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19
October 2002
Venerable Bhikkhu
Bodhipala
Bhikkhu-in-Charge
Mahabodhi Mahavihara
Editor:
PRAJNA
Bodhgaya Temple Management Committee
P.O. Box :
2
Buddhagaya - 824231
Gaya
Bihar, INDIA
Most
Venerable Bhikkhu Bodhipala
Thank you for your letter
dated 15 July 2002 and your recent telephone call on 12 October
2002.
Congratulations to you and your committee for
achieving the World Heritage declaration by UNESCO for the Mahabodhi
Mahavihara.
May you and your committee continue to
propagate the Buddha Dhamma through your activities and being an
example to all of Mahabodhi Bala, the power of the holy place.
This
is a great service to the world and to the Buddha Sasane. Sadhu
Sadhu Sadhu
I am very happy to provide a research paper
on the historicity and the current status of Mahabodhi
Mahavihara, for your issue of PRAJNA December 2002 being a
dedication towards Mahabodhi Mahavihara as a 'great edifice of
veneration'.
Thank you for you blessings for my health.
I am now recovering steadily.
The paper I have written
is entitled "Reflections on Mahabodhi Bala" and is enclosed
in this email message.
With Metta
Yours in
the Dhamma
John D. Hughes Dip. App. Chem. T.T.T.C.
GDAIE
Vice-President, World Fellowship of Buddhists
Council
Member and Advisor, World Buddhist University
Founder, Buddhist
Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd.
Reflections on
Mahabodhi Bala
by
John D. Hughes Dip. App. Chem. T.T.T.C.
GDAIE,
Vice President, World Fellowship of Buddhists,
Council
Member and Advisor, World Buddhist University Founder, Buddhist
Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd. and Anita M. Hughes RN Div 1.
The
Pali word "Bala" can be translated as strength or power.
The reason Bodhgaya is a place holy above all others is that four
of the five Dhyani-Buddhas are centred at that sacred place.
Henri
de Lubac wrote an extensive study in French relating to Pureland and
we have just received a translation of this full work, which we are
now printing on our on-line issues of Buddha Dhyana Dana Review.
"It
is known that Amitabha - or, in Japanese transcription, Amita, Mita 1
, in Tibetan "Od-dpag-med", a personage unknown in the
Lesser Vehicle, is one of the great Buddhas especially revered by the
Greater Vehicle. Wholly "speculative" and "metaphysical",
these Buddhas are styled anupapadaka, i.e. "without parents".
It is often a question of them (They often crop up) in the Tantric
literature, and beginning from about the tenth Century they were
considered by a large portion of the Buddhism of Central Asia, as the
emanations of a personal Adi-Boudda. To distinguish them from those
who, like Sakyamuni, have appeared or are to appear on earth, in
their very function of Buddhas, living a human existence, it has been
customary in the West, since Hodgsom, to call them "dhyani-Buddhas",
i.e. mystical Buddhas, or Buddhas of contemplation. This term has
doubtless the fault of being "faulty Sanskrit", and of not
existing in the Buddhist texts. 2 Also it may lead people to believe
mistakenly that these Buddhas, as thought of by their worshippers,
did not have an earthly career first of all. On the other hand, it
has the merit of being convenient to mark the contrast with the
earthly Buddhas or "manushi-Buddhas". As well, it has come
to be adopted even by Indian historians. 3
According to the most
common list, which seems to have imposed itself very quickly after
some gropings, the main "dhyani-Buddhas", leaders of an
infinity of others, are five in number. They are the five Jinas
(Conquerers) (Victorious Ones), the five Tathagatas. They are not
uniform in origin. It can nevertheless be considered that in the
final reckoning, taken jointly, they are hypostases of five
attitudes, functions and attributes of the one Buddha Sakyamuni. They
give substance so to speak to five epithets applied to him; they fix
five outstanding episodes of his career, of which five distinct
statues (commemorated by five distinct statues) celebrate the
members. This point has been admirably brought to light by the
researches of M. Paul Mus. The first of the list, Vairocana, whose
name signifies "Spreader of light in all directions", has
as emblem the cakra (the wheel of the Law), and makes the teaching
gesture: "radiant Preacher", he is the heir of the
Sakyamuni of the first preaching at Benares. Next comes Akshobya,
i.e. the Unshakable, the Imperturbable, he "who subjugates the
demonic passions and manifests the pure spirit of wakefulness":
in him is found the Sakyamuni victorious at Bodh-gaya, him of whom a
god said to Mara the tempter: "you will no more be able to shake
him than great Sumeru is shaken by the wind". The third,
Ratnasambhava, or the One-born-from-the-jewel, evokes the pavilion of
precious stones of Bodh-gaya, "a kind of supernatural womb
symbolically enclosing the Buddha." Amitabha figures fourth; he
is seated in meditation, while his body emits light, like Sakyamuni
after his supreme illumination. Finally, Amoghasiddhi, "the
inevitable success", is a Buddha "under the naga",
like Sakyamuni protected the naga Mucilinda, whose seven heads are
spread above him. The last four therefore perpetuate reminders of
Bodh-gaya, and the first a reminder of Benares; these were the two
places holy above all others, which non-associated motives in
pilgrimages, and which the biographies of Buddha brought more
especially into prominence."
