In2-MeC

IBSA (ISKCON Bhaktivedanta Sadhana Asrama), Govardhana, India
23 December 2003

Some Observations on Esoteric Buddhism

It's the Christmas season, so I am thinking about Lord Buddhadeva. Whenever I think of Jesus Christ, I think of Buddha; whenever I think of Buddha, I think of Christ.

Srila Jayadeva Gosvami celebrates Buddha as an incarnation of Kesava, Sri Krsna:

nindasi yajna-vidher ahaha sruti jatam
sadaya-hrdaya-darsita-pasu-ghatam
kesava dhrta-buddha-sarira jaya jagad-isa hare

Srila Prabhupada comments on this verse in the purport to Srimad-Bhagavatam 6. 8. 19:

The mission of Lord Buddha was to save people from the abominable activity of animal killing and to save the poor animals from being unnecessarily killed. When pasandis were cheating by killing animals on the plea of sacrificing them in Vedic yajnas, the Lord said, "If the Vedic injunctions allow animal killing, I do not accept the Vedic principles. " Thus he actually saved people who acted according to Vedic principles. One should therefore surrender to Lord Buddha so that he can help one avoid misusing the injunctions of the Vedas.

In his purport to Srimad-Bhagavatam 7. 15. 10, Srila Prabhupada has this to say about the mission of Jesus Christ:

Animal sacrifice in the name of religion is current practically all over the world in every established religion. It is said that Lord Jesus Christ, when twelve years old, was shocked to see the Jews sacrificing birds and animals in the synagogues and that he therefore rejected the Jewish system of religion and started the religious system of Christianity, adhering to the Old Testament commandment "Thou shalt not kill. "

A few days ago I mentioned the Gnostics, who formed different sects of mystical Christianity soon after the time of Jesus. One such group was the Nazarenes. It may be incorrect to lump their beliefs in with Gnosticism; but in any case mainstream Christianity considers the Nazarenes to have been heretics--which is the same verdict the mainstream passed on the Gnostics. The Nazarenes were Jews of Palastine who accepted Jesus Christ as the promised Messiah. They spoke Aramaic, the language Christ preached in. The Nazarenes held that Jesus prohibited animal slaughter and meat-eating. From the Internet www.uncc.edu/jdtabor/ebionites.html) I copied this, which is one of four main tenets of the Nazarene doctrine:

Disdain for eating meat and even the Temple slaughter of animals, preferring the ideals of the pre-Flood diet and what they took to be the original ideal of worship (see Gen 9:1-5; Jer 7:21-22; Isa 11:9; 66:1-4).

Fragments of a Nazarene scripture still exist (in a German university, I believe), written in Aramaic, called the Gospel According to the Hebrews. This text is credited to Christ's disciple Matthew. In it, Christ declares that his mission is to stop Jewish animal sacrifice. Establishment Christianity ("churchianity") holds the Gospel According to the Hebrews to be apocrypha ("not bona fide"). But it is interesting to note that the canonical Gospels, the four that are included in the standard Christian Bible, were all originally written in Greek. Jesus Christ did not preach in Greek.

Jesus and Buddha appeared in the beginning of Kali-yuga and their missions were identical. The difference is that Buddha spread his mission in the context of Indian culture and Christ spread his mission in the context of Middle Eastern culture. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura and His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada accepted Jesus and Buddha as saktyavesa-avataras (empowered incarnations) of the Supreme Lord.

In a magazine interview of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta that is published by the Gaudiya Math, a reporter asked him about Buddhism. He replied that he views the Buddhists to be Vaisnavas. Srila Prabhupada spoke similarly of the Christians (though he repeatedly said that if they really followed Christ they would stop eating meat).

A question can be raised. Jesus taught a theology that is monotheistic, personal, and devotional. In this way a strong congruency can be found with Vaisnavism. But Buddhism is known in the world to be "an atheistic religion. " For many who claim to be Buddhists, a key to their attraction to Buddhism is that the doctrine enshrines no God. So the question is, doesn't the atheism of Buddhism consign this religion to the category of non-Vaisnavism?

Before I became a devotee of Krsna I was quite interested in Buddhism. In fact I considered myself a Buddhist. But in truth I had no qualification to call myself such. The point I'm making is, please don't mistake me for an expert in Buddhism.

On the other hand, I've practiced Krsna consciousness for 33 years. I've spent a lot of time in India, the homeland of Buddhism. In my research on Vaisnava Vedanta, I've been able to compare Buddhist philosophy with Vaisnava philosophy. In these ways I've come to know quite a bit more about Buddhism than I did when I thought I was a Buddhist.

For the Christmas season, then, I'll write a few words about Esoteric Buddhism in reply to the question I raised three paragraphs ago.

