Buddhas before Lord Tanhankara

[UpasakaAbhaya]

Dear friends in Dhamma,

Does anyone have any information on the names of the Buddhas before Lord Tanhankara?

I have found passing mention in various works of Buddhas which supposedly precede Lord Tanhankara. Among those are Sirimata Buddha, Mahutta Buddha, Sumita Buddha, and a previous Metteyya/Maitreya Buddha.

These are Buddhas which Metteyya bodhisatta (may have) served and made aspirations under, and would have arisen in the past Aeon of Adornment/Glorious Kalpa. Lords Tanhankara, Medhankara, and Saranankara were the last three in a series of a thousand of that Aeon.
I have found reference of the first Buddha of that Aeon being named Flower Glow Buddha...

There is a work preserved by the Mahayana tradition which appears to give these names, as well as a thousand from both our present Aeon of the Wise and the future Aeon of Stars. Sometimes goes by: The Record of the Three Thousand Buddhas of the Three Kalpas. I found the chant in Chinese and Tibetan, but can't find the actual Sutra or English source.

There is also Epochs of the Conqueror, Jinakalamali which I wouldn't mind reading. The Digha Nikaya commentary might have info too, but I can't find it.

I'm aware I'm wandering into potentially late works, but any info regarding pre-Lord Tanhankara Buddhas would be most appreciated.

Metta and peace,
Bowing and thanks,
Upasaka Abhaya

[cookiemonster]

Dear friends in Dhamma,

Does anyone have any information on the names of the Buddhas before Lord Tanhankara?

I have found passing mention in various works of Buddhas which supposedly precede Lord Tanhankara. Among those are Sirimata Buddha, Mahutta Buddha, Sumita Buddha, and a previous Metteyya/Maitreya Buddha.

These are Buddhas which Metteyya bodhisatta (may have) served and made aspirations under, and would have arisen in the past Aeon of Adornment/Glorious Kalpa. Lords Tanhankara, Medhankara, and Saranankara were the last three in a series of a thousand of that Aeon.
I have found reference of the first Buddha of that Aeon being named Flower Glow Buddha...

There is a work preserved by the Mahayana tradition which appears to give these names, as well as a thousand from both our present Aeon of the Wise and the future Aeon of Stars. Sometimes goes by: The Record of the Three Thousand Buddhas of the Three Kalpas. I found the chant in Chinese and Tibetan, but can't find the actual Sutra or English source.

There is also Epochs of the Conqueror, Jinakalamali which I wouldn't mind reading. The Digha Nikaya commentary might have info too, but I can't find it.

I'm aware I'm wandering into potentially late works, but any info regarding pre-Lord Tanhankara Buddhas would be most appreciated.

Metta and peace,
Bowing and thanks,
Upasaka Abhaya

Vipassi, Sikhi, Vessabhu, Kakusanda, Konagamana, Kassapa, and Angirasa (Gotama) are named in the oldest strata of the Pali text (https://accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/dn ... #fnt-s24-4)

I'm not aware of any other names outside of the Buddhavamsa (which is supposedly a late text)

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

Only 28 Buddhas are mentioned in Theravāda texts and Commentaries.

The 28 Buddhas

[UpasakaAbhaya]

Dear Cookiemonster,

Those are the only ones mentioned in the suttas, but the Buddhavamsa is counted by many as included within the Pali Canon. I believe the Jinakalamali is a Thai post canonical work.

Abhaya

[UpasakaAbhaya]

Dear Venerable Sir,

Is the Anagatavamsa not a Theravada commentary?

Metta and peace,
Bowing and thanks,
Upasaka Abhaya

[Nicholas Weeks]

As I wrote over at Dharma Wheel:

Neither the Buddhavamsa nor the Mahavastu name any Buddhas before Tanhankara. Since he was the first in the Saramanda kappa, one needs at least to know the name of the previous kappa, which I do not.

[Dhammanando]

There is also Epochs of the Conqueror, Jinakalamali which I wouldn't mind reading. The Digha Nikaya commentary might have info too, but I can't find it.

There's a scanned copy of the Jinakālamālī here (Pali in Thai script and Thai translation):

http://www.finearts.go.th/chiangmailibr ... tml?page=1

But the chapter entitled Atidūrenidāna, "Stories of the Long Distant Past", doesn't name any Buddha before the sāramaṇḍakappa in which Sumedha met Dīpaṅkara.

Nor does the Dīgha Atthakathā, which can be read at the Goenka Tipiṭaka website: https://www.tipitaka.org/

[Nicholas Weeks]

A related query: There is a list of kappas by number of buddhas - one appears, two appear etc. It would be nice & tidy if the chronological sequence of the kappas was the same, but I doubt it - or is it so?

[salayatananirodha]

does the buddhavamsa not contradict the earlier suttas which list seven buddhas

[Dhammanando]

does the buddhavamsa not contradict the earlier suttas which list seven buddhas

The Buddhavaṃsa is based on a much longer time frame than the ninety-one aeons of the Mahāpadānasutta and Āṭānāṭiya Suttas.

[sentinel]

Do you find it strange where the name of all the Buddha does not have something like Dae Jung , Kovit , Alex , Putin , Shiva , Orgyen and Aung ?

[Dhammanando]

Do you find it strange where the name of all the Buddha does not have something like Dae Jung , Kovit , Alex , Putin , Shiva , Orgyen and Aung ?

No stranger than the fact that Ānanda becomes "Anon" in Thai and "Kun dga' bo" in Tibetan, or that Mahākassapa becomes "Da Jia She" in Chinese.

If a text is in Pali then we may anticipate that any proper name imported from another language will be Pali-ized, either by having its meaning translated into Pali or its pronunciation modified to fit the Pali phonemic system.

[sentinel]

Do you find it strange where the name of all the Buddha does not have something like Dae Jung , Kovit , Alex , Putin , Shiva , Orgyen and Aung ?

No stranger than the fact that Ānanda becomes "Anon" in Thai and "Kun dga' bo" in Tibetan, or that Mahākassapa becomes "Da Jia She" in Chinese.

If a text is in Pali then we may anticipate that any proper name imported from another language will be Pali-ized, either by having its meaning translated into Pali or its pronunciation modified to fit the Pali phonemic system.

Venerable , that doesn't mean the Buddha origins came from Thai ethnic , Japanese race or an African ! It does appear that the Buddha of previous era all came from India .

[cappuccino]

it was said Buddha waited for the right time & place to be reborn

[Dhammanando]

Venerable , that doesn't mean the Buddha origins came from Thai ethnic , Japanese race or an African ! It does appear that the Buddha of previous era all came from India .

Surely what it means is that the fact that their names are preserved in Pali provides no clue at all as to where they flourished, just as "Alfredus Magnus" provides no clue that Alfred the Great was a Saxon from Wessex, or as "Carolus Magnus" provides no clue that Charlemagne was King of the Franks.