Theos-Talk Archives (January 2003 Message tt00601)

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Bhakti Ananda Goswami 
To: Blavatskiana@yahoogroups.com 
Sent: Saturday, January 25, 2003 11:25 PM
Subject: BA G Compares the Scriptures: PROOF That Amitabha Lokeshvara is Krishna-Vishnu


Dear Friends,

Here is some extremely important evidence of the relationship between Krishna-Vishnu worship and Pure Land Buddhism. In the below, I compare a few of the many verses in the Bhagavad gita and the essential Pure Land Text, the Saddharmapundarika, which are written in the same Vaishnava Sanskrit (full of specifically Krishna-centric Vaishnava cultus Deity Names and terms) and teach the same doctrines. 

[PLEASE EXCUSE ALL UPPER CASE, AS THIS WAS TYPED WHEN I COULD NOT SEE WELL.) 

BHIKSHU'S QUESTION 

"YOU WROTE THAT THERE ARE SIMILARITIES BETWEEN KRISHNA'S BHAGAVAD GITA SELF-REVELATION AND THAT OF BUDDHA'S SELF REVELATION IN THE MAIN MAHAYANA BUDDHIST SCRIPTURE CALLED THE SADDHARMAPUNDARIKA. WHERE IS THE SIMILARITY ? " 



(BA G) BHAKTI ANANDA GOSWAMI'S ANSWER

THERE ARE FAR MORE THAN SIMILARITIES. FIRST YOU MUST REALIZE THAT THE WHOLE SCRIPTURE IS IN VAISHNAVA-RELATED SANSKRIT, AND THAT IT IS PERVADED WITH A VAISHNAVA SYSTEM OF REFERENCE IN GENERAL. THEN MANY SPECIFIC DEITY NAMES OF KRISHNA-VISHNU AND THEIR EMANATIONS / EXPANSIONS AND INCARNATIONS ARE CENTRAL TO THE TEXT.



BHIKSHU

"WHY HAVE I NOT HEARD ABOUT THIS BEFORE ?"


BA G 

MODERN INDIAN VAISHNAVAS GENERALLY THINK THAT ALL BUDDHISM IS ATHEISTIC, AND THUS DON'T BOTHER TO STUDY PURE LAND BUDDHISM. BUDDHISTS DON'T GENERALLY STUDY VAISHNAVISM. WESTERNERS WHO STUDY BOTH TRADITIONS GENERALLY HAVE NO INTEREST IN GETTING BUDDHISTS AND VAISHNAVAS TOGETHER. THE IDENTITY OF BUDDHA-LOKESHVARA AS KRISHNA-VISHNU IN PURE LAND TEXTS WAS RECOGNIZED BY WESTERN SCHOLARS MORE THAN 100 YEARS AGO. IN THE ORIGINAL FOOTNOTES TO THE OXFORD TRANSLATION OF THE SADDHARMAPUNDARIKA, BUDDHA, WHO IS THE SPEAKER AND CENTRAL FIGURE IN THE SUTRA, IS IDENTIFIED WITH VISHNU. THE ATHEISTIC FORM OF BUDDHISM HAS LONG SUPPRESSED THE TRUTH ABOUT THE VAISHNAVA GENEALOGY OF BUDDHISM IN GENERAL. VAISHNAVAS ARE LIKEWISE IN DENIAL ABOUT THEIR HISTORICAL CONNECTIONS TO BOTH BUDDHISM AND THE JUDEO-CATHOLIC TRADITION. ....IN TWO WORDS, THE PROBLEM CAN BE SUMMED UP AS UNKNOWING AND PREJUDICE. PREJUDICE IS PREVENTING THE HUMAN RACE IN GENERAL FROM HAVING ANY PERCEPTION OF THIS PROFOUNDLY IMPORTANT TRUTH. WHEN COMMUNICATION IS POSSIBLE, ETHNO-CENTRIC OR RELIGIOUS PRIDE AND PREJUDICE PERPETUATE UNKNOWING, BY BLOCKING COMMUNICATION / LEARNING. 

