Philosophy:List of named Buddhas
Following are the categorized lists of the named Buddhas in Buddhist Scriptures. Out of innumerable Buddhas existing or have existed in the universe, Buddhist scripture provides names and description about many Buddhas.
Twenty Nine Buddhas
The Pali literature of the Theravāda tradition includes tales of 29 Buddhas. In countries where Theravāda Buddhism is practiced by the majority of people, such as Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, it is customary for Buddhists to hold elaborate festivals, especially during the fair weather season, paying homage to the 29 Buddhas described in the Buddhavamsa. The Buddhavamsa is a text which describes the life of Gautama Buddha and the 27 Buddhas who preceded him, along with the future Metteyya Buddha.[1] The Buddhavamsa is part of the Khuddaka Nikāya, which in turn is part of the Sutta Piṭaka. The Sutta Piṭaka is one of three main sections of the Pāli Canon.
The first three of these Buddhas—Taṇhaṅkara, Medhaṅkara, and Saraṇaṅkara—lived before the time of Dīpankara Buddha. The fourth Buddha, Dīpankara, is especially important, as he was the Buddha who gave niyatha vivarana (prediction of future Buddhahood) to the Brahmin youth who would in the distant future become the bodhisattva Gautama Buddha.[2] After Dīpankara, 25 more noble people (ariya-puggala) would attain enlightenment before Gautama, the historical Buddha.
Many Buddhists also pay homage to the future (and 29th) Buddha, Metteyya. According to Buddhist scripture, Metteya will be a successor of Gautama who will appear on Earth, achieve complete enlightenment, and teach the pure Dharma. The prophecy of the arrival of Metteyya is found in the canonical literature of all Buddhist sects (Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana), and is accepted by most Buddhists as a statement about an event that will take place when the Dharma will have been forgotten on Jambudvipa (terrestrial plane where ordinary humans live / earth ).
| Pāli name[3][4][5] | Sanskrit name | Birthplace[4][5] | Parents[4][5] | Bodhirukka (tree of enlightenment)[4][5][6] | Incarnation of Gautama[5] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Taṇhaṅkara | Tṛṣṇaṃkara | Popphavadi | King Sunandha and Queen Sunandhaa | Rukkaththana | |
| 2 | Medhaṅkara | Medhaṃkara | Yaghara | Sudheva and Yasodhara | Kaela | |
| 3 | Saraṇaṅkara | Śaraṇaṃkara | Vipula | Sumangala and Yasawathi | Pulila | |
| 4 | Dīpaṃkara | Dīpaṃkara | Rammawatinagara | Sudheva and Sumedhaya | Pipphala | Sumedha (also Sumati or Megha Mānava, a rich shraman)[7] |
| 5 | Koṇḍañña | Kauṇḍinya | Rammawatinagara | Sunanda and Sujata | Salakalyana | Vijitawi (a Chakravarti in Chandawatinagara of Majjhimadesa) |
| 6 | Maṅgala | Maṃgala | Uttaranagara (Majhimmadesa) | Uttara (father) and Uttara (mother) | A naga | Suruchi (in Siribrahmano) |
| 7 | Sumana | Sumanas | Mekhalanagara | Sudassana and Sirima | A naga | King Atulo, a Naga |
| 8 | Revata[8] | Raivata | Sudhannawatinagara | Vipala and Vipula | A naga | A Shraman |
