The Buddha – Many Buddhas

Who actually is or was the Buddha?

The expression “the Buddha” is often used to designate the historical Buddha, that is, the man who is believed to have founded the Buddhist teachings.

He is said to have lived in northern India sometime around the 5th century BCE. The narratives about his life and work evolved and grew over the course of centuries before being recorded in writing and represented in art.

To this day, the legend of the Indian prince Siddhartha, who became the Buddha, is still popular.

The historical Buddha is known under different names. Two of these are Prince Siddhartha and Gautama Buddha. “Siddhartha” is an honorific title in Sanskrit and means “he who has reached his goal”; Gautama is said to have been his family name.

Often, he is referred to as Buddha Shakyamuni. “Shakyamuni” means the “sage from the Shakya people”.

In Buddhist texts, the Buddha is also addressed by the honorific title “Tathagata”. Literally this means “the one who has thus come”, a reference to the Buddha’s nature as a perfect being.

According to the Mahayana school, the Buddha, whose teachings form the cornerstone of Buddhism, was preceded by other buddhas who are considered to be embodiments of absolute wisdom. In other words, Buddha Shakyamuni was neither the first nor the last buddha to appear on earth.

However, the appearance of a buddha on earth is a rarity. It is said that a buddha appears only once in an aeon, a cycle of many thousands of years.

Many Buddhists believe that, in a far distant future, Maitreya, the Buddha of the Future, will appear on earth. Translated from Sanskrit, his name means “the loving one”.

A buddha is said to appear on earth whenever people have completely forgotten the content of the Buddhist teachings. Through his appearance, the teachings are renewed and spread again throughout the world.

The primordial buddha is an embodiment of the Buddha principle. This principle is identical with the ultimate wisdom, which stands above everything in the universe and is neither conceivable, graspable, nor imaginable.

Since the primordial buddha embodies nothing but an idea, he is formless and therefore cannot be depicted.

The five Transcendent Buddhas are otherworldly manifestations of the all-encompassing Buddha principle.  Each represents a distinct quality or aspect.

For instance, each one commands a specific strength that can be used to overcome a hindrance on the Buddhist pathway.

These Buddhas are especially significant in Vajrayana Buddhism. People practising meditation learn to recognize the strengths of these Buddhas within themselves.

Buddha Shakyamuni is shown here at the moment of his awakening when he called upon the earth goddess to be his witness. Since this is a pivotal event in the Buddhist teachings, the Buddha is frequently depicted in this posture.

Akshobhya’s earth-witness gesture symbolizes steadfastness, his particular strength.

How does one distinguish the two?

The three-body doctrine emerged in Mahayana Buddhism over the course of the 4th century. It explains why some buddhas appear on earth in human form while others are conceived of as other-worldly, that is, as transcendent beings.

The three-body doctrine assumes that each and every buddha embodies the all-encompassing Buddha principle.

At the highest level, a buddha’s “body” is formless (1).

In the body of mental imagination, a buddha can be pictured and visualized in meditation (2).

A buddha may appear in the world in a physical body (3).