The concept of the Buddha in Early Buddhism

Introduction

The earliest Buddhism or original Buddhism is Buddhism that have existed before the other
schools of Buddhism developed. The period of "Early Buddhism" in the sense of pre-
sectarian Buddhism is considered by scholars such as Paul J. Griffiths and Steven Collins to
be from the time of the historical Buddha to the reign of Ashoka (c. 268 to 232 BCE) 1 The
Buddha said there were many Buddhas who have lived before him and many who will follow.
Therefore the concept of Buddha means anyone who has achieved enlightenment at any
period in history. Many enlightened beings have become teachers to those still struggling on
the spiritual path. It is considered a wholesome act to teach others once you’ve crossed the
finish line yourself. The following will confine the scope of the concept which centres on the
historical Buddha and limited to the formation of the canonical period. The historical Buddha
refers to Gotama Buddha, and the “Buddha” is used in this context. The Pali Nikaya and the
literature of the early Buddhism portrayed the Buddha as a human being and a superhuman.

The Human Buddha

The Buddha was born into the Gautama clan, a son of the King Suddhodana, and was often
referred to as Sakyamuni (the sage of the Sakya or Sakiya people). The Buddha was brought
up as a human being, married and had a son. When he was a prince, he forgoes his luxury life
and embarks his path to look for solutions to the sufferings he saw outside the palace. He
walks on foot and eats human food. He suffers the physical pain of a human being when he
practises all manner of severe austerities, during his ascetic life for six years, reducing him to
a heap of bones. Realising the folly of austerities does not give him the answers to his perusal,
he decides to abandon it, and starts again on normal food offered by Sujᾱta and he takes it
joyfully.2

_________________________________________

1. Collins, Steven (1990) “On the Very Idea of the Pali Canon”, Journal of the Pali Text Society 15,
pp. 89–126.
2. Encyclopaedia of Buddhism Volume V, p367, The State Printing Corporation, Sri Lanka, 1990
A Pupil of Human Religious Teacher

After the Buddha left his household life, he seeks the teachings of Ālāra Kālāma and Uddaka
Rāmaputta. He first went to Ālāra Kālāma, the specialist of Samkhya philosophy according
to the Pāli Canon scriptures. After following his method he equalled his master very quickly.
When Ālāra has nothing else to teach the Buddha, he started to search for another teacher. He
found Uddaka Rāmaputta and accepted him as teacher. Uddaka was a teacher of refined
states of meditation known as the immaterial attainments.

When Buddha first met the teachers, he addresses them, ‘friend.’

“Having gone forth in search of what might be skillful, seeking the unexcelled state of
sublime peace; I went to Āḷāra Kālāma and, on arrival, said to him: ‘Friend Kālāma, I want to
3
practice in this Dhamma & discipline.’

“In search of what might be skillful, seeking the unexcelled state of sublime peace, I
went to Uddaka Rāmaputta and, on arrival, said to him: ‘Friend Uddaka, I want to practice in
3
this Dhamma & discipline.’

“When this was said, he replied to me, ‘You may stay here, my friend. This Dhamma is
such that an observant person can soon enter & dwell in his own teacher’s knowledge, having
3
realized it for himself through direct knowledge.

The human aspect of the Buddha is in evidenced by the difficulties he experiences. Shortly
after his enlightenment, he hesitated to whether he should impart his doctrine, so profound
and recondite for anyone to follow easily. Only When Brahmᾱ Sahamᾱpati assures him that
many would listen and benefit from his teachings that he decides to teach the newly
discovered teachings. Following that, the Buddha manifests his human aspects by constantly
interacting with his disciples as well as with other religious groups of his time. During his
lifetime like his illnesses, his emotions, begging food, the troubles within his own community
of bhikkhus, and his being attacked and defamed by his enemies such as Māra and his own
cousin Devadatta. No matter how great a religious founder and teacher the Buddha was,

_________________________________________

3. The Longer Discourse to Saccaka, The Noble Search, Ariyapariyesana Sutta (MN 26)
he was not able to completely influence every single individual he conversed with. He had
opponents within his own community of bhikkhus, such as the well-known Devadatta who
4
even challenged his authority as the leader of the Sangha and plotted against his life.

