Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch, Vol. 3Eliot, Charles
Religion
Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch, Vol. 3
Eliot, Charles
Asia -- Religion; Buddhism; Hinduism
As to the character of this early Javanese Buddhism we have the
testimony of I-Ching that it was of the Mûlasarvâstivâdin school and
Hinayanist. He wrote of what he had seen in Sumatra but of what he
knew only by hearsay in Java and his statement offers some
difficulties. Probably Hinayanism was introduced by Guṇavarman but
was superseded by other teachings which were imported from time to
time after they had won for themselves a position in India. For the
temple of Kalasan (A.D. 779) is dedicated to Târâ and the inscription
found there speaks of the Mahayana with veneration. The later Buddhism
of Java has literary records which, so far as I know, are unreservedly
Mahayanist but probably the sculptures of Boroboedoer are the most
definite expression which we shall ever have of its earlier phases.
Since they contain images of the five superhuman Buddhas and of
numerous Bodhisattvas, they can hardly be called anything but
Mahayanist. But on the other hand the personality of Śâkyamuni is
emphasized; his life and previous births are pictured in a long series
of sculptures and Maitreya is duly honoured. Similar collections of
pictures and images may be seen in Burma which differ doctrinally from
those in Java chiefly by substituting the four human Buddhas[440] and
Maitreya for the superhuman Buddhas. But Mahayanist teaching declares
that these human Buddhas are reflexes of counterparts of the
superhuman Buddhas so that the difference is not great.
Mahayanist Buddhism in Camboja and at a later period in Java itself
was inextricably combined with Hinduism, Buddha being either directly
identified with Śiva or regarded as the primordial spirit from
which Śiva and all gods spring. But the sculptures of Boroboedoer
do not indicate that the artists knew of any such amalgamation nor
have inscriptions been found there, as in Camboja, which explain this
compound theology. It would seem that Buddhism and Brahmanism
co-existed in the same districts but had not yet begun to fuse
doctrinally. The same condition seems to have prevailed in western
India during the seventh and eighth centuries, for the Buddhist caves
of Ellora, though situated in the neighbourhood of Brahmanic buildings
and approximating to them in style, contain sculptures which indicate
a purely Buddhist cultus and not a mixed pantheon.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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