#dipankara — Public Fediverse posts

Dipankara

Means “lamp bearer” in Sanskrit. Also known as Dipankara Buddha.

This is 1 of the Buddhas of the past. He’s said to have lived on Earth 4 asankheyyas & 100,000 kalpas ago. Asankheyyas is a Buddhist name for the number 10 to the 140th power, as it is described in the Avatamsaka Sutra. Kalpas is a long period of time (aeon) in Hindu & Buddhist cosmology. Generally, between the creation & recreation of a world/universe.

According to Buddhists, Dipankara was a previous Buddha who attained Enlightenment eons before Gautama Buddha, the historical Buddha.

Generally, Buddhists believe that there has been a succession of many Buddhas in the distant past & that many more will show up in the future. Dipankara was 1 of these previous Buddhas. While Gautama Buddha was the current, & most recent, Enlightened 1, & Maitreya will be the next Buddha in the distant future. Chinese Buddhism honors Dipankara as 1 of many Buddhas of the past.

Dipankara, Gautama, & Maitreya are “the Buddhas of Three Times” in Yiguandao. Maitreya is often considered the Buddhist equivalent of a Messiah. Dipankara is generally depicted as a sitting Buddha. But his depictions as a standing Buddha are common in China, Thailand, & Nepal; with the right hand, he generally forms a protection mudra (abhaya mudra), & often he forms it with both hands. A mudra is a symbolic/ritual gesture/pose in Hinduism, Jainism, & Buddhism. Some mudras involve the entire body, most are performed with the hands & fingers.

Dipankara is rarely pictured alone. He’s generally pictured with 2 bodhisattvas, Manjusri & Vajrapani (common in Java) or Avalokiteśvara & Vajrapani (common in Sri Lanka); or with the Buddhas who come after him, Gautama & Maitreya.

1 of the Buddhas of Bamiyan, which was destroyed by the Taliban in 2001, was said to portray Dipankara. Statues of Dipankara can also be found in the Longmen & Yungang Grottoes in China.

One story shown in Buddhist art has Gautama Buddha in a former incarnation known as Sumedha, a rich his long black hair on the ground, in an act of piety that the Dipankara Buddha could cross a puddle of mud without soiling his feet.

This meeting between Dipankara & Sumedha happened many lifetimes before Sumedha’s eventual enlightenment as Gautama Buddha (Shakyamuni). From this act, Dipankara told Sumedha, “In the ages of the future you’ll come to be a Buddha called ‘Shakyamuni,'” to which Sumedha replied, “I am to become a Buddha, awakened to enlightenment; may you tread with your feet on my feet – on my brith, old age, & death.”

Dipankara then said, “Freed from human existence, you’ll become an effective teacher, for the sake of the world. Born among the Shakyas, as the epitome of the Third World, the Lamp of all Beings, you’ll be known as Gautama. You’ll be the son of King Suddhodana & Queen Maya. Sariputta & Moggallana will be your chief/main disciples. Your caretaker/attendant will be named Ananda.”

In the 40-year plus of his life after enlightenment, Gautama Buddha is said to have recounted almost 554 past life stories (called Jataka tales) of his prior lives. Gautama Buddha is quoted as saying a “person starts the journey to become a Buddha filling 10 Paramita, or “perfections.”

Some sources & scriptures say that the Bodhisattva Gautama was born as Prince Sumedha in the (same) time (period) of Dipankara & was rich & gave all his wealth to become a monk. It’s said that Gautama Bodhisattva received his 1st Niyatha Vivarana (or definite foresighting by a Buddha) from Dipankara. This encounter, among many other predictions can be found in the Mahayana text Sangatha Sutra.

By the 17th century, Dipankara had become a figure of veneration in the Nepalese Buddhist communities. These followers consider him a protector of merchants & associate him with almsgiving. He’s also considered the protector of sailors, & sometimes statues of Dipankara are found on the coastline to guide & protect the ships in their route.

Some Chinese folk religionists in Taiwan & Chinese overseas communities also worshipped Dipankara Buddha.

The Buddhavamsa says that Dipankara achieved Nirvana in Nandarama, where a stupa was built which was 36 yojanas high. A yojana is a measure of distance that was used in ancient India, Cambodia, Thailand, & Myanmar. This ranges from 3.5 to 15 km (or 2.17 to 9.32 miles).

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