The Buddha was physically like any other human being, subject to the laws of nature which
made him vulnerable to fatigue, illness, ageing, decay and death, as described in the sutras.
Instances of the Buddha’s illnesses are not rare in the sutras, which describe him as suffering
constantly from back pain and stomach troubles serious illness of dysentery. It was because
of all these physical troubles that the Buddha had to consult Jivaka, the royal physician of
5
King Bimbisara.

The Concept of Paccekabuddha, Arahant and Bodhisattva

Since time immemorial, one typical characteristic of Indian religions are ascetics who leave
society to steer clear of worldly ties in search of insight into reality and salvation. Leaving
behind passion, hatred, and delusion, having torn the fetters apart, not trembling at (the time
6
of) the complete destruction of life. One should wander solitary as a rhinoceros horn.

This tradition of asceticism of individualism, and popular reverence and esteem for ascetics,
nomadic religious men, munis and sages inspired the concept of Paccekabuddha.
Paccekabuddha is one who attains complete enlightenment without any outside guidance but
does not preach the way of deliverance to the world. The Buddha and the Paccekabuddha do
not co-exit at the same time in the world. A Paccekabuddha is one who, like a Perfectly
Enlightened Buddha, attains enlightenment without the guidance of a teacher, but unlike a
Buddha is unable to guide others to enlightenment. According to commentarial tradition,
Paccekabuddhas does not arise while a Perfectly Enlightened Buddha exists in the world but
only in the periods between the arising of Buddhas.

_________________________________________

4. Vinaya, ii, 257–71; Si, 262.

5 Taisho Shinshu Daizokyo, T55, 73c. Translated by Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai, Japan

6. Ria Kloppenborg, The Paccekabuddha (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1974), p. 124, n. 16, Suttanipata, v. 74
[3]
When the Buddha decides to preach to his first audience, he decided on the five bhikkhus
who had helped him when he was undergoing austerities because he thinks they would be
able to understand the truths he had discovered. They were taught to abstain from the two
extremes of asceticism or luxurious living but to follow the Middle Path. He also tells them
about the Four Noble Truths about truths of sufferings and ways to end them. The Buddha
also explained that beings do not have an external soul and were composed of the five
aggregates, thereafter the five disciples (the five bhikkhus) realised the enlightenment of
Arahants.

The concept of Arahant is a “worthy one”; one who has eliminated all defilements and
attained full liberation in this very life. The Buddha is also an Arahant because he too
eliminated all his defilements, where the Arahants are not Buddhas because as Venerable
Ananda responded that there is no single bhikkhu who possesses in each and every way all
those qualities that were possessed by the Blessed One and fully enlightened. 7 The Buddha is
the discoverer of the path, the originator of the path while the Arahants, his disciples, the laity,
are all followers of the path. That is why Arahants pay homage/respect to the Buddha.
Arahants are not aiming to become a Buddha. They have three progressive stages of stream
entrant (Sotapanna) once returner (Sakadagami) non- returner (anagami). The Buddha
himself once too declares himself as an Arahant:

On his way to meet to Benares to meet the five bhikkhus, a wanderer stopped the
Buddha and asked who he was. The Buddha replied: "I am the Arahant in the world, I
am the supreme teacher" 8

_________________________________________

7. The middle discourse of the Buddha, 880-881

8. (MN 26/I 171).

