     
Buddha Hands Buddha Laying Buddha Sitting Buddha Standing Buddha Walking Buddha Mudras |
Bodhisatwa - Bodhisattva - BodhisattaThe Bodhisatwa, Bodhisattva or Bodhisatta is the future Buddha, that is, the being who has all the qualities requisite to become Buddha, but has not yet attained Buddhahood
Continued From << Siddhartha Gautama To Buddha - Life Changes ' Yes', he, Siddhartha, had at last found the true path of greatness. The path of sacrifice; the sure path which will not fail nor dishearten; the blessed path of virtue; the spotless path devoid of envy, ignorance, and passion; the path which leads to freedom and makes the power of evil be as no power; the path which overleaps the regions of transmigration and reduces them to naught; the path which outstrips Sakra, Brahma, Mahesvara, and the guardians of the world; the path which leads to the possession of universal knowledge; the path of experience and judgment; the path that softens old age and death; the calm, serene path, exempt from all fear of evil, which leads to the city of Nirvana.' In one word, Siddhartha believed at this supreme moment that he could indeed call himself the true and perfect Buddha, that is, the Wise One in all his purity and greatness, and in his power greater than gods or men. The place where Siddhartha became at last the perfect Buddha is as famous in the legends as Kapilavastu, the place of his birth; Uruvela, the place of his six years' retreat; or Kusi-nagara, the place of his death. The precise spot where the Buddha revealed himself is called Bodhimanda, that is to say the seat of wisdom, and tradition has preserved all the details of the solemn act.  Bodhisatwa - Bodhisattva - BodhisattaOn his way to the banks of the Nairanjana at Bodhimanda, the Bodhisatwa met, on the right-hand side of the road, a seller of grass, who was cutting 'a soft, pliable grass such as mats are made of, and of a very fragrant odour.' The Bodhisatwa turned aside, and going up to the man, whose name was Svastika, asked him for some of the grass he was mowing; then spreading it as a carpet, with the blades turned in and the roots outwards, he seated himself cross-legged, his body upright and turned to the east, at the foot of a tree which is called 'the tree of wisdom, Bodhidruma' Then, as he seated himself, he said, 'May my body waste away, my skin, bones, and flesh perish, if I raise myself from the grass I am seated on before I have attained supreme wisdom' He remained through the long hours of a day and night without moving, and it was at the last hour of watching, at the moment of dawn, when sleep most overcomes the senses, and as the Tibetans say at beat of drum, that, having assumed the rank of perfect Buddhahood, and of absolute wisdom, he attained the threefold knowledge. 'Yes' he then exclaimed, 'yes, it is thus that I will put an end to the sorrows of mankind.' And striking the ground with his hand, 'May this earth' he added, 'be my witness; it is the abode of all beings, it contains all that is moveable and immoveable, it is impartial, it will bear witness that I do not lie.' If the human race was not saved, as Siddhartha may at that moment have persuaded himself it was, a new religion was at all events instituted. The Buddha was then thirty-six years of age. Next >> Buddha's Enlightenment Under The Bodhi Tree Bodhisatwa - Bodhisattva - Bodhisatta Text adapted from 'The Buddha and His Religion' |
 The Buddhist Flag 
Buddhist Flag Meanings  The Dharma Wheel 
In Buddhism-according to the Pali Canon, Vinayapitaka, Khandhaka,
Mahavagga, the number of spokes of the Dharmachakra represent
various meanings: Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo is a Japanese Buddhist
chant based upon the Lotus Sutra. Nichiren Daishonin (Feb 16, 1222 – Oct
13, 1282) a Buddhist monk who lived during the Kamakura period (1185–1333)
in Japan. Nichiren taught devotion to the Lotus Sutra, entitled Myōhō-Renge-Kyō in
Japanese, as the exclusive means to attain enlightenment and the chanting of
Nam-Myōhō-Renge-Kyō as the essential practice of the teaching.
Various schools with diverging interpretations of Nichiren's teachings comprise
Nichiren Buddhism.  Thailand Travel Guide  |
