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Below are some short introductions. Click on the blue hyperlinked word to get more related articles.


Buddha - "Awakened one". 1. Siddartha Gautama, chief personage of historic Buddhism, also known as Sakyamuni or sage of the Sakya tribe, c.-623-543 2. Principle of enlightment. 3. An enlightened being, in any realm

Buddha - "The Enlightened One." An avatar or messenger.

Buddha - Buddha (Sanskrit) (from the verbal root budh to perceive, awaken, recover consciousness)

Awakened, enlightened; one who is spiritually awakened, who has become one with the supreme self (paramatman).

"To become a Buddha one has to break through the bondage of sense and personality; to acquire a complete perception of the real self and learn not to separate it from all other selves; to learn by experience the utter unreality of all phenomena of the visible Kosmos foremost of all; to reach a complete detachment from all that is evanescent and finite, and live while yet on Earth in the immortal and the everlasting alone, in a supreme state of holiness" (TG 64-5).

"A Buddha in the esoteric teaching is one whose higher principles can learn nothing more in this manvantara; they have reached Nirvana and remain there. This does not mean, however, that the lower centers of consciousness of a Buddha are in Nirvana, for the contrary is true; and it is this fact that enables a Buddha of Compassion to remain in the lower realms of being as mankind''s supreme Guide and Instructor, living usually as a Nirmanakaya" (OG 33-4).

See also GAUTAMA

Buddha - Buddha (Sanskrit). Lit., "The Enlightened". The highest degree of knowledge. To become a Buddha one has to break through the bondage of sense and personality; to acquire a complete perception of the REAL SELF and learn not to separate it from all otherselves; to learn by experience the utter unreality of all phenomena of the visible Kosmos foremost of all; to reach a complete detachment from all that is evanescent and finite, and live while yet on Earth in the immortal and the everlasting alone, in a supreme state of holiness.

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.

Buddha - One who is totally purified from all defilements and who has realized all

Buddha - The awakened; forever enlightened. Buddha Gautama did not claim to be the first Buddha nor the last. He frequently mentioned previous Buddha''s. These have never been proven to historically exist, and were probably made up by Gautama just to make his point. Gautama did not wish to be worshipped.

Buddha - 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.

Buddha - literally "englightened one," Buddhist term which variously refers to Gautama Siddhartha, or any enlightened person. In Mahayana Buddhism the term may denote, an enlightened person who is a step higher than the Bodhisattva, a celestial Buddha, or ultimate reality itself.

Buddha-lands - In Mahayana Buddhism, heavenly realms instituted by Celestial Buddhas to which the devoted go after death; the most famous Pure Land is that of the Amida.

Buddha-nature - In Mahayana Buddhism, undifferientiated absolute existence behind all appearances, functionally the same as nirvana, emptiness, suchness, and the Eternal Buddha.

Buddha-nature - The original nature of all people, which is harmonious and non-dualistic. This is always present, whether it is ever realized or not. It is a concrete expression used to signify perfection.

Buddha-remembrance - General term for a number of practices, such as
oral recitation of Amitabha Buddha''s name and
visualization/contemplation of His auspicious marks and those of the Pure Land.

In reciting the buddha-name you use your own mind to be mindful of your own true self: how could this be considered seeking outside yourself?

Reciting the buddha-name proceeds from the mind. The mind remembers Buddha and does not forget. That''s why it is called buddha remembrance, or reciting the buddhaname mindfully.

The most common Pure Land technique is recitation of Amitabha Buddha''s name.

See also "Amitabha," "Pure Land."

Buddha-siddhartha - Buddha-Siddhartha. See GAUTAMA

Buddha Gautama - Buddha Gautama. See GAUTAMA

Buddha Of Compassion - Buddha of Compassion One who, having gained the right to nirvana, renounces it to return to help all living beings. "They are men who have raised themselves from humanity into quasi-divinity; and this is done by letting the light imprisoned within, the light of the inner god, pour forth and manifest itself through the humanity of the man, through the human soul of the man. Through sacrifice and abandoning of all that is mean and wrong, ignoble and paltry and selfish: through opening up the inner nature so that the god within may shine forth; in other words, through self-directed evolution, they have raised themselves from mere manhood into becoming god-men, man-gods -- human divinities.