The concept of Bodhisattva arises not in the era of early Buddhism. Buddha did not teach the
Bodhisattva path, he consistently teaches the path to nibbana, the path he discovered through
attainment of enlightenment. Bodhisattva was apparent in India even before the appearance
9
of Gotama Buddha. Bodhisattva is a being who has dedicated himself and seeks awakening
(bodhi) - hence, an individual on the path to attaining enlightenment, aspired to become a
Buddha. When Gotama Buddha appeared, he himself and others used term Bodhisattva to
indicate the period he leaves his homely life till his enlightenment. In the Tipitaka,
Bodhisattva is the phraseology designate to the Buddha before his enlightenment. A
Bodhisattva strives to become a Buddha by attaining perfect Bodhi (enlightenment, while an
Arahant is content with nibbana, the cessation of the defilements. A Bodhisattva is hereby a
future Buddha, one destined to attain unsurpassed perfect enlightenment; specifically, it is the
term the Buddha uses to refer to himself in the period prior to his awakening, both in past
lives and in his last life before he attained enlightenment.

The Superhuman Buddha

From the miraculous birth of the Gotama Buddha, his lifetime is connected with supernatural
phenomenon. This includes miracles performed by him and those occurred spontaneously on
special events. In many sutras including those from Mahayana Buddhism, the thirty-two
marks (Mahāpuruṣalakṣaṇa) on his physical body was a popular topic. The Lakkhanasutta of
the Dighanikaya and the Brahmayusutta of the Majjhimanikaya state that the Buddha has the
10
thirty-two physical marks of a great man (mahapurisa). These marks derived from virtuous
11
acts in previous lives of the Buddha are said to be fully present on the body of a Buddha.

_________________________________________

9. Kariyawasam, Encyclopaedia of Buddhism, Extract 6, Buddhology, Ministry of Buddhaasana, Sri

Lanka 2002.

10. Mahapadanasutta, D ii, 16–18

11. Buswell, Robert E.; Lopez, Donald S.2014 The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, Princeton
University.
 12
The Buddha has attained the six direct knowledge (chalabhiññā)

The six direct knowledge are: (1) supernatural power (2) the divine ear (3) penetration of the
minds of others (4) memory of former existences (5) the divine eye and (6) destruction of
defilements. According to the Samaññaphalasutta, these six modes of knowledge are in
ascending order; the knowledge of the destruction of defilements is the highest and can be
attained only by a Buddha, a Paccekabuddha and an Arahant. The first five are mundane and
the last is supramundane; thus it is only through acquiring the sixth knowledge that one
13
becomes liberated. The first five knowledge were known before the time of the Gotama
Buddha. The knowledge of destruction of defilements was discovered by the Buddha.

Then the supernatural events including his birth when he arrives unnaturally from the right
side of his mother, took seven steps towards the north, utters his lion-roar, “I am the ruler of
14
the world”. On the same day, seven beings were born; the Bodhi tree Rāhulamātā, his
future wife sixteen years later, the four treasure troves, his elephant, his horse Kanthaka, his
15
charioteer Channa and Kāludāyi.

An event in his childhood when he attained the jhānā under a jambu tree, seated cross-legged
petrify, the shadow of the tree remaining still protecting him. Other events includes but not
exhaustive were his renunciation, where the earth turned to allow him to take a last look at
Kapilavatthu, the earth trembles when he attains enlightenment, his first sermon and his death.
The Anguttaranikaya mentions an immense light that appeared on four occasions in the life of
the Buddha: his descent from Tusita heaven, his birth, his enlightenment and his first public
16
preaching.

________________________________________

12. The Concept of the Buddha, Guang Xing, RoutledgeCurzon, 2005.

13. ibid p.16
14. Encyclopaedia of Buddhism, Vol V, p.365 The Government of Sri Lanka, 1990
15 ibid p.365
16. 72 Anguttaranikaya ii, 130–5.
Dhamma