The testimony of the ancients to
the power and strength of Bodhgaya may well be termed Mahabodhi Bala,
in Pali.
I would like to write a few paragraphs on this power-
Bala and how it came to be transmitted to a pioneer of Buddha Dhamma
in Australia.
Having awoken on the Vaisakha full moon in May 1955,
as a result of past causes, I became aware at that time, in the
difficulty in finding a suitable Buddha Dhamma teacher in
Australia.
There was one Chinese Monk in Newcastle, New South
Wales, who was very aware but did not take students and only spoke
Chinese which I did not know at that time.
It became obvious that
to learn there was a need for English writings that were not
superficial views of Buddha Dhamma and that used precision of
language and Canonical references to expound the Buddha's
teachings.
A copy of The Mahabodhi souvenir 1964 published by
Bhikkhu Dharmaskanda of the Buddhist mission was received. It carried
a report of the Mahabodhi Buddhist Mission in Malabar 1952 to 1964.
Some of the text was in English.
In 1956 the Buddha Jayanthi was
celebrated in the premises of the Asram.
Subsequently some issues
of The Maha Bodhi founded by Anagarika Dharmapala in 1892 were
received.
Mahabodhi leaders and laity alike were concerned with
the sectarianism that characterised the religious scene in 19th
century India and a divisiveness and diversity amoung the Indian
people as a whole.
There was little feeling of a sense of
national unity with the result that the British "divide and
rule" policy became real.
It was this social and religious
vacuum that stimulated the rise of the Mahabodhi society along with
other religious movements. The period of the Indian renaissance was
one of change and power in India, the challenge of alien ideas and
movements from the west was met.
Donald H. Bishop wrote of the
Mahabodhi society and the Indian renaissance in the 1979 Vaisakha
issue of The Maha Bodhi journals. The quality and range of the
writings of The Maha Bodhi journals from these 1979 issues has
continued to inspire me.
The power and influence of the Mahabodhi
Mahavihara continue to inspire our Buddha Dhamma Centre in Australia
ever since.
The powerful workings of heavenly Devas and Devatas
surrounding the Mahabodhi Temple became clear when I attended the
International Conference of Buddhist Leaders and Scholars in Sri
Lanka in 1982.
Meeting the many great beings that attended the
Conference I remember vividly meeting one old man, who told me that
when he was a young boy, he met with Anagarika Dharmapala. As he was
telling me this, within a split second, my mind travelled to that
occasion and I became aware of the mind of this great being Anagarika
Dharmapala. I could understand his dedication to the Mahabodhi
Mahavihara and the bringing of the Bodhi Tree to that temple.
It
became clear, through cause and effect, how devotion by just one
being to a clear vision of where Buddha Dhamma ought to be focussed,
became an inspiration to the whole world.
With this internal
devotion electrifying the hearts and minds of many beings even today
it is quite natural that the UNESCO proclamation concerning Mahabodhi
Mahavihara as a World Heritage Site must have been set in motion with
conviction in the past. This is an example of Mahabodhi Bala.
It
is the power of Bodhgaya to inspire persons from around the world to
put forth-good actions to propagate the sublime message of Lord
Buddha.
This then is my personal testimony of why I know Bodhgaya
is unique and paramount in the entire world to direct one's devotion
for the rest of one's life.
I praise the numerous beings who have
had this same insight and put it into practice over the centuries to
bring us to this great event of declaring Mahabodhi Mahavihara a
World Heritage Site.
May Mahabodhi Mahavihara continue to inspire
many future generations of aspiring Buddha Dhamma practitioners.
May
Mahabodhi Mahavihara bring them to see each for himself or herself
the intense validity of every word the Buddha spoke.
May
Mahabodhi Mahavihara ensure the reminder needed, that these words are
more relevant today than ever before.
May all beings be well and
happy and aspire to attain Mahabodhi Bala in this very
life.
References
Our Web Site : www.bddronline.net.au carries
the English translation of "History of Pure Land Buddhism"
by Henri de Lubac. We are loading it in parts.
The Maha Bodhi
Vaisakha Issue1964
The Maha Bodhi journals 1979
The Maha Bodhi
journals 1980