Buddhist Philosophy in India and Ceylon c23.s3.1

c23.s3.1

Even in the Hīnayāna we have from the lips of the Buddha himself an assertion of his power of leaving the assembly in which he preaches dubious as to his identity, and the Kathāvatthu records the docetic heresy of the Vetulyakas who held that the Buddha remained in the Tuṣita heaven, and merely a phantom appeared on earth. The idea is not known to the Mahāvastu, but it occurs repeatedly in the Mahāyāna Sūtras, with the substitution of some other abode of the real Buddha in lieu of the Tuṣita heaven, the Vulture peak in the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka, the Sukhāvatī paradise in the Vyūhas and Amitāyuḥ-sūtras. From time immemorial Ṣākyamuni or Amitābha or Vajrasattva has been emancipated, not first at Gayā, but he repeatedly appears in a magic form in the world, to lead an apparent life, teach the law, and be extinct.¹ A development of this conception is the five Mānuṣi-Buddhas corresponding to five Jinas or so-called Dhyāni-Buddhas in the mythology; the former are essentially artificial, the latter true Buddhas. Both Buddhas and Bodhisattvas may transform themselves thus, but the Bodhisattva Avalokiteçvara is *par excellence* the transformer of himself into the most varied shapes in his eagerness to succour men, and to fulfil his vow to secure the release of all beings. The shapes which may be assumed are not limited to Buddha appearances, though these are usual in the case of Buddhas, but any form may be chosen which serves the end aimed at.