I WILL USE A REPRINT OF THIS OLD TEXT TO GIVE YOU AN EXAMPLE. 

THE FOLLOWING QUOTATIONS ARE FROM THE 1963 DOVER (NEW YORK USA) EDITION REPUBLICATION OF THE OLD OXFORD UNIVERSITY, 1884 CLAREDON PRESS PUBLICATION OF VOLUME XXI OF "THE SACRED BOOKS OF THE EAST" 

THIS VOLUME IS ENTITLED 

"SADDHARMA-PUNDARIKA or THE LOTUS OF THE TRUE LAW". 

IT WAS TRANSLATED BY PROF. H. KERN. 

FROM THE RE-PRINTERS NOTES... 

" THE SADDHARMA-PUNDARIKA (THE LOTUS OF THE TRUE LAW), ONE OF THE MAHAYANA SUTRAS, IS PERHAPS THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT MAHAYANA BUDDHIST WORK. COMPOSED ORIGINALLY IN INDIA, SOME SECTIONS WRITTEN AS EARLY AS THE BEGINNING OF THE CHRISTIAN ERA, THE LOTUS IS HELD IN ENORMOUS ESTEEM BY THE NORTHERN SCHOOLS OF BUDDHISM AND BY CHINESE AND JAPANESE BUDDHISTS, PARTICULARLY TENDAI AND LATER DEVELOPMENTS. DESCRIBED AS 'THE MOST EMINENT,' OF ALL THE SUTRAS, 'THE CROWN JEWEL,' IN WHICH 'ALL THE BUDDHA-LAWS ARE SUCCINCTLY TAUGHT,' THE LOTUS IS A KEYSTONE IN THE EDUCATION OF EVERY SERIOUS BUDDHIST." 

ALTHOUGH BOTH KERN'S TRANSLATION AND COMMENTARY ARE ATHEISTIC, HE DOES MENTION PARALLELS TO THE GITA, AND ADMITS THAT THERE IS EVIDENCE THAT THE MAHAYANA TRADITION WAS ONCE DEVOTIONAL. IN FACT HIS INTRODUCTION MAKES REPEATED REFERENCES TO SRI KRISHNA'S SELF REVELATION IN THE BHAGAVAD-GITA. HOWEVER HIS OWN MONISTIC (MAYAVADI) VIEW OF THE GITA REINFORCES HIS ATHEISTIC INTERPRETATION OF THE LOTUS SUTRA. THERE ARE SCORES OF IMPORTANT VAISHNAVA PARALLELS IN THE TEXT, BUT BECAUSE KERNS WAS NOT TRAINED IN VAISHNAVISM, HE COULD NOT RECOGNIZE THEM. FURTHERMORE HIS ADVAITI PERSPECTIVE MADE IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR HIM TO REALLY GRASP THE TRINITARIAN VAISHNAVA-RELATED REVELATION OF THE SUTRA.

THIS IS A FOOTNOTE TO PAGE 5 OF THE ACTUAL INTRODUCTORY TEXT OF THE SUTRA. 

(KERN) 

" IT MAY BE REMARKED THAT IN THE ENUMERATION OF THE GODS, BETWEEN SIVA AND BRAHMA, VISHNU IS WANTING. THOSE WHO ADOPT THE VIEW THAT SAKYAMUNI IS AN AVATARA OF VISHNU, CONSEQUENTLY A MYTHICAL BEING, WILL READILY ACCOUNT FOR THAT OMISSION BY SAYING THAT VISHNU AND THE LORD BUDDHA ARE IDENTICAL, SO THAT VISHNU IS PRESENT IN THE GATHERING, UNDER THE DISGUISE OF BUDDHA." 

