Why do Hinduism call Buddha an Avatar?

[Spirit of Light]

I hope i will not offend anyone within Hinduism with this thread. If i do, please let me know in a PM

In another thread and interesting situation occurred where it was said Buddha Sakyamuni was an Avatar of Vishnu from Hinduism.
As a Buddhist, I do not see Sakyamuni as an avatar of someone else, And my knowledge about the use of Avatar is limited.

Why do Hinduists say Buddha is an Avatar of Vishnu?
To a Hinduist, is Buddha Sakyamuni and enlighten being or something else?

From a Buddhist P.O.V it can look sometimes like some Hinduists look down on Sakyamuni if they do. Why?

 

[SomeRandom]

I hope i will not offend anyone within Hinduism with this thread. If i do, please let me know in a PM

In another thread and interesting situation occurred where it was said Buddha Sakyamuni was an Avatar of Vishnu from Hinduism.
As a Buddhist, I do not see Sakyamuni as an avatar of someone else, And my knowledge about the use of Avatar is limited.

Why do Hinduists say Buddha is an Avatar of Vishnu?
To a Hinduist, is Buddha Sakyamuni and enlighten being or something else?

From a Buddhist P.O.V it can look sometimes like some Hinduists look down on Sakyamuni if they do. Why?

I don’t know if that’s mainstream opinion. But Hinduism has a long history of simply claiming great wise sages as avatars. It’s just how their paradigm works.

 

[Vinayaka]

Not all of us do. Many Hindus (Saivas, Shaktites) don't believe in avatar concept at all. Not sure if there's anyone here on these forums who could explain why some do. My guess is SomeRandom got it right.

 

[Terese]

It varies from Vaishnava belief, but as i know, The Buddha known as Siddhartha Gautama that appeared around 2500 years ago is not an avatara of Vishnu. However, the original Buddha that appeared 5000 years ago is an avatara of Lord Vishnu, who propounded Buddhism. Vyasa Deva, the compiler of The Vedas was born 5000 years ago and wrote the Brahma Sutras, a refutation of Buddhism.

Forgive me, i am not learned in any more information on this topic than that. I am also unfamiliar with the great majority of Buddhist beliefs, but i hope this post was satisfactory

 

[Spirit of Light]

It varies from Vaishnava belief, but as i know, The Buddha known as Siddhartha Gautama that appeared around 2500 years ago is not an avatara of Vishnu. However, the original Buddha that appeared 5000 years ago before Vyasa Deva's birth is an avatara of Lord Vishnu, who propounded Buddhism.

Forgive me, i am not learned in any more information on this topic than that. I am also unfamiliar with the great majority of Buddhist beliefs, but i hope this post was satisfactory

Thank you for your reply Terese. It may be that you referring to Kassapa Buddha who was the previous Buddha before Sakyamuni (Gautama) Kassapa is the third Buddha in this Kalpa where Sakyamuni was the forth and Maitreya will be the fifth Buddha to teach

 

[Terese]

Thank you for your reply Terese. It may be that you referring to Kassapa Buddha who was the previous Buddha before Sakyamuni (Gautama) Kassapa is the third Buddha in this Kalpa where Sakyamuni was the forth and Maitreya will be the fifth Buddha to teach

Perhaps! I am unfamiliar with these previous Buddhas

 

[Sirona]

I am a convert so I probably don't have as much experience as a native Hindu. Yet, in my eyes, Buddha challenged the brahmanical religion of his time, and the reponse of Hinduism to a view that poses a challenge is integrating it not demonizing it. As for my belief, Buddha is the 9th avatar of Vishnu. He is mentioned in the Vaishnava sacred scripture Bhagavata Purana as an avatar of Vishnu. Rishabha, the founder another religion called Jainism, also appears in said book as one of Vishnu's avatars.

The view of Prabhupada, the founder of the Hare Krishnas, probably isn't representative as well, but he stated that the Buddha of the Bhagavata Purana was "the" Buddha indeed, and that he came in order to stop animal sacrifices in Hindu rituals.

 

[shunyadragon]

I hope i will not offend anyone within Hinduism with this thread. If i do, please let me know in a PM

In another thread and interesting situation occurred where it was said Buddha Sakyamuni was an Avatar of Vishnu from Hinduism.
As a Buddhist, I do not see Sakyamuni as an avatar of someone else, And my knowledge about the use of Avatar is limited.

