Buddhahood

• 1. Introduction

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  Buddhahood is a title, a state, and a cosmic condition all at once. The word "Buddha" comes from classic Indic languages and means simply "awakened one." But what does it mean to be awakened? And why have Buddhist traditions spent more than two millennia debating who qualifies, how it happens, and what powers it confers? Those questions run through everything that follows. The term for the condition itself is buddhahood, rendered in Sanskrit as buddhatva or buddhabhava. Its highest form is known as samma-sambodhi, meaning full, complete awakening. The Theravada and Mahayana schools answer the question of what that fullness entails in ways so different they might seem to describe two entirely different beings. Between the lotus-flower analogy in the Dona Sutta, the Twin Miracle at Savatthi, and Ashoka's pillar inscription at Lumbini, the evidence left behind by this tradition is vast, specific, and sometimes astonishing.

• 2. A Being Beyond Categories

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  In the Dona Sutta, recorded as AN 4:36 in the Pali Canon, a man asked Gautama Buddha directly whether he was a god, a spirit, or a human. The Buddha replied that he had eliminated the deep-rooted unconscious traits that would make him any of those things. He said he should instead be called a Buddha: one who had grown up in the world but had now gone beyond it, like a lotus flower that grows from the water but blossoms above it, unsoiled. The Theravada tradition interprets this carefully. Andrew Skilton writes that the Buddha was never historically regarded by Buddhist traditions as being merely human. He possessed what the texts call superknowledges, the thirty-two marks of a great man, and the capacity for an exceptionally long lifespan. The Pali Canon also names him a "teacher of the gods and humans," superior to the devas because, unlike them, he is no longer subject to attachment, ignorance, anger, fear, or sorrow. In the Madhupindika Sutta, recorded as MN 18, he is described as "Lord of the Dhamma" and the bestower of immortality. In the Anuradha Sutta, SN 44.2, he is called the "supreme man" and the "attainer of the superlative attainment." The Vakkali Sutta, SN 22.87, goes further still: because the Buddha has attained the highest spiritual knowledge, he is identified directly with the Dhamma itself.

• 3. The Supranormal Powers

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  Early Buddhist texts preserve an ancient list of six classes of superknowledge, known in Pali as chalabhinna, which every Buddha attains through spiritual practice. The first category covers higher powers such as walking on water, passing through walls, flight, invisibility, and creating mind-made bodies. The second is the divine ear, a clairaudience that extends across human and divine realms alike. The third is mind-penetrating knowledge, what the texts call telepathy. The fourth is the ability to recall one's own past lives stretching back eons into the past. The fifth is the divine eye, the capacity to know where other beings will be reborn according to their karma. The sixth, and the most significant, is the knowledge of the destruction of all mental pollutants, which the texts call the liberation of the mind. One of the most famous demonstrations of these powers was the Twin Miracle at Savatthi, in which the Buddha simultaneously emitted fire from the upper part of his body and water from the lower, before alternating them and then expanding them to illuminate the entire cosmos. Mahayana sutras describe miracles on an even grander scale. In the Vimalakirti Sutra, the Buddha reveals the true nature of his buddha field to everyone on earth simultaneously; the world suddenly appears as a perfect realm filled with jewels and majestic forms. In the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha shakes the earth and shines a beam of light that illuminates thousands of buddha fields at once.

• 4. Theravada and Mahayana Diverge

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  Theravada Buddhism distinguishes between several categories of awakened being, and the distinctions carry real weight. A samyaksambuddha, a full complete Buddha, rediscovers the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path entirely on his own, without a teacher, and then goes on to teach them to others. A pratyekabuddha also reaches Nirvana through his own efforts, but is unable or unwilling to pass those teachings along. An arhat needs a Buddha's instruction to attain Nirvana, though an arhat may also teach afterward. In Theravada, the individual's own liberation, or arhatship, is the standard goal. Mahayana sets an entirely different horizon. There, Buddhahood is the universal goal for all practitioners, pursued not for one's own benefit alone but in order to liberate every sentient being. In this tradition, the path to Buddhahood may take eons, and most Mahayana schools accept the bodhisattva ideal as the framework for that journey. The Mahayana Trikaya framework, the doctrine of three bodies, captures how differently this tradition understands a Buddha. The historical figure, or any Buddha who appears human, is understood as a Nirmanakaya, a transformation body, a magical display. The real or ultimate Buddha is the Dharmakaya, the body of ultimate reality. The Ratnagotravibhaga, a key Mahayana treatise, defines the Buddha as "the uncompounded and spontaneous Dharmakaya" and as "self-enlightened and self-arisen wisdom, compassion and power for the benefit of others."