The teachings expounded by the Buddha are universally referred as Dhamma. In Buddha
concept, it refers to the Buddha's sayings or his cosmic principle of “truth", lawfulness, and
virtue discovered and taught by him. It includes the doctrine and profound philosophy, the
fundamental principles like the Four Noble Truth, the Eight Fold Path, Middle Path,
Dependent Origination, Emptiness, Impermanence and the some of the teachings of his
Arahant disciples. The teachings were later schematising into scriptures or Sutta, the
17
Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta (The Setting in Motion of the Wheel of the Dhamma Sutta)
is the first sutta according to Buddhist literature. The Dhamma is one of the Triple Gem
where adherents take refuge. The three gems in the concept of Buddha, are Buddha; meaning
the mind's perfection of enlightenment, the Dhamma, meaning the teachings and the methods
of the Buddha, and the Sangha, meaning the monastic community who provide guidance and
support to followers of the Buddha. Nibbāna is the final goal of the Buddha’s teaching; the
path to liberation of the Saṃsāra (birth and death cycle), to be attained by the destruction of
the defilements.

Significant Developments of the Buddha Concept

After the parinibbāna of the Buddha, meetings (Buddhist Council) were held to preserve his
teachings. In the early days of Buddhism, there was no written record of the teachings. The
bhikkhus have to memorise the scriptures and then teach the next generation of bhikkhus in
the same way, it being an oral tradition. The first Buddhist Council of Arahants was held in
Sri Lanka and the Tipitaka, for the first time in the history of Buddhism, was put down in
18
writing on Ola leaves. Buddhaghosa was a South-Indian scholar-monk living in the 5th
century CE who came to Sri Lanka to study the ancient commentaries to the Tipitaka. Later,
he was invited by the bhikkhu of the Mahàvihàra to render the commentaries into Pali. In
doing so he systemised and fixed the Theravada interpretation of the Buddha's teachings. He
wrote a guide to Theravada doctrine and practice called the Visuddhimagga. His
commentaries continued to be authoritative and still widely read and studied today.

_____________________________________________
17. Samyutta Nikaya LVI, 11
18. Buddhaghosa Law, B.C. 1946
The early Buddhist schools are those schools into which the Buddhist monastic sangha
initially split, due originally to differences in Vinaya and later also due to doctrinal
differences and geographical separation of groups of bhikkhus.

This took place mainly in the age of Sectarian Buddhism, that is, between the phase of Early
Buddhism represented by the Nikàyas and the rise of early Mahayana Buddhism. During this
period, two significant developments of the Buddha concept occurred. First, the number of
Buddhas was increased; and second, the Buddhas came to be endowed with increasingly
more exalted qualities. These developments occurred somewhat differently in the different
Buddhist schools, but certain common features united them.

The Nikàyas already mention twenty-four Buddhas preceding Gotama and one to follow him,
Metteyya Now, since cosmic time is without any discernible beginning or conceivable end,
the inference was drawn that there must have been even earlier Buddhas, and thus the number
of past Buddhas was increased; stories about some of these entered into circulation and
brought them to life. Since space was likewise unbounded, with world systems like our own
spread out in "the ten directions," some schools posited the present existence of Buddhas in
other world systems beyond our own Buddhas still alive whom one might worship and, by
means of meditative power, actually see with contemplative vision.

Woman in the Concept of Buddha

After many of the young men of the Sakyas had become bhikkhus, the Buddha's foster
mother and aunt, Mahaprajapati Gautami, expressed her desire to be ordained. She went
before the Buddha together with a number of young women to ask permission for ordination,
but the Buddha refused her several times. Only after Ananda interceded, the Buddha
responded by saying that a woman could attain as well as a man and then consented to the
19
establishment of the Order for Bhikkhuni but only on eight conditions. The establishment of
an order of bhikkhunī with rules and regulations was an opportunity for women that Buddha
offers for the first time in the history of the world. No other religious leader had given such a
high religious position for women, probably a feeling like you've turned a big corner in your
20
life for female monastics. Sàdhu! Sàdhu! Sàdhu!

19. Bhikkhuni Sasana [Book of the Discipline, V.354-55]

20. (Vin.I, 56).

Comments

The Buddha deliberately projects an illusion of humanity among men to further their
salvation which is different from his true nature and attributes. We do not understand why
Buddha need to be ‘in conformity with the ways of the world” to preach Dhamma, but it be
attributed to the sutta, they are not supposed to show their supernatural power.

