In the Buddhist tradition, a Buddha is a being who has, through individual effort and wisdom, awoken to the Dharma (Pāli Dhamma), seen through appearances, abandoned and overcome anger, desire, and ignorance and attained liberation from suffering (nirvāṇa, Pāli nibbāna). A replica of an ancient statue found among the ruins of a temple at Sarnath Buddhism is a philosophy based on the teachings of the Buddha, Siddhārtha Gautama, a prince of the Shakyas, whose lifetime is traditionally given as 566 to 486 BCE. It had subsequently been accepted by... A stone image of the Buddha. ... Dharma (Sanskrit धर्म) or Dhamma (Pāli) means Natural Law or Reality, and with respect to its significance for spirituality and religion might be considered the Way of the Higher Truths. ... Pāli is a Middle Indo-Aryan dialect or prakrit. ... This article is about a Buddhist philosophy concept. ...

The three kinds of Buddha

Buddhists in the Nikāya, Mahāyāna, and Vajrayāna traditions consider there to be three types of Buddha: Statues of Buddha such as this, the Tian Tan Buddha statue in Hong Kong, remind followers to practice right living. ... Nikaya Buddhism is a general term for those schools of Buddhism that accept only the class of sutras collected in the Pāli Canon as authentic. ... Relief image of the bodhisattva Kuan Yin from Mt. ... A mandala used in Vajrayana Buddhist practices. ... A stone image of the Buddha. ...

• Samyaksambuddha (Pāli: Sammāsambuddha), often simply referred to as Buddha)
• Pratyekabuddha (Pāli: Paccekabuddha),
• Śrāvakabuddha (Pāli: Sāvakabuddha), often equated to the more general term Arhat (Pāli: Arahant).

All three types of Buddha achieve Nirvāṇa, and may be called Arhats, or foe destroyers, but within the Mahāyāna tradition some people reserve the term Arhat for Sravaka Buddhas. A stone image of the Buddha. ... A Pratyeka Buddha (Sanskrit pratyekabuddha; Pali pacceka-buddha) is one of three types of enlightened beings according to some schools of Buddhism (the others being the śrāvakas and Samyaksam-Buddhas). ... Statues of the 500 arhats in the Longhua temple in Shanghai, P.R. China Åšrāvakabuddhas (Sanskrit) or Sāvakabuddhas (Pāli) are those enlightened individuals who gain Nirvāṇa, but do so by hearing the Dharma as initially taught by a Samyaksambuddha. ... A garden featuring depictions of various arhats (Hsi Lai Temple, California) An arhat (Sanskrit, also arahat or arahant (Pali); Chinese: 阿羅漢, āluóhàn, luóhàn, lohan; Tibetan: dgra-bcom-pa; Jp. ... This article is about a Buddhist philosophy concept. ... A garden featuring depictions of various arhats (Hsi Lai Temple, California) An arhat (Sanskrit, also arahat or arahant (Pali); Chinese: 阿羅漢, āluóhàn, luóhàn, lohan; Tibetan: dgra-bcom-pa; Jp. ...

Samyaksambuddha

Samyaksambuddhas, also known in Mahāyāna as Bodhisattvabuddhas) gain Nirvana by their own efforts, without a teacher for the entire path. They may then lead others to enlightenment by teaching the Dharma in a time or world where it has been forgotten or has not been taught before, because a Samyaksambuddha does not depend upon a tradition that stretches back to a previous Samyaksambuddha, but instead discovers the path anew. The historical Buddha, Śākyamuni, is considered a Samyaksambuddha. There are three ways of achieving Samyaksambuddha-hood. With more wisdom (prajñādhika), with more effort (vīryādhika) or with more faith (śraddhādhika). Śākyamuni was a Prajñādhika (through more wisdom) Buddha. The next Buddha of this world, Maitreya (Pāli: Metteyya) will be a Vīryādhika (through more effort) Buddha. A stone image of the Buddha. ... Prince Siddhartha Gautama as a bodhisattva, before becoming a Buddha. ... This article is about a Buddhist philosophy concept. ... Dharma (Sanskrit धर्म) or Dhamma (Pāli) means Natural Law or Reality, and with respect to its significance for spirituality and religion might be considered the Way of the Higher Truths. ... Standing Buddha, ancient region of Gandhara, northern Pakistan, 1st century CE, Musée Guimet. ... Maitreya Bodhisattva is the future Buddha in Buddhist eschatology. ...