Why do Hinduists say Buddha is an Avatar of Vishnu?
To a Hinduist, is Buddha Sakyamuni and enlighten being or something else?

From a Buddhist P.O.V it can look sometimes like some Hinduists look down on Sakyamuni if they do. Why?

In Hinduism an 'Avatar' would be recognized as a source of wisdom. Hindu beliefs are variable enough they can venerate different sources of wisdom without necessarily believe in the religion that resulted, ie Buddhism.

In the Baha'i Faith an Avatar is not an incarnation of Vishnu. It is a Manifestation of the 'Source' whatever name you choose to call the 'Source.'

 

[Spirit of Light]

Perhaps! I am unfamiliar with these previous Buddhas

1. Kakusandha (the first Buddha of the bhadrakalpa)
2. Koṇāgamana (the second Buddha of the bhadrakalpa)
3. Kassapa (the third Buddha of the bhadrakalpa)
4. Gautama (the fourth and present Buddha of the bhadrakalpa)
5. Maitreya (the fifth and future Buddha of the bhadrakalpa)

This is the 5 Buddhas i was speaking about

 

[Spirit of Light]

I am a convert so I probably don't have as much experience as a native Hindu. Yet, in my eyes, Buddha challenged the brahmanical religion of his time, and the reponse of Hinduism to a view that poses a challenge is integrating it not demonizing it. As for my belief, Buddha is the 9th avatar of Vishnu. He is mentioned in the Vaishnava sacred scripture Bhagavata Purana as an avatar of Vishnu. Rishabha, the founder another religion called Jainism, also appears in said book as one of Vishnu's avatars.

The view of Prabhupada, the founder of the Hare Krishnas, probably isn't representative as well, but he stated that the Buddha of the Bhagavata Purana was "the" Buddha indeed, and that he came in order to stop animal sacrifices in Hindu rituals.

Thank you for this info it made it more clear to me

 

[Aupmanyav]

Why do Hinduists say Buddha is an Avatar of Vishnu?

First thing, the plural of a Hindu is Hindus. Hinduist is not the correct word. Of course, I take no offense as you are new to Hinduism.

To answer your question, Hindu philosophers did not agree to all what Buddha said (except for the 'Advaitists' like Gaudapada, Sankara, whose philosophies were quite similar to Buddhism with the concept of 'Maya', nearly the same as Buddha's Annica and Anatta. And I am an 'advaitist'). But they saw the strength of his arguments.

So, in my view, it was an act of respect that Buddha was considered an avatara of Lord Vishnu. This was something like a Nobel Prize in religion and philosophy, the highest honor that Hindus could think of. Like Sirona said Rishabhadeva of Jains also is considered a partial avatara of Lord Vishnu, so also is Kashyapa (the third Buddha in your list). But Gautama, the Buddha is a 'full avatara'.

We have hundreds of thousands of people named Buddhadeva, Tathagata, Saugata, Gautama, Siddhartha, Maitreya and Amitabha (which is my son too). These are popular names for male Hindu children. We all love Gautama, the Buddha, and nearly every educated Hindu household will probably have a statuette of Lord Buddha. We have quite a few.

 

[Spirit of Light]

First thing, the plural of a Hindu is Hindus. Hinduist is not the correct word. Of course, I take no offense as you are new to Hinduism.

To answer your question, Hindu philosophers did not agree to all what Buddha said (except for the 'Advaitists' like Gaudapada, Sankara, whose philosophies were quite similar to Buddhism with the concept of 'Maya', nearly the same as Buddha's Annica and Anatta. But they saw the strength of his arguments. So, in my view, it was an act of respect that Buddha was considered an avatara of Lord Vishnu. This was something like a Nobel Prize in religion and philosophy, the highest honor that Hindus could think of.

Thank you @Aupmanyav

 

[leov]

I hope i will not offend anyone within Hinduism with this thread. If i do, please let me know in a PM

In another thread and interesting situation occurred where it was said Buddha Sakyamuni was an Avatar of Vishnu from Hinduism.
As a Buddhist, I do not see Sakyamuni as an avatar of someone else, And my knowledge about the use of Avatar is limited.

Why do Hinduists say Buddha is an Avatar of Vishnu?
To a Hinduist, is Buddha Sakyamuni and enlighten being or something else?

From a Buddhist P.O.V it can look sometimes like some Hinduists look down on Sakyamuni if they do. Why?