On the other hand, the masses are aware of his thirty two physical marks of a superhuman.
Although it is stated in the suttas that the Buddha had all these distinguishing bodily features,
he was not necessarily recognized by ordinary people when he walked about on the road. The
DhatuvibhaVgasutta of the Majjhimanikaya mentions that Pukkusati renounced the world in
the name of the Buddha without ever having seen him. He did not recognize the Buddha and
so the appearance of the Buddha shows no difference from an ordinary being. However, the
superhuman and supernormal elements of the Buddha may have coexisted from the very
beginning of Buddhist literature or even during Gautama’s lifetime. It is problematic thus
simply to dismiss any of those elements outright, because all the miracles performed by
Buddha according to the Sutras are within the six modes of higher knowledge which,
according to early Buddhism, can be attained through meditation.

Buddha first hesitated to teach Dhamma to the people then he was also reluctant to allow
female to be ordained. It is not known why the Enlightened One is doubtful about women
were fully capable of following the philosophy of Buddhism, and literature has suggested that
his mother, Maya, was born into the Tusita heaven after giving birth to him, he has gone to
the heaven to preach Dhamma to her too.

The Bhikkhuni Order in India however, lasted not more than five centuries as it went into
extinction with the decline of Buddhism from the late Gupta period. This is attributed to the
invasion of India by the Muslims which drives out Buddhism, may not be the incapability of
Bhikkhunis.

We should bear in mind, then, that Buddhist doctrine is in fact diverse and that male and
female laypeople, and also Bhikkhuni, have been active agents in the selection, interpretation,
reproduction—and perhaps even the composition—of the scripture and discourse of Buddha.
Conclusion

The concept of Buddha is complex and implicated elements of human and supernatural, with
extensions Paccekabuddha, Arahant and Bodhisattva. Schism and many other schools had
developed centuries after the parinibbāna of the Buddha, Mahayana being the most influential
which later spread to China, Japan and Tibet. Each added colours and variety of
interpretations to the early Buddhism. However, the core of the teachings remains intact and
all held that there is no God in the concept of Buddha. May all being find the path to
liberation. Sàdhu!

Student name: Patsy Ng Wai Hing

Email: patsywh@gmail.com

About 3050 words, excluding citations and notes.

Date: 19 Jun2019
Notes

1. Collins, Steven (1990) “On the Very Idea of the Pali Canon”, Journal of the Pali Text
Society 15, pp. 89–126.

2. Encyclopaedia of Buddhism Volume V, p367, The State Printing Corporation, Sri Lanka,
1990

3. The Longer Discourse to Saccaka, The Noble Search, Ariyapariyesana Sutta (MN 26)
4. Vinaya, ii, 257–71; S i, 262.
5 Taisho Shinshu Daizokyo, T55, 73c. Translated by Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai, Japan
6. RIA Kloppenborg, The Paccekabuddha (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1974), p. 124, n. 16,
Sutta-nipata, v. 74 [3]
7. The middle discourse of the Buddha, 880-881
8. (MN 26/I 171).

9. Kariyawasam, Encyclopaedia of Buddhism, Extract 6, Buddhology, Ministry of

Buddhasasana, Sri Lanka 2002.

