say for certain is that the debate has served a number
of different ends. In the later Tibetan tradition, the de-
bate was used as evidence for India’s importance as the
only authentic source for Buddhist teachings. The de-
bate also served as a weapon in polemical disputes be-
tween opposing Tibetan Buddhist groups. Perhaps the
most well-known example of this trend appears in the
writings of SA SKYA PANDITA (SAKYA PANDITA,
1182–1251). There, the author equates the Moheyan
side with the Tibetan tradition of Rdzogs chenby crit-
icizing the “Self-Sufficient White Remedy” (dkar po
chig thub) doctrine of the BKA’ BRGYUD(KAGYU) pa for
being like the “Rdzogs chenof the Chinese tradition”
(rgya nag lugs kyi rdzogs chen). Possible links between
Chinese Chan and early Tibetan Rdzogs chenremain
unclear, but the two teachings appear to bear some
similarities, and these were certainly what caught the
attention of later Tibetan polemicists.
See also:Bodhi (Awakening); Tibet
Bibliography
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JACOBP. DALTONBUDDHA(S)The term buddha,literally “awakened one,” is one of
many Indian epithets applied to the founder of the
Buddhist religion. A buddha is defined, first and fore-
most, as one who has undergone the profoundly trans-
formative experience known as NIRVANAand who, as
a result, will never be subject to the cycle of birth and
death again. Women and men who experienced this
same awakening by following in the footsteps of the
Buddha were referred to as ARHATs or “worthy ones,”
an epithet also applied to the Buddha himself. These
disciples, however, were not themselves referred to as
buddhas, for that term was reserved for those rare in-
dividuals who experienced BODHI(AWAKENING)on
their own in a world with no knowledge of Buddhism.
Moreover, to attain awakening without the help of a
teacher was not in itself sufficient to be classified as a
buddha, for those who did so but did not teach others
how to replicate that experience were known instead
as PRATYEKABUDDHAs, a term variously explained as
“individually enlightened” or “enlightened through
(an understanding of) causation.” In addition to at-
taining nirvana without assistance from others, the
classical definition of a buddha includes teaching oth-
ers what one has found. A buddha is, in sum, not only
the discoverer of a timeless truth, but the founder of a
religious community.
It is possible—though far from certain—that the
earliest Buddhist tradition knew of only one such fig-
ure, the so-called historical Buddha, Siddhartha Gau-
tama, also known as S ́akyamuni (sage of the S ́akya
clan). But the notion that other buddhas had preceded
him appeared at an early date, and may well have been
assumed by S ́akyamuni himself. Over the next four to
five centuries Buddhists came to believe that other
such buddhas would also appear in the distant future;
some even claimed that buddhas were living at the
present time, though in worlds unimaginably distant
from our own. While the belief in past and future bud-
dhas came to be accepted by all Buddhist schools, the
idea of the simultaneous existence of multiple bud-
dhas appears to have gained general currency only in
MAHAYANAcircles.Buddhas of the past
The earliest datable evidence for a belief in the exis-
tence of buddhas prior to S ́akyamuni comes from the
time of King AS ́OKA(ca. 300–232 B.C.E.), who claimed
in one of his inscriptions to have enlarged the memo-
rial mound (STUPA) of a previous buddha namedBUDDHA(S)