| 9 | Sobhita | Śobhita | Sudhammanagara | Sudhammanagara (father) and Sudhammanagara (mother) | A naga | Sujata, a Shraman(in Rammavati) |
| 10 | Anomadassi | Anavamadarśin | Chandawatinagara | Yasava and Yasodara | Ajjuna | A Yaksha king |
| 11 | Paduma[9] | Padma | Champayanagara | Asama (father) and Asama (mother) | Salala | A lion |
| 12 | Nārada | Nārada | Dhammawatinagara | King Sudheva and Anopama | Sonaka | A tapaso in Himalayas |
| 13 | Padumuttara[10] | Padmottara | Hansawatinagara | Anurula and Sujata | Salala | Jatilo, an ascetic |
| 14 | Sumedha | Sumedha | Sudasananagara | Sumedha (father) and Sumedha (mother) | Nipa | Native of Uttaro |
| 15 | Sujāta | Sujāta | Sumangalanagara | Uggata and Pabbavati | Welu | A chakravarti |
| 16 | Piyadassi[11] | Priyadarśin | Sudannanagara | Sudata and Subaddha | Kakudha | Kassapa, a Monk (at Siriwattanagara) |
| 17 | Atthadassi | Arthadarśin | Sonanagara | Sagara and Sudassana | Champa | Susino, a Shraman |
| 18 | Dhammadassī | Dharmadarśin | Surananagara | Suranamaha and Sunanada | Bimbajala | |
| 19 | Siddhattha | Siddhārtha | Vibharanagara | Udeni and Suphasa | Kanihani | Mangal, a Shraman |
| 20 | Tissa | Tiṣya | Khemanagara | Janasando and Paduma | Assana | King Sujata of Yasawatinagara |
| 21 | Phussa[12] | Puṣya | Kāśi | Jayasena and Siremaya | Amalaka | Vijitavi |
| 22 | Vipassī | Vipaśyin | Bandhuvatinagara | Vipassi (father) and Vipassi (mother) | Pāṭalī (Stereospermum chelonoides) | King Atula |
| 23 | Sikhī | Śikhin | Arunavattinagara | Arunavatti and Paphavatti | Puṇḍarīka (Mangifera indica) | Arindamo (at Paribhuttanagara) |
| 24 | Vessabhū | Viśvabhū | Anupamanagara | Suppalittha and Yashavati | Sāla (Shorea robusta) | Sadassana (in Sarabhavatinagara) |
| 25 | Kakusandha | Krakucchanda | Khemavatinagara | Aggidatta, the monk of King Khema, and Visakha | Sirīsa (Albizia lebbeck) | King Khema[13] |
| 26 | Koṇāgamana | Kanakamuni | Sobhavatinagara | Yaññadatta, a monk, and Uttara | Udumbara (Ficus racemosa) | King Pabbata of a mountainous area in Mithila |
| 27 | Kassapa[14] | Kāśyapa | Baranasinagara | Brahmadatta, a monk, and Dhanavati | Nigrodha (Ficus benghalensis) | Jotipala (at Vappulla) |
| 28 | Gotama (current) | Gautama (current) | Lumbini | King Suddhodana and Māyā | Assattha (Ficus religiosa) | Gautama, the Buddha |
| 29 | Metteyya | Maitreya | Ketumatī[15] | Subrahma and Brahmavati[15] | Nāga (Mesua ferrea) |
Thirty-five Confession Buddhas
The names of the 35 Buddhas of confession differ depending on the sutra. A common classification in Tibetan Buddhism is as follows:[16]
| Sanskrit | Tibetan | Tibetan pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| Śākyamuni | ཤཱཀྱ་ཐུབ་པ་ | shakya tup-pa | Shakyamuni |
| Vajrapramardī | རྡོ་རྗེ་སྙིང་པོས་རབ་ཏུ་འཇོམས་པ | dorjé nyingpö raptu jompa | Thoroughly Conquered with Vajra Essence |
| Ratnārśiṣ | རིན་ཆེན་འོད་འཕྲོ | rinchen ö-tro | Radiant Jewel |
| Nāgeśvararāja | ཀླུ་དབང་གི་རྒྱལ་པོ | luwang gi gyelpo | King, Lord of the Nagas |
| Vīrasena | དཔའ་བོའི་སྡེ | pawö-dé | Army of Heroes |
