Mythology

Myth in Buddhism is used at various intellectual levels in order to give symbolic and sometimes quasi-historical expression to religious teachings. Accepted on its own terms, Buddhism is a supernatural religion in the sense that, without a buddha to reveal them, the truths remain unknown. Only after human beings have received the Buddha’s revelation can they proceed apparently by their own efforts. This teaching was explicit in the early schools, in which the revelation was still thought of as historically related to Shakyamuni’s mission in the world. Gradually some Buddhists developed the idea of the Buddha’s continuous revelation and gracious assistance, deriving from his glorified state of time-transcending enlightenment. Thus, the comparatively simple mythology of the great Buddha myth developed into the far more elaborate tradition of Mahayana.

The acceptance of the mythology, whether early or fully developed, has been a crucial factor in the development of Buddhism. Without the rich mythology associated with the Buddha, the religion collapses, and nothing is left but a demythologized, supposedly historical figure in whom it makes little sense to “take refuge.” He becomes a wandering ascetic of ancient India, like many others, and the appeal and growth of his religion has no adequate explanation. It was therefore the extraordinary combination of the historical Shakyamuni and the mythology that became associated with him that set the great religion known as Buddhism on its historical course.

In Buddhism myth is continually used at second or even third remove to bolster the primary Buddha myth. These subsidiary forms include, for example, stories about the recitation of the Buddhist canon soon after Shakyamuni’s decease, details of his previous lives, and descriptions of the six spheres of rebirth. Some Buddhist traditions take these subsidiary myths more seriously than others, and in each tradition there are also variations among individual adherents. But, even for those Buddhists who are most skeptical, the myths associated with the Buddha and his saving activity remain central and useful.

Shakyamuni in literature and art

Traditional literary accounts

The traditional biographies of the Buddha Shakyamuni all derive ultimately from early Indianextracanonical rearrangements of the still-earlier scattered canonical accounts of his great acts. The best-known of the Indian “biographies” are the Sanskrit works the Mahavastu (“Great Story”), the Buddhacharita (“Poetic Discourse on the Acts of the Buddha”), and the Lalitavistara (“Detailed Narration on the Sport [of the Buddha]”); the Chinese Abhiniskramana-sutra (“Discourse on the Going Forth”), translated from an Indian original; and the Pali introduction to the Jatakas, the Nidanakantha (“Account of the Origins”), as well as the commentary on the Buddhavamsa (“Chronicle of the Buddhas”). These early works grew out of earlier traditions, and ascertaining the dates of their final versions helps in no way to estimate the actual age or reliability of much of the material they contain. All that can be said is that this material agrees substantially with the earliest-known fragmentary canonical accounts and that, once presented in biographical form, there are only minor variations in the “national” versions of the story. The later Sinhalese, Thai, Myanmar (Burmese), and Cambodian stories are all firmly based on the earlier Pali versions. The Koreans and Japanese derived their accounts directly from the Chinese, who in turn derived their traditions, via Central Asia, from Indian sources. The Tibetans developed their versions from the same earlier Indian versions. The biography of Shakyamuni included by the Tibetan historian Bu-ston (1290–1364) in his Chos ’byung (“History of Buddhism”) differs from other traditional accounts only by its listing of the later Mahayana doctrines as part of Shakyamuni’s teachings on earth. All in all, the unity of the mythological and quasi-historical interpretations of the life and death of the “historical” Buddha, in whatever Buddhist country they have been retold, remains impressive.

Getting Into (Fictional) Character

The kernel of truth in the claim of the Theravadin Buddhists of Sri Lankaand mainland Southeast Asia to represent unadulterated “original Buddhism” derives from the fact that they have remained faithful to the early enthusiastic acclamation of Shakyamuni as the one and only Buddha of the present dispensation. Although other buddhas were recognized from a very early date, the attention of the early community was focused almost exclusively on the person and activities of Shakyamuni.