THIS IS SUCH AN OUTRAGEOUS STATEMENT, BECAUSE ANY HONEST PERSON STUDYING AVALOKITESHVARA OR LOKESHVARA IN RELATION TO VISHNU MUST ADMIT THAT THEY ARE THE SAME BEING. SINCE THE LOTUS SUTRA ITSELF DECLARES, OUT OF BUDDHA'S OWN MOUTH, THAT AVALOKITESHVARA APPEARS AS BUDDHA TO PREACH THE DHARMA, THE LOTUS SUTRA ITSELF ASSERTS THE VIEW THAT BUDDHA IS AN INCARNATION OF VISHNU. THE ADI BUDDHA MANIFESTS AMITAYUS-LOKESVARA, WHO THEN INCARNATES AS INNUMERABLE BUDDHAS. SAKYAMUNI IS ONE SUCH BUDDHA INCARNATION. BUDDHA IN THE 'HEARTS' OF ALL THE ASSEMBLED BEINGS IS THE IMMANENT FORM OF HRIH OR LOKESVARA. THUS THE THREE IRREDUCIBLE FORMS, PERSONS OR BODIES OF THE BUDDHA (OR PURUSHA) ARE THE TRI-KAYA OF THE 1. DHARMA KAYA, 2. SAMBHOGYA KAYA (SOMETIMES CALLED NIRMANYA KAYA) AND 3. RUPA KAYA. 

CHAPTER XXIV 
THE ALL-SIDED ONE, CONTAINING A DESCRIPTION OF THE TRANSFORMATIONS OF AVALOKITESVARA 

PAGES 410 & 411 

(GET OUT YOUR BHAGAVAD-GITAS TO COMPARE HOW SRI KRISHNA DESCRIBES HIS MANIFESTATIONS) 

THE SETTING IS SAKYAMUNI BUDDHA ADDRESSING A VAST NUMBERLESS SEA OF BEINGS FROM MANY WORLDS AND DIMENSIONS. DEMIGODS, ANGELS, SAINTS, BODHISATTVAS, ALL ARE THERE TO HEAR HIM GIVE THIS SUPREME REVELATION OF THE PURE LAND DHARMA. A BODHISATTVA APPROACHES HIM WITH THIS QUESTION... 

"HOW, OH LORD, IS IT THAT THE BODHISATTVA MAHASATTVA AVALOKITESVARA FREQUENTS THIS SAHA WORLD ? AND HOW DOES HE PREACH THE LAW ? AND WHICH IS THE RANGE OF SKILLFULNESS OF THE BODHISATTVA MAHASATTVA AVALOKITESVARA ? SO ASKED, THE LORD REPLIED TO THE BODHISATTVA MAHASATTVA AKSHAYAMATI: IN SOME WORLDS, YOUNG MAN OF GOOD FAMILY, THE BODHISATTVA MAHASATTVA AVALOKITESVARA PREACHES THE LAW TO CREATURES IN THE SHAPE OF A BUDDHA; IN OTHERS HE DOES SO IN THE SHAPE OF A BODHISATTVA. TO SOME BEINGS HE SHOWS THE LAW IN THE SHAPE OF A PRATYEKABUDDHA; TO OTHERS HE DOES SO IN THE SHAPE OF A DISCIPLE; TO OTHERS AGAIN UNDER THAT OF BRAHMA, INDRA OR A GANDHARVA. TO THOSE WHO ARE TO BE CONVERTED BY A GOBLIN, HE PREACHES THE LAW ASSUMING THE SHAPE OF A GOBLIN; TO THOSE WHO ARE TO BE CONVERTED BY ISHVARA, HE PREACHES THE LAW IN THE SHAPE OF ISHVARA; TO THOSE WHO ARE TO BE CONVERTED BY MAHESVARA, HE PREACHES ASSUMING THE SHAPE OF MAHESVARA. TO THOSE WHO ARE TO BE CONVERTED BY A KAKRAVARTIN (1), HE SHOWS THE LAW AFTER ASSUMING THE SHAPE OF A KAKRAVARTIN; TO THOSE WHO ARE TO BE CONVERTED BY AN IMP, HE SHOWS THE LAW UNDER THE SHAPE OF AN IMP; TO THOSE WHO ARE TO BE CONVERTED BY KUBERA, HE SHOWS THE LAW BY APPEARING IN THE SHAPE OF KUBERA; TO THOSE WHO ARE TO BE CONVERTED BY SENAPATI (2), HE PREACHES IN THE SHAPE OF SENAPATI; TO THOSE WHO ARE TO BE CONVERTED BY ASSUMING A BRAHMAN (3), HE PREACHES IN THE SHAPE OF A BRAHMAN; 
......[HE] AFFORDS SAFETY TO THOSE WHO ARE IN ANXIETY. ON THAT ACCOUNT ONE CALLS HIM IN THIS SAHA-WORLD ABHAYANDADA (I.E. GIVER OF SAFETY)." 

