Korea Journal of Buddhist Studies ISSN:1598-0642(Print) 불교학연구

So far, we have seen several problems, symbolic meanings and the origin and development of thought on the burning oneself to death for Buddha(燒身供養) in Lotus sutra.The burning oneself to death for Buddha has been praised by many buddhist because of its religious solemn and penance, and up to recently there were several practitioners who burned oneself to death for Buddha.But it is more important to give attention to symbolic meanings than to the burning oneself to death for Buddha itself. Because the burning oneself to death for Buddha has a problem that violates the buddhist commandments directly and the Lotus sutra also shows in many sides that the real meaning of the burning oneself to death for Buddha is the message to be the man like a lamp who saves mankind and the world through the burning oneself.For leading above conclusion, we examined the burning oneself to death for Buddha in three grades. The first, in the ground of the buddhist commandments, the burning body or arms or fingers is the violation which Monk Yi jing(義淨)in Tang dynasty, China pointed out as a problem. But many buddhist who have practiced the doctrine of the Lotus sutra have praised to carry out the burning oneself to death for Buddha the second, what is the symbolic meanings of the burning oneself to death for Buddha? the conclusion is that the symbolic meanings of the burning oneself to death for Buddha are to show that the spirit of the Lotus sutra is to try to be a man burning oneself for saving world as like a lamp burns oneself for sheding light on the world, which is a duty of the Buddhist. The third, we examined the origin and development of the burning oneself to death for Buddha in the view of thought. Because we thought it was necessary for understanding the symbolic meanings of the burning oneself to death for Buddha in more detailIn conclusion, we realized that, in the burning oneself to death for Buddha, there were many thoughts as like the asceticism of Jainism, Zoroastrianism or Iranian sun god thought, and the meditation on unclean things in buddhism.The model of the boddhisattva that gave oneself pains for the dharma was revealed by fusing many thoughts above and the legends on birth of Buddha, along which The burning oneself to death for Buddha was revealed at last in the Lotus sutra.