All the early canonical accounts agree in describing Shakyamuni’s experience of enlightenment as a definitive victory over Mara, the Evil One, and as resulting in a threefold knowledge: that of his own previous births, that of the births and deaths of all other sentient beings, and that of the saving insight that brings final release from the whole unhappy process. Moreover, Shakyamuni was acclaimed Mahamuni (“Great Sage”) and Bhagavat (“Lord”) in the texts not because he achieved a state of spiritual equilibrium in the context of ordinary existence but because he attained the supramundane state of nirvana. There are no textual indications that he was ever regarded by his followers as a kind of Socratic sage; on the contrary, he was thought to be a perfected yogi who possessed miraculous powers and divine insight, combined with an extraordinary concern for the spiritual advancement of others. Thus, from the first his state of enlightenment, or Buddhahood, was recognized as lokottara (“transcendent”) and as the transient embodiment of supramundane knowledge. Shakyamuni was identified with the pre-Buddhist Indian myth of the Mahapurusha (“Great Man”). As a Great Man, he could have become a universal monarch, but he chose instead the even higher career for which a Great Man was also prepared—the career of a universal religious teacher.

According to one very important early text, Shakyamuni was accepted as the seventh in a series of previous buddhas. His contemporary Mahavira, leader of the Jains, was linked to a similar series of 24 great religious figures. The essential mythical idea consists not in the numbers but in the notion of a necessary soteriological lineage. The title Tathagata, probably meaning “he who has thus attained,” was regularly used by Shakyamuni to refer to himself. Had it not been for his utter confidence in his achievement, his religious movement would doubtless have died with him.

Not only do buddhas appear at more or less regular intervals, but the final appearance of any buddha is the culmination of a whole series of previous lives, characterized by gradual advancement toward enlightenment. The belief accords well with the worldview of the region in which Buddhism originated, and it may be supposed that Shakyamuni believed this of himself. In any case, the earliest-known Buddhist tradition most certainly presented him as so believing. Building on this basis, many stories of events in his previous lives became very popular, some drawn from various folk traditions, others having a more distinctively Buddhist flavour. These stories have played an extraordinarily important role in Buddhist teaching and art.

The fundamental myth, however, was sometimes supplemented by later additions. One such addition concerns Mara, who represented the force of spiritual evil that Shakyamuni was conscious of having confronted and overcome. Mara is explicitly identified as Concupiscence and as Death, the twin foes of all those who strive toward the tranquil and immortal state of nirvana. At the same time, Mara is identified with various demons and evil spirits, and the texts usually describe him in these terms. The definitive victory over Mara, on whatever spiritual or popular level it may be understood, remains an inalienable element of the myth. It is just as important as the belief, universally attested in the earliest traditions of all Buddhists, in the omniscience and the miraculous powers of Shakyamuni.

Since Shakyamuni’s followers were interested in him as a marvelous being and as a transcendent Buddha, historical reminiscences that were preserved in the story are incidental to the recounting of such things as the great acts of his previous lives, his miraculous birth in his last life, the drama of his final enlightenment while sitting under the pipal tree, his stupendous decision to convert and save others (as symbolized by his first sermon in the Deer Park near Varanasi [Benares]), and his final decease at Kushinara.

Shakyamuni in art and archaeology

The primary Buddhist monument, both in early and present-day Buddhism, is the stupa, originally a reliquary mound or tumulus. Although the cult of the stupa is attested archaeologically only from the 3rd century bce onward, the canonical tradition links this cult to the great events associated with Shakyamuni’s decease. Mythologically, the stupa is the supreme symbol of the Buddha in his fully realized state beyond the bonds of mortality. Carved stonework preserved from the 2nd century bceonward, especially from the ancient stupas of Bharhut and Sanchi in India, reveals the great Buddha myth in visual form. The scenes on these stupas depict not only the great events of the Buddha’s last life but also those of his previous births as well.

In the earliest period symbols were used to represent the figure of the Buddha in scenes from his life as Shakyamuni—a tree indicating his enlightenment, a wheel his first preaching, and a miniature stupa his final nirvana—because the sanctity of his being was thought to be too great to be portrayed physically. The tree cult involved ancient pre-Buddhist traditions that coalesced with the act of the enlightenment as performed beneath the pipal or bodhi tree (Ficus religiosa). The wheel was the symbol both of the universal monarch and of the Buddha as universal guide and teacher. The stupa cult, with its extraordinary preoccupation with human relics, may have been a special Buddhist development related to the belief in nirvana as a supramundane state. It is in marked contrast to the usual Hindu (Brahmanic) horror of mortal remains as unclean.