| Vīranandī | དཔའ་བོ་དགྱེས | pawö-gyé | Delighted Hero |
| Ratnāgni | རིན་ཆེན་མེ | rinchen-mé | Jewel Fire |
| Ratnacandraprabha | རིན་ཆེན་ཟླ་འོད | rinchen da-ö | Jewel Moonlight |
| Amoghadarśi | མཐོང་བ་དོན་ཡོད | tongwa dönyö | Meaningful Vision |
| Ratnacandra | རིན་ཆེན་ཟླ་བ | rinchen dawa | Jewel Moon |
| Vimala | དྲི་མ་མེད་པ | drima mépa | Stainless One |
| Śūradatta | དཔའ་སྦྱིན | pa-jin | Glorious Giving |
| Brahma | ཚངས་པ | tsangpa | Pure One |
| Brahmadatta | ཚངས་པས་སྦྱིན་ | tsangpé jin | Giving of Purity |
| Varuṇa | ཆུ་ལྷ | chu lha | Water God |
| Varuṇadeva | ཆུ་ལྷའི་ལྷ | chu lhaé lha | Deity of the Water Gods |
| Bhadraśrī | དཔལ་བཟང | pel-zang | Glorious Goodness |
| Candanaśrī | ཙན་དན་དཔལ | tsenden pel | Glorious Sandalwood |
| Anantaujas | གཟི་བརྗིད་མཐའ་ཡས | ziji tayé | Infinite Splendour |
| Prabhāśrī | འོད་དཔལ | ö pel | Glorious Light |
| Aśokaśrī | མྱ་ངན་མེད་པའི་དཔལ་ | nyangen mépé pel | Sorrowless Glory |
| Nārāyaṇa | སྲེད་མེད་ཀྱི་བུ | sémé-kyi bu | Son of Non-craving |
| Kusumaśrī | མེ་ཏོག་དཔལ | métok pel | Glorious Flower |
| Tathāgata Brahmajyotivikrīḍitābhijña | དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་ཚངས་པའི་འོད་ཟེར་རྣམ་པར་རོལ་པ་མངོན་པར་མཁྱེན་པ | dézhin shekpa tsangpé özer nampar rölpa ngönpar khyenpa | Pure Light Rays Clearly Knowing by Play |
| Tathāgata Padmajyotirvikrīditābhijña | དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་པདྨའི་འོད་ཟེར་རྣམ་པར་རོལ་པས་མངོན་པར་མཁྱེན་པ | dézhin shekpa pémé özer nampar rölpé ngönpar khyenpa | Lotus light Rays Clearly knowing by Play |
| Dhanaśrī | ནོར་དཔལ | norpel | Glorious Wealth |
| Smṛtiśrī | དྲན་པའི་དཔལ | drenpé pel | Glorious Mindfulness |
| Suparikīrtitanāmagheyaśrī | མཚན་དཔལ་ཤིན་ཏུ་ཡོངས་སུ་གྲགས་པ | tsenpel shintu yongsu drakpa | Renowned Glorious Name |
| Indraketudhvajarāja | དབང་པོའི་ཏོག་གི་རྒྱལ་མཚན་གྱི་རྒྱལ་པོ | wangpö tok-gi gyeltsen-gyi gyelpo | King of the Victory Banner that Crowns the Sovereign |
| Suvikrāntaśrī | ཤིན་ཏུ་རྣམ་པར་གནོན་པའི་དཔལ | shintu nampar nönpé pel | Glorious One Who Fully Subdues |
| Yuddhajaya | གཡུལ་ལས་རྣམ་པར་རྒྱལ་བ | yül lé nampar gyelwa | Utterly Victorious in Battle |
| Vikrāntagāmī | རྣམ་པར་གནོན་པའི་གཤེགས་པའི་དཔལ | nampar nönpé shekpé pel | Glorious Transcendence Through Subduing |
| Samantāvabhāsavyūhaśrī | ཀུན་ནས་སྣང་བ་བཀོད་པའི་དཔལ | kün-né nangwa köpé pel | Glorious Manifestations Illuminating All |
| Ratnapadmavikramī | རིན་ཆེན་པདྨའི་རྣམ་པར་གནོན་པ | Rinchen padmé nampar nönpa | Jewel Lotus who Subdues All |
| Ratnapadmasupraṭiṣṭhita-śailendrarāja | དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་དགྲ་བཅོམ་པ་ཡང་དག་པར་རྫོགས་པའི་སངས་རྒྱས་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་དང་པདྨ་ལ་རབ་ཏུ་བཞུགས་པའི་རི་དབང་གི་རྒྱལ་པོ | Dézhin shekpa drachompa yangdakpar dzokpé sanggyé rinpoché dang padama la raptu zhukpé riwang gi gyelpo | All-subduing Jewel Lotus, Arhat, Perfectly Completed Buddha, King of the Lord of the Mountains Firmly Seated on Jewel and Lotus |
In Tantric Buddhism
