The Various Kinds of Buddhas, Partially Enumerated +^

[Chas.]

The Various Kinds of Buddhas, Partially Enumerated +

On Sunday, December 31, 2017 at 10:19:26 PM UTC-8, Noel wrote:

[snip]

>
> There are 3 types of Buddhas
>
> shijō-shōkaku-no-hotoke （始成正覚の仏）: the Buddha who attained enlightenment for the first time in his present lifetime
>
> kuon-jitsujō （久遠実成）: attainment of Buddhahood in the remote past
>
>
> kuonganjo-no-jijuyūshin （久遠元初の自受用身）: Buddha of beginningless time

Actually, kuon-jitsujō is not a Buddha per se, it is the historic quality of how someone attained Buddhahood, there is however a Buddha related to that.

There are more than three types of Buddhas, I will enumerate some of them:

Working backwards from the ultimate point of view:

Since it is the ultimate determination of the eternal Buddha in the last four lines of the Jiga-ge for all living beings to manifest their innate potential of Buddhahood, faith in the Lotus Sutra leads us to the enlightened view that in the three existences of past, present and future in a single moment of life, that somehow, some way, all living beings will "attain the first stage of security and then Buddhahood, the stage of perfect enlightenment."

** from "On Offerings for Deceased Ancestors", WND I, p. 820:
http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/98#para-26

In that enlightened view sustained by that faith in the Lotus Sutra, all living beings in the ten directions and three existences ARE BUDDHAS NOW. This is the view Nichiren Daishonin took, in spite of the evidence of the inhabitants of the Saha world around him. It is the view from the eye of the Gohonzon, and the view of Myoho-Renge, the entity of the Mystic Law.

Hence (1) the eternal Buddha, whose actual name is "Myoho-Renge", who is also called Kuon-Ganjo (Buddha of beginningless time), and also called Jiju-Yushin (Buddha of absolute freedom, Buddha of limitless joy, and (2) Buddha of self-enjoyment: see next).

(2) The Buddha of self-enjoyment (Jijuyūshin) which corresponds to the reward body, "is one who enjoys the benefits of enlightenment he attained as a result of his past meritorious achievements, such as Shakyamuni when he attained enlightenment under the bodhi tree" - Soka Gakkai Dictionary. You could think of this as a subset class of the eternal Buddha and not really a separate type of Buddha.

(3) The Buddha of beneficence (Tajuyūshin) which also corresponds to the reward body, "is one who responds to the people's desire and benefits them through the various teachings that they hope to hear" - Soka Gakkai Dictionary. You could think of this as a subset class of the eternal Buddha and not really a separate type of Buddha.

(4) The Common Mortal. Since all living beings are enlightened Buddhas in the three existences in a single moment of life, " A common mortal is an entity of the three bodies, and a true Buddha." - from "True Aspect of All Phenomena," WND I, p. 383. This is not a subset class, the common mortal IS THE TRUE BUDDHA, and deserves our full respect as the eternal Buddha of Kuon-Ganjo/Beginningless Time and Jiju-Yushin/Limitless Joy. This is the enlightened view, but since we are all Buddhas, it is in fact the truth of life in the Saha World, whether we like it or not. Like many things this simply requires acceptance, predicated upon faith in the Lotus Sutra.

"Shakyamuni taught that the shallow is easy to embrace, but the profound is difficult. To discard the shallow and seek the profound is the way of a person of courage," WND I, p. 402.

In addition, the three bodies of the Buddha are all named as Buddhas:

(5) Buddha of the Dharma body ［法身・法身仏］ (Skt dharma-kāya, Jpn hosshin or hosshin-butsu): the essence of Buddhahood, the ultimate truth or Law, and the true nature of the Buddha's life. It also means a Buddha per se, whose body is the Law itself.

(6) Buddha of the reward body ［報身・報身仏］ (Skt sambhoga-kāya; Jpn hōshin, or hōjin, or hōshin-butsu): a body obtained as a reward of completing bodhisattva practices. As the concept of three bodies developed, questions arose as to which Buddha possessed which body. Amida Buddha and Medicine Master Buddha were categorized as Buddhas of the reward body. Amida, for example, was believed to have been the bodhisattva Dharma Treasury in a past existence, but was reborn as a Buddha in reward for his Buddhist practice. In contrast with this early stage of the doctrine of the three bodies, it was later held that a single Buddha possesses all three bodies; in this sense, the three bodies can be regarded as three properties inherent in a Buddha, the reward body representing the property of wisdom. The Sanskrit word sambhoga-kāya literally means body of enjoyment or bliss body. When sambhoga-kāya was translated into Chinese, it was rendered as "reward body."

(7) Buddha of the manifested body ［応身・応身仏］ (Skt nirmāna-kāya; Jpn ōjin or ōjin-butsu): the physical form that a Buddha assumes in this world in order to save people. In other words, it is the body with which a Buddha carries out compassionate actions to lead people to enlightenment. A Buddha of this kind is called a Buddha of the manifested body. The T'ien-t'ai school distinguishes two types of manifested body: the inferior manifested body, or the Buddha who appears for the sake of ordinary people, persons of the two vehicles, and bodhisattvas who have not yet reached the first stage of development (the forty-first stage of bodhisattva practice); and the superior manifested body, or the Buddha who appears for the sake of bodhisattvas at the first stage of development and beyond.

Hence, there are two subset classes under the Buddha of the Mahifested body:

(8) Buddha of the inferior manifested body ［劣応身］ (Jpn retsu-ōjin): the Buddha who appears for the benefit of ordinary people, persons of the two vehicles (voice-hearers and cause-awakened ones), and bodhisattvas below the first stage of development.

(9) Buddha of the superior manifested body ［勝応身］ (Jpn shō-ōjin): the Buddha who appears for the sake of bodhisattvas at or above the first stage of development, i.e., the forty-first of the fifty-two stages of bodhisattva practice.

According to Nichiren Daishonin, "The Opening of the Eyes," WND I, p. 261:
http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/30#para-217

... The various Buddhas, bodhisattvas, and heavenly and human
... beings described in the sutras that preceded the Lotus may
... seem to have gained enlightenment through the particular
... sutras in which they appear. But IN FACT THEY ATTAINED
... ENLIGHTENMENT ONLY THROUGH THE LOTUS SUTRA. The general vow
... taken by Shakyamuni and the other Buddhas to save countless
... living beings finds fulfillment through the Lotus Sutra.
... That is the meaning of the passage of the sutra that states
... that the vow "has now been fulfilled."

Hence, there are also innumerable Buddhas like Great Universal Wisdom Excellence, Shakyamuni's father and mentor when he initially attained Buddhahood in the remote past (according to his own golden words in the Lotus Sutra), or like Amida Buddha, who were actual persons who practiced and attained enlightenment. Shakyamuni counted himself as one of these, and so did Nichiren Daishonin. Real people and common mortals who attained enlightenment are true Buddhas.

But we do not falsely deify and worship the statues of dead people, no matter how wonderful they were, their statues are not the true objects of devotion of the eternal Buddha, they are FALSE OBJECTS OF DEVOTION.

ONLY the Gohonzon is the "supreme object of devotion in all of Jambudvipa" - Nichiren Daishonin.

-Chas.
___________________________________________

Quoting from "The Entity of the Mystic Law", Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, p. 418 ...

The Complete and Final Teaching on Perfect Enlightenment Sutra declares, "The beginningless illusions and ignorance that beset all living beings are all produced by the perfectly enlightened mind of the Thus Come Ones."