Buddhism conflict?

Question

Buddhists believe that Buddha escaped the cycle of rebirth, right? The Dalai Lama is the reincarnation of Buddha, isn't he? What up with that?

Answer 1

The Dalai Lama is believed to be the reincarnation of bodhisattva Avalokitesvara (The Bodhisattva of compassion) A bodhisattva is one who reaches enlightenment but refuses to end the cycle of rebirth until ALL other beings have been freed.

He is not the reincarnation of Gautama Buddha.

I hope this helps.

Answer 2

The Dalai Lama is the reincarnation of an earlier Dalai Lama, not the Buddha. The Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama) was supposedly not reincarnated.

By the way, there are many western Buddhists who do not believe in reincarnation, although the dialogue about it is considered a waste of time. Buddhism is more about living in the moment without distractions.

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Answer 3

Dalai Lama is not believed to be the reincanation of Lord Buddha, but tibetan buddhists believe he is the reincarnation of the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara.

A bodhisattva is a being that has achieved bodhi( awakening), but is still cling on to passions, so must still be subject to reincarnation. One step behind nirvana(complete escape from reincarnation, something a buddha has achieved.)

btw, there are two uses of the words buddha, one as a proper noun, as in Buddha (Gautama Buddha), the other is also noun, buddha, but can mean anybody who has achieved nirvana.

And, not all buddhists believe that the Dalai Lama is the head of Buddhism, only the Tibetans.

Answer 4

There isn't one Buddha. Anyone has the capability of becoming a Buddha. Buddha simply means "awakened one."

The first Dalai Lama was Gendun Drup, not Siddharta Guatama. The Dalai Lamas are thought to be the reincarnation of Chenrezig, the Bodhisattva of compassion.

Answer 5

Buddhas are merely "enlightened people", those who are able to transcend the physical planes and achieve nirvana.

There have been many buddhas, but the Lord Buddha or just Buddha is normally used to refer to Siddharta Gautama.

Dalai Lama is term used for the successive reincarnations of the previous Dalai Lama, who is the head of the Buddhist religion. It is believed, that he had already achieved enlightenment and can escape the cycle of life and death. However, he opted to remain behind on Earth, for he wishes to aid the rest of the people in achieving enlightenment.

Hence, it can be seen that the spirit of Dalai Lama is making a great sacrifice, forsaking his own nirvana so as to aid us.

There's another Buddha (who is called Di Zang Wang in chinese) who also opted to remain in Hell, so as to provide relief and aid the departed in achieving said status as well.

He has a well known quote, in which the rest of the buddhas asked why he choose to go to hell "If not me, who else should go to Hell" and he vowed that he will not leave Hell, until Hell is empty

Answer 6

Dalai Lama decided to stay on Earth to teach us the way to escape.

Answer 7

Sorry, but I'll have to give a detailed response. Generally, in discussing these things, one should first be aware that the Buddhist tradition is, at least, 2,500 years old. When we discuss the historical application of Buddhist ideas, and their development, it helps to know when, and how, these ideas arose. In fact, the most popular class of documents (sutta in the Pali language, sutra in Sanskrit) begin their lessons with a description of the time, place, and circumstances in which the particular ideas arose. Later hundreds of years after the Buddha's "parinirvana" there was a dispute among schools. The newer schools developed slightly differently, but most of them kept (and could produce) texts with similar formats, and in a very similar system of classification.

There were changes in the style of discussing, and thinking about the Buddha's own statements, but the most speculations seems to have accrued around the Buddha's statements about himself. The oldest (and, I would argue, foundational) literature shows the Buddha very clearly saying that he achieved Nibbana (Pali for the Sanskrit term "Nirvana") while still alive ("under the Bodhi-tree") and that he (as I have said) completely accomplished the ultimate, and unsurpassed goal (anuttara sammāsambodhi - supreme perfect enlightenment) as given within his own descriptive elaboration; and, again, continued to have an apparent-existence for fifty-plus years after the fact. Also, MOST IMPORTANTLY, he refused to say what would happen to himself after death - i.e., whether he would continue, not continue, or any other confirmations - most people miss this point. He does, however, describe himself (in the oldest literature) as having two different types of presence - "with form" and "without form." Later schools elaborated this idea, with an increasingly subtle and poetic evocative-ness. The matter-of-fact style of the living Buddha became very abstractly diverse. Though still acknowledging his own self-descriptive ideas, their term for the living ("with form") Buddha-presence was given a different emphasis, with new terminologies used for both the "with-", or "without- form" descriptions. The most common descriptions concern the visible presence (which, again, is obviously "with form"). The word used for this in the Tibetan language is Sprul-pa'i-sku or sprul-sku (pronounced "Tulku"). This visible manifesting of supreme perfect enlightenment, I.E, "with form," is also the kind of presence the Dala'i Lama is thought to be.

Properly understood, this still is in accord with the original Buddhist teaching. These "teaching manifestations" are not "someone" who does something called "manifesting"; they are nothing other than this manifesting of supreme perfect enlightenment, in a blatantly obvious (again, "with form") way,

A finer point within Buddhist teachings considers how that which appears to us as "things" (or even "people") are actually only instances of processes and perceptions arising in complete interdependence upon each-other. This seem to give rise in perception (in our senses) to independent realities (I. E., "things"). However, "things" and/or "people" never actually come into being as definitive, independent, and unchanging "things." To even say that a thing "exists" is considered an inadmissible exaggeration, this being said because (as it were) in actuality, there is really only the interaction of ever-changing processes.

The point I'm trying to make here is that (according to Buddhist teachings) there isn't even someone called "The Dala'i Lama" who "incarnates" as himself. Yet, this is how erroneous thinking makes one believe things to be - as if there were some kind of "essence" [in this case, either a Bodhisattva, named Avalokiteshvara, or someone who died in the Fifteenth-century, named Dge-'dun-grub-pa] over "there," doing something (or "manifesting") over here!

According to the Buddhist teaching, this way of seeing things is a habitual error that we make for reasons both intellectual and emotional. This is a fundamental Buddhist distinction going back to the origin of Buddhist teachings, and is taught by the Dala'i Lama.

Answer 8

There are three denominations, if you will, of Buddhism. Mahayana Buddhism believes that those who reach enlightenment, Buddhas, can return if they so choose and help others attain enlightenment.