Concept of Divinity in Jainism

Author(s): P Ajay Kothari
Publisher: Prakrit Bharti Academy

Page 85

ace. He pays obeisance to Buddha in the following words 103:
Such, indeed, is the Blessed One
Perfected, fully awakened,
Endowed with knowledge and virtue; Having walked the right path,
The knower of worlds;
Incomparable guide of willing persons; Teacher of gods and humans;
Awakened and blessed.
It is believed that faith in the Buddha is the best treasure. For those, who have faith is the gateway to immortality open Samyutta Nikaya 1.214). Buddha is adorned with shraddha, “All the faults can never in any way be in him; all the virtues are in every way in him established."104
As such the grace of the Buddha cannot remove the suffering. By his adoration, the adorer takes him as an ideal or an example. The followers of Mahayana school of Buddhism consider Buddha as a God, a Supreme Reality itself that has descended on the earth in human form for a universal love (karuna). 105 Gautama Buddha is believed to be an incarnation of Buddha. 106 Further, many other previous incarnations of Buddha are also believed and are described in the famous Jatakas (or stories of the different births of Buddha). 107 But the concept of God in Buddhism is not of a creator God, but as a divine love (divya karuna) that out of compassion embodied itself in a human form to remove misery. 108 Hence, he is worshipped for mercy, help or enlightenment. Buddha is also worshipped in the form of Avalokiteshvara, Amitabha, and the future Buddha Maitreya.
To sum up, Buddha, the awakened one, teaches the path of Nibbana, state of perfection. Nirvana is a state of perfection, every one who attains nirvana, attains divinity. Therefore Buddha is
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