"The Ten Avatars of Vishnu
Vishnu’s earthly incarnations include many avatars: the ten avatars include Matsyavatara (fish), Koorma (tortoise), Varaaha (boar), Narasimha (the man-lion), Vamana (the dwarf), Parasurama (the angry man), Lord Rama (the perfect human of the Ramayana), Lord Balarama (Krishna's brother), Lord Krishna (the divine diplomat and statesman), and the yet-to-appear tenth incarnation, called the Kalki avatar. Some sources consider Buddha as one of the avatars of Vishnu. This belief is a recent addition from a time when the concept of Dashavatara was already developed."
Who Is Lord Vishnu?
Fwiw.

 

[Aupmanyav]

In others, such as the 13th-century Gitagovinda of Vaishnava poet Jayadeva, Vishnu incarnates as the Buddha to teach and to end animal slaughter. In contemporary Hinduism, state Constance Jones and James D. Ryan, Buddha is revered by Hindus who usually consider "Buddhism to be another form of Hinduism". That is how recent. And I am sure that Jayadeva must not have been the first.

"Nindasi yajna-vidher ahaha sruti-jatam, sadaya-hridaya-darsita-pasu-ghatam;
Kesava dhrita-Buddha-sarira, jaya Jagadisa Hare."
(Sri Jayadeva’s Dasavatara-stotra, 9th Verse)

“You, of compassionate heart, decry when you see the slaughtering of poor animals performed according to the rules of Vedic sacrifice. Kesava! you assumed the form of Buddha! O Lord of the universe, Hari, all glories unto You!”

 

[shunyadragon]

"The Ten Avatars of Vishnu
Vishnu’s earthly incarnations include many avatars: the ten avatars include Matsyavatara (fish), Koorma (tortoise), Varaaha (boar), Narasimha (the man-lion), Vamana (the dwarf), Parasurama (the angry man), Lord Rama (the perfect human of the Ramayana), Lord Balarama (Krishna's brother), Lord Krishna (the divine diplomat and statesman), and the yet-to-appear tenth incarnation, called the Kalki avatar. Some sources consider Buddha as one of the avatars of Vishnu. This belief is a recent addition from a time when the concept of Dashavatara was already developed."
Who Is Lord Vishnu?
Fwiw.

Many Hindus believe Vishnu, Brahma and Shiva are not separate distinct Gods, but like all the Divinities of Hindu culture they represent attributes of one undefined 'Source' some also call Brahman

 

[leov]

Many Hindus believe Vishnu, Brahma and Shiva are not separate distinct Gods, but like all the Divinities of Hindu culture they represent attributes of one undefined 'Source' some also call Brahman

this is the way i understand this, attribute emanation.

 

[LuisDantas]

The way I see it (which, granted, may be biased), Hinduism is organized in a decentralized way that may have significant consequence here.

As noted above by other posters, the claim that Buddha is an Avatar of Vishnu is certainly made in Hinduism, but definitely not by every or even necessarily most Sampradayas, and it seems clear to me that this matter should be considered with proper awareness of that context.

Far as I know, Sampradayas technically disagree quite a lot between them, but that is generally not understood to be a problem. There is little or no expectation that they will hold similar teachings, because the goal is not to reach some form of consensual doctrine, but rather to establish functional and mutually respectful, yet definitely separate, contrasting religious environments.

The end result is that how "true" a doctrinary claim is depends a lot, perhaps entirely, on the teaching context. It may well be that even when any given Guru teaches that Buddha is an Avatar of Vishnu to two different Hindus the actual learned teachings will vary sufficiently for the Guru to feel a need to complement that teaching in different ways for each of them separately. I find that proper, if certainly delicate. Most human activities have to consider the peculiarities of each person to some degree, and I see no reason why religion would be an exception.

The bottom line is that I would not assume what is meant by that teaching, or even that the Avatar Buddha was ever meant to correspond to any of the Buddhas taught about in Buddhism. We can hardly be certain that there is a connection just because the word is the same.

 

[Aupmanyav]

The bottom line is that I would not assume what is meant by that teaching, or even that the Avatar Buddha was ever meant to correspond to any of the Buddhas taught about in Buddhism. We can hardly be certain that there is a connection just because the word is the same.