PAGE 413 

(BUDDHA) 

" LISTEN TO THE CONDUCT OF AVALOKITESVARA. 

3. HEAR FROM MY INDICATION HOW FOR NUMEROUS, INCONCEIVABLE AEONS HE HAS ACCOMPLISHED HIS VOTE [VOW] UNDER MANY THOUSAND KOTIS OF BUDDHAS. 

4. HEARING, SEEING, REGULARLY AND CONSTANTLY THINKING (3) WILL INFALLIBLY DESTROY ALL SUFFERING, (MUNDANE) EXISTENCE, AND GRIEF OF LIVING BEINGS HERE ON EARTH. " 

BELOW EXCERPTED FROM KERN'S FOOTNOTES... 

PAGES 410 AND 411 

(1) MOVER OF THE WHEEL, I.E. VISHNU 

(2) SKANDA 

(3) BRIHASPATI 


*************************************************************************

BHAKTI ANANDA GOSWAMI'S COMMENTS ON THE FOOTNOTES

ACTUALLY (1) CAKRAVARTIN IS A NAME OF SRI KRISHNA, AND HIS DISCUS-WIELDING VISHNU MANIFESTATION. KRISHNA'S CIRCLE / CYCLE KYKLOS / CAKRA SYMBOL ACTUALLY IS THE COMMON SYMBOL FOR HIS NAME IN THE ANCIENT WORLD. THUS IN EGYPT FOR EXAMPLE, THE CIRCLE GLYPH ALWAYS REPRESENTS HERU, AND IS 'READ' HERU (HIS NAME). IN JUDEA THE 'SOLAR' CIRCLE REPRESENTS ELI. AMONG THE GREEKS IT REPRESENTS KOUROS HELIOS OF RHODES. IN INDIA THE CAKRA ALWAYS BELONGS TO KRISHNA OR VISHNU OR THEIR SURYA-NARAYANA FORM. IN ASIA, THE 'SOLAR SYMBOL' IS ASSOCIATED WITH AMITABHA, WHO WESTERN SCHOLARS HAVE LONG CONSIDERED ONE OF THE 'CLASS OF SUPREME SOLAR DEITIES'. THE MISTAKE OF THESE SCHOLARS HAS BEEN TO MISUNDERSTAND THIS ONE DEITY'S WIDESPREAD WORSHIP AS NOTHING MORE, OR OTHER, THAN SOME KIND OF SUN WORSHIP. 

SKANDA (2) SENAPATI OR SKANDA-MARUGAN WAS WORSHIPED AS MARS IN ROME, WHERE GANESHA WAS JANUS.

