Gautama Buddha in Hinduism

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The Buddha is considered the ninth avatar among the ten major avatars of the god Vishnu, according to the Vaishnava tradition of Hinduism. The Buddha has been among the formative forces in the origins of Hinduism. Regional Hindu texts over the centuries have presented a spectrum of views on Buddhism, possibly reflecting the competition between Buddhism and the Brahmanical traditions. In contemporary Hinduism, the Buddha is revered by Hindus who usually consider "Buddhism to be another form of Hinduism". Other Hindus reject the identification of Gautama Buddha as an avatar of Vishnu, referring to the texts of the Puranas and identifying the two as different individuals.

The Buddha was integrated into Vaishnavism through its mythology in the Vaishnava Puranas, where the Buddha is considered as the ninth avatar of Vishnu. According to the Agni Purana, Vishnu assumed this incarnation on earth due to the daityas defeating the devas in their battles. In order to restore the natural order, he deluded the asuras with his teachings. This caused them to abandon the path established by the Vedas and convert to Buddhism, causing them to be devoid of dharma. This caused them to become dasyus at the end of the Kali Yuga, causing them to be cast off to hell, devoid of good conduct. Furthermore, it causes the age to be characterised by the intermixture of the varnas and domination by the Mlecchas, barbarian and foreign forces. Subsequently, according to tradition, it became the responsibility of Adi Shankaracharya and future Vaishnava acharyas to re establish theism.

The adoption of the Buddha in texts relating to Hindu gods, and of Hindu gods in Buddhist texts, is difficult to place chronologically. According to Doniger, the myth of the Buddha avatar first appeared in the pre Gupta period, when orthodox Brahminism was threatened by the rise of Buddhism and Jainism, and by foreign invaders. According to Doniger, "Hindus came to regard the Buddha as an avatar of Vishnu between A. D. 450 and the sixth century," first appearing in the Vishnu Purana (400 500 CE). According to John Holt, "The replacement of the Buddha as the "cosmic person" within the mythic ideology of Indian kingship [ ] occurred at about the same time the Buddha was incorporated and subordinated within the Brahmanical cult of Vishnu."

The adoption of Buddha may also have been a way to assimilate aspects of Buddhism into the fold of Hinduism. According to Wendy Doniger, "Helmuth von Glasenapp attributed these developments to a Hindu desire to absorb Buddhism in a peaceful manner, both to win Buddhists to Vaishnavism and also to account for the fact that such a significant heresy could exist in India." According to Donald Swearer, the understanding of Buddha in Hinduism is a part of his wider and diverse influences. Even within Buddhism, states Swearer, Buddha and his ideas are conceptualized differently between Theravada, Mahayana, Tibetan, Japanese and other traditions. Similarly, in various traditions of Hinduism (and elsewhere), Buddha is accepted and interpreted in different ways.

Much like Hinduism's adoption of the Buddha as an avatar, Buddhism legends too adopted Krishna in their Jataka tales, claiming Krishna (Vishnu avatar) to be a character whom Buddha met and taught in his previous births. According to Alf Hiltebeitel and other scholars, some of the stories in Buddha related Jataka tales found in Pali texts seem slanderous distortions of Hindu legends, but these may reflect the ancient local traditions and the complexities of early interaction between the two Indian religions. While the Buddhist Jataka texts co opt Krishna Vasudeva and make him a student of the Buddha in his previous life, the Hindu texts co opt the Buddha and make him an avatar of Vishnu. Similarly, in Dasaratha Jataka Buddha identifies himself as Rama.

Buddha is considered a holy being and revered as one who was awakened in India. Outside India, some contemporary Hindus revere the Buddha along with other gods during their festivals. Prominent modern proponents of Hinduism, such as Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Swami Vivekananda, consider the Buddha as an example of the same universal truth that underlies religions. A number of revolutionary figures in modern Hinduism, including Mahatma Gandhi, have been inspired by the life and teachings of the Buddha and many of his attempted reforms. Steven Collins sees such Hindu claims regarding Buddhism as part of an effort itself a reaction to Christian proselytizing efforts in India to show that "all religions are one", and that Hinduism is uniquely valuable because it alone recognizes this fact. Some Hindus usually consider "Buddhism to be another form of Hinduism." Various scholars in India, Sri Lanka and outside South Asia state that the colonial era and contemporary attempts to assimilate Buddha into the Hindu fold are a nationalistic political agenda, where "the Buddha has been reclaimed triumphantly as a symbol of indigenous nationalist understandings of India's history and culture". According to Lars Tore Flåten, Hindu perceptions, particularly in the literature by Hindu nationalists, are that "Buddha did not break away from the spiritual ideas of his age and country," claiming that scholars such as Hermann Oldenberg (1854 1920), Thomas Rhys Davids (1843 1922) and Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1888 1975) state there is much in common between "Buddhism and the contemporary Hinduism." Yet, in present day scholarly consensus, Buddhism is considered to be very different from pre Buddhist Indian religion.