Buddha , Trees and Yakshas

          Buddha , Trees and Yakshas

Buddha is the reference point in the historical narrative of Asia. The awakening which Buddha attained generated the waves that are  still colliding with the postmodern conditions.  Buddha stands at the juncture of two different times. But,hagiography of Buddha contains the aspect of earlier traditions which goes unnoticed. The nature-worship has been a constant reminder of non-essentiality of western binarizing logo-centric tradition. In the nature-worship, a continuum is established between nature and culture and the dichotomy on which the modernity has overgrown collapses. The nature-worship also leads one  to understand the belief system in which majority of the mankind is still engrossed. Most of the mankind presupposes existence of other-than human beings and devised various methods encapsulated in rituals to establish communication with other-than –human beings. This is different than the humanization approach being universalized since Renaissance times. Though, in postmodern times, the propensity to establish dialogue with other-than-human beings has taken apparently scientific path with the popularization of the imagination about “aliens”,”humabots”,”genetic hybrids”, “Jurassic park”; in the pre-Buddha world the other-than-human beings were assumed to be the yakshas and nagas. While yakshas were the Tree spirits and the guardian deities of later urbanized centres, nagas(serpent cobra) were the deities of subterranean world protecting the hidden treasures, both of wealth and wisdom.

We still find the popularity of veneration of both snake worship and Tree worship across Asia, a particularly India. Snakes are offered milk on Nagpanchami. Snake-dreams are considered significant in inner unfolding in esoteric traditions. Similarly, one can find endless trees with stone altar in every village or even cities across India. Women would offer incense and sweets and pray for the fertility and prosperity. Many times, women with certain astrological doshas are advised t marry a Tree. In villages of Bihar, women would tie knots around scared trees after marriage with a hope to gaining abundance in every aspect of good living. Though, most of the social scientists and the pseudo-scholars rule out these things as a serious subject to explore, and categorize such rituals as superstition and backwardness; this reflects bankruptcy of their own imaginative leap. Tree and snake worship has a continuous history for more than two millennium and it is part of the popular tradition across vast geography. Until and unless, these serve certain useful role in the continuation of civilization., these would have been discarded by generations of reformers and saints.  Buddha, whom everybody adores as a perfect human being who was an empiricist like a scientist, who did not indulge in metaphysical speculations and who explored the path of non-theistic spirituality found solace under Trees . The iconography and hagiography of Buddha provides ample evidence for Buddha and his successors’ staunch belief in the Nature-worship, particularly Trees.

Trees  as actors in Buddha’s

Let us reflect over account of  major events in Buddha’s life.Queen Mahamaya gave birth  to Buddha while enroute to her parental home at  Lumbini which is now identified as Piparhawa in Basti district of Uttar Pradesh. There was a grove and Mahamaya was standing under a Sala tree(Shorea robusta). She held a branch and Siddhartha came out of her side. In early  Buddhism itself, the concept of Salabhanjika emerged. Salabhanjika  were the maidens who resided on the Sal teree pointing to the protective role of the yakshis, the tree-spirits of the Sal tree, during the birth of Buddha.

When Siddharth was 16 years old and he wanted to marry Yashodhara, daughter of Dandapani who put up a condition that Siddharth ought o prove mastery in the archery. Suddhartha accepted the challenge. The arrow pierced seven tada trees (similar to palm tree, its very sporadic in eastern India,Lipeocercis serrata) and hit the ground and vanished. He won the competition and  married Gopa(Yashodhara).

                                                        Tari-tree

Siddhartha had his first jhana experience while sitting under a jamrula/jamuna tree(rose-apple)(Syzygium cumini)  when his father waswitnessing a ploughing competition.  Maha-Saccakka Sutta mentions how Buddha tried hard to practicing the toughest hardships and the striving, but  he did not attain any noble vision. There was no end to quest for the Nirvana. Upon realizing the futility of austerities, he was struck with another roadmap. He remembered the first jhana experience as a child , when he entered & remained in the first blissful contemplation, a  rapturous joy born out of seclusion when he practiced certain breathing exercise.The shadow of the tree didn’t move and this mazed the King and Buddha’s foster mother,Maha-prajapati. He realized that this might be the path to Nirvana.He ate porridge offered by Sujata to him. Sujata had prayed before the tree-spirit for a child and she was blessed with the same. When her maid came to the peepul tree under which Buddha was sitting, she took him to be the tree-spirit and informed Sujata.Sujata offered Siddhartha the porridge and a golden bowl believing him to be the tree-spirit. It was the same evening when Siddhartha attained enlightenment under the peepul tree (Ficus religiosa). Peepul tree is sacred in India both among Hindus and Buddhists. But, it needs to be explored whether the peepul tree gained significance before Buddha’s time or only after as an appropriation technique by various sects emerging in India.

It is also important to note that a yaksha Vajrapani is depicted as accompanying Buddha under the Bodhi tree in Buddhist iconography. Later, Vajrapani evolved as the guardian deity of Rajgriha, the capital of Magadha where Buddha resided. In later centuries ., he evolved into a powerful Bodhisattva and is worshipped across Mahayana Asia as the Bodhisattva that bestows strength.

Hagiographers narrate how after his enlightenment, Buddha spent seven days at the foot of the bodhi tree, and seven days under each of six other trees at Uruvela, Senanigrama  whats now Bodh Gaya. Forty-nine beads which Buddha kneaded from the porridge offered by Sujata has the correspondence with 49 days that Buddha spent under various trees after his enlightenment. After looking at the Bodhi tree for seven days in gratitude, Buddha sat under a  banyan tree (Ficus indica), Mucalinda tree, (Barringtonia acutangula), where a naga(serpent cobra) living in the root of the tree wrapped its body round the Buddha to protect him from the rain with its outspread hood(This imagery is later seen in the iconography of Nagarjuna ),Rajayatana tree, (Buchanania latifolia ) and so on. Buddha crossed the Gnages by ferry and moved to the  Deer Park, Sarnath where he put into motion the Wheel of Dharma by preaching the doctrine to his erstwhile five companions. At Sarnath, he lived in a grove and sat under a banyan tree.  When Buddha moved to Rajgriha gain, he would often stay in Beluvana, a bamboo groove gifted by the Magadhan King, Bimbisara. We often find mention of various grooves where Buddha stayed in the Pali texts.  Jetavana in Sravasti, Nyagrodhavana of Kapilvastu, Mahavana at Vaishali & Uruvela, Lumbinivana where Buddha was born ,Amarvana near Rajgira where his son, Rahul mostly stayed, Ambarvana in the south of Vauishali where from he departed to Kushinagar and had his last meal.

Even his last moment, the mahaparinirvana occurred while he was resting between two sal trees at Kushinagar. There has been references of chandan(sandal) trees and  amaltash trees(rajavriksha)(Cassia fistula) in various stories about Buddha in the Pali tripitakas.

Thus, Buddha’s life is wrapped around the trees from birth till his mahaparinirvana. It is Trees and the tree-spirits which gave Buddhism the peculiar characteristics which the Vedic tradition could not attain initially with greater emphasis on fire-sacrifices and oblations. If for the Vedic seers, fire was the mediator between man and the Transcendental, for the Buddh’s follower, it was the Trees and the Tree-residing deities, the yakshas. We therefore witness the proliferation of yaksha images and art during both Mauryan periods as well as the Kushan period. These were the two major dynasties which gave the royal patronage to Buddhism and helped its spread across Asia. Various centres of sculptors and art like Gandhar, Mathura and Nalanda developed the earliest images of tree-deities, yakshas. Buddha’s teachings and the worship of yakshas were simultaneous affair. This provided the ritualistic foundation of Buddhism. When the Mahayana Buddhism was on ascendance and there was need to design image of Buddha, the centres of yaksha-image became the centers of creativity for Buddha iconography.  Buddha, trees and yakshas appeared simultaneously in the carvings of Sanchi, Bhargut and Amravati.

Trees or Buddhism is the future?

In another twist to the history of mankind, the Trees have come to dominate the social discourse. Plant more trees is increasingly becoming the motto for a better living. The fear of global meltdown has caused this shift in man’s quest from plasticizing the globe towards  the Green  Future. Green is the theme for the State as well as the society. With the rising tendencies in inter-religious conflicts, there is  another major shift being witnessed. Buddhism id being portrayed as a scientific approach towards life with emphasis on non-theistic spirituality and societal morality. Tree-consciousness and popularity of Buddhism is growing in  tandem. Will it lead to emergence of the religion of the tree-spirits among the urban societies? The folk religions as well as the rural agricultural societies continue to retain their veneration for the Trees and the tree-deities.

Recently, a cataclysmic event might make this shift enormously interesting. There was a massive earthquake followed by tsunami in Sendai in Japan. There exits a popular tradition of planting trees in the backyard of each house,. These groves are known as “yashikirin” (household forests) and in all probability related with the cult of yaksha, the 

protector deities of each house living on a tree.

                                                       Yashikirin

  Perhaps yakshas left yashikirin before the catastrophe hit  Sendai. Yakshas will spread to every corner of the earth and reinvigorate mankind’s relationship with Trees. Many more Buddha would arise in a greener future. Herein lays the hope for the future generation!

(Niraj, 0220 hrs., 22.6.2011)