Buddha

Buddha Shakyamuni

Buddha (Skt. Buddha; Tib. Sangyé; Wyl. sangs rgyas), usually refers to Shakyamuni Buddha, the Indian prince Gautama Siddhartha, who reached enlightenment in the sixth century B.C., and who taught the spiritual path followed by millions all over Asia, known today as Buddhism. Buddha, however, also has a much deeper meaning. It means anyone who has completely awakened from ignorance and opened to his or her vast potential for wisdom. A buddha is one who has brought a final end to suffering and frustration and discovered a lasting and deathless happiness and peace.

Etymology

The Tibetan term for Buddha, Sangyé, is explained as follows:

Sang means ‘awakening’ from the sleep of ignorance, and ‘purifying’ the darkness of both emotional obscurations and cognitive obscurations.

Gyé means ‘opening’, like a blossoming lotus flower, to all that is knowable, and ‘developing’ the wisdom of omniscience—the knowledge of the true nature of things, just as they are, and the knowledge of all things in their multiplicity.

The Seventy Verses on Taking Refuge says:

One who sleeps no more in ignorance,

And in whom genuine wisdom is brought forth,

Has truly awoken as an awakened buddha,

Just as one wakes from ordinary sleep.

As it says, ‘awakened’ means that ending the slumber of ignorance is like waking from sleep. And:

Their minds have opened to all that is knowable,

And they have overcome the tight seal of delusion,

So the awakened have blossomed like lotus flowers.

As it says, they are like ‘blossoming’ lotus petals in the sense that through their genuine wisdom they have overcome the tendency to ‘shut down’ through lack of knowledge, and their minds are open to all that can be known.

Eight Qualities of a Buddha

The qualities of a Buddha are immeasurable. Yet according to Maitreya's Uttaratantra Shastra, they can be condensed in eight qualities of the two-fold benefit of self and others:

Benefit of self:
1) Self-arisen wisdom
2) Unconditioned body
3) Spontaneously perfect

Benefit of others:
4) Knowledge
5) Love
6) Power

And 7) the benefit of self and 8) the benefit of others.

Internal Links

• Three kayas

Further Reading

• Khenpo Ngawang Palzang, A Guide to the Words of My Perfect Teacher, Shambhala, 2004, pages 101-107.