East Asian Buddhism East Asian Buddhism or East Asian Mahayana is a collective term for the schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism which developed across East Asia and which rely on the Chinese Buddhist canon. These include the various forms of Chinese, Japanese, Kore ...

Shakyamuni Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist lege ...

of the Essential Teachings (Chapters 15-28) of the

Lotus Sutra The ''Lotus Sūtra'' (Sanskrit: ''Saddharma Puṇḍarīka Sūtram'', ''Sūtra on the White Lotus of the True Dharma'', zh, p=Fǎhuá jīng, l=Dharma Flower Sutra) is one of the most influential and venerated Buddhist Mahāyāna sūtras. ...

is considered the eternal Buddha. In the sixteenth chapter of the Lotus Sutra, Shakyamuni Buddha reveals that he actually attained Buddhahood in the inconceivably remote past. The Eternal Buddha is contrasted to Shakyamuni Buddha who attained enlightenment for the first time in India, which was taught in the pre-Lotus Sutra teachings. The belief in the Eternal Buddha transcends through time and is commonly associated with

, but can also refer to both his past and future incarnations. However, no exact definition of the ''Eternal Buddha'' is defined in the Lotus Sutra, which was also revealed by

Siddhartha Gautama Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist lege ...

; thereby making open interpretations to various religious groups.

Lotus Sutra and tathagatagarbha doctrine

In east-Asian Buddhism, the Buddha of the

is regarded as the eternal Buddha. The Tathagata's "Lifespan" chapter (ch 16) of the

portrays the Buddha as indicating that he became awakened countless aeons ("kalpas") ago. The sutra itself, however, does not directly employ the phrase "eternal Buddha". In China the ''Lotus Sutra'' was associated with the ''

Mahaparinirvana Sutra In Buddhism, ''Parinirvana'' (Sanskrit: '; Pali: ') describes the state entered after death by someone who has attained ''nirvana'' during their lifetime. It implies a release from '' '', karma and rebirth as well as the dissolution of the ''sk ...

'', which propagates the tathagatagarbha-doctrine, and with the " Awakening of Faith". The Mahaparinirvana Sutra presents the Buddha as eternal and equates him with the Dharmakaya. The Lotus Sutra itself does hardly seem to accept the tathagatagarbha-teachings. According to Paul Williams, this association may be explained by the systematization of the Lotus Sutra teachings by the Tiantai school, using teachings from other schools "to equate the Buddha of the Lotus Sutra with the ultimate truth and to teach a cosmic Buddha."

Understanding in east-Asian Buddhism

China

The Chinese

Tiantai Tiantai or T'ien-t'ai () is an East Asian Buddhist school of Mahāyāna Buddhism that developed in 6th-century China. Drawing from earlier Mahāyāna sources such as Madhyamaka, founded by Nāgārjuna, who is traditionally regarded as the f ...

scholar

Zhiyi Zhiyi (; 538–597 CE) also called Dashi Tiantai (天台大師) and Zhizhe (智者, "Wise One"), was a Chinese Bhikkhu, Buddhist monk, Buddhist philosophy, philosopher, meditation teacher, and Exegesis, exegete. He is considered to be the foun ...

(538–597) divided the sutra into the "trace teaching" about the historical Shakyamuni Buddha (ch 1-14) and the "origin teaching" (ch 15-28) revealing the original Buddha of inconceivable life span. Zhiyi viewed Shakyamuni Buddha of Chapter 16 of the Lotus Sutra as a unification of the three Buddha bodies, possessing all three bodies, whereas other sutras are taught from the standpoint of a single Buddha body.

Japan

The

Nichiren Shu was a Japanese Buddhist priest and philosopher of the Kamakura period. His teachings form the basis of Nichiren Buddhism, a unique branch of Japanese Mahayana Buddhism based on the '' Lotus Sutra''. Nichiren declared that the '' Lotus Sutra'' ...

, Rissho Kosei Kai and Kempon Hokke schools of

Nichiren Buddhism Nichiren Buddhism (), also known as ''Hokkeshū'' (, meaning ''Lotus Sect''), is a branch of Mahayana Buddhism based on the teachings of the 13th-century Japanese Buddhist priest Nichiren (1222–1282) and is one of the Kamakura period school ...

revere Shakyamuni of Chapter 16 of the

as the eternal Buddha. They also regard Shakyamuni of Chapter 16 as a "Unification of the Three Bodies", as taught by Tiantai. Other Buddhas, such as Amida of the Jōdo and Jōdo Shinshū Schools, and Mahāvairocana of the Shingon School are seen as provisional manifestations of the Original Buddha Shakyamuni. In

Jōdo Shinshū , also known as Shin Buddhism or True Pure Land Buddhism, is a school of Pure Land Buddhism founded by the former Tendai Japanese monk Shinran. Shin Buddhism is the most widely practiced branch of Buddhism in Japan. History Shinran (founder) S ...

or Pure Land Buddhism,

Amida Amida can mean : Places and jurisdictions * Amida (Mesopotamia), now Diyarbakır, an ancient city in Asian Turkey; it is (nominal) seat of: ** The Chaldean Catholic Archeparchy of Amida ** The Latin titular Metropolitan see of Amida of the Ro ...

Buddha is viewed as the eternal Buddha who manifested as Shakyamuni in India and who is the personification of Nirvana itself.What is Pure Land Buddhism?
da Sho-on Hattori, ''A Raft from The Other Shore Honen and the Way of Pure Land Buddhism'', published by Jodo Shu Press

Shingon Buddhism is one of the major schools of Buddhism in Japan and one of the few surviving Vajrayana lineages in East Asian Buddhism. It is a form of Japanese Esoteric Buddhism and is sometimes called "Tōmitsu" (東密 lit. "Esoteric uddhismof Tō-j ...

sees Vairochana Buddha as the personification of the dharmakaya, and hence as the eternal Buddha, and some within Shingon, following Kakuban, equate Vairochana and Amida.Richard Karl Payne, Kenneth Kazuo Tanaka (Editors); 'Approaching the Land of Bliss: Religious Praxis in the Cult of Amitåabha'; Studies in East Asian Buddhism, 17 (Book 17); Univ of Hawaii Pr; 1st edition (October 1, 2003); p.7

Notes

References

Sources

* * * * * * *