(8) Journal of Indian and Buddhist Studies Vol. 41, No. 1, December 1992
Bhakti and Sraddha
Norio SEKIDO
As Mahayana Buddhism developed, the concept of God, Buddha as God begin to take place. The tradition of worship gradually increased. One critic says that after the demise of Buddha, slowly and slowly his image was adorned by his followers. The major and minor disciples accepted him as the supreme God). Thus devotion or bhakti emerged in Mahayana Buddhism. He was called Amitabha Buddha.2) Vasubandhu prescribed five methods of worship like the Hindu concept of devotion. The repetition of the name of Buddha has been conceived to be essential for the realisation of freedom from suffering in many sects of Mahayana Buddhism. Fa-hien then reached Pataliputra, where he came across a distinguished Brahmana called Radhasvami, who. was a Buddhist by faith. He had clear discernment and deep knowledge. He taught Mahayana doctrines to Fa-hien. He was revered by the king of the country. He was instrumental in popularising Buddhism. Sramanas from other countries came to comprehend the Truth. By the side of the ASoka stupa, there was a Mahayana monastery, grand and beautiful, there was also a Hinayana monastery. The two together had about 600 to 700 monks. Here was another teacher known as Manjusri, who was proficient like Radhasvami. To him flocked Maha- yana students from all countries. Modern scholars of the Bhagavad-Gita have almost unf ormly translated the word Sraddha with the English word faith' or the German word Glaube. In view of the near unanimity of preference for the word faith in translating the word Sraddha, one is apt to think that the word adequately conveys the significance of the original.3 As in Bhakti in Hinduism, the company of sutra is very helpful for the
-533- Bhakti and Sraddha (N. SEKIDO) (9) new followers, similarly, we find Buddhist nun who said that the company of sutra and the imitation of sutra is very important on this part. So we can conclude that Eight-fold path of concentration as the chief means of salvation, got later Bhakti of Buddha developed in Mahayana schools, which is akin to bhakti movement of Hinduism in many respects. The actual meaning of Bhakti is to retain the truest faith and love towards a Buddhist God. Then you gain the power of devotion and worship. In Christianity, also there is stress on faith and prayer. Buddha searched the truth and found it. But the people who tried to find a God, they became great people like Kabir and Tulsidas4. In Buddhacarita by Ashvaghcsa in Buddhist Mahayana text, we find some references to faith, devotion and worship of Buddha. Those who believed and worshipped Buddha, they became themselves Buddha. The concept of Krishna and God is quite clear. But Buddhists sometime become flurried. Gita is clear on this topic. But tripitaka could not give the clear conclusion. On the other hand, Mahayana Buddhism slowly and slowly got affected by Upanisads and Purana literature.5 Like the speech and mind, the cow and calf, sraddha and truth are said to be, in a certain sense, one and yet are distinct from one another. They are distinct from one another as representing different sacrificial aspects and one, in as much as they contribute to the sacrificial perfor- mance. The life of departure was the problem of sacrifice. Hinduism takes a form of consecration and which is the first rite of soma sacrifice. But Buddha rather developed Gita as faith in sinless action and free soul." The revolution of concept on sraddha in accordance with `the spirit of ae age, in which all intellectual activities are concentrated on the sacrifice, describing its ceremonies, discussing its values, speculating on its origin and significance. The whole of this literature contains profuse quotations from the Rgveda which are meant to be repeated during sacrificial performance. But the meaning of these passages receives scant attention.
-532- (10) Bhakti and Sraddha (N. SEKIDO)
A highly artificial system of rites and ceremonies comes to be associated with Sraddha, and the concept comes to be associated wita a way of works (rites as constituting the summum bonum of life). At the same time they-have to accept the monism of Gita and its impersonal view of God. S. Radhakrishnan admits that an absolute monism marks the completion of the dualism with which the devotional consciou- sness starts in Gita" . similarly, F. Edgerton also has to point out that "through its God, Gita seems after all to arrive at an ultimate monism.
