Buddha

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For other uses, see Buddha (disambiguation).

Buddha (Pāli and Sanskrit) means ‘one who is awake’ (see Bodhi) or ‘one who knows'.

A Buddha is a being (i.e. a human being) who has, through his or her own efforts and wisdom, awoken to the Truth (Dharma) behind appearance, having abandoned and overcome anger, desire and ignorance; attained liberation (moksa) from suffering.

1 Life of Buddha
2 More than one Buddha
3 Three types of Buddha
4 Teacher of Gods and Men
5 Eternal Buddha
6 Buddha statues
7 32 Marks of the Buddha
8 Names of the Buddhas
9 Sources
10 See also
11 External links

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Life of Buddha

In its most common usage the word Buddha refers to Siddhartha Gautama (circa Sixth Century BCE), a ksatriya prince of the Sakyans (a people of modern-day Northern India and Nepal), who gave up a life of luxury and power to become a wandering mendicant.

Siddhartha Gautama was born in Lumbini, near the present-day Nepalese-Indian border, to King Suddhodana, ruler of the Sakya tribe, and Queen Mayadevi. He was given the name of Siddhartha (one who obtains success and prosperity), with Gautama being the name of his clan. At the time of his birth, seers predicted that Siddhartha will either become a great ruler or a great teacher.

Having heard the predictions, his father was determined to raise Siddhartha as a great ruler. Thus, Siddhartha was taught the warrior skills of athletics and combat. Even at a young age, Siddhartha displayed dharmic potential. There is one story of when Siddhartha was meditating under a tree through a whole day and the tree's shade remained on him even though the sun had moved. Later on, he married the beautiful princess Yashodhara. He won her hand in marriage in a competition where Yashodhara's suitors would compete in athletic and combat abilities. Siddhartha was then sheltered from the harshness of life by building Siddhartha four palaces for each of the three seasons (cold, hot, and rainy seasons) to live in. These palaces were restricted to the ill-fortunate people and filled with the comforts and pleasures of court-life (ie. beautiful women, delicious food and wine, etc.). Yashodhara later gave birth to Siddhartha's son.

However, on one of the rides through the streets of his kingdom, he encountered an old person, a diseased person, a funeral procession, and a yogi. When he encountered the old person, he asked his chariot-rider what had happened to him. And his rider responded that this person had grown old with age and it is something that happens to everyone. When he encountered the diseased person, he again questioned his chariot-driver and he was told that this person had be stricken with an illness and it can happen to anybody. Similarly, the chariot-driver told Siddhartha that the funeral procession was for someone who had died and that it happened to everyone. The final encounter, however, was different as his chariot-driver explained that this Yogi was someone who had given up the world to seek out Truth (Satya). With this motivation, the young prince left the palace to search for something that would give him lasting happiness.

At the age of 35, through deep meditation, Siddhartha realized the true nature of mind, thus becoming a Buddha. During the 45 years following his enlightenment, the Buddha gave advice and taught various methods of working with mind and its perfect qualities (fearlessness, joy, and active compassion) to people from all walks of life according to their needs and understanding. These teachings aimed at the development and freedom of body, speech, and mind, and the Buddha is seen as a mirror of this potential in all. Of those who sought to put the Buddha's teaching into practice, many left their lives as householders to become members of a community (sangha) of disciples (bhikkhus) bound by a common code of discipline (the patimokkha) designed by the Buddha to create the most conducive conditions for mind-body transformation. A great many of these followers became fully enlightened arhats.

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More than one Buddha

Generally, Buddhists do not consider Siddhartha Gautama to have been the only Buddha. The word Buddha is simply a title that means 'The Awakened One'. A Buddha is generally considered anyone who has becomed Enlightened (i.e. having awakened to the truth, or Dharma), and experienced a state of Nirvana. Hence, the Buddha (known by the religious name Shakyamuni) is in fact one of many such beings who have existed in the past, and will continue to exist in the future. Some Buddhists believe the next Buddha will be one named Maitreya. While anyone can become Enlightened and experience Nirvana, some Buddhist texts such as the Lotus Sutra indicate that eventually all beings will. Thus, according to such texts, all beings will become Buddhas in time.

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Three types of Buddha

There are traditionally three types of Buddha, the most important of which is the Samma Sammbuddha (Skt, Samyaksam Buddha) or Universal Buddha. A Universal Buddha rediscovers the Dharma (the Truth regarding Existence) on his own and teaches others the Dharma. In our own age this Universal Buddha is represented by Siddhattha Gotama (Skt, Siddhartha Gautama). He is considered a great Buddha because he was an exceptional teacher of the Dharma, and his sermons are recorded as suttas or sutras, which provide the basis of Buddhism as a religion.

