Categorized | Blog

Second Coming of Sakyamuni Buddha?

Posted on 24 February 2010. Tags: ,

G.K. Sandoval, @drumsofdharma on Twitter, posed the following provocative question and exercise today within a couple of tweets:

If Sakyamuni Buddha were present today, how many “modern” Buddhists would give up everything to hear him, to be in his assembly? Contemplate what you would have to do to relinquish your current lifestyle for a life as a member of the Buddha’s entourage.

It was an interesting question/exercise on a couple of different levels: on the one hand, Dharma and Buddha Nature are always available, so we should already be altering our lifestyles and acting as if we are a member of the “Buddha’s entourage.” Still, people would act differently. If Sakyamuni Buddha showed up and was recognized as such, you would see many contemporary Buddhists dispensing with possessions, possibly shaving their heads and, well, doing whatever the Buddha suggested. One can’t dismiss the possible effect of a Buddha’s presence as just another “Dharma Dude.”

The other reason this is interesting is that some would say that such incarnations are periodically occurring. At times, people have recognized various spiritual and religious leaders and gurus as such incarnations (or incarnations of deities like Jesus or Shiva). Naturally, this jives with the notion that we all have Buddha Nature within us–perhaps with the “Force” stronger in some folks than others.

For some of these reasons, I think the identification of Dharma is important. While teachings and charismatic gurus vary over time, can we identify common threads of Dharma that trump “incarnations?” If so, do we “kill the Buddha” that shows up on the side of the road or treat him/her with reverence?


  • http://www.somethingcompletelydifferent.wordpress.com/ Joe

    I think the personality of the Buddha, whether we talk in the past, future or present tense, is purely a skillful mean. That’s not to say He’s dispensible though, but that His indespensibility is not an end in itself—to which we cling, rather than take refuge. That can be said of the Dharma in general, I think, which is not to advocate uncritical syncretism so much as point beyond conventional, social distinctions when identifying the Dharma.

    A place I think we can look to to think through this is 1 Kings chapter 3.

    Solomon has a dream in which God promises him the wisdom to be a good king. God says “I give you a wise and discerning mind.” The next day, he has to mediate a dispute between two women (prostitutes, or in effect subhuman) over the custody of a child. Both women had children, but one of them smothered her child in the night and switched it with the other woman’s live child. He cleverly* proposes cutting the child in two, giving either half, and the true-mother flatly defies Solomon’s order and insists on giving it to the other woman if it would prevent that from happening. This would, mind you, turn her from a relatively high position in the community as a mother, into another sub-human prostitute, possibly thought of as someone who steals babies.

    The false-mother rejects the offer though, and clings to Solomon’s word, insisting that he cut the child in half so that neither would have it. Solomon, unsurprisingly, decides the first woman was the mother, and is hailed as wise and just. What isn’t usually suggested is that the true-mother is the wise and discerning mind “able to discern between good and evil” God said he’d give Solomon, who thought his own mind would be made wise and discerning. Moreover, because Solomon asks him for wisdom, God promises “what you have not asked,” namely (as is the prerogative of his social position) riches or honor. The true mother receives what she did not ask for too, namely her child, even though she freely released it, effectively committing a kind of suicide given her low social status.

    Solomon gets all the glory though, is the scripturally inscribed as and conventionally assumed to be the hero. We have to dig deeper, attend more closely, whether it’s the Bible, the Pali Canon, or our conversation with that guy at the store.

  • http://www.somethingcompletelydifferent.wordpress.com Joe

    I think the personality of the Buddha, whether we talk in the past, future or present tense, is purely a skillful mean. That’s not to say He’s dispensible though, but that His indespensibility is not an end in itself—to which we cling, rather than take refuge. That can be said of the Dharma in general, I think, which is not to advocate uncritical syncretism so much as point beyond conventional, social distinctions when identifying the Dharma.

    A place I think we can look to to think through this is 1 Kings chapter 3.

    Solomon has a dream in which God promises him the wisdom to be a good king. God says “I give you a wise and discerning mind.” The next day, he has to mediate a dispute between two women (prostitutes, or in effect subhuman) over the custody of a child. Both women had children, but one of them smothered her child in the night and switched it with the other woman’s live child. He cleverly* proposes cutting the child in two, giving either half, and the true-mother flatly defies Solomon’s order and insists on giving it to the other woman if it would prevent that from happening. This would, mind you, turn her from a relatively high position in the community as a mother, into another sub-human prostitute, possibly thought of as someone who steals babies.

    The false-mother rejects the offer though, and clings to Solomon’s word, insisting that he cut the child in half so that neither would have it. Solomon, unsurprisingly, decides the first woman was the mother, and is hailed as wise and just. What isn’t usually suggested is that the true-mother is the wise and discerning mind “able to discern between good and evil” God said he’d give Solomon, who thought his own mind would be made wise and discerning. Moreover, because Solomon asks him for wisdom, God promises “what you have not asked,” namely (as is the prerogative of his social position) riches or honor. The true mother receives what she did not ask for too, namely her child, even though she freely released it, effectively committing a kind of suicide given her low social status.

    Solomon gets all the glory though, is the scripturally inscribed as and conventionally assumed to be the hero. We have to dig deeper, attend more closely, whether it’s the Bible, the Pali Canon, or our conversation with that guy at the store.

  • http://www.somethingcompletelydifferent.wordpress.com/ Joe

    *That asterisk was on my choice of the word ‘cleverly’, which I use here as Benjamin Hoff does with respectful disparagement in “The Tao of Pooh.”

  • http://www.somethingcompletelydifferent.wordpress.com Joe

    *That asterisk was on my choice of the word ‘cleverly’, which I use here as Benjamin Hoff does with respectful disparagement in “The Tao of Pooh.”

  • http://americanbuddhist.blogspot.com/ Justin Whitaker

    Great question!

    Well, according to Theravādin sources, those who lived in the time of the Buddha did so only because of their past good merit and wisdom (to recognize him). One, his cousin, did try to kill him! ha.

    We can still find awakening even without a Buddha ‘in the flesh’ to guide us. As the Buddha said, ‘he who sees the Dharma, sees me.’ Or, if we want the presence of one, we can do good deeds (karma) to seek a rebirth where a Buddha is present.

    It’s a very good thing to contemplate though: what are our hooks in this life, what would hold us back?

  • http://americanbuddhist.blogspot.com/ Justin Whitaker

    Great question!

    Well, according to Theravādin sources, those who lived in the time of the Buddha did so only because of their past good merit and wisdom (to recognize him). One, his cousin, did try to kill him! ha.

    We can still find awakening even without a Buddha ‘in the flesh’ to guide us. As the Buddha said, ‘he who sees the Dharma, sees me.’ Or, if we want the presence of one, we can do good deeds (karma) to seek a rebirth where a Buddha is present.

    It’s a very good thing to contemplate though: what are our hooks in this life, what would hold us back?

  • Pingback: Philosophical Musings: Yoga borrowings from Buddhism | Yoga Beauty Wisdom


Recently Reviewed

Image of Contemplating Reality: A Practitioner's Guide to the View in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism