Muhammad Is Not Foretold In Buddhist Scriptures

A Rebuttal to Dr.Zakir Naik  

S. Prasadh  
2006/01/04 

Introduction  

In my last article, I refuted the claims of Muhammad being predicted in Hindu scriptures to be false. Now it is the turn of Buddhist scriptures. I really do not understand how Dr.Zakir Naik is able to fool the readers with such claims that Gautama Buddha had prophesized Muhammad. First one must know these basics about Buddha. You can find

Dr.Zakir Naik’s Article On this here:  

Muhammad In Buddhist Scriptures  

Who Is This “Buddha”?

Siddhartha Gautama, known as the Buddha, was born in the sixth century B.C. in what is now modern Nepal . His father, Suddhodana, was the ruler of the Sakya people and Siddhartha grew up living the extravagant life of a young prince. According to custom, he married at the young age of sixteen to a girl named Yasodhara. His father had ordered that he live a life of total seclusion, but one day Siddhartha ventured out into the world and was confronted with the reality of the inevitable suffering of life. The next day, at the age of twenty-nine, he left his kingdom and newborn son to lead an ascetic life and determine a way to relieve universal suffering.

For six years, Siddhartha submitted himself to rigorous ascetic practices, studying and following different methods of meditation with various religious teachers. But he was never fully satisfied. One day, however, he was offered a bowl of rice from a young girl and he accepted it. In that moment, he realised that physical austerities were not the means to achieve liberation. From then on, he encouraged people to follow a path of balance rather than extremism. He called this The Middle Way.

That night Siddhartha sat under the Bodhi tree, and meditated until dawn. He purified his mind of all defilements and attained enlightenment at the age of thirty-five, thus earning the title Buddha, or "Enlightened One". For the remainder of his eighty years, the Buddha preached the Dharma in an effort to help other sentient beings reach enlightenment.

So, Buddha Means “The Awake One/ Enlightened One”

The Rebuttal  

Zakir Quotes The Following :

Buddha prophesised the advent of a Maitreya:

A) Almost all Buddhist books contain this prophecy. It is in Chakkavatti Sinhnad Suttanta D. III, 76:

"There will arise in the world a Buddha named Maitreya (the benevolent one) a holy one, a supreme one, an enlightened one, endowed with wisdom in conduct, auspicious, knowing the universe:

"What he has realized by his own supernatural knowledge he will publish to this universe. He will preach his religion, glorious in its origin, glorious at its climax, glorious at the goal, in the spirit and the letter. He will proclaim a religious life, wholly perfect and thoroughly pure; even as I now preach my religion and a like life do proclaim. He will keep up the society of monks numbering many thousands, even as now I keep up a society of monks numbering many hundreds".

 
B) According to Sacred Books of the East volume 35 pg. 225:

"It is said that I am not an only Buddha upon whom the leadership and order is dependent. After me another Buddha maitreya of such and such virtues will come. I am now the leader of hundreds, he will be the leader of thousands."

C) According to the Gospel of Buddha by Carus pg. 217 and 218 (From Ceylon sources):

"Ananda said to the Blessed One, ‘Who shall teach us when thou art gone?'

And the Blessed one replied, 'I am not the first Buddha who came upon the earth nor shall I be the last. In due time another Buddha will arise in the world, a holy one, a supremely enlightened one, endowed with wisdom in conduct, auspicious, knowing the universe, an incomparable leader of men, a master of angels and mortals. He will reveal to you the same eternal truths, which I have taught you. He will preach his religion, glorious in its origin, glorious at the climax and glorious at the goal. He will proclaim a religious life, wholly perfect and pure such as I now proclaim. His disciples will number many thousands while mine number many hundreds.'

Ananda said, 'How shall we know him?'

The Blessed one replied, 'He will be known as Maitreya'."

Most of the Mahayana Buddhists do not know what kind of Book Chakkavatti Sinhnad Suttanta this is. The Major books of Buddhism are:  

All of them written after Buddha's death. Amanda wrote down Buddha's thoughts and sermons, which became the main Buddhist scriptures.

    1- Tripitaka: The "three baskets", includes Buddha's sermons, rules for the monks and philosophical teachings, with 100 volumes, about the size of 70 Bibles.
            - The First Sermon of Buddha at Benares 
            - "Way of Mindfulness" of Buddha, with the cemetery meditations

    2- The Mahayana adds the "Lotus Sutra" and the "Perfection of Wisdom", which includes the "Diamond Sutra", the "Heart Sutra"... and many others, like the "Lankavatara", with a total of more than 200 volumes.

    3- The Vajrayana (Tantrism Buddhism), adds among others, the holy scriptures of the "Kanjur" (108 volumes), and the "Tanjur" (225 volumes).

    4- The Tibetan literature translates and adds with a total of more than 300 volumes.

    5- The writings of the 6 Buddhist Councils are also considered holy scriptures (another 400 volumes). The last one was in Rangoon in 1954.

In these major books, this Chakkavatti Sinhnad Suttanta  is nowhere to be found. I even confirmed with a Buddhist who said he has never heard such a kind of Suttana or Sutra anywhere and probably even if it is there, they are not primary scriptures.

Now the  GOSPEL of Buddha says the following :

Ananda, suppressing his tears, said to the Blessed One: "Who shall teach us when thou art gone?"

And the Blessed One replied: "I am not the first Buddha who came upon earth, nor shall I be the last. In due time another Buddha will arise in the world, a Holy One, a supremely enlightened One, endowed with wisdom in conduct, auspicious, knowing the universe, an incomparable leader of men, a master of angels and mortals. He will reveal to you the same eternal truths which I have taught you. He will preach his religion, glorious in its origin, glorious at the climax, and glorious at the goal, in the spirit and in the letter. He will proclaim a religious life, wholly perfect and pure; such as I now proclaim."

Ananda said: "How shall we know him?" The Blessed One said: "He will be known as Metteyya, which means 'he whose name is kindness.'"

You can see the highlighted words. Gautama Buddha says a supremely enlightened one, endowed with wisdom,knowing the universe and a master of angels and mortals would come.

Now let us analyse each quality mentioned above:

SUPREMELY ENLIGHTENED

What is enlightment in Buddhism?

Enlightenment is the attainment of wisdom. Some traditions of Buddhism represent enlightenment as “all at once” ascension into nirvana. Others: a gradual acquirement of wisdom. Flashes of awareness are characterized by Surya Das to be "mini-enlightenments"

However you characterize it, enlightenment means, profound inner transformation and self realization and attainment of Buddhism's highest goal - wisdom! Also known as SELF_REALISATION and the FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS:

1. Life is difficult, it holds for living beings imperfections and suffering

2. This difficulty or "dukkha" is caused by desire for things to be other than what they are. This includes attachment, craving, envy, jealousy, grasping etc

3. Desire can be removed and thus an end to the difficulties and suffering of life

4. The way to do this is to follow the Eightfold Path a training in wisdom, ethic

Muhammad never realized or believed in these four noble truths of Buddha. All Muhammad said was GOD is one and polytheism was wrong. He also spewed hatred on monotheistic Jews of Arabia and called them pigs and apes. Gautama Buddha never used to abuse anyone. Muhammad never knew the eightfold path too. He in fact never abstained from material desires as he said they were all lawful under Allah’s eyes and only prohibit taking intoxicants during prayers. Muhammad advocated complete submission to Allah and he never spoke of self-realization and wiping away misery through detachment. In fact he desired for all kinds of materialistic pleasures. So, we can easily come to a conclusion that Muhammad is not the enlightened one in terms of Buddhism. 

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