Sculptural representations of the Buddha appeared in northwestern India from about the 1st century bce, and stereotyped images of him soon became the model for use throughout Asia. Common types of Buddha image are those that represent his calling the earth to witness against Mara by touching it with the fingertips of the right hand, the meditating Buddha protected by a cobra’s hood, and the Buddha lying on his right side as he enters final nirvana. The Buddha protected by a cobra’s hood represents a coalescing of the Buddha myth with the pre-Buddhist cult of snakes as protecting divinities (the nagacult) and derives from a legend in which the Buddha was protected from a rainstorm by a great nagaking named Mucilinda.

The Buddha image was adapted to all the main scenes of Shakyamuni’s life. While the later stupas in India and Southeast Asia achieved ever-greater artistic splendour, they remained the symbols of Shakyamuni’s transcendence and preserved the iconographic traditions concerning scenes from his previous lives as well as his last life. Famous examples are Amaravati in South India, dating from about the 3rd century ce (some of its stone carvings are preserved in the British Museum), and Borobudur, which was built in Java between 778 and 850 ce and embodies Mahayana (and perhaps Vajrayana) components in its symbolic structure. It also displays the close association between later developments and the great Buddha myth of Shakyamuni.

Temples and monasteries hewn out of rock were used by Buddhists at least from the 2nd century bceuntil the 8th century ce and probably later. Early cave monasteries, famous for their temples with internal stupas set in a kind of sanctuary, are Bhaja, Bhedsa, and Karli, all within reach of Mumbai(Bombay). Other cave monasteries famous for the development of the iconography of the Buddha are Kanheri (near Mumbai), Nasik, Ellora, and, especially, Ajanta, which contains fine murals dating from the 1st century bce to the 9th century ce. These mainly represent Shakyamuni in his last life and in his previous lives as a compassionate bodhisattva. Magnificent cave temples and monasteries were established in many other Buddhist areas, especially in China.

The iconographic traditions of Shakyamuni thrive to this day chiefly in Sri Lanka and the Southeast Asian countries where Theravada Buddhism prevails. In the Mahayana countries of Nepal, Tibet, China, Japan, Mongolia, and Korea, the same iconographic traditions are observed whenever an image or painting of Shakyamuni is required. So long as Buddhism remains, the visual representations of Shakyamuni will continue to be meaningful.

Celestial buddhas and bodhisattvas

Literary references

The starting point of all the later-developed traditions of the Buddha was the great Buddha myth. The early idea of a series of buddhas in time, first 7 and later 24, soon allowed for the idea of a future buddha Maitreya, whose cult became popular throughout the Buddhist world. Next came the tendency to focus attention on other buddhas in buddha lands distributed through endless space.

In the Indian context the most important of the new buddhas that came to be recognized were gradually systematized into a set of five Celestial or Dhyani Buddhas. The buddha who was usually placed at the centre of the group was Vairochana, the Illuminator, the universal sage or chakravartinbuddha. He is often depicted using the gesture of preaching or by the symbol of the wheel of dharma. The buddha of the east, Akshobhya (the Imperturbable), is iconographically associated with Shakyamuni in the “earth-witness” posture. The cult of the Imperturbable buddha probably derives from the cult at Bodh Gaya, the historical place of the Buddha’s enlightenment. The buddha of the south was Ratnasambhava, the Jewel-Born, who represents the Buddha’s selfless giving, indicated by the gesture of giving gifts—right hand open, pointing outward and downward. Amitabha was the buddha of the western paradise, around whom an important devotional cult developed. The buddha of the north was Amoghasiddhi, “Infallible Success,” who represents the Buddha’s miraculous power to save, indicated by the hand gesture of giving protection—right hand raised, palm outward and pointing upward. These five celestial buddhas seem—in the early stages of their development—to have been celestial manifestations of various aspects of Shakyamuni.

Two of these buddhas developed an important mythology and cult of their own quite apart from their role in the group of five Dhyani Buddhas. The first of these was Amitabha, the great buddha who presided over the western paradise and became the central figure in the traditions of Pure Land Buddhism. The Pure Land tradition, which probably began in northwestern India about the beginning of the Common Era, was most successful in China and Japan, where it became the dominant Buddhist tradition. The second of the five great buddha figures with a very important independent history was Vairochana. This “central” buddha developed an important role throughout the Buddhist world and emerged as the central buddha figure in the Vajrayana traditions of Japan, particularly Shingon.

