Buddha, 30 Definition(s)

The name given to one who rediscovers for himself the liberating path of Dhamma, after a long period of its having been forgotten by the world. According to tradition, a long line of Buddhas stretches off into the distant past. The most recent Buddha was born Siddhattha Gotama in India in the sixth century BCE. A well educated and wealthy young man, he relinquished his family and his princely inheritance in the prime of his life to search for true freedom and an end to suffering (dukkha). After seven years of austerities in the forest, he rediscovered the "middle way" and achieved his goal, becoming Buddha.

Lit., the Awakened One; one who through aeons of spiritual development has attained Anuttara Samyak Sambodhi. This epithet usually refers to Sakyamuni Buddha, who lived and taught in India some 2,600 years ago.

(1) The Buddha is Siddartha who was the founder of Buddhism. He was the first to attain enlightenment, and then taught others how to attain it. His first name is Siddartha, his family name was Gautama. He was a member of the Shakya clan, and hence is called Shakyamuni, "the wise one of the Shakyas." He is also known as Tathagata, "the Enlightened One." (2) Mahayana Buddhism holds that there are five Buddhas who have/will manifest themselves in the earthly realm. The fifth Buddha, who will come in the future, is known as Maitreya. (3) In Mahayana, a buddha is someone who has attained enlightenment.

The Awakened One, The Enlightened one.

"Awakened One". A fully enlightened being.

The Enlightened (or Awakened) One. The First Refuge of the Triple Gem.

Means "the Enlightened One" or "the Awakened One".

(1) A buddha is someone who has attained enlightenment. (2) The Buddha is Siddartha who was the founder of Buddhism. He was the first to attain enlightenment, and then taught others how to attain it.

Awakened or Enlightened one.

Fully awakened one (Sanskrit); specifically the historical Buddha, Sakyamuni, who lived and taught in India 2,500 years ago; one of the three jewels of refuge

BUDDHA (Skt. = Tib. sangye). Awakened one; person who has achieved enlightenment (Skt. bodhi, Tib. changch ub). For the Mahayana, the concept of Buddhahood is extended from the historical Buddha Shakyamuni, he is seen as an emanation of a Buddha nature (dharmakaya) underlying all phenomena. See TRIKAYA DOCTRINE. Within the Mahayana, there are numerous Buddha forms, such as Amitabha, Akshobhya and Vairocana, and some of them can be encountered within meditation.

(Pronunciation: "BOO dah") A being who has attained complete enlightenment (nirvana), the highest level of perfection within the Buddhist spectrum of existence.

"Buddha" refers to a fully awakened or enlightened being. The Indian sage Shakyamuni came to be known as the Buddha, but with the development of the Mahayanist pantheon, other Buddhas were also recognized. While each Buddha has a specific iconography, there are certain characteristics that many share. They are often dressed in simple robes suggestive of Shakyamunis mendicant existence. They have elongated, pierced ears, in reference to his renunciation of material wealth such as heavy earrings. The most common pose is the seated, full lotus position, but standing images are also plentiful. Having achieved nirvana, they seem withdrawn from worldly concerns and give the impression of great calm and introspection. As the historic Buddha is said to have exhibited "thirty two features and eighty characteristics" which marked him as a divine being, any number of these features may also be included. Some common characteristics are the urna (a curl of white hair on the forehead, sometimes represented by a golden disc or inlaid crystal), the ushnisha (a protuberance on the head, indicating his superior wisdom), a reverse swastika on his chest, and webbed hands and feet.

The Sanskrit word Buddha means "awakened one." Very basically, a buddha is one who has realized enlightenment and been released from the cycle of death and rebirth. However, the word is used to mean many other things.

A being who has completely abandoned all delusions and their imprints. In general, "Buddha" means "Awakened One", someone who has awakened from the sleep of ignorance and sees things as they really are. A Buddha is a person who is completely free from all faults and mental obstructions. Every living being has the potential to become a Buddha. See also Buddha Shakyamuni. See Joyful Path of Good Fortune and Mahamudra Tantra.

Lit., the Awakened One; one who through aeons of spiritual development has attained Anuttara Samyak Sambodhi. This epithet usually refers to Sakyamuni Buddha, who lived and taught in India some 2,600 years ago.

the Awakened One; this is a term for a state of being rather than strictly the name of a person

the Awakened One; usually refers to Siddharta Gautama, a prince born around 563 BCE and who founded Buddhism after reaching enlightenment

In general, "Buddha" means "Awakened One", someone who has awakened from the sleep of ignorance and sees things as they really are. A Buddha is a person who is completely free from all faults and mental obstructions. Every living being has the potential to become a Buddha.

By finding the path to Enlightenment, Siddhartha was led from the pain of suffering and rebirth towards the path of Enlightenment and became known as the Buddha or awakened one.

Siddhartha Gautama was born around the year 580 BCE in the village of Lumbini in present day Nepal. He was born into a royal family, and his privileged life insulated him from the sufferings of life; sufferings such as sickness, age and death.