In Tantric Buddhism (Vajrayana), one finds some of the same Mahayana Buddhas along with other Buddha figures which are unique to Vajrayana. There are five primary Buddhas known as the "Five Tathagathas": Vairocana, Aksobhya, Ratnasambhava, Amitābha, and Amoghasiddhi. Each is associated with a different consort, direction, aggregate (or, aspect of the personality), emotion, element, color, symbol, and mount.[17] Buddhist Tantra also includes several female Buddhas, such as Tara, the most popular female Buddha in Tibetan Buddhism, who comes in many forms and colors.
In the tantras, there are various fierce deities which are tantric forms of the Buddhas. These may be fierce (Tibetan: trowo, Sanskrit: krodha) Buddha forms or semi-fierce, and may appear in sexual union with a female Buddha or as a "solitary hero". The Herukas (Tb. khrag 'thung, lit. "blood drinker") are enlightened masculine beings who adopt fierce forms to help beings. They include Yamantaka, Cakrasamvara, Hevajra, Mahākāla, and Vajrakilaya. Dakinis (Tb. khandroma, "sky-goer") are their feminine counterparts, sometimes depicted with a heruka and sometimes as independent deities. The most prevalent wrathful dakinis are Vajrayogini, Vajravārāhī, Nairatmya, and Kurukullā.
Buddhist mythology overlapped with Hindu mythology. Akshobhya, for example, acquires a fierce Tantric form that is reminiscent of the fierce form of the Hindu god Shiva; in this form he became known by the Buddhist names Heruka, Hevajra, or Samvara. He is known in Japan in this guise as Fudō (“Imperturbable”). The Indian god Bhairava, a fierce bull-headed divinity, was adopted by Tantric Buddhists as Vajrabhairava. Also called Yamantaka (“Slayer of Death”) and identified as the fierce expression of the gentle Manjushri, he was accorded quasi-buddha rank.
There is also the idea of the Adi-Buddha, the "first Buddha" to attain Buddhahood. Variously named as Vajradhara, Samantabhadra and Vairocana, the first Buddha is also associated with the concept of Dharmakaya. Some historical figures are also seen as Buddhas, such as the Buddhist philosopher Nagarjuna, Tibetan historical figures like Padmasambhava, and Tsongkhapa.
Five Tathagatas
| Buddha (Skt) | Dhyani Bodhisattva | Pure land | Bīja |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vairocana | Samantabhadra | central pure land Akanistha Ghanavyuha | Vam |
| Akshobhya | Vajrapani | eastern pure land Abhirati | Hum |
| Amitābha | Avalokiteśvara | western pure land Sukhavati | Hrih |
| Ratnasaṃbhava | Ratnapani | southern pure land Shrimat | Tram |
| Amoghasiddhi | Viśvapāni | northern pure land Prakuta | Ah |
See also
- List of bodhisattvas
- Ten Bodhisattas
- Thirty-five Confession Buddhas
- Praises to the Twenty-One Taras
- Bhadrakalpikasutra
- List of Buddha claimants
- Glossary of Buddhism
- Buddha-nature
- Enlightenment in Buddhism
- Eternal Buddha
- Physical characteristics of the Buddha
Notes
Footnotes
- ↑ Morris, R, ed (1882). "XXVII: List of the Buddhas". The Buddhavamsa. London: Pali Text Society. pp. 66–7. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.283044.