The Dhyani Buddhas prepared the way for the psychophysical theories of the tantras. The five were associated with the centre and four compass points, namely, the macrocosm, conceived as a unity of the Five Great Elements. They were also identified with the microcosm of the human personality understood in terms of the Five Components (skandhas)—rupa (materiality or form), vedana (feelings of pleasure or pain or the absence of either), samjna (cognitive perception), samskara (the forces that condition the psychic activity of an individual), and vijnana (consciousness)—and with the Five Great Evils (ignorance, wrath, desire, malignity, and envy), typifying normal phenomenal existence. At this stage mythology and psychological symbolization are inextricably bound together.

In the tantras, Buddhist mythology overlapped with Hindu mythology. Akshobhya, for example, acquires a fierce Tantric form that is reminiscent of the fierce form of the Hindu god Shiva; in this form he became known by the Buddhist names Heruka, Hevajra, or Samvara. He is known in Japan in this guise as Fudō (“Imperturbable”). The Indian god Bhairava, a fierce bull-headed divinity, was adopted by TantricBuddhists as Vajrabhairava. Also called Yamantaka (“Slayer of Death”) and identified as the fierce expression of the gentle Manjushri, he was accorded quasi-buddha rank.

The bodhisattvas also developed manifold forms. Maitreya, the buddha-yet-to-come, was already known prior to the beginning of the Common Era and became the focus of a major devotional cult that spread across Asia. This early cult seems to have prepared the way for the Pure Land traditions involving Amitabha, which gradually superseded it. From the 1st century ce onward, a number of other celestial bodhisattvas were recognized, and cults of various kinds developed around them. Bodhisattvas who became popular included Manjughosha (“Gentle Voice”) or Manjushri (“Glorious Gentle One”), the representative of divine wisdom, and Vajrapani, “the one who wields the ritual thunderbolt [vajra]” and who, as lord of yakshas (a class of local Indian divinities), entered the pantheon as a great protector.

Avalokiteshvara, the lord of compassion, first appeared in India and subsequently became an important figure in virtually every Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhist tradition. He was recognized as the great patron of Tibet, who is believed to reincarnate in each of the Dalai Lamas. As Guanyin in China, Kannon in Japan, and Kwanseium in Korea, this bodhisattva coalesced with his feminine counterpart, Tara, and became a kindly madonna.

The bodhisattva Kshitigarbha (“Womb of the Earth”), who had hardly any significance in India, Nepal, or Tibet, attracted a cult as lord of the underworld in Central Asia. Kshitigarbha and his cult spread to China and other areas of eastern Asia. Known as Dizang in Chinese and Jizō in Japanese, he is lord of hell and therefore became the central figure in important and popular after-death liturgies.

Art and archaeology

It is mainly from artistic and archaeological remains that scholars have been able to trace the remarkable spread of Mahayana Buddhist mythology throughout Asia from the 1st century ce onward. The main points of departure for this mythology were northwestern India and the Bay of Bengal, especially the port of Tamralipti. Early Mahayana developments also affected South India, Sri Lanka, and Southeast Asia.

In India itself Bihar and Bengal remained Buddhist, largely late Mahayana and Vajrayana, until the 13th century. In Java and Sumatra there is iconographic evidence of the popularity of the buddhas, bodhisattvas, and fierce quasi-buddha figures mentioned above. There are even traces in Myanmar, Thailand, and Cambodia of images and paintings of late Mahayana and Vajrayana divinities. In Southeast Asia the island of Bali retains a living but mixed Hindu-Vajrayana Buddhist culture.

Paintings and figures unearthed during the 20th century in Central Asia (Chinese Turkistan) revealed the manner in which Buddhist architecture, iconography, and painting passed from northwestern India to China and East Asia. Especially important are the paintings of buddhas and bodhisattvas in the caves of Dunhuang (4th to 10th century ce). These paintings reveal the popularity in China, Japan, and Korea of Amitabha-Amitayus, Vairochana, Maitreya, Manjushri, Kshitigarbha, and Avalokiteshvara (as the goddess Guanyin).

The main repository of Indian Mahayana and Vajrayana iconographic traditions is Tibet, where Buddhism was introduced from the 8th to the 13th century. Until the communist takeover of 1959, the Tibetans preserved and developed Indian (Pala) styles of iconography. They also preserved ancient techniques and styles of Indian Buddhist painting that were modified and enriched in some schools by much later influence from China.

