According to
Theravada
''Theravāda'' (; 'School of the Elders'; ) is Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school's adherents, termed ''Theravādins'' (anglicized from Pali ''theravādī''), have preserved their version of the Buddha's teaching or ''Dharma (Buddhi ...
Buddhism's
Pali canon
The Pāḷi Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhism, Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pāli language. It is the most complete extant Early Buddhist texts, early Buddhist canon. It derives mainly from t ...
's
Buddhavamsa and 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 śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist lege ...
. Sumedha Buddha was born in Sudassana. According to the canon at 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, the historical Gotama Buddha was living as a Brahmin-then-ascetic named "Sumedha."
[Malalasekera (1899–1973), entry 1 for "Sumedha."]
References
{{Buddhism topics
Buddhas