Elements of Buddhist Iconography c4.26

c4.26

Here the World-tree becomes a “Burning Bush,” in an imagery closely related to that by which in several Vedic texts Agni is spoken of as a cosmic pillar, supporting all existences. Almost all of this is valid Buddhology, if only we substitute “Buddha” for “Brahman,” remember the large part played by the concept of the Fiery-Energy (tejas) even in canonical texts, and take account of the early iconography as well as of the literature. Especially noteworthy is the designation of the “Single Fig-tree” as the World-form of the “One Awakener” (eka sambodhayitṛ) and “enduring basis of the vision of Brahman” (brahma-dhīyālamba); for just so also is the Buddha’s Fig-tree (aśvattha) constantly spoken of as the “Great Awakening” (mahā-sambodhi); being the chosen symbol of the Buddha’s unseen essence, it is an enduring basis for the vision of Buddha; it might have been called in Pali Tathāgata-jhānālamba, cf. the terms ārambaṇa, āvaraṇa, upadarśana, used of the Tathāgata’s various manifestations, Saddharma Puṇḍarīka, text, p. 318, and ālamba = viṣaya-grahaṇa, Vasubandhu, Abhidharmakośa, I, 34, and II, 34, b-d. The Mahā Sukhāvatī-Vyūha, 32, in fact, merely paraphrases the words of the Maitri Up. cited above, when it is said that “All those beings that are constant in never turning away from the vision of that Bodhi-tree are by the same token constant in never losing sight of the supreme and perfect Awakening” (tasya bodhi-vṛkṣasya . . . yad uta anuttarāyāḥ samyak-sambodheḥ). In the Maitri Up. text the expression udbudhyati, “awakens,” applied to the Tree, is significant, and like the designation uṣarbudh, “awakened at dawn,” which in the Ṛg Veda is commonly applied to Agni, recalls him who is typically buddha, the “Wake.”¹¹ As for the Fiery-Energy (tejas), this is the element of fire present as an unseen energy in all existences, but preëminently manifested by Arhats or the Buddha, e. g. in the case of the “Double Miracle,” the “Conversion of Kassapa,” or when (Saṃyutta Nikāya, I, 144) the Buddha takes his seat in the firmament immediately above Brahmā. In Theragāthā, 1095, where arahatta is clearly synonymous with Buddhahood, the uggetejo, “sharp fiery-energy,” is the flaming sword of Understanding (paññā = prajñā) whereby Māra is defeated. In Dhammapada, 387, the Buddha “glows with fiery-energy,” tapati tejasā.¹²