BRIHASPATI (3) LIKE SKANDA AND KUBERA, INDRA, BRAHMA ETC. ARE ALL MANIFESTATIONS OF SRI KRISHNA FOUND NOT ONLY IN THE GITA, BUT IN NUMEROUS OTHER ANCIENT VAISHNAVA TEXTS AS WELL. MANY OF THESE FORMS COME THROUGH CHINA AND KOREA, ALL THE WAY INTO JAPAN, WHERE THEY CONTINUE TO BE WORSHIPED ALONGSIDE AMITABHA HRIH (HARI KRISHNA) AND LOKESHVARA (VISHNU). In ancient Japanese Pure Land Buddhism AMIDA is HRIH, and His two-armed SHO KANNON Form is the DHARMA KAYA as AMITABHA-AMITAYUS or KRISHNA-BALARAMA. SHO KANNON THE ORIGINAL OR ADI BUDDHA HAS A FLUTE. Lokeshvara is Vishnu, The Catholic Mary is Kichijo-ten and SRI LAKSHMI, and Benzai-ten as SARASVATI. Emma is Yama. Surya & Chandra are Nikko and Gakko. Taishaku-ten is Indra. Bonten is Brahma. The Alvar KANAN is ASAKUSA SHO (FLUTE) KANNON IN TOKYO. The Tana Bata Festival is Radha-Krishna's Rasa Lila Festival. JESUS-CHARAKA (BALARAMA) IS THE GREAT PHYSICIAN YAKUSHI JI AT NARA. The Nepalese Form of Krishna as Infinite Light / Amitabha can be seen with His Flute and peacock feather on the Great Lamp at Nara etc. The ecstatic HARI NAM NEMBUTSU MOVEMENTS of HRIH, popularized by the Pure Land Saints like Honen, Shinran, Ippen and Nichiren Shonin in Japan were all AMIDA-LOKESHVARA CENTRIC BHAKTI DEVOTIONAL MOVEMENTS. These continue today in the present SOKA GAKKAI and other current Nembutsu and Jewel-Lotus Prayer Japanese Buddhist popular japa mantra phenomena. "Soka Gakkai International (SGI)-USA is an American Buddhist association that promotes world peace and individual happiness based on the teachings of the Nichiren school of Mahayana Buddhism."

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
THE BHAGAVAD GITA AND LOTUS SUTRA REVELATIONS COMPARED 
BY TRIDANDI SWAMI HH BHAKTI ANANDA GOSWAMI 

"SADDHARMA-PUNDARIKA or THE LOTUS OF THE TRUE LAW", TRANSLATED BY PROF. H. KERN. 

BUDDHA'S SELF-REVELATION IN THE SADDHARMAPUDARIKA

FORMS THAT THE ADI PURUSHA AS AVALOKITESVARA ASSUMES TO TEACH / CONVERT / SAVE BEINGS IN THE WORLD OF SUFFERING (SAHA WORLD), LISTED IN ORDER FROM THE ABOVE... 

I. BUDDHA 
2. BODHISATTVA 
3. PRATYEKABUDDHA 
4. DISCIPLE 
5. BRAHMA 
6. INDRA 
7. GANDHARVA 
8. GOBLIN 
9. ISVARA 
10. MAHESVARA 
11. KAKRAVARTIN 
12. IMP 
13. KUBERA 
14. SENAPATI / SKANDA 
15. BRAHMAN / BRIHASPATI 

COMPARE TO SRI KRISHNA'S SELF-REVELATION IN THE BAHGAVAD GITA ........................

FROM " BHAGAVAD-GITA AS IT IS" BY HIS DIVINE GRACE A.C. BHAKTIVEDANTA SWAMI SRILA PRABHUPADA (1972 EDITION) 

SRI KRISHNA SAYS "I AM...." 

1. BUDDHA CH. 4 TXT 7, PURPORT PAGE 225 

2. AVALOKITESVARA BODHISATTVA = VISHNU 
CH. 7 TXT 4, PURPORT PAGES 367 AND 368 
KRISHNA'S VISHNU EXPANSIONS AND PURUSHA 
INCARNATIONS ARE DESCRIBED. THESE ARE 
ALL FORMS OF AVALOKITESVARA IN NORTHERN 
BUDDHISM. 

3. * PRATYEKABUDDHA 

4. DASA AVATARA IS WHEN KRISHNA APPEARS AS 
HIS OWN DISCIPLE-SERVANT, LORD BALADEVA 
IS ALSO CALLED 'THE SERVITOR LORD'. 

5. BRAHMA CH. 10, TXT 33, PAGE 530 

6. INDRA CH. 10, TXT 22, PAGES 520 - 521 

7. GANDHARVA CH. 10, TXT 26, PAGE 524 
(CITRARATHA) 

8. * GOBLIN 

9. ISVARA CH. 9, TXT 11, PURPORT PAGE 459 

10. MAHESVARA CH. 7, TXT 14, PURPORT PAGE 380 
MAHESVARAM CH. 9, TXT 11, PAGE 458 

11. CAKRAVARTIN CH.11, TXT 46, PAGES 577& 578 
CAKRA-HASTAM) [CAKRAVARTIN COMMONLY] 

12. *IMP 

13. KUBERA CH. 10, TXT 23, PAGE 521 

14. SKANDA CH. 10, TXT 24, PAGE 522 

15. BRHASPATI CH. 10, TXT 24, PAGE 522 

* NOT TRANSLITERATED BY KERNS.

