According to
Theravada
''Theravāda'' () ( si, ථේරවාදය, my, ထေရဝါဒ, th, เถรวาท, km, ថេរវាទ, lo, ເຖຣະວາດ, pi, , ) is the most commonly accepted name of Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school' ...
Buddhism's
Pali canon
The Pāli Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pāli language. It is the most complete extant early Buddhist canon. It derives mainly from the Tamrashatiya school.
During t ...
's
Buddhavamsa and its commentary, Sumedha Buddha is the fourteenth of twenty-seven Buddhas who preceded the historical
Gautama Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism.
According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in Lu ...
. Sumedha Buddha was born in Sudassana. According to the canon at the age of 9,000 years old he became an ascetic, practiced austerities for fifteen days, and attained Enlightenment. He lived 90,000 years, and died in Medhārāma.
The Buddhavamsa describes Sumedha Buddha in this fashion:
Sumedha, hard to attack, of intense incandescence, supreme sage in all the world. He was clear-eyed, full-mouthed, of tall stature, upright, majestic. He sought the welfare of all beings and released many from bondage.
During Sumedha Buddha's lifetime, the one destined to become Gautama Buddha was known as the Brahmin Uttara who, upon entering ascetic life, made an offering to Sumedha Buddha and his Order of 80 crores of wealth.
Sumedha as a previous life of Gotama Buddha
The name Sumedha is found elsewhere in early Buddhist canons in the stories of other Buddhas. Most notably, in the Pali Canon's Buddhavamsa, during the dispensation of the first of twenty-five buddhas,
Dipankara Buddha
Dipankara (Pali: ''Dīpaṅkara''; Sanskrit: ', "Lamp bearer") or Dipankara Buddha is one of the Buddhas of the past. He is said to have lived on Earth four asankheyyas and one hundred thousand kappas ago. According to some Buddhist or folk tr ...
, the historical Gotama Buddha was living as a Brahmin-then-ascetic named "Sumedha."
[Malalasekera (1899–1973), entry 1 for "Sumedha."]
References
{{Buddhism topics
Buddhas