Recurrent mythic themes

Mythic figures in the Three Worlds cosmology

In the early Buddhist tradition, Gautama is represented as denying the importance of questions concerning the nature of the universe. It was enough to realize that normal existence consists of a process of continual birth, death, and rebirth, a process from which, by following the path the Buddha discovered, one might achieve release. If the early texts are correct, however, such an ordinance did not prevent the Buddha, and certainly did not prevent his followers, from accepting the general cosmological beliefs of the time, modified by conclusions drawn from the Buddha’s own teachings.

The cosmology, as it was systematized in the Buddhist tradition, included an infinite number of cosmos, all of which have the same structure. Each cosmos has three different realms, each of which is within the confines of samsara (the ongoing cycle of birth, death, and rebirth) and is regulated more or less strictly by the law of karma, according to which good and pious deeds are rewarded while evil and impious deeds are punished.

At the top of the cosmos is the arupa-loka (Pali and Sanskrit: “realm of formlessness”), in which the most-exalted brahma deities live and in which there are neither material qualities nor mythological activity. The brahma deities who are associated with the next-lower level, called rupa-loka (Pali and Sanskrit: “realm of material form”), do have a role in Buddhist mythology, particularly in the cosmogony through which the lower strata of the cosmos are restored after the eschatological cataclysms that periodically destroy them. According to an influential version of the primary creation myth, found in the Agganna-sutta, certain brahma deities whose abode was above the destruction begin—as the waters that are left from the old cataclysm start to coagulate below them—to savour the taste of the matter that constitutes these lower strata. As the strata take form, these brahma deities gradually descend into the lower realms and eventually become the first inhabitants of the new earth, from whom all humans descend.

Below the realms of the brahma deities is the kama-loka (Pali and Sanskrit: “the realm of desire”). This realm includes a set of six gatis (“destinies”) that have played an important role as a setting for mythology in virtually all Buddhist traditions in Asia. The highest of these six destinies is that of the devatas (though both gods and goddesses are included among the devatas, the goddesses generally have a secondary role). Within this destiny there are many heavens, each inhabited by many deities. Mythologically, the most important are the Tushita Heaven, where the future buddha Maitreya awaits the time for his coming to earth; the Heaven of the Thirty-three Gods, which is presided over by Inda (Sanskrit: Indra; sometimes called Sakka [Sanskrit: Shakra], a deity who plays a significant mythological role); and the Heaven of the Four Guardian Kings, protective deities who are found in many Buddhist myths.

The second of the gatis is the destiny occupied by human beings. The Agganna-sutta continues the story of creation by recounting the process through which the primal people devolved from their original idyllic earthly situation. Human vices and human conflicts emerge until a king called Mahasammata (“Great Elect”) is chosen to keep the peace and slow the pace of decline. Beyond this story of the beginnings of social life, the human realm is the locus for a myriad of widely diversified mythic stories about pious monks, nuns, kings, and other laypersons.

The third gati is the destiny of the asuras (“demons”), who in Indian mythology are the traditional enemies of the devas or devatas, though in the Buddhist mythology they generally play a limited role. (In fact, in some contexts the gati of the asuras is omitted from the system.) The fourth gati—the destiny of the animals—provides the setting for stories about many fabulous creatures, including nagas (mythical snakes), Garuda (a mythical bird), lions, and elephants.

The two remaining gatis, those of the pretas (“hungry ghosts”) and the hell beings, are mythically important in two respects. The descriptions provided of the punishments that are inflicted in these realms are very vivid indeed. In addition, there are widely distributed and well-known mythic stories of compassionate bodhisattvas and Buddhist saints who make journeys to these gatis to assuage the torment of those who suffer and to secure their release.

In different areas of Asia, new gods, goddesses, and demons were incorporated into the cosmology (for example, in Southeast Asia the great Hindu gods Vishnu and Shiva were often depicted as devas). Despite these new mythic contents, however, the classic cosmological structure was kept remarkably intact.

Local gods and demons

Although the contemplative elite may deny the real existence of gods and demons together with the rest of phenomenal existence, the majority of Buddhists have preserved indigenous religious beliefs and practices. It has already been noted how Mara, the manifestation of spiritual evil, was presented in the earliest literature in terms of local demonological beliefs. It is also the case that the early stupas and entrances to cave temples were decorated with local male and female deities (usually referred to as yakshas and yakshinis) who were seen as converted defenders of the new faith. This proved to be a satisfying way of justifying the continuance of the cult of local deities, and it has been employed in varying degrees in every Buddhist land. Thus, there developed a pantheon of minor deities that continued to take in new members wherever Buddhism was established.

The Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions welcomed these local deities and have admitted some of their cults into the liturgies in honour of buddhas and bodhisattvas. Such favoured deities include Mahakala, the great black divinity; the mother goddess Hariti; Kuvera, the god of wealth; and especially Hayagriva, a fierce horse-faced god who is powerful in driving off unconverted demonic forces. The Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions have also identified local deities as manifestations of various buddhas and bodhisattvas. This process is particularly prominent in Japan, where the identification of buddhas and bodhisattvas with indigenous kami (Japanese: “god” or “spirit”) has included both the great gods (for example, in the identification of the buddha Mahavairochana with the great ancestral Sun goddess, Amaterasu) and the kami of local territories.

In other cases that are equally widespread, local gods and demons have been conquered, converted, and taken into the pantheon or relegated to the periphery (where they may still require propitiation). Perhaps the most interesting example is found in Tibet, where it is commonly believed that Buddhism became established in the 8th century only as the result of the wholesale subjugation of local deities—a subjugation that must, from time to time, be repeated through the performance of rituals marked by their dynamism and ferocity.

In Theravada, Buddhism has had to come to terms with local beliefs. In some cases well-organized pantheons have been built. In Sri Lanka, for example, various local, Hindu, and Buddhist deities hold places within a hierarchy headed by the Buddha himself. In Myanmar the traditional hierarchy of local nats is headed by Thagya Min. Identified with Indra, he becomes a divine protector of Buddhism, who reigns in the Heaven of the Thirty-three Gods.

These neatly organized systems, even where they exist, are, however, only a small part of the story. Throughout the various Theravada countries, a wide variety of deities and spirits have been incorporated into the Buddhist world as the inhabitants of particular realms within the Buddhist cosmos or as the guardians of various images, stupas, and temples. At the same time, there are others who, like the demons of Tibet, remain only partially encompassed within the Buddhist domain.

Female deities

In many Buddhist traditions female deities and spirits have been relegated to minor and secondary positions in the pantheon. Among the Theravadins, for example, it is rare for female deities to play a major role. An important exception is the goddess Pattini, who is a significant figure in the Theravada pantheon in Sri Lanka.

In the Mahayana tradition several female deities became major figures. Notably, Supreme Wisdom (Prajnaparamita) is often personified as the Mother of All Buddhas, who is manifest especially in Maha Maya, the virgin mother of Shakyamuni. Tara, the female saviour, is a much more popular figure who has often been seen as the female counterpart of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara. In China and Japan, Avalokiteshvara himself gradually assumed a female form. As Guanyin (Japanese: Kannon), Avalokiteshvara became probably the most popular figure in the entire panoply of buddhas and bodhisattvas.

It was, however, in the Vajrayana traditions that female deities became ubiquitous at the highest levels of the pantheon. From the 7th century onward, a riot of female divinities found their way into certain circles of Buddhist yogis, where they were actually represented by women partners in a special kind of sexual yoga (physical and mental discipline). The process was gradually interpreted as an internal form of celibate yoga, for, in accordance with Vajrayana theory, enlightenment is achieved by the union of Wisdom and Method, now conceived of symbolically as female and male. Thus, it became possible to present supreme Buddhahood as the union of a male and female pair and then to represent every celestial buddha or quasi-buddha by a pair of male and female forms. The actual sexual ritual was certainly performed at one time in India and Nepal, seemingly to a very limited extent in Tibet, and perhaps not at all in China and Japan. Nonetheless, this form of Tantric symbolism, with its plethora of female buddhas and quasi-buddhas, has been taken for granted as part of the received tradition of virtually all Vajrayana Buddhists.

Kings and yogis

The great Buddha myth is a combination of the ideals of universal kingship and universal religious preeminence. This is clearly expressed in the myth of the prophetic utterance of future greatness by the sage Asita, who examined auspicious signs on the infant Gautama and determined that he was a Mahapurusha (a Great Man capable of attaining universal rulership or Buddhahood) who was destined to become a buddha.

