Buddhology

Buddhology is the study of the Buddha or Buddhahood. The term is also used as a synonym for Buddhist Studies, contemporary academic investigation of Buddhism. There are varied and nuanced understandings of the precise nature of a Buddha expressed in the different Buddhist traditions and movements.

Theravada Buddhists base their view of the Buddha on the Pali Canon, which appear to be the oldest surviving Buddhist scriptures. From the accounts contained in the Pali Canon emerges the view that Buddha was a human being — a perfected human being. Buddha was also possessed of all the various supernatural powers, and mastered these to the greatest extent possible (Digha Nikaya 11: Kevatta Sutta). The body and mind of a Buddha (while alive) are impermanent and changing, just like the body and mind of ordinary people. A Buddha does recognize the unchanging nature of the Dharma, which is an eternal principle, and an unconditioned and timeless phenomenon.

When Buddha died at the age of 80, his body and mind both came to an end. After death, the state of Buddha is undefinable (MN 22). However, a Buddha definitely does not experience rebirth after death, but experiences the attainment of Parinibbana (the ultimate Nirvana). There is thus an end to the life-continuity of rebirths succeeding one another (this is one of the meanings of samsara).

In Theravada, a Buddha is not regarded as a god nor as having created the universe or ruling over it.

Theravada Buddhism interprets the statement by Buddha that "whoever sees the Dharma sees me (that is; the Buddha)" in the context of the whole conversation which the Buddha held on that occasion. The goal of this teaching was to make clear that the physical body of the Buddha is not the essence of his being, and that seeing his body doesn't tell you much about him at all. Even when one is sitting next to him, if one doesn't know his teaching (or sees the truth he discovered: Dharma), one is really far from him. But when one sees the Dharma, even if one is very far away, it is as if one is very close to him, because one really sees what Buddhahood is about. According to the Theravada tradition, the context of the teaching thus does not support any claim for the Buddha to have meant that his existence is God-like (permanent, unchanging, timeless), which is how this sentence is sometimes interpreted in Mahayana Buddhism.

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