Lord Chaitanya Defeats the Buddhists

Here is an interesting pastime of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu taken from the Chaitanya Charitamrita.

There are many kinds of philosophers. Some are logicians who follow Gautama or Kanada. Some follow the Mimamsa philosophy of Jaimini. Some follow the Mayavada philosophy of Shankaracarya, and others follow Kapila’s Sankhya philosophy or the mystic yoga system of Patanjali.Some follow the smriti-shastra composed of twenty religious scriptures,and others follow the Puranas and the tantra-shastra. In this way thereare many different types of philosophers. All of these adherents ofvarious scriptures were ready to present the conclusions of theirrespective scriptures, but Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu broke all theiropinions to pieces and established His own cult of bhakti based on theVedas, Vedanta, the Brahma-sutra and the philosophy ofacintya-bhedabheda-tattva. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu established thedevotional cult everywhere. No one could defeat Him.

Being thus defeated by Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, all these philosophers and their followers entered into His cult. In this way Lord Chaitanya made South India into a country of Vaisnavas. When the nonbelievers heard of the erudition of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, theycame to Him with great pride, bringing their disciples with them. One ofthem was a leader of the Buddhist cult and was a very learned scholar.To establish the nine philosophical conclusions of Buddhism, he camebefore the Lord and began to speak. Although the Buddhists are unfit fordiscussion and should not be seen by Vaisnavas, Chaitanya Mahaprabhuspoke to them just to decrease their false pride. The scriptures of theBuddhist cult are chiefly based on argument and logic, and they containnine chief principles. Because Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu defeated them intheir argument, they could not establish their cult. The teacher of theBuddhist cult set forth the nine principles, but Sri ChaitanyaMahaprabhu broke them to pieces with His strong logic.

All mental speculators and learned scholars were defeated by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and when the people began to laugh, the Buddhist philosophers felt both shame and fear. The Buddhists could understand that Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was a Vaisnava, and theyreturned home very unhappy. Later, however, they began to plot againstthe Lord.

Having made their plot, the Buddhists brought a plate of untouchable food before Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and called it maha-prasada. When the contaminated food was offered to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, a very large bird appeared on the spot, picked up the platein its beak and flew away. Indeed, the untouchable food fell upon theBuddhists, and the large bird dropped the plate on the head of the chiefBuddhist teacher. When it fell on his head, it made a big sound. Theplate was made of metal, and when its edge hit the head of the teacher,it cut him, and the teacher immediately fell to the ground unconscious.

When the teacher fell unconscious, his Buddhist disciples cried aloud and ran to the lotus feet of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu for shelter. They all prayed to Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, addressing Him as the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself and saying, “Sir,please excuse our offense. Please have mercy upon us and bring ourspiritual master back to life.” The Lord then replied to the Buddhistdisciples, “You should all chant the names of Krishna and Hari veryloudly near the ear of your spiritual master. “By this method yourspiritual master will regain his consciousness.”

Following Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s advice, all the Buddhist disciples began to chant the holy name of Krishna congregationally. When all the disciples chanted the holy names Krishna, Rama and Hari, the Buddhist teacher regained consciousness and immediately began to chantthe holy name of Lord Hari. When the spiritual master of the Buddhistsbegan to chant the holy name of Krishna and submitted to Lord SriChaitanya Mahaprabhu, all the people who were gathered there wereastonished. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the son of Sachidevi, thensuddenly and humorously disappeared from everyone’s sight, and it wasimpossible for anyone to find Him.