Tathāgata
Buddhist term, referring to the Buddha as transcendent / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Tathāgata (Pali: [tɐˈtʰaːɡɐtɐ]) is a Pali and Sanskrit word; Gautama Buddha uses it when referring to himself or other Buddhas in the Pāli Canon. Likewise, in the Mahayana corpus, it is an epithet of Shakyamuni Buddha and the other celestial buddhas. The term is often thought to mean either "one who has thus gone" (tathā-gata), "one who has thus come" (tathā-āgata), or sometimes "one who has thus not gone" (tathā-agata). This is interpreted as signifying that the Tathāgata is beyond all coming and going – beyond all transitory phenomena. There are, however, other interpretations and the precise original meaning of the word is not certain.[1]
Translations of Tathāgata | |
---|---|
English | One who has thus gone Thus Come One |
Sanskrit | तथागत |
Pali | 𑀢𑀣𑀸𑀕𑀢 |
Bengali | তথাগত |
Burmese | တထာဂတ (MLCTS: tathāgata) |
Chinese | 如來 (Pinyin: rú laí/ Cantonese=yu loi) |
Japanese | 如来 (Rōmaji: nyorai) |
Khmer | តថាគត (tathakut) |
Korean | 여래 (RR: yeorae) |
Mongolian | ᠲᠡᠭᠦᠨᠴᠢᠯᠡᠨ ᠢᠷᠡᠭᠰᠡᠨ Түүнчлэн ирсэн |
Sinhala | තථාගත (tathāgata) |
Tibetan | དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་ (dezhin sheg pa) |
Tagalog | Tathagata |
Thai | ตถาคต |
Vietnamese | Như Lai |
Glossary of Buddhism |
The Buddha is quoted on numerous occasions in the Pali Canon as referring to himself as the Tathāgata instead of using the pronouns me, I or myself. This may be meant to emphasize by implication that the teaching is uttered by one who has transcended the human condition, one beyond the otherwise endless cycle of rebirth and death, i.e. beyond dukkha.