Digital Dictionary of Buddhism

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佛

Pronunciations

Basic Meaning: buddha

Senses:

  • The most basic meaning of the Sanskrit/Pāli term buddha is that of 'awakened,' in the special sense of one who has awakened to the true nature of existence. In this sense, the meaning is often translated as 'enlightened'  覺. One who has completely extinguished all afflictive states of mind—who utterly lacks all the mixed manifestations of ignorance 無明, desire 貪, and dislike 瞋. [Charles Muller; source(s): Ui, Nakamura, JEBD, Yokoi]
  • The historical Buddha, Śākyamuni, who lived in India during the 6th century BCE, who had a major enlightenment experience, who subsequently taught others the way to achieve liberation, and following whose death, the religious movement called Buddhism, was formed. [Charles Muller]
  • Any one of a number of buddhas who are said to exist in the world. In the early Pāli tradition, six are named, but in the later developing Mahāyāna tradition, buddhas are understood to be infinite in number. In this sense, anyone who attains release (mokṣa 解脫, nirvana 涅槃) from this world of recurring rebirths (saṃsāra 流轉) can be called, in the appropriate contexts, a Buddha. [Charles Muller]
  • Buddha as an eternal principle of enlightenment/reality, expressed in the notion of the dharmakāya 法身 of the Buddha. [Charles Muller]
  • Buddha as Buddhahood 佛地, the final stage one attains as the result of practices. [Charles Muller]
  • One of the six completions 六成就. [Charles Muller]
  • Buddha, from budh to 'be aware of,'   'conceive,'   'observe,'   'wake' ; also written 佛陀; 浮圖; 浮陀;浮頭; 浮塔; 勃陀; 勃馱; 沒馱;母馱; 母陀; 部陀; 休屠. Buddha means 'completely conscious, enlightened,' and came to mean the enlightener. The Chinese translation is 覺 to perceive, be aware, awaken; and 智 gnosis, knowledge. There is an Eternal Buddha, see e.g. the Lotus Sutra, cap. 16, and multitudes of buddhas, but the personality of a Supreme Buddha, an Ādi-Buddha, is not defined. Buddha is in and through all things, and some schools are definitely Pan-Buddhist in the pantheistic sense. In the three treasures 三寶 commonly known as 三寶佛, while Śākyamuni Buddha is the first 'person' of the trinity, his Dharma the second, and the Saṃgha the third, all three by some are accounted as manifestations of the All-Buddha. As Śākyamuni, the title indicates him as the last of the line of buddhas who have appeared in this world, Maitreya is to be the next. As such he is the one who has achieved enlightenment, having discovered the essential evil of existence (some say mundane existence, others all existence), and the way of deliverance from the constant round of reincarnations; this way is through the moral life into nirvana, by means of self-abnegation, the monastic life, and meditation. By this method a Buddha, or enlightened one, himself obtains Supreme Enlightenment, or Omniscience, and according to Māhāyanism leads all beings into the same enlightenment. He sees things not as they seem in their phenomenal but in their noumenal aspects, as they really are. The term is also applied to those who understand the chain of causality (twelve nidānas) and have attained enlightenment surpassing that of the arhat. Four types of the Buddha are referred to: (1) 三藏佛 the Buddha of the Tripiṭaka who attained enlightenment on the bare ground under the bodhi-tree; (2) 通佛 the Buddha on the deva robe under the bodhi-tree of the seven precious things; (3) 別佛 the Buddha on the great precious Lotus throne under the Lotus realm bodhi-tree; and (4) 圓佛 the Buddha on the throne of Space in the realm of eternal rest and glory where he is Vairocana. The Hīnayāna only admits the existence of one Buddha at a time; Mahāyāna claims the existence of many buddhas at one and the same time, as many buddhas as there are Buddha-universes, which are infinite in number. (Tib. sangs rgyas) [Charles Muller; source(s): Soothill, Hirakawa, YBh-Ind]
  • [Buddha] the enlightened one. The term Buddha is derived from the root budh  'to wake up,' 'to know.' Hence Buddha literally means 'one who is awakened,' 'the enlightened one.' Buddha is an enlightened person who is absolved from all existence by perfect knowledge of truth, and who reveals to the world the method of obtaining nirvana. He is distinguished from a śrāvaka, a pratyekabuddha for his outstanding characteristic that he is the one who has attained 'the supreme or the perfect enlightenment' (anuttarā samyak saṃbodhi). He is of cosmic significance. He has many dimensions of embodiment. He brings others to enlightenment. Hence the term Buddha is a title. The scriptures have mentioned buddhas in the past and future. Dīpaṃkara, Koṇḍañña, Maṅgala, Sumana, Revata, Sobhita, Anomadassī, Paduma, Nārada, Padmôttara, Sumedha, Sujāta, Piyadassī, Atthadassī, Dhammadassī, Siddhârtha, Tiṣya, Phussa, Vipaśyin, Śikhin, Viśvabhū, Kakusandha, Koṇāgamana, and Kassapa were the buddhas in the past. Maitreya is the future Buddha. Śākyamuni, Amitâbha, Bhaiṣajyaguru and Vairocana are the prominent buddhas in the Mahāyāna. [Charles Muller; source(s): buddhanusmrti]
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    [Dictionary References]

    Bukkyō jiten (Ui) 980, 921

    Bulgyo sajeon 336a

    Bussho kaisetsu daijiten (Ono) ⑬421, ⑬294d/⑬294d*

    Bukkyō daijiten (Oda) 1590-1, 1551-1

    Zengaku daijiten (Komazawa U.) 1080c, 1158b

    Iwanami Bukkyō jiten 694, 743

    Japanese-English Buddhist Dictionary (Daitō shuppansha) 120b/132

    Japanese-English Zen Buddhist Dictionary (Yokoi) 42, 228, 573

    Zengo jiten (Iriya and Koga) 19-P228

    Bukkyōgo daijiten (Nakamura) 1189d, 1218d

    Fo Guang Dictionary 2605

    Ding Fubao

    Buddhist Chinese-Sanskrit Dictionary (Hirakawa) 0115

    Bukkyō daijiten (Mochizuki) (v.1-6)4436a,2758a

    Sanskrit-Tibetan Index for the Yogâcārabhūmi-śāstra (Yokoyama and Hirosawa)

    Lokakṣemaʼs Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā (Karashima) 164

    Copyright provisions

    The rights to textual segments (nodes) of the DDB are owned by the author indicated in the brackets next to each segment. For rights regarding the compilation as a whole, please contact Charles Muller. Please do not reproduce without permission. And please do not copy into Wikipedia without proper citation!

    Entry created: 2001-09-08

    Updated: 2016-09-23