There is a Japanese text entitled Benkenmitsu nikyo ron, which means The Difference Between Exoteric and Esoteric Buddhism. It was written in AD 814 or 815 by the Buddhist acarya Kukai. Known by his honorific title Kobo Daishi ("the great teacher who widely spread Buddhism"), Kukai (774-835) is one of Japan's greatest religious figures. A disciple of the Chinese Buddhist master Hui-Kuo, he was initiated in 805 at Ch'ang-an, the capital of China in the time of the T'ang dynasty. Hui-Kuo was the disciple of Pu-k'ung (Amoghavajra), who studied Buddhism in South India and was initiated by the Indian Buddhist guru Vajrabodhi. Kukai returned to Japan after Hui-Kuo left this world. At Kyoto he founded Shingon-shu or the Shingon sect of Japanese Buddhism, which in 823 was formally recognized by Emperor Jun'na. To this day Shingon is one of the most important schools of Buddhist doctrine in Japan; those who follow it strictly keep the same four regulative principles as do the Vaisnavas.

Kukai explained the difference between Exoteric and Esoteric Buddhism thus:

The doctrine revealed by the nirmanakaya Buddha [Gautama Buddha, the Buddha of history] is called Exoteric; it is apparent, simplified, and adapted to the needs of the time and to the capacity of the listeners. The doctrine expounded by the dharmakaya Buddha [Mahavairocana] is called esoteric; it is secret and profound and contains the final truth.

This needs explaining. Mahavairocana means "the great luminous One" or "the Great Sun Buddha. " In a scripture called Mahavairocana Sutra, this Great Sun Buddha declares,

I am the origin of all. I am the One on whom the world depends. My teachings are peerless.

The notions of nirmanakaya and dharmakaya are essential to the Mahayana (Great Vehicle) tradition of Buddhism, which Shingon subscribes to. Mahayana encompasses most Buddhist sects in Japan, China and Tibet. It holds that there are three kayas (bodies, forms) of the Buddha: his earthly form (nirmanakaya), his heavenly form (sambhogakaya) and his essential form (dharmakaya). Buddhism in Ceylon and Indochina (Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam) is of a different tradition, the Hinayana (Lesser Vehicle); in this, the doctrine of tri-kaya is not acknowledged.

The Indian scholar K. N. Upadhyaya has this to say about a description of the dharmakaya Buddha given in Saddharma Pundarika, a Mahayana scripture:

In striking resemblence to Bhagavad-gita, the very form and atmosphere in which the Buddha appears in the Saddharma Pundarika is astonishingly supernatural. Like the cosmic form of Krishna in the Bhagavad-gita, he is depicted as shedding resplendent light, dazzling the enormous space from hell to the 18,000 regions of Buddhas. (Studies in the History of Buddhism)

The Japanese scholar Yoshito S. Hakeda states in Kukai: Major Works that Mahavairochana is "a pantheistic-monotheistic Supreme Being with personality. "

The rising sun is the symbol of the Japanese nation. The "mythological" founder of Japan is Amaterasu, the sun goddess; this demigod is understood to be an incarnation of Mahavairocana. In India the demigod of the sun, Surya, is the bearer of the fiery potency of the Personality of Godead Sri Visnu in the form of the three Vedas (Rg, Yajus and Sama). The three Vedas are manifestations of the Lord's parasakti, His divine consort, Goddess Laksmi. The light and heat of the Sun is Her energy. That power destroys all the sins in the world. Thus the demigod Surya is an incarnation of Surya-Narayana, the Lord of Laksmi; and the solar energy that the Lord entrusts to Surya is His own feminine sakti.

Furthermore, the sun is the eye of the universal form of Krsna.

Kukai taught that anyone could be liberated by the kaji (Japanese for grace) of Mahavairocana. Kaji is a translation of the Sanskrit adhisthana. This word appears in Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Antya-lila 20. 25:

uttama hana vaisnava habe nirabhimana
jive sammana dibe jani' krsna-adhisthana

Although a Vaisnava is the most exalted person, he is prideless and gives all respect to everyone, knowing everyone to be the resting pIace of Krsna.

Krsna-adhisthana means that by the Lord's grace He resides within the heart of every living being, no matter how great or small. Indeed, the Lord resides in every atom; therefore a Vaisnava sees His presence everywhere.

Kukai wrote:

In Exoteric Buddhist teachings, the four great elements (earth, water, fire and wind) are considered to be nonsentient beings, but in Esoteric Buddhist teaching they are regarded as the samaya-body (i. e. the representational form, or Deity incarnation) of the Tathagata (Lord Buddhadeva).

Though the whole material world is pervaded by the Great Sun Buddha Mahavairocana, he is untouched by it. Kukai prayed:

I take refuge in that One Who is the adamantine life of all beings--transcendental, immaculate, causeless and infinite.

Kukai taught that Mahavairocana exists in four states simultaneously:

jisho hosshin--in the absolute state
juyo hosshin--in bliss or participation
henge hosshin--in transformation
toru hosshin--in emanation.

All Vaisnava sampradayas accept the four catur-vyuha manifestations of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Vasudeva exists in absolute goodness. Sankarsana is the first manifestation to participate with the material energy in the lila of creation; as Maha-Visnu He is absorbed in the bliss of yoganidra. Pradyumna transforms the avyakta-mahat-tattva into its vyakta (manifest) state of 24 ingredients. From Aniruddha (Ksirodakasayi Visnu) emanates the gross material creation (virat).

