The Life or Legend of Gaudama, the Buddha of the Burmese (Volume I)Bigandet, Paul Ambroise
Religion
The Life or Legend of Gaudama, the Buddha of the Burmese (Volume I)
Bigandet, Paul Ambroise
Buddhism -- Burma; Burma -- Religion; Gautama Buddha
When the contest was nearly over, Phralaong objected to the
claims of Manh to the possession of his throne, on the ground
that he never had practised the ten great virtues, nor performed
works of kindness, charity, and benevolence, which alone can
entitle a being to obtain the Buddhaship. It is to be borne in
mind that these qualifications form the real characteristics of
a Buddha, together with the possession of the supreme
intelligence. In this system, they admit that there exist
certain beings called Pitzega-Buddhas, who possess all the
knowledge and science of a genuine Buddha, but as they are
divested of those benevolent feelings which induce the former to
labour earnestly for the benefit and salvation of all beings,
they cannot be assimilated to the real Buddhas. The cross-legged
position which our Buddha has always taken in preference to any
other, whilst he spent forty-nine days at the foot of and in
various places round the Bodi tree, is, as every one knows,
peculiar to and a favourite with all Asiatics. But with him, it
is the fittest position for meditation and contemplation. Hence
most of the statues or images of Gaudama exhibit or represent
him in the cross-legged position which he occupied when he
attained the Buddhaship. As this event is by far the most
important of his life, it is but natural that this great
occurrence should ever be forced upon the attention and memory
of his followers, by objects representing him on that most
important stage of his last existence. It is not unusual to meet
with statues of Gaudama, sometimes of colossal dimensions,
representing him in a reclining position. This is the peculiar
situation he occupied when he died. Hence those two most common
images of Gaudama are designed to remind his followers of the
two greatest circumstances of his life, viz., his becoming
Buddha, and his entering the state of Neibban.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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