Buddha's mother = Kannon?

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  • TyZa
    Member
    • May 2016
    • 126
    #1

    Buddha's mother = Kannon?

    This is a question for all the Buddhist cosmology/history buffs. I began reading Red Pine's commentary on the Heart Sutra and in the introduction (page 15) Red Pine makes an interesting hypothesis. Red Pine states that Shakyamuni Buddha's mother Maya was reborn as Santushita in the Trayatrinsha heaven (page 12). On page 15, Red Pine states "I could not help but conclude that Avalokiteshvara must then be a subsequent incarnation of Santushita."

    I don't believe any of this literally happened but I am interested if this view that Kannon is the incarnation of Santushita and thus Shakyamuni Buddha's mother is proposed by just Red Pine or other scholars as well? I've searched around and couldn't find anything except the Red Pine reference.

    No bearing on my practice, but I find things like this interesting.

    Gassho,
    Tyler

    SatToday
    Tags: None
    • Jundo
      Treeleaf Founder and Priest
      • Apr 2006
      • 41030
      #2
      Sometimes Red Pine says things that he feels. If one feels so in one's heart, then it is so in that way.

      I do not know what scholars will say, but there are some temples in Japan that have statues of Buddha's mother that are sometimes said to be a manifestation of, or are conflated with, Kannon ...

      Japanese Rinzai Zen Buddhism
      https://books.google.co.jp/books?id=rz2wCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA241&lpg=PA241&dq=kannon+as+%22buddha%27s+mother%22&source=bl&ots=xHcu6RKXiY&sig=-V4-_GfuvU9LVZj8vwtygxCdw7o&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjn0qz_77_NAhWBVZQKHUgkC74Q6AEIKDAC#v=onepage&q=kannon%20as%20%22buddha's%20mother%22&f=false
      Zen Buddhist ideas and practices in many ways are unique within the study of religion, and artists, poets and Buddhists practitioners worldwide have found inspiration from this tradition. Until recent years, representations of Zen Buddhism have focussed almost entirely on philosophical, historical or “spiritual” aspects. This book investigates the contemporary living reality of the largest Japanese Rinzai Zen Buddhist group, Myōshinji. Drawing on textual studies and ethnographic fieldwork, Jørn Borup analyses how its practitioners use and understand their religion, how they practice their religiosity and how different kinds of Zen Buddhists (monks, nuns, priest, lay people) interact and define themselves within the religious organization. Japanese Rinzai Zen Buddhism portrays a living Zen Buddhism being both uniquely interesting and interestingly typical for common Buddhist and Japanese religiosity.


      But aren't we all manifestations of Kannon when acting with Compassion in our hearts?

      Gassho, J

      SatToday
      ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

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        • TyZa
          Member
          • May 2016
          • 126
          #3
          Originally posted by Jundo
          But aren't we all manifestations of Kannon when acting with Compassion in our hearts?
          That's really all that matters. Thanks Jundo!

          Gassho,
          Tyler

          SatToday

            Comment

            • Jakuden
              Member
              • Jun 2015
              • 6141
              #4
              In my mind, Kannon always symbolized a mother's love, just because I cannot visualize a deeper or more altruistic form of compassion. I read this in Red Pine also, and I think it just made perfect sense to me that Avolokiteshvara would be Buddha's mother or a reincarnation thereof--a circle of motherly compassion that never ends. We all seek it instinctively from others, and we all need to learn how to give it to other sentient beings as if they were our own children. Interesting question though, I don't recall seeing it specifically cited elsewhere either (in my very limited knowledge). Thank you for the question and answer, Tyler and Jundo.

              Gassho,
              Jakuden
              SatToday
              Last edited by Jakuden; 06-26-2016, 05:56 PM.

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