Was The Buddha only human, or was he super-human?
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The 32 attributes are a very curious feature of early Buddhist texts. I have tried, unsuccessfully, to trace them to any other system of thought. They are sometimes hinted to have come from Brahmins, but do not occur in any of the Vedas or Upaniṣads. The characteristics could not be seen by most people anyway, so to argue that they were "physical characteristics" is inaccurate. Only people with psychic powers were able to discern the marks, and some of them could not see all of the marks.
In all other respects the Buddha as portrayed in the early Buddhist texts had an ordinary human body. He had to sleep, eat and defecate; he felt pain; he grew old; and he died.
Later Buddhists however began to make the Buddha more and more super-human. Some Mahāyāna texts argue that his human body was simply a manifestation of a higher order existence. By the mature Mahāyāna the Buddha is fully superhuman and somehow still not a god, like Jehovah. He did not create the world and karma is still largely responsible for morality, though the Buddha has a godlike perspective on the workings of karma right from the beginning.
A similar story seems to play out with the Buddha's mind. Through his practices he gains knowledge (ñāna) that sets him free, but that knowledge includes all kinds of supernatural powers, ESP and so on. He becomes omniscient and omnipresent, but not omnipotent.
It's very important to emphasise that Buddhists do not believe in ātman. Indeed we would argue that we know that there is no ātman. Thus nothing could be said about the Buddha's ātman, since he does not have one.
Upvote:2
Adding to Ahmed's answer.
The Buddha had the 32 physical characteristics. They are too detailed to be listed here. Please see the link.
As for mind, heart and character, he had all the Paramis. The Theravada paramis are listed here:
- Dāna pāramī : generosity, giving of oneself
- Sīla pāramī : virtue, morality, proper conduct
- Nekkhamma pāramī : renunciation
- Paññā pāramī : transcendental wisdom, insight
- Viriya pāramī : energy, diligence, vigour, effort
- Khanti pāramī : patience, tolerance, forbearance, acceptance, endurance
- Sacca pāramī : truthfulness, honesty
- Adhiṭṭhāna pāramī : determination, resolution
- Mettā pāramī : loving-kindness
- Upekkhā pāramī : equanimity, serenity
And as for Atman, he had just the same as everybody else, which is no Atman i.e. no permanent absolute soul or self. You can read on anatta, which is from the Third Mark of Existence. It is said that anatta was uniquely discovered and taught by the Buddha and is not part of Hinduism and Jainism. The other two marks of existence may overlap with Hindu and Jain teachings. This article may also be useful.
As for your question on whether I believe in these or not, well, to be honest, I'm a little skeptical that any human had 40 teeth.
Upvote:4
Yes, Gautama Buddha had 32 major qualities, as do all Buddhas a.k.a. one who has attained the dharmakaya, sambhogakaya, as well as the nirmanakaya--the latter two of which correspond to the physical attainments.
These physical attainments progress according to the Taoist timeline of physical transformation of jing, chi, shen transformation but in Buddhism, which focuses on Wisdom, it is not necessary to focus on the physical aspect because this occurs automatically when one's mind is in the right place (Four Noble Truths, Right Samadhi, 8 + 2 Eightfold Path).
His mind is a mind free from the skandhas.
As for atman... He experientially discovered that there is no atman, that it is a causation illusion via the aggregates/skandhas, that we are the an ocean of interdependence... of Self and thus paradoxically, he attained the true Atman, the dharmakaya, becoming free from birth-and-death and forever serving ourself as a Buddha because such a perfectly compassionate immortal has nothing better to do with their time... this didn't happen at once and occured in a step-wise progression through the Four Noble Truths (which includes letting go of the things that bind one to Atman).
The above idea would be a Mahayana and Tibetan idea... less a Theravadin idea which insists on "annihilation" of self... (which in a sense is the same meaning because one annihilates oneself into the Buddhahood of serving others manifesting limitless skillful means and having uprooted one's poisons and afflictions already...)
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