10. Mahapadanasutta, D ii, 16–18, the thirty-two marks:

1 he has level-tread feet

2 his palms and soles are marked with wheels complete with spokes
3 he has projecting heels
4 he has long fingers and toes)
5 he has soft and tender hands and feet
6 he has webbed hands and feet
7 he has prominent ankles
8 his legs are like an antelope’s
9 standing and without bending he can touch his knees with either hand
10 his male organ is concealed in a sheath
11 his complexion is the colour of gold
12 his skin is so delicately smooth that no dust cleaves to his body
13 the hairs of his body grow singly, one to each pore
14 the hairs of his body turn upwards, curling to the right
15 his body grows straight
16 he has seven protuberances
17 the upper part of his body is like that of a lion
18 there is no indentation between his shoulders
19 his proportions have the symmetry of the banyan tree
20 his bust is equally rounded
21 his sense of taste is supremely acute
22 his jaw is like a lion’s
 23 he has forty teeth
24 his teeth are even
25 his teeth are closely set
26 his white teeth are lustrous
27 his tongue is long and slender
28 he has a divine voice like the Karavika bird
29 his eyes deep blue
30 he has eyelashes like those of a cow
31 between the eyebrows is a hairy mole, white and like soft cotton down
32 there is a protuberance on his head

11. Buswell, Robert E.; Lopez, Donald S. (2014), The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism,
Princeton University.

12. The Concept of the Buddha, Guang Xing, RoutledgeCurzon, 2005.

The six modes of higher knowledge are:
(1) Supernatural power (iddhi-vidha);
(2) The divine ear (dibba-sota);
(3) Penetration of the minds of others (ceto-pariya-ñana);
(4) Memory of former existences ( pubbe-nivasAnussati );
(5) The divine eye (dibba-cakkhu); and (6) Extinction of all defilements
(Asavakkhaya). According to the Samaññaphalasutta, these six modes of knowledge
are in ascending order; the knowledge of the extinction of all defilements is the
highest and can be attained only by a Buddha, a pratyekabuddha and an arahant. The
first five are mundane and the last is supramundane; thus it is only through acquiring
the sixth knowledge that one becomes liberated.

13. ibid p.16

14. Encyclopaedia of Buddhism, Vol V, p.365 The Government of Sri Lanka, 1990
15 ibid p.365
16. 72 Anguttaranikaya ii, 130–5.

17. Dhammacakkapavattana Sutta Samyutta Nikaya LVI, 11 Setting in Motion the Wheel of
the Dhamma, Translated from the Pali by Bhikkhu Bodhi. The sutra contains the following
topics:
1. The two extremes to be avoided
2. The Middle Way: the Noble Eightfold Path
3. The Four Noble Truths
4. The Twelve Insights
5. Proclamation of release from rebirth
6. Arising of the Dhamma Eye to Kondañña
7. Proclamation of the devas on Buddha's setting the wheel of Dhamma in motion
 8. Response of the Buddha to Kondañña

18. Buddhaghosa Law, B.C. 1946

19. Bhikkhuni sasana, Book of the Discipline, V.354-55, the eight conditions:
1
.A bhikkhunī who has been ordained even for a hundred years must greet
respectfully, rise up from her seat, salute with joined palms, do proper homage to a
bhikkhu ordained but that day.
2
.A bhikkhunī must not spend the rains in a residence where there are no bhikkhus.
[See Bhikkhuni Pac.56: Vin.IV. 313
3
. Every half month a bhikkhunī should desire two things from the Order of Bhikkhus:
the asking as to the date of the Observance [uposatha] day, and the coming for the
exhortation [bhikkhunovada]. [See Bhikkhuni Pac.59: Vin.IV. 315 ]
4
. After the rains a bhikkhunī must 'invite' [pavarana] before both Orders in respect of
three matters, namely what was seen, what was heard, what was suspected. [See
Bhikkhuni Pac. 57: Vin. IV.314 ]
5
. A nun, offending against an important rule, must undergo manatta discipline for
half a month before both Orders.
6
. When, as a probationer, she has trained in the six rules [cha dhamma] for two years,
she should seek higher ordination from both Orders.
7
. A Bhikkhu must not be abused or reviled in any way by a nun.
8
. From today, admonition of bhikkhus by nuns is forbidden, admonition of nuns by
bhikkhus is not forbidden.

20. (Vin.I, 56). To show his appreciation of something Sàriputta had said the Buddha
responded: `Sàdhu, sàdhu, Sàriputta!' Today it is common for people in Buddhist countries to
say sàdhu three times to express their happiness or approval of something related to the
Dhamma