Dipamkara

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The larger of the two Buddha statues by Bamiyan was an image of the Buddha Dīpaṃkara

Dīpaṃkara also Dipankara ( Sanskrit dīpaṃkara ; pali dīpaṃkara ;; Chinese  燃燈 佛  /  然 灯 佛 , Pinyin rándēng fó , 燃燈 古佛  /  然 灯 古佛 , rándēng gǔfó ; Tibetan. Mi slob q སློབ་; Mongolian Chula Chula མི་ སློབ་; Mongolian Chula Chula ) the Buddhist tradition a Buddha , who, for example, the Buddha Kashyapa and Kanakamuni , before the appearance of the fourth Buddha of this eon , Buddha Shakyamuni has acted as premature Buddha. The lifetime of the Dīpakara can be traced back to the 3rd or 4th millennium BC. Suspect and is said to have lasted 1000 years.

The name Dīpaṃkara means "lighter (sans. Kara ) of the lamp (sans. Dīpa )". The achievement of the awakening of Buddha Dīpaṃkara is described in the "Butterlamp Sutra" (also "The lamp story of the king with the golden hand"). In the traditions of southern Buddhism (cf. Hinayana , Theravada ) he is considered the 24th Buddha, in northern Buddhism (cf. Mahayana ) he is considered the 52nd Buddha.

He is also known under the name Dvipankara (roughly Buddha of the Islands). He is revered by Buddhist sailors as the calmer of the waves . The places where his statues were found are a good signpost along their sea routes.

presentation

Dīpaṃkara is usually shown seated and dressed as a Buddha; that is, except for some Indian and the oldest Japanese portraits, his robe covers only the right shoulder. Rarer representations that show him standing can be found mainly in China and Thailand , and occasionally in regions that used to be influenced by India. With his right hand he usually leads the Abhaya - mudra (gesture of protection, benevolence and peace) out; in Thailand sometimes with both hands at the same time.

Individual representations of the Dīpaṃkara are rare. He is almost always in the center of groups of three, accompanied by two bodhisattvas : in Java between Manjushri and Vajrapani and in Sri Lanka between Avalokiteshvara and Vajrapani. In the countries of the Himalayan region (mainly Tibet , Nepal ) it is often shown in the company of Buddha Shakyamuni and the future Buddha Maitreya .

The best-known representations include those in Bamiyan in Afghanistan , where the larger of the sculptures destroyed in 2001 showed Dīpaṃkara, and those in the Longmen and Yungang grottos in China .

Buddha Shakyamuni's Bodhisattva promise

Buddha Shakyamuni is said to have made the Bodhisattva promise in an earlier incarnation, at the time of Buddha Dīpaṃkara, at his feet . Thereupon Dīpahekara prophesied that in the next happy age he would bring enlightened teachings into the world as Buddha with the name Shakyamuni ("The sage of the Shakya clan").

See also

literature

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