The Buddha in Hinduism

 

There is also a Buddha in Hinduism (Bauddh in hindi)

 

(more contents added on 29/05/2021)

 

 

Bhagvan Buddha as Vishnu at Chennakesava Temple (Somanathapura)

 

The Buddha that we normally talk of is the Gautam Buddha in Buddhism who was born in Nepal in a kshatriya clan (one of the four varna (social orders) of Hindu society, associated with warrior hood) had in-laws in Nepal as well, however he attained enlightenment in Bodh Gaya in India.

 

The Buddha in Hinduism is Bhagwan Buddha, who was born in a Brahmin clan and is considered as the ten incarnations of Bhagwan Vishnu, the story of the ten incarnations is the story of the evolution of human race, starting from the life form that originated in water to the perfect human being (I have written a blog for the same)

 

 

Bhagvan Buddha as an avatar at Dwaraka Tirumala temple, Andhra Pradesh

 

 

Hindus of India, Nepal & Bhutan who carry out rituals study about the Buddha avatar but do not know about Bhagwan Buddha.

 

Bhagvan Buddha as an avatara at Airavatesvara Temple

 

 

The Bhavishya Purana literally meaning future puran is one of the eighteen major works in the Purana genre of Hinduism, and implies it is a work that contains prophecies regarding the future, mentions Bhagwan Buddha to be born in a Brahmin clan in India

 

Also in Srimad bhagwat the location of Buddha avatar in said to be Kikateshu Bhavishyati i.e. Bhagwan Vishnu will incarnate as Buddha in Kikat. Kikat term as been mentioned in Rigveda too and Kikat denotes a particular location as per the commentary by Saayanacharya.  Though, the particular location has not been specified. Chaitnya Mahaprabhu was fond of the world famous Shridhar Teeka which is the commentary written by Shridhar Swami on Srimad Bhagwat, here Shridhar Swami has defined Kikat as the area of Gaya. In Kikateshu Bhavishyati, Kikat means Gaya. Like Puri is a part of Purushottam area similarly Gaya is a part of Kikat area.

 

The shankaracharya of Govardhan Math, puri, Sri Nischalananda Saraswati ji has done research on this found a location and says that there is a village of Brahmins at a hillock and there is an ancient icon of Buddha there.

 

Also in Agni puran dhyana (meditation) of Bhagwan Buddha has been detailed and his description like long ears is given

 

The shankaracharya of puri says that the Buddhists have drawn his picture on the basis of that shloka (verse) in Agni puran and have established it as Gautam Buddha, he further accuses Amarasimha who was a Buddhist and who created Amarakosha (note on Amarkosha written at the end) that he very cleverly wrote the names of Bhagwan Buddha, and Gautam Buddha together. He used a word as a divider in between which people fail to understand as a divider due to which incarnated Bhagwan Buddha has been forgotten and Gautam Buddha has become famous as the Buddha.

 

Bhagwan stands for God, the Buddhist do not believe in God, Gautama is the Buddha who has passed away and Maitreya, in Buddhist traditions is a bodhisattva who will appear on Earth in the future and will be the future Buddha

 

According to Buddhist tradition, Avalokiteshvara is the earthly manifestation of the self-born eternal Buddha Amitabha, whose figure is represented in his headdress, and he guards the world in the interval between the departure of the historical Buddha, Gautama, and the appearance of the future Buddha, Maitreya.

 

Both the Hindu as well as the Buddhist Buddhas have the same gotra (lineage classification) named “Gautam” which further adds to the confusion

 

Bhagvan Buddha as an avatar of Vishnu in a Persian-style painting

 

I often think of the 6000 year old idol at the Badrinath temple of a saint sitting in mediation in padmasana pose and having four hands (the image of maha avatar Babaji is copied from this idol, I have written a blog on the same), some say it is the Buddha

 

Sketch of the idol at the Badrinath temple

 

The ten avatars of Vishnu, compare the second last picture of Bhagvan Buddha with the Sketch of the idol of the Badrinath temple, sitting in padmasana and having four hands

 

 

Note: The Amarakosha (अमरकोशः) is the popular name for Namalinganushasanam (नामलिङ्गानुशासनम्) an ancient thesaurus of Sanskrit, a reference book of Sanskrit words {A thesaurus or synonym dictionary [A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word] (note: A morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit in a language.