Bhakti: Difference between revisions

Bhakti (called ''bhatti'' in [[Pali]] language) has been a common aspect of Buddhism, where offerings, prostrations, chants, and individual or group prayers are made to images such the images of the [[Buddha]] and the ''[[Bodhisattvasbodhisattvas]]'',<ref name="swearer9">Donald Swearer (2003), Buddhism in the Modern World: Adaptations of an Ancient Tradition (Editors: Heine and Prebish), Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195146981}}, pages 9-25</ref><ref>Karen Pechelis (2011), The Bloomsbury Companion to Hindu Studies (Editor: Jessica Frazier), Bloomsbury, {{ISBN|978-1472511515}}, pages 109-112</ref> or to [[Buddhist deities]] such as [[wrathful deities]].<ref name="child138">{{cite book|author=Louise Child|title=Tantric Buddhism and Altered States of Consciousness: Durkheim, Emotional Energy and Visions of the Consort |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yYDeCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT138 |year=2016|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-04677-6|pages=138–139}}</ref> According to [[Karel Werner]] notes that Bhakti has been a significant practice in [[Theravada]] Buddhism, and states, "there can be no doubt that deep devotion or ''bhakti / bhatti'' does exist in Buddhism and that it had its beginnings in the earliest days".<ref name="werner45">Karel Werner (1995), Love Divine: Studies in Bhakti and Devotional Mysticism, Routledge, {{ISBN|978-0700702350}}, pages 45-46</ref>

According to Sri Lankan scholar Indumathie Karunaratna, also notes that the meaning of ''bhatti'' changed throughout Buddhist history, however.<ref name="ik435" /> In [[Early Buddhist schools|early BuddhismBuddhist]], suchsources as inlike the text [[Theragatha|''Theragāthā'']],{{sfn|Nanayakkara|1966|p=678}} ''bhatti'' had the meaning of 'faithful adherence to the [Buddhist] religion', and was accompanied with knowledge. InLater later text traditionon, however, the term developed the meaning of an advanced form of emotional devotion, especially in [[Mahayana]] Buddhism. ExamplesSuch ofdeep thedevotion lattercan includebe found in the veneration of Buddha [[Amitabha]] of [[Pure Land Buddhism]] and those in the devotion to [[Guanyin]] and to the ''[[Lotus Sutra|Saddharmapundrarika Sutra]]'' found in [[East Asian Buddhism]].<ref name="ik435">{{cite encyclopedia|editor1-last=Malalasekera|editor1-first=Gunapala Piyasena|editor1-link=G. P. Malalasekera|first=Indumathie|last=Karunaratna|encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Buddhism|title=Devotion|date=2000|volume=IV|publisher=Government of Ceylon|url=https://www.scribd.com/document/283214333/Enceylopaedia-of-Buddhism-Vol-IV|pages=435–7}}{{Dead link|date=October 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=http://www.ahandfulofleaves.org/documents/early%20buddhist%20theory%20of%20knowledge_jayatilleke.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150911084454/http://www.ahandfulofleaves.org/documents/Early%20Buddhist%20Theory%20of%20Knowledge_Jayatilleke.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=11 September 2015|last1=Jayatilleke|first1=K.N.|author-link1=K.N. Jayatilleke|title=Early Buddhist theory of knowledge|date=1963|publisher=[[George Allen & Unwin]]|isbn=978-1-134-54287-1|page=384}}</ref> This changed the meaning of Buddhist devotion to a more person-centered sense, similar to a theist sense used in Hindu scriptures. This sense of devotion was no longer connected with a belief in a religious system, and had little place for doubt, contradicting the early Buddhist concept of ''saddhā''. ''Saddhā'' did not exclude reasonable doubt on the spiritual path, and was a step in reaching the final aim of developing wisdom, not an end in itself.{{sfn| Nanayakkara|1966|p=679}}

This later mode of bhakti was more centered on transcendent beings like Amitabha and [[Avalokiteśvara|Avalokiteshvara]], and was somewhat similar to the theistic Hindu bhakti. This sense of devotion was no longer connected with a belief in a religious system, and had little place for doubt, contradicting the early Buddhist concept of ''saddhā''. ''Saddhā'' did not exclude reasonable doubt on the spiritual path, and was a step in reaching the final aim of developing wisdom, not an end in itself.{{sfn|Nanayakkara|1966|p=679}}

In early Buddhism, states Sanath Nanayakkara, the concept of taking refuge to the Buddha had the meaning of taking the Buddha as an ideal to live by, rather than the later sense of self-surrender.<!--p=680--> But already in the [[atthakatha|Commentary]] to the [[Abhidhamma]] text ''[[Puggalapaññatti]]'', it is mentioned that the Buddhist devotee should develop his ''saddhā'' until it becomes ''bhaddi'', a sense not mentioned in earlier texts and probably influenced by the Hindu idea of ''bhakti''.<!--p=679--> There are instances where commentator [[Buddhaghosa]] mentions taking refuge in the Buddha in the sense of mere adoration, indicating a historical shift in meaning.<!--Nanayakkara 680--> Similar developments took place with regard to the term [[Puja (Buddhism)|''puja'' (honor)]] and the role of the [[Buddhist art|Buddha image.]] In [[Mahāyāna Buddhism]], the doctrine of the [[trikāya]] (three bodies) and the devotion towards ''bodhisattvas'' all indicating a shift of emphasis toward devotion as a central concept in later Buddhism.<!--p=681-->{{sfn| Nanayakkara|1966|pp=679–81}}

Nevertheless, affective devotion is an important part of Buddhist practice, not only in Mahāyāna Buddhism. According to Winston King, a scholar on [[Theravada|Theravāda]] Buddhism in [[Myanmar]], "warm, personalized, emotional" ''bhakti'' has been a part of the [[Burmese Buddhism|Burmese Buddhist

]] tradition apart from the monastic and lay intellectuals.<ref name="King1964p173" /><ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kLs3AAAAIAAJ|last1=Gokhale|first1=Balkrishna Govind|title=Bhakti in Early Buddhism|editor-last=Lele|editor-first=J|year=1981|encyclopedia=Tradition and modernity in Bhakti movements|volume=31|publisher=[[Brill (publisher)|Brill Archive]]|isbn=978-9004063709}}</ref> The [[Buddha]] is treasured by the everyday devout Buddhists, just like Catholics treasure Jesus. The orthodox teachers tend to restrain the devotion to the Buddha, but to the devout Buddhist populace, "a very deeply devotional quality" was and remains a part of the actual practice. This is observable, states King, in "multitudes of [[Burmese pagoda|Pagoda]] worshippers of the Buddha images" and the offerings they make before the image and nowhere else.<ref name="King1964p173">{{cite book|author=Winston Lee King|title=A thousand lives away: Buddhism in contemporary Burma|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5_dCAAAAIAAJ|year=1964|publisher=Harvard University Press|pages=173–176|isbn=9780674887107}}</ref> Another example is the worship of the ''Bodhisattvas'' and various deities in Tibetan and other traditions of Buddhism, including the so-called wrathful deities.<ref name="child138" />