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Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
www.kobatirth.org
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BUDDHISM IN KASHMIR
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of mankind from duḥkha. To the unbiassed Hindu mind there is not much of difference between Buddhist and Saiva doctrines. In both the systems, the highest truth or the ultimate reality is unknowable, Buddhism calling it Nirvana or Šūnyatā, and Sivaism, particularly the Pratyabhijña or the Idealist school of Kashmir, denoting it as Siva. If Siva be explained as santa, i.e., undisturbed by birth and death, the Buddhists would have no objection to accept it as Šūnyata or Nirvāṇa. Both the systems look upon the phenomenal universe as subject to origin and decay; the caused and conditioned theory of Buddhism corresponds to the reproduction and destruction cult of Sivaism, the fundamental difference between the two being the denial by Buddhism of any real individual self or an infinite self as opposed to the assertion of same by Sivaism or Brahmanism generally. As regards the externals, asceticism and certain mythological and metaphysical ideas may be pointed out as the common features of the two systems. Buddhism favoured asceticism but did not look upon it as the essential means of salvation, while in Sivaism, the ascetic ideal of Siva is placed as compulsory before every devotee for sadhana. With the appearance of Avalokita and Tārā in the Buddhist pantheon, many mythological and metaphysical ideas woven around Siva and Durga were transferred to them while many of the ungainly rites of the Sivaites came to be adopted by the Buddhists of Nepal, Tibet and Mongolia in the worship of the Buddhist gods and goddesses.' In Siam and Camboja, the worship of Siva and Durga is sometimes described as identical with the worship of Buddha and Prajñā, and there is a number of instances of devotees worshipping both Buddha and Siva in Champa, Camboja, Java and Nepal. The Yuch-chis took to Siva worship, and Kadphises II and Vasudeva issued coins with Siva emblems, but
Acharya Shri Kailassagarsuri Gyanmandir
Elliot, Hinduism and Buddhism, II, pp. 118-9, 123; III, 391-2.
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