Of the other two types of Buddha, a Savaka Buddha (Skt, Sravaka Buddha) is a person who has become enlightened through acquaintance with the teaching of a Universal Buddha. A Pacceka Buddha (Skt, Pratekya Buddha) is someone who has become enlightened purely through his or her own wisdom (without the instruction of a Universal Buddha) but who has no cannot or chooses not to teach the Dharma to others. In Theravada Buddhism a Buddha is also called an arhat though in Mahayana Buddhism this term may only refer to Savaka Buddhas.

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Teacher of Gods and Men

The historical Buddha seems to have presented himself not as a god or savior, but as a teacher capable of guiding sentient beings out of samsara. Nevertheless, many forms of Buddhism do recognize savior-type figures. The technical differences between Buddhas, bodhisattvas, dharmapalas (protector deities), yidams ("tutelery deities"), and "gods" (Sanskrit deva, Tibetan lha) often blur in practical devotion. Nonetheless, all are seen within the mainstream Buddhist context as being empty of inherent existence, a quality no theistic religion would ascribe to its "god". Certain teachings of the Buddha in a number of Mahayana sutras, however, vigorously oppose the idea that even the Buddha (in his ultimate Dharmakaya mode) is not truly and eternally Real (see "Eternal Buddha" section below): according to this less widespread doctrine, only the realm of samsara has no enduring essence, whereas to assert the same of the Buddha is to commit a grave offence and to stray dangerously from the path of authentic Dharma (see Nirvana Sutra).

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Eternal Buddha

The idea of an everlasting Buddha is a notion popularly associated with the Mahayana scripture, the Lotus Sutra. That sutra has the Buddha indicating that he became awakened countless, immeasurable, inconceivable myriads of trillions of aeons ("kalpas") ago and that his lifetime is "forever existing and immortal". From the human perspective, it seems as though the Buddha has always existed. The sutra itself, however, does not directly employ the phrase "eternal Buddha"; yet similar notions are found in other Mahayana scriptures, notably the Mahaparinirvana Sutra, which presents the Buddha as the ultimately real, eternal ("nitya"/ "sasvata"), unchanging, blissful, pure Self (Atman) who, as the Dharmakaya, knows of no beginning or end. The All-Creating King Tantra additionally contains a panentheistic vision of Samantabhadra Buddha as the eternal, primordial Buddha, the Awakened Mind of bodhi, who declares: "From the primordial, I am the Buddhas of the three times [i.e. past, present and future]." The notion of an eternal Buddha perhaps finds resonance with the earlier idea of eternal Dharma/Nirvana, of which the Buddha is said to be an embodiment.

The doctrine of an eternal Buddha is not, however, a feature of Theravada Buddhism. Theravada, or The School of the Elders, claims to preserve the original teachings of the Buddha from the First Council of Buddhism. Theravada Buddhism places great value on the Master's words that 'none is eternal', and believes that even the life of an enlightened one does indeed have an end. Interestingly, The Buddha described Nirvana as neither existing, nor not-existing, so what does occur after a Buddha passes away is something known only to the Buddhas.

Also appearing in Theravada Buddhism is the notion of anatta as one of the 'trilakshana' (the three characteristics of reality). This embodies the idea that there is no definite, fixed, unchanging entity constituting a "person" that passes from one life to the next; Theravadin interpretation (along with that of most, if not all, Buddhist schools) of "anatta" also denies the existence of a fixed, unchanging, ever-enduring personal soul. The concept in place of the soul is the 'Bhava' ("becoming"), which is an ongoing flow of karmically projected energies that derive from, and give rise to, volitional thoughts and emotion.

Mahayana Buddhism, regards such teaching as incomplete and offers the complementary doctrine of a pure Selfhood (the eternal yet unsubstantial hypostasis of the Buddha) which no longer generates karma and which subsists eternally in the realm of Nirvana, from which sphere help to suffering worldly beings can be sent forth in the forms of various transitory physical Buddhas ("nirmanakayas"). While the bodies of these corporeal Buddhas are subject to disease, decline and death - like all impermanent things - the salvational Tathagata or Dharmakaya behind them is forever free from impairment, impermanence or mortality. It is this transcendent yet immanent Dharmakaya-Buddha which is taught in certain major Mahayana sutras to be immutable and eternal and is intimately linked with Dharma itself. According to the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra, worldly beings fail to see this eternality of the Buddha and his Truth (Dharma). The Buddha comments there: "I say that those who do not know that the Tathagata [Buddha] is eternal are the foremost of the congenitally blind." This view, it should be noted, is typically not found in mainstream Theravada Buddhism.