According to the Jataka tradition, Gautama, in his penultimate life as Vessantara (Sanskrit: Vishantara), had already realized the perfection of the extraordinary combination of kingship and all-abandoning asceticism. As crown prince, Vessantara was famous for his vast generosity, and, to the despair of his more practical-minded father, he accepted banishment to the forest. There he attained ultimate self-abnegation by giving away his children and his wife, and in some accounts even his own eyes. In the end all the things Vessantara had given up were miraculously restored to him, and, responding to the demands of his countrymen, he returned home to become the best of kings. Similarly, the last life of Gautama, up to the time of his great renunciation, is told entirely as a royal story.

Although the practice of Buddhist religion strictly required withdrawal from the world, or at least renunciation of its pleasures, the Buddha and his followers were eager to win royal support. They needed benefactors, and what better benefactor than a king. Any suggestion of royal benefaction thus resulted in the revival of the “myth” of the vastly generous monarch. Even within the Theravada tradition, the notion of the beneficent king as a bodhisattva has been prominent.

The most famous example of the mythologized kings is the Indian emperor Ashoka, who helped spread Buddhism and became the protagonist in many Buddhist legends. He is credited with having built 84,000 stupas as well as having disseminated Buddhism to neighbouring countries. On a smaller scale, legends embellish the life of King Tissa of Sri Lanka (3rd century bce), who presided over the arrival of Buddhism. Similar legends developed around other royal supporters of Buddhism, including Prince Shōtoku of Japan (died 622 ce)—whose enthusiasm for Buddhism is genuinely historical—Srong-brtsan-sgam-po of Tibet (died 650 ce), and Tibet’s two other great “kings of religion”: Khri-srong-lde-btsan(reigned 755–797 ce) and Ral-pa-can, who was assassinated in 838 ce.

The great 8th/9th-century stupa of Borobudur in central Java deliberately represents the ruling monarch of Java as a king who exhibited aspirations toward Buddhahood. The king presents himself as the bodhisattva par excellence. The Tibetans developed a similar idea when they identified their reincarnating Dalai Lama as a manifestation of their great patron, the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara. The Manchu emperors of China were regarded as manifestations of the bodhisattva Manjushri.

From early in the history of Buddhism, the Buddha was recognized as a fully perfected yogi who possessed great religious insight and miraculous powers. Among the Buddha’s disciples, Maha Moggallana was especially known for his yogic attainments and magical powers. Notably, he traveled through various cosmic realms, bringing back to the Buddha reports of things that were transpiring in those worlds. In later Theravada accounts Maha Moggallana’s successor, the monk Phra Malai, visited the Tushita Heaven to question the future buddha Maitreya concerning the time when he was to be reborn on earth in order to complete his buddha mission.

At a more general level, the early disciples of Shakyamuni, known as arhats when they achieved perfection, were conceived of as miracle-working yogis and were presented in the early canonical literature in this way. This same ideal was acknowledged in the Theravada tradition, and all Theravada areas have claimed their share of arhats. But it was in Tibet, which drew on the more developed Indian myth of the mahasiddha (Sanskrit: “great yogi”) of the Tantric period (8th to 12th century ce), that this theme was most effusively developed. Especially famous are Padmasambhava (also called Guru Rimpoche), an 8th-century Indian yogi credited with having quelled the evil spirits of Tibet, and Pha-dam-pa Sangs-rgyas (died 1117), a Brahman of South India who became a Buddhist and visited Tibet and possibly China in the 11th century. Doubtless historical, Pha-dam-pa Sangs-rgyas passed out of history into myth with his fantastic powers and equally fantastic longevity. Better known in Europe is the story of the great Tibetan yogi Milarepa (1040–1123).

Early in the history of Chinese Buddhism, the same mythical tendencies appeared. Bodhidharma (6th century), the founder of Chan (Zen) Buddhism, was considered to be an Indian yogi. Subsequently, the ideal of the Buddhist sage, as typified by the arhats, coalesced in Chinese thought with the Daoistimmortals (xian) in mythical figures known as lohans. In Japan new mythicized stories developed, some associated with the founders of Japanese schools such as Kūkai and Shinran, others with popular holy men who were the Buddhist counterparts of indigenous shamans and ascetics. Through the continued generation of such new myths and stories, Buddhism was able to move from culture to culture, taking root in each one along the way.

David Llewelyn Snellgrove