Buddha or Narayana !!!

Am back to India !! Wanted to post this one 10 days back..... couldn't :(
Landed in Bangalore on saturday (April 16) night. Same route that I took, the last three times. This time also I took the transit tour from the Bangkok Air port. Visitted the Grand Palace - Emerald Buddha Temple. Well, coming to the point, this blog is just a comparison between Buddhism and Hinduism.
There is a long standing opinion that Buddha is the NINTH incarnation of Vishnu, out of his "Dasaavathaara", the tenth one namely "Kalki" (Vishnu on a white horse), yet to be taken when the "Kali Yuga" ends through the yet to come "Pralaya" or the great disaster. There is also an opinion that, this thought of Buddha being an incarnation

of Vishnu, was being spread by Aadhi Shankara, whose purpose of birth was to spread Hinduism and avoid it being taken over by the then spreading Buddhism and Jainism. But I do believe in the first statement.

Before putting my thoughts, here are the 10 avatars of Vishnu. Matsya (Fish), Koorma (turtle), Varaaha (wild boar), Narasimha (Half human-half lion), Vaamana (short person), Bhargava (also called Parasu Rama), Rama, Krishna, Bouddha (Should be Buddha) and Kalki (yet to come). Some say that, Balarama (Krishna's brother) is the ninth incarnation of Vishnu. That is not true as it is mentioned in the Bhagavatha as well as in the Mahabharatha, that Bala rama is the incarnation of Aadhi Sesha (The cobra on which Vishnu sleeps). Btw, Lakshmana was also an incarnation of Aadhi Sesha. Please note that, Rama avatar was in "Thredha Yuga" and
Krishna avatar was in "Dwaabara Yuga" and there is no point taking incarnations of Krishna and Bala Rama in the same Yuga - Four yugas as per Hinduism are - Kritha, Thredha, Dwabara and Kali (current and last).

Well, here are my points favouring my thoughts. Buddhism was born in India, the land where Hinduism evolved. I am using the word "evolved" coz, no one knows when Hinduism started and also there are no governing bodies etc. for spreading Hinduism. "Siddhartha" - The real name of lord Buddha is one of the thousand names of lord Vishnu (Sahasra nama). For that matter "Pali" the language that Buddha used to preach is very close to "sanskrit". For instance, the guide who took me around in Bangkok was called, " Suk Neethi" which he said means " Happy by law" in Pali. It means the same in Sanskrit. many places and landmarks in Thailand have Pali names and they sound and mean the same in sanskrit too. Also, all the kings of Thailand are named Rama.

The Emerald Buddha temple had the complete Ramayana depicted in a pictorial form. The hero of the Ramayana according to them is "Hanuman". He is depicted in the same way as we know him in India :-), the only difference being he is a casanova according to Buddhist belief as against the "Brahmachari" image that we have about him. The wife of Hanuman is a Mermaid as depicted by their pictures. There is one belief in Hindu mythology too about Hanuman, which is, when Hanuman was flying across the sea to Lanka, his sweat fell on one of the fish and eventually the fish gave birth to a child who was also as powerful as Hanuman was :-). This is
somewhat close to the mermaid depiction.

There were statues of Buddha with four heads (Brahma). Most of the Buddist temples also have a "Ganapathi" vigraha. Also I have seen Siva in the form of Linga in most of the temples. One very special fact is that, there is a temple called the "Sleeping Buddha" temple, where in the Buddha poses on a "Naga", resting his head on his palm. We have temples of Vishnu in the same pose in "Srirangam" near Trichy or the "AnanthaPadmanabha swamy" temple in Trivandrum (Kerala).

Lastly, there is a Stupa in the Grand Palace which is for "Kalki" incarnation that Buddha is going to take. I will surely upload some photoes in my blog soon. Well, the above blog is definitely not some kind of Hindutva spreading mission :-). Just some thoughts that I was able to corelate between Hinduism and Buddhism. I conclude saying what Suk neethi told me when he left..."
Your God and Our God are the same".

Bye !!