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fem_phoenix1109
24 November 2013, 12:31 PM
Namaste,

I recently got a children's book called "The Little Book of Hindu Deities," by Sanjay Patel. In it, it lists Buddha as being the ninth avatar of Vishnu. Is this a popular opinion?

Pranam,

Believer
24 November 2013, 02:42 PM
Namaste,

Since Hinduism does not have a central authority on scriptural/theological matters, individual sects are free to do what they choose to do. Some sects go along with what you have said and others don't. Personally, we always considered Lord Buddha to be a highly evolved, enlightened soul, but not an incarnation of Vishnu. Others may disagree and consider him to be one of the incarnations of Vishnu. As an aside, only a select group of people (Gaudiya Vaishnavas) consider Lord Chaitanya to be an incarnation of Krishna/Vishnu. It is all a matter of affiliation with individual schools of thought and then buying into everything that they teach.

Pranam.

Eastern Mind
24 November 2013, 02:47 PM
Vannakkam: And the third option (for schools outside of Vaishnavism, or other schools that hold avatara as a concept)) it's that it doesn't matter.:)

Aum Namasivaya

jignyAsu
24 November 2013, 03:43 PM
Namaste,

The Bhagavata Purana, which is very popular amongst many Hindus and particularly Vaishnavas, identifies Buddha as an avatar of Lord Vishnu though not necessarily 9th.

He would be one we would then adore but not listened to :-) because He rejected Vedas as an authority. Here is one Vaishnava tradition summarizing His avatar:

http://www.chinnajeeyar.org/main/content/budha-is-considered-as-an-avatara-of-vishnu-then-why-budha-denounces-the-vedas/

ShivaFan
26 November 2013, 03:14 PM
Namaste

I am not so sure if all we are told by teachers of Buddhism over the last several hundred years accurately does convey what Siddhartha practiced and spoke to others, this includes so-called scriptures that were authored later.

I am by no means an authority, but over the years I have come to certain conclusions but it is not always possible to "prove" things that happened so long ago, however my instinct based on many clues that reinforce my inferences is:

° Buddha was born and raised as a "Hindu". He was influenced early in life by Jain adherents who were his contemporaries.

° It is popular among Buddhists to say the Buddha "rejected the Vedas". No doubt he mixed aspects of Jain doctrine into Hinduism, but I am becoming persuaded by certain evidence that in fact he did not "reject" the Vedas, he deemphasized ritual and animal sacrifice, and he had the "chariot position" which is the chariot is only the sum of it's parts, but an axle alone is not a chariot, nor just a spoke in the wheel, and when these parts are put together it can be given a name "chariot", but it is temporary. So a chariot is something that first lives in the imagination of the chariot maker. It comes from what is not real, and soon returns back into just an axle here, a wheel there, and one wheel may become another chariot or a cart or even fodder for the fire. So in the same way, the atma is also always changing, thus it is not what you see this moment but you as atma is like a river flowing, changing, and always becoming something new. The name given to it changes, so your name is an illusion, and if you think you are "that", it is an illusion because moments later the atma itself has changed again.

That is not "Hinduism" known by most, but nor is it saying there is no soul, no atma, as some Buddhists say the Buddha was claimed to promote. I think the Buddha did speak of transmigration but in terms of "speeding the clock of change" rather than birth to birth. I do not think he "rejected" the Vedas, nor even "reformed" the Vedas, he just emphasized very specific things.

Om Namah Sivaya

the sadhu
26 November 2013, 03:50 PM
Namaste brethren

I genuinely think Buddha was just in it for moksha, I don't think he cared about verily religion or Jainism.
Not all sects agree with this concept, but a Veda is Truth spoken by God in the hearts of poet saints.
Hence they can never be created or destroyed because they are accessible to all being everywhere. They a the truths revealed in the Atman, the heart.

The four Vedas are considered "revealed" Vedas that we can read.
But what use does Buddha have for such books, when his every action is a living Veda, as all genuinely liberated Gurus are.

Buddha had become a walking Veda in a time when people were really uptight.

It could be reasoned that if Buddha was born after Shankara then Buddhism might not have ever existed. Buddha wouldve been a Dashnami sannyasin.

Btw people call Advaita crypto-buddhism as if there is a conspiracy or something. But it is simple, both shankara and Buddha were enlightened and described the same direct knowledge with different words.

shiv.somashekhar
26 November 2013, 04:15 PM
Namaste,

I recently got a children's book called "The Little Book of Hindu Deities," by Sanjay Patel. In it, it lists Buddha as being the ninth avatar of Vishnu. Is this a popular opinion?

Pranam,

The order of "ninth" is specific to a very popular list of ten avatars of Vishnu, which also includes more popular Gods like Krishna and Rama. The Buddha is the ninth avatar in this list after Krishna and before Kalki.