OBVIOUSLY THE DEITY SPEAKING THE GITA AND THE LOTUS SUTRA IS THE SAME DEITY. THIS IS WHY ALL OF NORTHERN BUDDHISM WORSHIPS THE FORMS OF KRISHNA-VISHNU AS THE FORMS OF AMITABHA-LOKESHVARA. 


SOME EXAMPLES OF THE SAME LILA-AVATARA FORM OF LOKESHVARA AND VISHNU

NARASINGHA VISHNU = NARASINGHA LOKESVARA 
VARAHA VISHNU = BARAHA LOKESVARA 
HAYAGRIVA VISHNU = HAYAGRIVA LOKESVARA 
MATSYA VISHNU = MACCHA LOKESVARA 
KALAH (MAHADEVA SHIVA ) VISHNU = KALAH (MAHADEVA SHIVA) LOKESVARA 



SOME OF THE OTHER FORMS IN COMMON BETWEEN BUDDHA-LOKESHVARA AND VISHNU 

LOKESVARA ON THE CAUSAL WATERS = MAHA VISHNU 

BUDDHA NILAKANTHA = GARBODAKSAYI VISHNU ON ANANTA SESHA NAGA IN THE GARBODAK OCEAN

MUCHILINDA BUDDHA = VISHNU-BUDDHA ON ANANTA NAGASANA

LOKESVARA (HRIH) in the HEART of ALL BEINGS = PARAMATMA VISHNU 

LOKESVARA AS ALL THE PURUSHA AVATARAS = VISHNU AS ALL THE PURUSHA AVATARAS

LOKESHVARA AS BUDDHA, BRAHMA, MAHESHVARA (SHIVA), INDRA, SURYA, CHANDRA, SKANDA, BRIHASPATI, KUBERA ETC. = VISHNU AS BUDDHA, BRAHMA, MAHESHVARA (SHIVA), INDRA, SURYA, CHANDRA, SKANDA, BRIHASPATI, KUBERA ETC. 



FROM NEPAL ALL THE WAY TO JAPAN, KRISHNA'S AND VISHNU'S NAMES CAN BE FOUND AS THE NAMES OF THE ADI-BUDDHA (DHARMA KAYA) AND HIS PRIMARY 'REFLEX' OR EXPANSION, LOKESHVARA (SAMBHOGYA KAYA). 


HRIH 
BHAGAVAN 
PURUSOTTAMA 
NARAYANA 
ADI PURUSHA 
CHAKRAVARTIN 
ETC. 

THEIR ALL-PERVASIVE FORM, AS THE LORD IN THE HEART, IS HRIH IN ALL FORMS AS RUPA KAYA. 


KRISHNA-VISHNU'S FORMS (RUPA) ARE FOUND EVERYWHERE WITH HIS NAMES (NAMA). HIS HIGHEST 'ADI' OR ORIGINAL FORM IS HIS TWO-ARMED BEAUTIFUL 'SHO' (JAPANESE 'ORIGINAL' AND 'FLUTE') DHARMA KAYA FORM, WHO IS THE 'LOVER OF THE SOUL' (KRISHNA or KOUROS), AND 'FATHER' OR CAUSELESS SOURCE OF ALL. HIS 1000 ARMED FORM AS THE UNIVERSAL PURUSHA / VIRATA RUPA IS THE COSMIC PURUSHA FORM OF LOKESVARA WITH HIS MANY HEADS AND 1000 ARMS. 



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