The school of Buddhism founded by Kukai is, as mentioned before, called Shingon ("true word"). This is a translation into Japanese of the Sanskrit mantrayana ("the mantra vehicle"). Kukai's teaching centered on the chanting of mantras. In a poem he wrote:

A mantra is suprarational It eliminates ignorance when meditated upon and chanted A single word contains a thousand truths One can realize Suchness here and now Walk on and on until perfect quiescence is reached; Go on and on until the primordial Source is penetrated.

In a work called Sango shiki, Kukai admonished the ignorant sense-gratifier thusly:

Your mind is filled with thoughts of holding a glass of wine in one hand and a piece of crab in the other. . . You are ignorant of the fact that to recite even once the name of the Buddha and to meditate on him may result in your attaining enlightenment.

Kukai stressed sokushin jobutsu, "attaining enlightenment in this very existence" and declared that this was possible for everyone because bongaku, "man is originally enlightened. " You see, in Buddhism there is a debate rather equivalent to the debate among some Gaudiya Vaisnavas about "the origin of the jiva. " Kukai held Esoteric Buddhism to be superior to Exoteric Buddhism because the former offers enlightenment to every human being in this very life, whereas in the latter enlightenment is thought to take many lifetimes to achieve. Yoshito S. Hakeda writes:

His insistence that one can attain enlightenment here and now was grounded on this belief [bongaku], a belief derived from the simple insight that unless a man is enlightened from the very beginning he has no way to reach enlightenment.

The doctrine of bongaku in turn is the natural consequence of kaji or adhisthana, that living entities are ever inseparable from Mahavairocana. Kukai wrote:

The compassion of the Buddha pouring forth on the heart of sentient beings, like the rays of the sun on water, is called ka (adding), and the heart of sentient beings which keeps hold of the compassion of the Buddha, as water retains the rays of the sun, is called ji (retaining).

"In other words," notes Hakeda, "it is the basic homogeneity of man with Mahavairocana which makes faith possible. " He quotes Kukai as stating, "The Buddha Dharma is nowhere remote. It is in our mind; it is close to us. Suchness is nowhere external. "

On a hilltop near Kathmandu in Nepal is the world-renowned Svayambhu Caitya (temple of Svayambhu). The centerpiece of the Caitya is a four-sided stupa (tower), each side of which is adorned with the eyes of Buddha. The Svayambhu Caitya is said to have been founded in ancient times by the Chinese saint Manjushri, who was present at that place when Adi-Buddha (the Original Buddha) appeared there as a flame burning in the center of a great lotus. The name Svayambhu ("self-born") is given in the Mahavira Samadhi chapter of the Mahavairocana Sutra. Another esoteric Buddhist scripture called Pancakrama states that Adi-Buddha is the self-originated Svayambhu Bhagavat and is the essence of the Supreme Self.

Adi-Buddha is accompanied by a divine female consort named Adi-Devi or Adi-Prajna. Among his names are Mahavairocana, Visvarupa, Niranjana and Jagannatha. He is free from both existence and nonexistence and yet surcharged with the potency of all forms; he himself is the embodiment of loveliness. His nature is mahasukha, infinite bliss.

From a footnote in a book called Adi-Buddha by Kanai Lal Hazra:

All classes of theistic Buddhists believe in the individual existence of the human soul. They consider that the soul was originally an emanation from Adi-Buddha and that after a longer or shorter period of transmigration in this and other worlds, it will return to Him again. . .

A bit later in this footnote, the difference between Esoteric and Exoteric Buddhism is taken up. Esoteric Buddhists are termed Theists and Exoteric Buddhists are termed Materialists.

What the Theists consider as a cause the Materialists consider as an effect. The Theists worship Adi-Buddha as the Great First Cause of All. The Materialists practically deify the powers of matter, and worship them personified as Nature, whom they look upon as supreme. . .

Adi-Buddhi is depicted in Nepal and Tibet as having bluish or golden bodily hue. He is dressed and ornamented like a prince. Five dhyani Buddhas are worshiped in conjunction with the Adi-Buddha; they are said to appear from his mind as personifications of his own transcendental attributes.

In conclusion, there is definitely a theistic tradition within Buddhism that is long-standing and influential even today. However, Buddhism in all its forms seems to retain a fascination for voidism and impersonalism. Thus one reads that Adi-Buddha and Mahavairocana are of the nature of the great void; that in the end, the perfected Buddhist merges into Adi-Buddha; that the devotee of Adi-Buddha is himself Adi-Buddha. The consciousness cultivated in Buddhism is much occupied with speculation and meditation. In a 1969 lecture, Srila Prabhupada remarked:

Brahman realization is more or less realized by philosophical speculation. And Paramatma realization is achieved more or less by meditation. But Bhagavan realization is transcendental devotion. That is beyond the philosophical speculation and mental meditation, beyond.

The Buddhist conception of a personal Deity--Mahavairocana, Adi-Buddha--has a marked similarity to Paramatma. He is the source of the world but does not create by doing, like the demigods; he creates by contemplation (dhyana). He simply is, and his Suchness is the reality of the universe. He is oneness personified. He is realized by perfect meditation. His own lila, as it were, is eternal meditation.

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