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Buddha statues

Buddhas are frequently represented in the form of statues. Commonly seen designs include:

Seated Buddha, as shown to the right (top)

Reclining Buddha, as shown to the right (bottom)
Standing Buddha, as shown below
Hotei, the obese, Laughing Buddha, usually seen in China. This figure is believed to be a representation of either a medieval Chinese monk who is associated with Maitreya, the future Buddha, and it is therefore not technically a Buddha image.

Most depictions of Buddha contain a certain number of markings, which are considered the signs of his enlightenment. These signs vary regionally, but three are common:

A protuberance on the top of the head (denoting superb mental accuity)
Long earlobes (denoting superb perception)
A third eye (also denoting superb perception)

The poses and hand-gestures of these statues, known respectively as asanas and mudras, are significant to their overall meaning. The popularity of any particular mudra or asana tends to be region-specific, such as the Vajra (or Chi Ken-in) mudra, which is popular in Japan and Korea but rarely seen in India. Others are more universally common, for example, the Varada (Wish Granting) mudra is common among standing statues of the Buddha, particularly when coupled with the Abhaya (Fearlessness and Protection) mudra.

The Buddha being shown calling for rain is a pose rarely found outside of Laos.

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32 Marks of the Buddha

"32 Marks of the Buddha" are mentioned in the Lakkhana Sutta and are very cultural in origin. Gautama, the historical Buddha, liked to give new meaning to teachings that were already around in the Indian tradition, rather than preaching against them. The Lakkhana Sutta is a good example of this. The idea of the marks already existed as the list of the "32 Marks of a Superior Being." What the Buddha added was the teaching that each of these marks is the result of ethical action in the past. For instance, the wheel-mark on the foot comes from having "lived for the happiness of many, a dispeller of fright and terror, provider of lawful protection and shelter, and supplying all necessities."

The 32 Marks of a Superior Being are:

1. He places his foot evenly on the floor
2. The soles of his feet are imprinted with wheels
3. He has projecting heels
4. He has long fingers and toes
5. He has soft and tender hands and feet
6. He has webbed hands and feet
7. He has arched feet
8. He has legs like an antelope
9. When he stands upright his hands reach down to his knees
10. His male organ is covered with a sheath
11. His complexion has a golden sheen
12. His skin is so smooth that no dust clings to it
13. Each hair on his skin grows from a single pore
14. The hair on his skin is blue-black, curly and turns at the end to the right
15. His limbs are straight like those of a god
16. There are seven convex surfaces on his body - four behind his limbs, two behind his shoulders and one behind his trunk
17. His torso is like that of a lion
18. The furrow between his shoulders is absent
19. His body is perfectly proportioned - the span of his arms is the same as his height
20. His neck and shoulders are evenly proportioned
21. His taste is exceptionally sensitive
22. His jaws are like those of a lion's
23. He has forty teeth
24. His teeth are even
25. There are no gaps in his teeth
26. His teeth are white and shining
27. He has a long tongue
28. He has a divine voice
29. He has deep blue eyes
30. He has eyelashes like those of an ox
31. He has soft white hair growing between his eyebrows
32. His head is shaped like a turban the two, are excellently smooth

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Names of the Buddhas

In most Theravada countries it is the custom for Buddhists to hold elaborate festivals to honor 28 Buddhas.

The following are the names of 28 Buddhas:

	Sanskrit name	Pāli name
1		Tanhankara
2		Medhankara
3		Saranankara
4		Dipankara
5		Kondanna
6		Managala
7		Sumana
8		Revata
9		Sobhita
10		Anomadassi
11		Paduma
12		Narada
13		Padumuttara
14		Sumedha
15		Sujata
16		Piyadassi
17		Atthadassi
18		Dhammadassi
19		Siddhatta
20		Tissa
21		Phussa
22	Vipaśyin	Vipassi
23	Viśvabhu	Vessabhu
24	Sikhin	Sikhi
25	Krakucchanda	Kakusandha
26	Kanakamuni	Konagamana
27	Kaśyapa	Kassapa
28	Siddhartha Gautama

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Sources

The Threefold Lotus Sutra (Kosei Publishing, Tokyo 1975), tr. by B. Kato, Y. Tamura, and K. Miyasaka, revised by W. Soothill, W. Schiffer, and P. Del Campana
The Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra (Nirvana Publications, London, 1999-2000), tr. by K. Yamamoto, ed. and revised by Dr. Tony Page
The Sovereign All-Creating Mind: The Motherly Buddha (Sri Satguru Publications, Delhi 1992), tr. by E.K. Neumaier-Dargyay
Buddha - The Compassionate Teacher (2002), by K.M.M.Swe

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