Pratyekabuddha

Pratyekabuddhas are similar to Samyaksambuddhas in that they attain Nirvāṇa, however unlike the Samyaksambuddha, they do not form a Saṅgha of disciples to carry on their teaching. In some works they are referred to as "silent Buddhas", but several Buddhist stories of the past like the Jātakas show Pratyekabuddhas giving teachings. A Pratyeka Buddha (Sanskrit pratyekabuddha; Pali pacceka-buddha) is one of three types of enlightened beings according to some schools of Buddhism (the others being the śrāvakas and Samyaksam-Buddhas). ... It has been suggested that bhikkhu be merged into this article or section. ... The Jataka stories are a significant body of works about the previous lives of Gautama Buddha. ...

Śrāvakabuddha

Śrāvakabuddhas gain Nirvāṇa by hearing the Dharma as passed on from a Samyaksambuddha. Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna teachings hold that, after attaining enlightenment, Śrāvakabuddhas may also lead others to enlightenment, but cannot teach the Dharma in a time or world where it has been forgotten or has not been taught before, because their enlightenment is dependent on a tradition that stretches back to a Samyaksambuddha. Statues of the 500 arhats in the Longhua temple in Shanghai, P.R. China Åšrāvakabuddhas (Sanskrit) or Sāvakabuddhas (Pāli) are those enlightened individuals who gain Nirvāṇa, but do so by hearing the Dharma as initially taught by a Samyaksambuddha. ...

Mahāyāna and Hīnayana

Within the Mahāyāna tradition, the term Hīnayana was coined to indicate those vehicles that lead only to the inferior (hina-) Buddhahood of a Pratyekabuddha or a Śrāvakabuddha. They are called inferior only because such vehicles do not lead to the full set of qualities of a Samyaksambuddha. Regardless, this appelation has continued to cause understandable defensiveness from schools and traditions whose main goal is the Buddhahood of a Śrāvakabuddha. Relief image of the bodhisattva Kuan Yin from Mt. ... Hinayana (Sanskrit: inferior vehicle; Chinese:小乘, Xiǎoshèng; Japanese: Shōjō) is a term coined by the Mahayana, which appeared publicly around the 1st century CE. There are differing views on the use and meaning of the term, both among scholars and within Buddhism. ...

The Lotus Sutra (a very early Mahāyāna sutra) makes the distinction between the vehicles according to the type of Buddha that arises, and all Buddhists agree that a Samyaksambuddha is superior to a Śrāvakabuddha or a Pratyekabuddha, at least on the basis that only a Samyaksambuddha can teach the Dharma where (or when) it has not been taught before. The Lotus Sutra or Sutra on the White Lotus of the Sublime Dharma (Sanskrit: SaddharmapundarÄ«ka-sÅ«tra; 妙法蓮華經 Cn: MiàofÇŽ Liánhuā JÄ«ng; Jp: Myōhō Renge Kyō; Kr: Myobeop Yeonhwa Kyong) is one of the most popular and influential Mahāyāna sutras in East Asia and...

Skillful means, rather than ultimate teaching

Significantly, the three types of Buddha appear only rarely in Theravāda texts, while in contrast Mahāyāna literature frequently invokes these three types. However, even within Mahāyāna traditions, the three types of Buddha do not necessarily correspond to an ultimate teaching, but rather one that fits within a program of skillful means (upāya) or expedient practices. Notably, chapter 3 of the Mahāyāna Lotus Sutra, compares the three types of Buddha to three vehicles, namely a goat cart, a deer cart, and an ox cart. That discussion is followed by the statement about the Buddha that "First he preaches the three vehicles to attract and guide living beings, but later he employs just the Great Vehicle to save them." Mahāyāna (meaning "greater vehicle" in Sanskrit, a description rejected by Theravādins) transcends the three types of Buddha, rather than corresponding to a method for attaining status as one of the types. In short, while the three-Buddhas schema remains popular, it is not universal among Buddhists, some of whom maintain a tradition of Ekayāna, the "single vehicle" or direct path to awakening. Theravada (Pali; Sanskrit: Sthaviravada) is one of the eighteen (or twenty) Nikāya schools that formed early in the history of Buddhism. ... Upaya is a term in Mahayana Buddhism which is often translated as means, though literally expedient would be more accurate, as upaya (from upa√i) refers to something which goes or brings you up to something (i. ...

References

• Simile and Parable, chapter 3 of the Lotus Sutra, translated by Burton Watson, 1994, Columbia University Press, online edition courtesy Soka Gakkai International

• The Bodhisattva Ideal in Theravada, Jeffrey Samuels, Philosophy East and West, v47, n3, July 1997, pp399-415

• The Ten Perfections, Thanissaro Bhikku, 1999; the first paragraph outlines the Theravada understanding of the Three Buddhas