholique de Louvain Institut Orientaliste
[book] Lü, Cheng / 1979 / The Origin and Development of Indian Buddhism / Shanghai Renmin Publishing House
[journal] Machida, Soho / 1988 / Life and Light, the Infinite: A Historical and Philological Analysis of the Amida Cult / Sino-Platonic Papers 9 : 1~46
[journal] Nattier, Jan / 2000 / The Realm of Akṣobhya: A Missing Piece in the History of Pure Land Buddhism / Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 23(1) : 71~102
[journal] Nattier, Jan / 2003 / The Indian Roots of Pure Land Buddhism: Insights from the Oldest Chinese Versions of the Larger Sukhāvatīvyūha / Pacific World: Journal of the Institute of Buddhist Studies 3(5) : 179~201
[journal] Revire, Nicolas / 2017 / Solar Symbolism in Early Buddhist Literature / Berliner Indologische Studien Berlin Indological Studies 23 : 143~156
[book] Skilling, Peter / 2013 / The Bodhisattva Ideal: Essays on the Emergence of Mahāyāna / Buddhist Publication Society : 69~119
[journal] Sujato, Bhikkhu / 2015 / The Authenticity of the Early Buddhist Texts / Supplement to Journal of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies 5
[journal] Wang, Jiuan / 1992 / Tang dai Mi’le xinyang yu fojiao zhu zongpai de guanxi / The Chung-Hwa Buddhist Journal 5 : 193~231
[journal] Wei Daoru / 1995 / Doushajing yu huayanxue de kaiduan / Foxue yanjiu : 157~160
[book] Yinshun / 1994 / Chuqi dasheng fojiao zhi qiyuan yu kaizhan / Zhengwen Publishing House
-
KCI Citation (0)
104 Viewed
Print this page
Download PDF