Buddhahood

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File:Buddha image - white stone.jpg

A stone image of the Buddha.

Buddha literally means "awakened" or "that which has become aware". It is the past participle of the Sanskrit root budh, i.e. "to awaken" or "to become aware".

In Buddhism, a Buddha (Sanskrit, Pāli) is any being that has become fully enlightenend, has permanently overcome anger, greed, and ignorance, and has achieved complete liberation from suffering. It is commonly used to refer to Siddhartha Gautama, the historical founder of Buddhism.

According to Buddhist philosophy, there are three types of Buddha: Supreme Buddhas (such as Gautama), pratyekabuddhas, and śravaka-buddhas. However, in conventional use, Buddha almost always refers exclusively to a Supreme Buddha, which is how this article will use the term.

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 become 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. Supreme Buddhas are very rare (it is estimated that it will be at least 100,000 years before Maitreya Buddha appears). While anyone can become Enlightened and experience Nirvana, some Buddhist texts such as the Lotus Sutra indicate that all beings will become Buddhas at some point in time.

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.

A Tang Dynasty sculpture of Amitabha Buddha, found in the Hidden Stream Temple Cave, Longmen Grottoes, China indicates.

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.

Buddha statues

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

Seated Buddha, as shown in the right (top)
Reclining Buddha, as shown to the right (middle)
Standing Buddha, as shown to the right (bottom)
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. Another very rare Buddha statue is the so-called 'Emaciated Buddha' which shows Siddartha Gautama during the ascetic phase of his life, starving himself in meditation.

Names of the Buddhas

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

File:StandingBuddha.JPG

Standing Buddha, ancient region of Gandhara, northern Pakistan, 1st century AD.

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

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