• 5. The Mahāsāmghika Bridge

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  Well before Mahayana texts flourished, the early Buddhist school known as the Mahasanghika was already arguing for a transcendent Buddha. The Indian scholar Vasumitra attributed 48 special theses to several Mahasanghika sects, and 20 of those 20 points concerned the supramundane nature of Buddhas and bodhisattvas. Guang Xing identifies two main aspects of the Buddha in Mahasanghika teaching: the true Buddha who is omniscient and immeasurably powerful, and the manifested forms through which that Buddha liberates beings through skillful means. The Mahasanghika Lokanuvartana Sutra states that "the Buddha knows all the dharmas of the countless Buddhas of the ten directions" and that "all Buddhas have one body, the body of the Dharma." Guang Xing traces the earliest evidence for this view to the Acchariyabbhutasutta of the Majjhima Nikaya, which describes miracles performed by Buddha Shakyamuni before his birth and after. The Chinese Madhyamagama parallel to that text calls the pre-birth figure Bhagavan, suggesting the idea that the Buddha was already awakened before descending to earth. The idea of a limitless lifespan also draws on ancient sources: the Mahaparinirvanasutra states that the Buddha's lifespan is as long as a kalpa, an eon, but that he voluntarily allowed his life to end.

• 6. Many Buddhas, Ancient and Future

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  The earliest strata of Pali texts, specifically the first four Nikayas, name seven Buddhas of Antiquity, the Saptatathagata. Four belong to the current good eon: Kakusandha, Konagamana, Kassapa, and Gautama. Three come from past eons, with Vipassi said to have lived ninety-one kalpas ago and both Sikhi and Vesabhu thirty-one kalpas ago. The Chakkavatti-Sihanada Sutta from the Digha Nikaya adds a prediction: a Buddha named Maitreya will arise in the world after them. A later Theravada text from roughly the 1st to 2nd century BCE, the Buddhavamsa, extended the list to 28 previous Buddhas. In countries where Theravada is practiced by the majority, among them Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand, it is customary to hold elaborate festivals paying homage to those 28 Buddhas. The fourth in the Buddhavamsa list, Dipankara, is especially significant: he gave the niyatha vivarana, the prediction of future Buddhahood, to a Brahmin youth who would eventually become the bodhisattva Gautama. Archaeological evidence grounds some of these figures in the physical world. Konagamana Buddha is mentioned in a 3rd-century BCE inscription by Ashoka at Nigali Sagar in what is now Nepal; an Ashoka pillar still stands partly buried at the site. Gautama's birthplace is marked by the Pillar of Ashoka at Rummindei, in modern Lumbini, Nepal. The Brahmi script inscription records Ashoka's visit and his identification of the site, and notes that he made the village of Lummini free of taxes, requiring only an eighth share of its produce.

• 7. Mahayana Celestial Buddhas

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  Mahayana Buddhism venerates Buddhas who reside in other realms entirely, known as buddha fields or pure lands. Amitabha, whose name means Infinite Light and who is known in Chinese as Amituofo and in Japanese as Amida Butsu, is the principal Buddha of Pure Land Buddhism. His buddha field is called Sukhavati, the Blissful. A Mahayana devotee can aspire to be reborn there and continue striving toward Buddhahood in the best possible conditions; this aspiration is the central element of East Asian Pure Land Buddhism. Mahavairocana, the Great Illuminator, is the central Buddha of Huayan Buddhism, Chinese Esoteric Buddhism, and Shingon. His pure land is known as the Padmagarbhalokadhatu, the lotus treasury world, also called Densely Arrayed Akanistha. The Medicine Buddha, Bhaisajyaguru, has a pure land called Vaidyryanirbhasa, Pure Beryl Light. Tantric Buddhism organized five of these figures into a group known as the Five Tathagatas: Mahavairocana, Akshobhya, Ratnasambhava, Amitabha, and Amoghasiddhi. Each is associated with a direction, a color, an element, a specific buddha field, and a particular mental poison that his aspect helps transform. The Bhadrakalpikasuta contains a list of one thousand and four Buddhas and discusses their deeds; most are Buddhas of the future. Some historical figures have also come to be regarded as Buddhas, including the philosopher Nagarjuna and Tibetan figures such as Padmasambhava and Tsongkhapa.

• 8. Recognizing a Buddha

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  Buddhist art carries a precise visual grammar for depicting Buddhas. The most widely recognized physical features derive from a list of thirty-two characteristics known as the signs of a great man, the mahapurusa laksana. The usnisa, a protuberance on the top of the head, symbolizes superb wisdom. The urna, a spiral tuft or circular dot between the eyebrows, is another standard feature. Dharma wheels appear on the soles of the feet and on the hands, and the earlobes are shown as unusually long, symbolizing superb perception. In Theravada iconography, the Buddha is always shown as a monastic wearing the simple monk's robe called a kasaya. In Mahayana art, some Buddhas are also depicted in princely or kingly attire, complete with crowns and jewels. The hand gestures, called mudras, carry their own meanings and their popularity varies by region. The Varada mudra, associated with wish-granting, is common among standing statues, particularly when paired with the Abhaya mudra, which signals fearlessness and protection. The Vajra mudra is widespread in Japan and Korea but rarely seen in India. In Theravada contexts, statues often show the Buddha flanked by his two main disciples, Moggallana and Sariputta. In Mahayana contexts, he is more often surrounded by bodhisattvas such as Manjushri, Samantabhadra, and Avalokiteshvara. One name given to the Buddha Amitabha captures something of the whole tradition's ambition: Acintyaprabha, Inconceivable Light.