- ↑ "Life of the Buddha: Dīpankara's Prediction of Enlightenment". The Huntington Archive - The Ohio State University. http://huntingtonarchive.osu.edu/studypages/internal/dl/SouthAsia/Buddhist/pgs/u5/DL0208m.htm.
- ↑ Malalasekera (2007), Buddha, pp. 294–305
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Davids, TWR; Davids, R (1878). "The successive bodhisats in the times of the previous Buddhas". Buddhist birth-stories; Jataka tales. The commentarial introduction entitled Nidana-Katha; the story of the lineage. London: George Routledge & Sons. pp. 115–44. https://archive.org/stream/buddhistbirth00daviuoft#page/n132/mode/1up.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Horner, IB, ed (1975). The minor anthologies of the Pali canon. Volume III: Buddhavaṁsa (Chronicle of Buddhas) and Cariyāpiṭaka (Basket of Conduct). London: Pali Text Society. ISBN 0-86013-072-X.
- ↑ Malalasekera (2007), Bodhirukka, p. 319
- ↑ Ghosh, B (1987). "Buddha Dīpankara: twentyfourth predecessor of Gautama". Bulletin of Tibetology 11 (new series) (2): 33–8. ISSN 0525-1516. http://himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/bot/pdf/bot_1987_02_03.pdf.
- ↑ Malalasekera (2007), Revata, pp. 754–5
- ↑ Malalasekera (2007), Paduma, p. 131
- ↑ Malalasekera (2007), Padumuttara, pp. 136–7
- ↑ Malalasekera (2007), Piyadassi, p. 207
- ↑ Malalasekera (2007), Phussa, p. 257
- ↑ Prophecies of Kakusandha Buddha, Konagamana Buddha and Kassapa Buddha
- ↑ Cunningham, A (1880). "XVIII: Tandwa". Report of Tours in the Gangetic Provinces from Badaon to Bihar, in 1875–76 and 1877–78. Calcutta, India: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing. pp. 70–8. https://archive.org/stream/reporttoursinga00cunngoog#page/n80/mode/1up.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Vipassana.info, Pali Proper Names Dictionary: Metteyya
- ↑ "Thirty-five buddhas of confession". Rigpa. http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Thirty-five_buddhas_of_confession.
- ↑ Nathaniel DeWitt Garson; Penetrating the Secret Essence Tantra: Context and Philosophy in the Mahayoga System of rNying-ma Tantra, page 43
References
- Beal, S (1875). The romantic legend of Sâkya Buddha: from the Chinese-Sanscrit. London: Trubner & Company, Ludgate Hill. https://archive.org/stream/cu31924023164209#page/n5/mode/2up.
- Malalasekera, GP (2007). Dictionary of Pāli proper names. Delhi, India: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited. ISBN 978-81-208-3020-2. https://books.google.com/books?id=8Au_lIP1ZnQC.
- Buswell Jr., RE; Lopez Jr., DS (2014). The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism (1st ed.). Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. pp. 106, 776. ISBN 978-0-691-15786-3. https://books.google.com/books?id=DXN2AAAAQBAJ&q=Buddhas+of+the+present+kalpa&pg=PA106.
- Silk, Jonathan A. (2019), Brill's encyclopedia of Buddhism Vol Two, Hinüber, Oskar von,, Eltschinger, Vincent,, Bowring, Richard, 1947–, Radich, Michael, Leiden, ISBN 978-90-04-29937-5, OCLC 909251257
- Buswell, Robert, ed. (2004), Encyclopedia of Buddhism, MacMIllan reference USA
External links
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