Why did Buddhist monks make a vow wishing to be born in Tusita heaven? (original) (raw)
Heavenly Rebirth and Buddhist Soteriology
The Oxford Handbook of Buddhist Practice, 2022
This chapter argues that aspirations for heaven realms for both monastics and laity were central to Buddhist traditions from early times. The "dharmalogical heavens" of Mainstream traditions and their beliefs and practices provided an explicit precedent for the Mahayana pure lands. Buddhist devas are blessed ancestors who ascend, never to fall, to pure realms of bliss, radiance, and super longevity that are ideal for receiving dharma. They continue to actively participate in the Buddha's mission by descending and engaging in myriad merit-making activities in support of the community. Buddhists pursued heaven through all forms of merit-making, the power of relics, mindfulness of Buddha, mindfulness of deities, compassion-pervasion practices, structured deathbed rituals, and as normal outcomes of meditative attainment.
The bodhisattva Maitreya is widely known as the future the Buddha following Buddha Śākyamuni. In general, he is often described as a bodhisattva who has one more lifetime before enlightenment (ekajātipratibaddha) and who abides in the Tuṣita heaven. Among the six Maitreya sutras, however, only the Guan milepusa shangsheng doulutian jing (観弥勒菩薩上生兜率天経, T No. 452) includes such an account. This paper examines descriptions of Maitreya in early Mahāyāna sutras, focusing on the following two characteristics: (1) ekajātipratibaddha and (2) living in the Tuṣita heaven. As its results, we can find the first feature, Bodhisattva Maitreya as an ekajātipratibaddha, only in the three early Mahayana sutras: the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa, Śūraṅgamasamādhi, and Ajātaśātrukaukṛtryavinodana. In contrast, the second one, abiding in the Tuṣita heaven, appears in a variety of early Mahāyāna sutras, including the oldest Chinese version of the Aṣṭasāhasrikā (= Daoxing jing, T No. 224), Saddharmapuṇḍarīka, and Drumakinnararājaparipṛcchā, and the above three. Therefore, the notion that Maitreya abides in the Tuṣita heaven is likely to have spread among early Mahāyāna sutras more widely and earlier than the idea that Maitreya is an ekajātipratibaddha.
Religious Studies Review, 2013
The Setting of the Study By any standards, the Buddhist religious culture of Myanmar is deep and vast. Touring the country, one can find thriving traditions of lay and monastic meditation, expanding male and female monastic tradi tions, copious Buddhist publications, numerous temple renovations, and large scale, military backed Buddhist ceremonies. Traveling to various pagodas, one can have gold leaf pasted to them by ringing a bell and sending the gold along a small cable car to the shrine. At the mighty Shwedagon pagoda in Yangon, believed to house the relics of the present and three past Buddhas, one can witness teams of women compete in yearly robes weaving contests. At the impressive Great Cave, also in Yangon, one can sit in an assembly hall meant to recall the cave in India where the First Buddhist Council is said to have taken place after death of the Buddha. One can travel to the hills of Sagaing and hear recitations of sacred texts resounding from the walls of nun neries, or visit the famous kingdom of Pagan and its immense temple dotted "plain of merit." In the environs of Mandalay, one can meditate in caves in front of skeletons said to have been donated to the monastic community in the times of kings, and then venture forth to the pilgrimage site of the Ma hamuni image, also claimed to have been made during the lifetime of the Buddha himself. In Pegu, the humble but sacred precincts of the Kaly S m ("Auspicious Ordination Hall") await, the seat of one of the most famous "overhaulings" of the monastic community in South east Asia. When making the very long and arduous bus trip from Yan gon to Mandalay, or to and from other areas requiring a long bus trek, one can hear tape recordings of protective chants, some from the meta physical Abhidhamma (The Doctrine Pure and Simple) itself. If Buddhist doctrine and metaphysics are indeed one's thing, the many traditional and more modern centers of Buddhist learning are populated by knowledgeable people who can help one on the way. If monastic rituals and liturgies inspire one, one is welcome to ordain as a
Journal of Tibetology, 2015
abstract: This paper analyzes the myth of Maitreya from the perspective of a Tibetan Buddhist commentarial tradition. The worship of Maitreya as the future buddha is prevalent in all Buddhist countries. The notion of a mystical encounter with Maitreya plays an important role there. Then, when we see what happened in Tibet, we notice that the meaning of Maitreya myth has been interpreted in a unique way. Instead of saying that Maitreya will become the next buddha, many Tibetan scholars argue that he is already a buddha. This idea was suggested by Tsong kha pa blo bzang grags pa (1357-1419) and later developed by scholars belonging to the Dge lugs pa tradition. 'Jam dbyangs bzhad pa ngag dbang brtson 'grus (1648-1721), for instance, asserts that Maitreya attained enlightenment in the past, and that Maitreya, currently dwelling in the Tuṣita Heaven, is a Manifestation Body of the buddha. 'Jam dbyangs bzhad pa distinguishes between Maitreya's external appearance (the common form) and his real nature (the uncommon form), and thus tries to establish that Maitreya is really a buddha, even if he may behave like a bodhisattva. Furthremore, 'Jam dbyangs bzhad pa stresses that the believer who worships Maitreya as a buddha can accumulate great merit by virtue of his faith; for buddhahood is simultaneously manifested in various emanations in the Tuṣita Heaven, in the Jambudvīpa, and potentially in any other place. This is a new type of Maitreya worship; it has nothing to do with Pure Land devotions or messianic belief, but is rather linked to the traditional Mahāyāna doctrine that buddhahood is eternal and omnipresent.
Buddhist merit in the West: a case study from Australia’s Nan Tien Temple
Studies in Chinese Religions, 2019
The Buddhism that was introduced into China proposed that secular puṇya follows wholesome religious deeds intended to achieve happiness and prosperity in the human world or rebirth in heavenly realms. Buddhism then assimilated the classical Chinese fude and emphasised the merit field and transfer of merit. With the popularity of Mahāyana Buddhism, the cultivation of fude reached new heights. In the West, the Buddhist concepts of puṇya and fude did not take off. This article explores the extent to which Buddhist merit may be accepted in the West, and the mechanism by which it can be presented for easy acceptance. Australia's largest Buddhist sanctuary, Fo Guang Shan Nan Tien Temple, hosts over 200,000 visitors and a public festival that attracts over 1,000 volunteers annually for more than 20 years. The studies in this article indicate that religious merit is attractive to those seeking blessings for a healthier, happier and more peaceful future as well as to those who wish to cultivate altruistic behaviour. Blessings and voluntarism may serve as skilful means to meet human needs in the short term as well as to introduce karmic merit and selfless bodhisattva aspiration in the long run.
Chasing Maitreya: A Survey of the Buddha Maitreya through Buddhist and Manichaean Writings
O bhikkhus, this bhikkhu Ratna is not an ordinary person; he is a future buddha; at the end of sixteen kalpas, he will become a great buddha like myself by the name of Maitreya. 1 For more than 2,500 years Buddhists from every branch of the Dharma tree have found comfort in the thought that no matter how bad things get here on Jambudvipa, someday the next buddha will come to this world-system and provide easy access to nirvān a for those fortunate enough to be his students. Perhaps not surprisingly, for nearly 2,500 years Buddhists have wondered what life at that time might be like, how much longer the world's decline will last, and related questions about the end of Śakyamuni Buddha's dharma and the beginning of Maitreya 2 Buddha's. This paper will outline the development of the identity of Maitreya, conditions in his future paradisiacal time, and the ways the Manichaean tradition appropriated the Maitreya myth to serve in their own narrative of the birth and death of the human world.