"They are called ''Buddhas of Compassion'' because they feel their unity with all that is, and therefore feel intimate magnetic sympathy with all that is, and this is more and more the case as they evolve, until finally their consciousness blends with that of the universe and lives eternally and immortally, because it is at one with the universe. ''The dewdrop slips into the shining sea'' -- its origin. . . . The Buddhas of Compassion, existing in their various degrees of evolution, form a sublime hierarchy extending from the Silent Watcher on our planet downwards through these various degrees unto themselves, and even beyond themselves to their chelas or disciples" (OG 23-4).

They are in contrast to the Pratyeka Buddhas, whose goal is to win spiritual liberation for themselves alone and who do not renounce nirvana.

Buddha Recitation - See "Buddha-Remembrance".

Buddhachchhaya - Buddhachchhaya Buddhacchaya (Sanskrit) (from buddha awakened one + chchhaya shadow)

The shadow of the Buddha; during certain commemorative Buddhist celebrations, an image said to have appeared in the temples and in a certain cave visited by Hiuen-Tsang (629-645){?}, the famous Chinese traveler (IU 1:600-01).

Buddhachhaya - Buddhachhaya (Sanskrit). Lit., "the shadow of Buddha". It is said to become visible at certain great events, and during some imposing ceremonies performed at Temples in commemoration of glorious acts of Buddhas life. Hiouen-tseng, the Chinese traveller, names a certain cave where it occasionally appears on the wall, but adds that only he whose mind is perfectly pure", can see it.

Buddhakshetra - Buddhakshetra buddhakshetra (Sanskrit) (from buddha awakened + kshetra field, sphere of action)

The sphere of action of an enlightened one. According to theosophy, there are four (or seven) buddhakshetras or fields in which the buddhas manifest and do their sublime work of benevolence which, counting from above, are: 1) the realms in which the dhyani-buddhas live and work; 2) the realms in which the dhyani-bodhisttvas live and work, called by Blavatsky "the domain of ideation"; 3) the realms of the manushya-buddhas, in which these work as nirmanakayas; and 4) the field of action in which the human buddhas work, the ordinary human world -- our physical globe.

Every incarnate buddha lives and works in the fourth or lowest buddhakshetra, as Gautama Buddha did; but at the same time, and more particularly when he has laid aside the physical body, he can live and work at will in the next higher buddhakshetra as a nirmanakaya; again as a dhyani-bodhisattva in his higher intermediate spiritual-psychological principle, he can at will function in the next higher buddhakshetra; while last, the dhyani-buddha within him lives and does its own sublime labor on the highest buddhakshetras as a dhyani-buddha. Here lies the true explanation of the many apparently conflicting statements made about the various kinds of buddhas and their various duties or functions, as found in the Buddhist scriptures, especially in the Mahayana writings of Central and Northern Asia.

Each one of the trikaya (three bodies or vehicles) -- the dharmakaya, sambhogakaya, and nirmanakaya -- has its respective place and function on and in the three highest of the buddhakshetra: the dharmakaya is the luminous or spiritual body or vehicle in which the dhyani-buddha lives and works on the first and highest buddhakshetra; the dhyani-bodhisattva similarly lives and works in the spiritual-intellectual body or vehicle called the sambhogakaya, on the second of the buddhakshetras; while the manushya-buddha, when working in the third buddhakshetras, does so in his nirmanakaya vesture or robe, vehicle, or body. The lowest buddhakshetra is the one in which the human buddha is found clothed in his body of flesh as an incarnate being.

Buddhangums - Buddhangums buddhanga (Sanskrit) (from buddha enlightened + anga limb, science)

Buddha-science or the essence of occult wisdom and knowledge.

Buddhaphala - Buddhaphala (Sanskrit) (from buddha enlightened + phala fruit)

The fruit of the Buddha, which is won when the arhat has attained the fruition of arhatship (arhattvaphala).

Buddhaphala - Buddhaphala (Sanskrit) Lit., "the fruit of Buddha", the fruition of Arahattvaphalla, or Arhatship.

Buddharupa - A statue or Image of the Buddha, used for devotional purposes.

Buddhas Of Contemplation - Buddhas of Contemplation. See DHYANI-BUDDHA