Does Tripitaka has a section regarding statue/offering/incense?

[Try]

Hello, 

 

I was reading and stumbled upon Last Teaching ot Buddha

Quote

After my death, the Dharma shall be your teacher. Follow the Dharma and you will be true to me.

 

During the last forty-five years of my life, I have withheld nothing from my teachings. There is no secret teaching, no hidden meaning; everything has been taught openly and clearly. My dear disciples, this is the end. In a moment, I shall be passing into Nirvana. This is my instruction.

 

Then, it made me think about the Buddha statue, incense, and offering that is quite commonly done in the East. I was searching through Tripitaka yesterday especially Vinaya. I found rules regarding robes, size of living space, etc but I can't seem to find the subject regarding the three. Can someone please clarify and teach me about this?

 

Thank you.

[Maddie]

Well in the Mahaparanibbana sutta that talks about the Buddha's passing the devas did rain flowers down upon his body so that might be a loose reference to the flower part. As far as the statues and incense I think those were later developments. 

[Try]

 

25 minutes ago, dmattwads said:

Well in the Mahaparanibbana sutta that talks about the Buddha's passing the devas did rain flowers down upon his body so that might be a loose reference to the flower part. As far as the statues and incense I think those were later developments. 

I see. Thanks.

[Apech]

Hi,

 

The earliest Buddha statues come from the 2/3 rd centuries A.D. (C.E.) which is some 6/700 years after the Buddha lived.  In early representations such as the friezes at the Stupa at Sanchi (2/300 B.C.) the Buddha was not represented except by symbols - such as an umbrella or cushion) - so there were no Buddha statues from Early Buddhism.  This has been interpreted as meaning that because the Buddha went into paranivana it was not appropriate to show him physically.  This changed later possibly after influence from the extension of the Greek empire into NW India after Alexander the Great - but no one is completely sure why attitudes changed.

 

Earliest Buddhist worship seems to have centred round tree shrines (based on the Bodhi tree under which the Buddha attained enlightenment) and then Stupas which contained relics of the Buddha  (e.g. Bharut and Sanchi).  The main form of worship was perambulation of the stupa.  But later this was replaced/augmented with a Buddha statue once this idea had been commonly accepted.  Given that the Pali Canon originates (mostly) from the Early Period (even tho' it was not written down until the first century BC) you will not find reference to Buddha statues for the reasons given above.

[Mark Foote]

Looks like the earliest representation of the Buddha by footprints was about 2nd century B.C.E.:

 

Quote

The Buddha (circa 563-483 B.C.) was not depicted in human form for some 400 years after his death. He was represented, instead, by various symbols, like a wheel, a shrine, a tree and footprints adorned with the marks of his divine nature. These footprints became a popular symbol across the Buddhist world for his earthly presence, and continued to be made and revered after images of him became widespread.

... The show begins in India, where footprints, and handprints to a lesser extent, carved in stone (buddhapada) appeared at Buddhist sites from the second century B.C. onward. Speculating on their purpose in the catalog, Ms. Selig Brown notes that some of these carvings "mark a place that the Buddha is said to have actually trod, while others, clearly man made, are only suggestive of his presence."

 

(from the New York Times)
 

 

I agree with Apech that at least the sermon and discipline volumes of the Tripitaka originated earlier. 

 

I know of at least one Zen teacher who was considered an expert in the forms of the Zendo, including the forms around the various offerings, but my understanding is that he always encouraged people who wanted to learn the forms not to hold too tightly to tradition (the teacher would be Kobun Chino Otogawa).

Edited April 28, 2018 by Mark Foote

[9th]

https://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/news/buddha-birth-vin

[9th]

 

[Eric Woon]

No.