Fa-tsang says of the phrase "in their totality": Because the two aspects of one mind, i. e. the absolute aspect and the phenomenal aspect, are not differentiated, but include each other, the words `in their totality' are used. The one world of reality is nothing but the samsara. At the same time the samsara is nothing but the absolute. In order to indicate these meanings, the essence which is the same in both aspects is mentioned. No amount of artificial rituals can harm the eternal. The imperishable can not live the highest goal. The goal of life is not the attainment of heaven but deliverence from the perishable. But Sraddha becomes the implied achievement of godliness. Sraddha brings the transformation of faith into the heroic spiritual activities. It is also called para-Sraddha, parama-Sraddha. At one point almost all agree-GI-td, Mahayana Buddhism, SDP and Bhisma parva, that liberation is attained by one who has succeeded in throwing away desires and in attaining the realization of Brahma. To this regard Katha occupies historically and unique position among the Upanisads. The divine vision can only be the work of divine grace. The will of God and the love of god made the circle of sadana meaningful. Some sky power and cloud power have been found in Buddhist literature. But in Bhisma parva they have been supposed to be the seat of highest God- powers. In Gita, the property of sky have been reff eyed but in the SDP the power of clouds have been reproduced. Anyone hould conduct oneself as -531- Bhakti and Sraddha (N. SEKIDO) (11) a friend sf all creatures, abstaining from all acts of violence and unnecce- sary indulgences. The object of the Pra jnparamitas as well as of the Madhyamaka-karika is to establish the unity corresponding to the Vedantic absolute. The most characteristic mark, however, of the Vedantic absolute is that it is of the nature of pure intelligence (citta) and bliss (ananda). In Nagarjuna's works, at least the unity of bliss appears to be contra- dicted. Because Buddhist was not insearch of bliss, but he composite freedoms. Santa and Siva are the two terms which find place in Nagar- juna's conception of Reality; hence it would be wrong to assume to find in his conception a full-fledged Vedantic Brahman-an all-pervading I which Buddha categorically denies. According to Dasgupta, it approaches more to the Nyaya-Vaisesika conception of mukti, i.e., a state entirely devoid of quality of any sort, either abstract or attributive in which the self remains in itself in its own purity, unassociated with pleasure, pain knowledge, willingness, etc. The Madhyamika conception of reality, or Nirvana may well, therefore, be said to have a resemblance to the imper- sonal aspect of the Vedantic Brahman but to its other aspects. A common ideology is attributed to diverse religious forces became the Standardised definition of bhakti which ignores the variability of its form in the Hindu tradition. What is called the Bhakti movement had two distinct faces to it; only laying emphasis on the worship of Vishnu and his avatara-Rama and Krishna-and the others, on devotion for the Nirguna Brahma alone. Whe- reas one represented vishnu-worship and Saguna-bhakti, the other was an expression of an equally powerful movement to popularize the belief in an impersonal God and the path of Nirguna-bhakti. The spirit of suppli- cation and surrender, coupled with a sense of the "otherness" of God, characterized the first; the understanding and realization of His non- otherness, and the love and passion for the realization of the true Inner- Self (the Atman or Brahman), the second. The Bhakti of the medieval bhaktas like Chaitanya, Tulsidasa, suradas and Mira was a constituent -530- (12) Bhakti and Sraddha (N. SEKIDO) of the former, and that of Kabira, N-anaka and Dadu etc., of the later. Chaitanya, Tulsidasa, surdasa and Mira etc., were all Vaishnavas and Saguna-bhaktas; Kabira, Nanaka, Dadu and Raidasa, were non-vaishnavas and Nirguna bhaktas.10) Buddha had faith in the holiness of existence. But if we can not say that Buddha believed the realm of God. He found the truth all-pervading, but he found it unsufficient for the common humanity. Immediate truth was his concern. He disliked going very far. The kingdom of God inspired Jesus Christ but this also inspired Yudhisthira and Bhisma. Buddhism was in a flourishing condition and the monks used to take pains to understand and to study both Hinayana and Mahayana. Acccrding to the writings of Hiuen Tsiang, he passed througha a number of monas- teries, full of monks and came down to Mathura, there, he noticed 20 monasteries and 3000 monks. But the simple reason that we have to realize in this that Buddhists had to abandon India cnly because they had no god and godly face to exhibit and to convince the simple folk of the native India. The large number of men and women that came to Mathura and vrn- davana could not find a God more interesting and awesome than Krishna and Gita. That is the one real cause for the failure of Buddhism in India. Krishna and Rama with Gita and Ramayana could win the minds of people more easily and reasonably as the flow of Ganges and Yamuna River. Buddhism could get the blessings of Buddha but could not get the blessings of all mighty provident gods. The incarnations in India fared a longer distance than movements of Mahayana Buddhism. It remains a great truth to be realized that God and his incarnations became important for the country. But this point Buddhism thawed nationalist movement. So the holy soil of India could not retain this supremacy of Buddhism.
1) Basham, A. L. The Origins and Development of Classical Hinduism, New Delhi, 1989, p. 96. -529- Bhakti and Sraddha (N. SEKIDO) (13)
2) In the figure of Amitabha we find features from various sources. Once it was asserted that Amita is a corrupted form of ampta (immortal), and the figure of Pure Land (Sukhavati) came from that of the heaven of Vishnu. This theory cannot be adopted in toto, for the word amitayus was used in Buddhism before rise of Pure Land Buddhism. H. Nakamura in IBK., vol. Il, 1962. All the theories concerning the origin of the figure of Amitabha were examined by Kotatsu Fu jita in Shukyo Kenkyu, vol. 38, No. 3, (Nr. 182), March 1965, pp. 29-52; No. 4 (Nr. 183), March, 1965, pp. 61-118. He concludes that the figure of Amitabha had its origin in the current of Indian Thought. 3) Hara, Minoru. Note on two Sanskrit terms: Bhakti and sraddha, Indo-Iranian Journal, vol. VII, 1964, pp. 124-145. Dasgupta, Mrinal. Sraddha and bhakti in Vedic Literature, Indian Historical Quarterly, 1930, pp. 314-333 and 497-513. Oldenberg, H. Vedische Untersuchungen, 4, ZDMG, 50, p. 449. Hacker, Paul. Sraddha, Wiener Zeitschrift fur die Kunde sad-und Ostasiens, Band 111,1963, pp. 151-189. 4) Sharma; Krishna. Bhakti and Bhakti Movement; A New Perspective, New Delhi, 1987, pp. 162-197. 5) Dasgupta, Surendranath. A History of Indian Philosophy, vol. I, Delhi, 1988, pp. 109-111. 6) Sen, K.M. Hinduism, U.K., Middlesex, 1987, pp. 18-20. 7) Radhakrishnan, S. Indian Philosophy, vol. I, New Delhi, -1989,pp. 529-33. 8) Edgerton, Franklin. The Bhagavad Gita, trans. and interp., Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1972 9) Dasgupta, Surendranath. op. cit., p. 305 f. 10) Sharma, Krishna. op. cit., pp. 67. 11) Dutt, Nalinaksha. Mahayana Buddhism, Calcutta, 1973, p. 37.
-528-