Zen Buddhism: Zen Buddhist Dictionary

A dictionary of Zen Buddhism terms. Please note that all words in grey like " Buddhism " are links to an archive with related articles.

Buddha Skt., Pali, lit., Òawakened one.Ó

 1. A person who has achieved the enlightenment that leads to release from the cycle of existence (samsara) and has thereby attained complete liberation (nirvana). 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 (trishna); 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 enlight ened but does not expound the teaching; and the samyak-sambuddha, who expounds for the wel fare of all beings the teaching that he has discov ered anew. A samyak-sambuddha is omniscient (sarvajnata) and possesses the ten powers of a buddha (dashabala) and the four certainties. The buddha of our age is Shakyamuni. (See also Buddha 2.)

 Shakyamuni Buddha, the historical Buddha, is not the first and only buddha. Already in the early Hinayana texts, six buddhas who preceded him in earlier epochs are mentioned: Vipashyin (Pali, Vipassi), Shikin (Sikhi), Vishvabhu (Vessabhu), Krakuchchanda (Kakusandha), Konagamana, and Kashyapa (Kassapa). The buddha who will follow Sh?kyamuni in a future age and renew the dharma is Maitreya. Be yond these, one finds indications in the litera ture of thirteen further buddhas, of which the most important is Dipamkara, whose disci ple Shakyamuni was in his previous existence as the ascetic Sumedha. The stories of these leg endary buddhas are contained in the Buddhavamsa, a work from the Khuddaka nikaya.

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

 3. The Òbuddha principle,Ó which manifests itself in the most various forms. Whereas in Hinayana only the existence of one buddha in every age is accepted (in which case the Buddha is considered an earthly being who teaches hu mans), for the Mahayana there are countless transcendent buddhas. According to the Mahayana teaching of the trikaya, the buddha principle manifests itself in three principal forms, the so-called three bodies (trikaya). 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 propertiesÑbuddha-nature.

From The Shambhala Dictionary of Buddhism and Zen,

By Michael S. Diener, Franz-Karl Erhard, Ingrid Fischer-Schreiber

Translated by Michael H. Kohn

 (See also: Buddha , Buddhism, Body Mind and Soul)

Surangama Sutra

Also called Heroic Gate Sutra.

 The "Sutra of the Heroic One" exercised a great influence on the