Do Buddhists believe that Buddha was the only enlightened human ever?
IANAB, so take all of this as the understanding of a layman who’s done some slightly-more-than-casual research.
There is no single Buddha. Siddharta Gautama was the first Buddha, but not the last. Depending on the sect, there are numerous bodhisattvas, people who have achieved enlightenment and could have escaped the wheel of existence but chose to return to help others in their journey.
No, just the first. There are other buddhas (who achieved enlightenment on their own) as well as a bunch of arhats who became enlightened with the Buddha’s help.
Is the Buddha divine?
No. He denied this himself. There is a sect of Buddhism, I think, that worships him, but it’s not part of the central Buddhist doctrine that Siddharta first developed. Buddhism is probably the only major religion that is, essentially, atheist.
Further, in general, a buddha is one who aspires to help others reach nirvana … arhats just do it for themselves.
Yes, no, maybe. Depends on who you talk to. And what your definition of “divine” is.
True. But there are plenty of Buddhists worldwide that essentially worship/venerate/plead for help from/pray to various buddhas. I think here, you get into fine shades, like the question of whether or not Catholicism is polytheistic in nature (of course not! but everyone does spend so much time praying to Mary and all those saints…).
I defer to you on this. Like I said, I’m just a not-particularly-deeply-educated-in-Buddhism layman.
As compared to someone who supposedly is?
I can see the roundabout…
What is your implication?
The dominion of your God over mine?
Buddha don’t play that, Homey!
No deferral required. I’m just a slightly-more-educated-in-Buddhism layman (can an atheist be a layperson?). Divinity is a highly debatable subject.
And there’s also the whole issue that there ARE gods in some flavors of Buddhism (only natural, considering it grew from Hinduism, which has 1,000+ gods)–they just aren’t necessarily objects of worship as we in the west think of gods. Sure, they have supernatural powers, rule realms and forces of nature, etc., but they’re just folks, and I think there are stories of how various gods bowed to the Buddha’s wisdom.
One fundamental basis of buddhism is that every sentinent being can eventually become enlightened and break the cycle of death and rebirth. In other words, everyone has the potential to become a buddha.
There are plenty of people that claim to be buddhists that pray to “the buddha”, but I think you’ll find that generally this would not be considered “true” buddhism.
Tibetan buddhism has a pantheon of gods, demons and protectors, which one would expect as Tibetan Buddhism absorbed and adopted the indigenous Bon rites to a large extent.
The Dalai Lama is the human incarnation of Chenrezig, who is the Protector of Tibet. The Dalai Lama is considered a boddhisatva - one who has reached enlightenment or buddhahood, and then chose to be reborn again to help others find their way to becoming a buddha.
Couple of points:
I believe there are certain Buddhist writings (sutras) that have professed/speculated that the Buddha (Siddartha Gautama) was not the first nor will be the last Buddha. Buddha, after all, roughly translates to “one who is enlightened.” In certainly within the realm of Buddhist philosophy/cosmology to believe that this was (and will be) the case.
As others have mentioned, the Buddha was not devine - just a normal human being like everyone else. Certain sects tend to venerate the Buddha to the point where it becomes almost indistinguishable from worship, but I would venture that it is largely based on misconceptions.
There is one sect, however, (Pure Land Buddhism) where another Buddha (Amitabha) presides “over a Buddha-realm known as Sukhavati, a realm of rebirth in which all impediments to the attainment of final Enlightenment are nonexistent.” It’s this Buddha, not the historical Buddha (Siddharta Gautama) which is “worshiped” (being that this Buddha is not part of our world but of another realm).
See here for more information regarding Pure Land Buddhism. I know that Pure Land Buddhism is popular in some countries, but how widespread it is I am not certain. I can probably safely say that it is not the dominant sect within the wider realm of Buddhism (although it has had some impact on other sects and their followers - Bodhidharma, the “traditional” founder of the Chan (Zen) sect of Buddhism was influenced by elements of Pure Land Buddhism).
So how is enlightenment shared? My limited understanding is that this is considered a greater feat even than attaining enlightenment.
According to the one time I listened in on a Zen Buddhism class, well, it depends on the beliefs. Some sects believe that a master can teach it to others - sometimes directly through instruction and exercise (do this, in this way, and you’ll become enlightened like me!) while others are more … interesting (I threw a bucket of ice water on you, and now you’re enlightened like me!). Other sects have differing views - e.g. that enlightment cannot be taught or even attained in the same way for different individuals.
See Roger Zelazney’s *Lord of Light[/].
Buddha is not a name, it’s a title. Gautama was a Buddha, not the only Buddha ever.
A great friend once told me: “To find enlightenment, all you have to do is to seek enlightenment, and you will find it.” If your interested, there is a type of “modern” (if you’ll pardon the expression) Buddhism. I was for some time attending a group with the Soka Gakkai. For many people, becomming a monk is difficult, but they still want to seek self enlightenment. The Buddha’s final teaching, if my understanding is correct, was the Lotus Sutra. He told all his “followers” (if you could call them that, prehaps students is a better word…) to forget everything he had tought them, and to remember this. It can get complicated, and prehaps that path of Buddhism isn’t for you (or maybe not Buddhism at all), but if you truely seek enlightenment, you will find it. Just follow your heart. Not the sentiment your attached to, or physical things… just clear your mind, and decide where you want to go. You’ll find it sooner or later. It is a long journey, but one worth taking. And just when you think it’s about to end, you find the begining of another path. I just can’t describe it. And now for my next comment…
Lumpy… think about it. Are we not sharing enlightenment, at least of our understanding with you now? Does it need be any more complex than that? It’s not in our words though. It’s easy to get lost in words. But, it’s the fact that people care enough to share information that all should be able to know. Self realization and enlightenment are wonderful. You are sharing enlightenment, right now, because I am learning how to share my enlightenment through your question. Prehaps many will dismiss this as too simple. But the answers usually are.
The Buddha showed the path. All he ever taught was dukkha, and the cessation of dukkha. He wouldn’t have bothered if others weren’t capable of following the path.
This much I personally believe. What follows is FYI, but I’m skeptical.
Divinity does not have a place within Theravada Buddhism, which as the branch I’m most familiar with. Buddhist cosmology is complex (hey, it’s Indian!) with many realms populated with all sorts of devas and brahmins. Some of these can be helpful to humans, others are decidedly unhelpful. But they are not divine; they are just beings on other planes of existence, to use current terminology. They’re not enlightened, either, except for arahants. There are also a few realms with beings who are pretty close to enlightenment (non-returners, etc.). In general, these will attain nibbana without returning to the human realm.
Buddhism maintains that the human realm is best for attaining enlightenment. The (few)lower realms lack sufficient awareness. In the (many) higher realms, the devas are having too good a time to bother becoming enlightened. Humans experience enough dukkha to want to become enlightened, and have the mental ability to follow the path.