Buddha in the Wheel of Life: In the top right corner of the Wheel of Life, Buddha is showing the way. He is outside the wheel to show that he has escaped the cycle of life and death. Buddha is pointing to Yama and the wheel to teach his followers the true nature of existence.

The name given to one who rediscovers for himself the liberating path of Dhamma, after a long period of its having been forgotten by the world. According to tradition, there is a long line of Buddhas stretching into the distant past. The most recent Buddha was born Siddhattha Gotama in India in the sixth century BCE. A well educated and wealthy young man, he relinquished his family and his princely inheritance in the prime of his life to search for true freedom and an end to suffering (dukkha). After seven years of austerities in the forest, he rediscovered the "middle way" and achieved his goal, becoming Buddha.

Refers to one who has become awakened and attained nirvana through eradication of impurities. He will no more be reborn in the cycle of samsara. &

Wife of Prince Bodhi and, later, of Moggallana. By Bodhi she had a daughter Lokita and by Moggallana four children: Kitti (afterwards Vijayabahu I.), Mitta, Mahinda and Rakkhita. Cv.lvii.40.

T/M (The one who knows). Omniscient. The one who does reach by himself the knowledge of the four Noble Truths. Perfect Being, Buddha.

(flourished c. 6th–4th century BC). Hundreds of years before Jesus was born—and at about the same time that Confucius was teaching the Chinese how to lead the good life—a prince named Siddhartha Gautama (or Gotama) became famous in India for his holiness and love for all creatures. He was called the Buddha, meaning “the Enlightened One,” a title used by many groups in ancient India…

Perfect Enlightenment, Universal Buddha hood, is the state attained by a Universal Buddha (samma sambuddha), i.e one by whom the liberating Law (dhamma) wich has become lost to the world, is again discovered, realized and clearly proclaimed to the world.

Sanskrit; literally, "awakened one"; a person who has been released from the world of cyclic existence (samsara) and attained liberation from desire, craving, and attachment in nirvana; according to Theravadins, Shakyamuni, the historical Buddha, is considered to be the first Buddha of this age who was preceded by many others and will be followed by Maitreya; Mahayanists believe that there are countless Buddhas for every age.

s. sammā-sambodhi.

the historical Buddha Siddhartha Gotama; any fully enlightened being; mythical enlightened beings; the state of being awake/enlightened.

Buddha Skt., Pali, lit., “awakened one.”

1. A person who has achieved the enlightenment that leads to release from the cycle of existence (samsāra) and has thereby attained complete liberation (nirvāna). The content of his teach­ing, which is based on the experience of enlight­enment, is the four noble truths. A buddha has overcome every kind of craving (trishnā); although even he also has pleasant and unpleasant sensations, he is not ruled by them and remains innerly untouched by them. After his death he is not reborn again.

Two kinds of buddhas are distinguished: the pratyeka-buddha, who is completely enlight­ened but does not expound the teaching; and the samyak-sambuddha, who expounds for the wel­fare of all beings the teaching that he has discov­ered anew. A samyak-sambuddha is omniscient (sarvajñatā) and possesses the ten powers of a buddha (dashabala) and the four certainties. The buddha of our age is Shākyamuni. (See also Buddha 2.)

Shākyamuni Buddha, the historical Buddha, is not the first and only buddha. Already in the early Hīnayāna texts, six buddhas who preceded him in earlier epochs are mentioned: Vipashyin (Pali, Vipassi), Shikin (Sikhī), Vishvabhū (Vessabhū), Krakuchchanda (Kakusandha), Konagamana, and Kashyapa (Kassapa). The buddha who will follow Shākyamuni in a future age and renew the dharma is Maitreya. Be­yond these, one finds indications in the litera­ture of thirteen further buddhas, of which the most important is Dīpamkara, whose disci­ple Shākyamuni was in his previous existence as the ascetic Sumedha. The stories of these leg­endary buddhas are contained in the Buddhavamsa, a work from the Khuddaka­nikāya.

2. The historical Buddha. He was born in 563 BCE, the son of a prince of the Shākyas, whose small kingdom in the foothills of the Himalayas lies in present-day Nepal. His first name was Siddhārtha, his family name Gauta­ma. Hence he is also called Gautama Buddha. (For the story of his life, see Siddhārtha Gauta­ma.) During his life as a wandering ascetic, he was known as Shākyamuni, the “Silent Sage of the Shākyas.” In order to distinguish the histori­cal Buddha from the transcendent buddhas (see buddha 3), he is generally called Shākyamuni Buddha or Buddha Shākyamuni.

3. The “buddha principle,” which manifests itself in the most various forms. Whereas in Hīnayāna only the existence of one buddha in every age is accepted (in which case the Buddha is considered an earthly being who teaches hu­mans), for the Mahāyāna there are countless transcendent buddhas. According to the Mahāyāna teaching of the trikāya, the buddha principle manifests itself in three principal forms, the so-called three bodies (trikāya). In this sense the transcendent buddhas represent embodiments of various aspects of the buddha principle.

4. A synonym for the absolute, ultimate reality devoid of form, color, and all other properties—buddha-nature.