What Buddha and Mahavira of the Jains taught certainly had a great effect in Hinduism. I think the Vaishnava insistence on 'Ahimsa' came from the Jains (not that such views may not have existed prior to Mahavira. It is always a gradual evolving process). Similarly, IMHO, the concept of 'Maya' was greatly affected by 'Anatta' and 'Anicca' of Buddhism. Also we need to understand that for a long-long time, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism were not separate from Hinduism, and were just 'matas' (opinions), Sampradayas (sects) and 'panthas' (ways, roads) of Hinduism. Sikhism even now describes itself as 'Gur-mat' (the opinion of the Guru) and "Sikh-pantha' (the way of the students/shishyas/disciples).

Udasi is a religious sect of ascetic sadhus centred in northern India. It is based on the teachings of Sri Chand (1494–1643), the son of Guru Nanak, the founder and the first Guru of Sikhism. .. When the Singh Sabha, dominated by Khalsa Sikhs, redefined the Sikh identity in the early 20th century, the Udasi mahants were expelled from the Sikh shrines. Since then, the Udasis have increasingly regarded themselves as Hindus rather than Sikhs.

 

[ajay0]

I hope i will not offend anyone within Hinduism with this thread. If i do, please let me know in a PM

In another thread and interesting situation occurred where it was said Buddha Sakyamuni was an Avatar of Vishnu from Hinduism.
As a Buddhist, I do not see Sakyamuni as an avatar of someone else, And my knowledge about the use of Avatar is limited.

Why do Hinduists say Buddha is an Avatar of Vishnu?
To a Hinduist, is Buddha Sakyamuni and enlighten being or something else?

From a Buddhist P.O.V it can look sometimes like some Hinduists look down on Sakyamuni if they do. Why?

It is my own belief that the Buddha was a common human being. As a prince he had the best upbringing, education and health possible in those times and this enabled him to gain enlightenment and propound Buddhism which varies from traditional Upanishadic philosophy in certain aspects, but have a common end in Moksha or Nirvana.

Buddhism was a refined and finetuned path to enlightenment in those times.

Later on Hindu supremacy came about, and replaced agnostic Buddhism to a large extent in India. But Buddha's tremondous feats and teachings of compassion, equality of all beings, nonviolence had an impact on the Hindus as well and they probably decided to honor him by casting him as an Avatar.

Buddha feats shows that anyone is capable of attaining enlightenment, and one need not be a strict theist for it.

 

[Jainarayan]

There are actually 24 avatars of Vishnu, in this order:

1. ADI PURUSH AVATAR (Incarnation as the Pre-eminent man)
2. THE ETERNAL YOUTHS Sanatkumar was the 'Manasputra' (born by a wish) of Lord Brahma.
3. VARAHA AVATAR (The incarnation as a Boar)
4. NARADA AVATAR (The incarnation as Sage Narada)
5. NARA-NARAYANA AVATAR (Incarnation as Nara-Narayana)
6. KAPILA AVATAR(Incarnation as Sage Kapila)
7. DATTATRAYA AVATAR (Incarnation as Dattatraya)
8. YAGYA AVATAR (Incarnation as Yagya)
9. RISHABH AVATAR (Incarnation as Rishabh Dev)
10. PRITHU AVATAR (Incarnation as Prithu)
11. MATSYA AVATAR (Incarnation as a Fish)
12. KACHCHAP AVATAR (Incarnation as a Tortoise)
13. DHANVANTARI (Incarnation as Dhanvantari, physician of Ayurveda)
14. MOHINI AVATAR (Incarnation as a most Enchanting woman)
15. NARSIMHA AVATAR (Incarnation in the form of half-man and half-lion)
16. HAYAGREEVA AVATAR (Incarnation as Hayagreeva)
17. VAMAN AVATAR (Incarnation as a Dwarf)
18. PARSHURAM AVATAR (Incarnation as Parshurama)
19. VYAS AVATAR (Incarnation as Sage Vyas)
20. RAM AVATAR (Incarnation as Lord Rama)
21. BALARAM AVATAR (Incarnation as Balrama)
22. KRISHNA AVATAR (Incarnation as Krishna)
23. BUDDHA AVATAR (Incarnation as Buddha)
24. KALKI AVATAR (Incarnation as Kalki)

The Daśāvatāra is a concept started by Jayadeva in his Gita Govinda (Hymn to Vishnu section) and picked up by Helena Blavatsky. In my temple in the representations of the Daśāvatāra, Balarāma, elder brother of Krishna is the 9th avatar. Personally, I'm on the fence about Buddha being a purnavatar, (full avatar) v. anshavatar (partial) or even an expansion of Vishnu.