Gautama Buddha, the founder ofBuddhism, is alsovenerated as a manifestation of God inHinduism and theBaháʼí Faith.[1] SomeHindu texts regard Buddha as anavatar of the god Vishnu, who came to Earth to delude beings away from the Vedic religion.[2] SomeNon-denominational andQuranist Muslims believe he was a prophet. He is also regarded as aprophet by theAhmadiyyah.[3]
In theBaháʼí Faith, Buddha is classified as one of theManifestations of God which is a title for a major prophet in the Baháʼí Faith.[4] Similarly, theProphet of the Baháʼí Faith,Bahá'u'lláh, is believed by Baháʼís to be theFifth Buddha, among other prophetic stations.[5]
The Greek legend of "Barlaam and Ioasaph", sometimes mistakenly attributed to the 7th centurySt. John of Damascus but actually written by theGeorgian monkEuthymius in the 11th century, was ultimately derived, through a variety of intermediate versions (Arabic andGeorgian) from the life story of the Buddha. The king-turned-monk Ioasaph (GeorgianIodasaph, ArabicYūdhasaf orBūdhasaf: Arabic "b" could become "y" byduplication of a dot in handwriting) ultimately derives his name from the SanskritBodhisattva, the name used in Buddhist accounts for Gautama before he became a Buddha.[6] Barlaam and Ioasaph were placed in the Greek Orthodox calendar ofsaints on 26 August, and in the West they were entered as "Barlaam and Josaphat" in the Roman Martyrology on the date of 27 November.[7]
Gautama Buddha is mentioned as anAvatar ofVishnu in thePuranic texts ofHinduism.[8] In theBhagavata Purana he is twenty fourth of twenty five avatars, prefiguring a forthcoming finalincarnation. A number ofHindu traditions portray Buddha as the most recent of ten principal avatars, known as theDashavatara (Ten Incarnations of God).
Siddhartha Gautama's teachings deny the authority of theVedas and consequently [at leastatheistic] Buddhism is generally viewed as anāstika school (heterodox, literally "It is not so"[9]) from the perspective of orthodox Hinduism.
The Islamic prophetDhu al-Kifl (Arabic:ذو الكفل) has been identified by some with Gautama Buddha.[10][11][12][13] The meaning ofDhu al-Kifl is still debated, but, according to this theory, it means "the man from Kifl",Kifl being the Arabic rendering ofKapilavastu, the city where the Buddha spent thirty years of his life.[14] Another argument used by supporters of this theory is thatBuddha was from Kapeel, which was the capital of a small state situated on the border of India and Nepal. According to this claim, Buddha was many a time referred to as being "of Kapeel", literally translating to Arabic asDhu al-Kifl. The consonant/p/ is not present in Arabic, with the nearest (and philologically related) phoneme being/f/, represented by the letterف.[11]
The supporters of this theory cite the first verses of the 95th chapter of the Qur'an,Surah At-Tin:
By the fig and the olive, and Mount Sinai, and this secure city of Mecca!
— Qur'an, 95:1-3
It is mentioned inBuddhist sources thatBuddha attained enlightenment under the fig tree. So, according to the theory, from the places mentioned in these verses: Sinai is the place where Moses received revelation; Mecca is the place whereMuhammad received revelation; and the olive tree is the place where Jesus received revelation. In this case, the remaining fig tree is whereBuddha received revelation.[12] It is also possible the fig tree symbolizes the first prophet,Adam.
Some also take it a bit further and state thatMuhammad himself was aBuddha, asBuddha means "enlightened one".
Mirza Tahir Ahmad, the fourthCaliph of theAhmadiyya Community, in his bookRevelation, Rationality, Knowledge & Truth, argues that Buddha was indeed aprophet of God who preachedmonotheism. He quotes from theinscriptions onAshoka's stupas which mention "Is'ana" which means God. He quotes, "'Thus spake Devanampiya Piyadasi: "Wherefore from this very hour, I have caused religious discourses to be preached, I have appointed religious observances that mankind, having listened thereto, shall be brought to follow in the right path, and give glory to God* (Is'ana)."[15] Ahmad also stated that Dhu al-Kifl may have been the Buddha in his bookAn Elementary Study of Islam.[16]
The story was translated into Hebrew in the 13th century byAbraham Ibn Chisdai (or Hasdai) as "ben-haMelekh v'haNazir" ("The Prince and theNazirite").[citation needed]
Buddha is mentioned as the 23rd avatar of Vishnu in theChaubis Avtar, a composition in Dasam Granth traditionally and historically attributed toGuru Gobind Singh.[17]
Some early ChineseTaoist-Buddhists thought the Buddha to be areincarnation ofLaozi.[18]
| Dashavatara (for example)1 |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Other avatars | ||
1 The list of the "ten avatars" varies regionally. Two substitutions[clarification needed] involve Balarama, Krishna, and Buddha. Krishna is almost always included; in exceptions, he is considered the source of all avatars. | ||
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