The History of Buddhist Thought c22.30

c22.30

It will be seen that the chief interest of the *Lotus* is devoted to Buddhas and their qualities. The bodhisattvas are quite subordinate to them except in chapters 22 to 26. The Buddha has become an eternal being and an object of worship not differing in powers or qualities from the gods of the rival religions. The religion is no monotheism, any more than popular Hinduism was.² Not only were there Buddhas at the ten points of space (the four quarters, the intermediate quarters, zenith, and nadir), but each world system had its corresponding Buddhas and bodhisattvas. The names and numbers of these Buddhas vary greatly. The short *Sukhāvatī-vyūha* puts five or six at each point. The *Lotus* has a list of sixteen, two at each point, except that there is one at the N.E. and Śākyamuni in the centre. Two of them are otherwise famous: Akshobhya in the east and Amitābha in the west. It is easy to see how this type of Buddhism disappeared from India. As a form of worship it differed in the eyes of its devotees, who repeated charms and adorned the statues, by no more than the names of the deities. But for the ordained members of the Order, as well as for those of the laity to whom religion was more than ritual, the conception of a bodhisattva’s career had a different interest. It was a beneficent ideal far surpassing the winning of Nirvāṇa for oneself. Yet it is not this conception which is prominent in the *Lotus*. It is still the popular conception of beings who are worthy of worship and who confer benefits on their clients. Then the bodhisattvas rather than the Buddhas become the chief objects of devotion. This is the point of view of the remaining chapters of the *Lotus*.