Does anywhere know where I can find the stories behind the different type of buddha's?

Question

Does anywhere know where I can find the stories behind the different type of buddha's?

Answer 1

Wikipedia has an excellent article on "Types of Buddhas." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Types_of_Bu...

Buddha types fall into two categories:

1. Samyaksambuddha

2. Pratyekabuddha

The first category, Samyaksambuddha, attain enlightenment through their own efforts and then act as teachers of others. This group includes Shakyamuni Buddha (the historical Buddha).

The second group, Pratyekabuddha, also attain enlightenment but do not teach or reach out to others in service.

There are also various "named" Buddhas, including:

Shakyamuni Buddha - the historical Buddha who lived 2,500 years ago

Amitabha Buddha - the celestial Buddha of Mahayana Buddhism who oversees the "Pure Land"

Maitreya Buddha - the future Buddha

Bhaisajyaguru or Medicine Buddha - the Buddha of healing

Wikipedia has articles on each of these Buddhas.

=============

This list does not include the many bodhisattvas of the Mahayana tradition.

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

http://kadampa.org/en/buddhism

or just go online and type in the different buddha names (ie- buddha Manjushri or vajrasattva) and you'll find pictures and explainations and so forth... Or ask a dharma practicioner for specifics! :)

Answer 3

You will have to read multiple sutras.

Amitabha Sutra: About Amitabha Buddha from the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss.  http://gbm-online.com/Sutras.asp

Earthstore Sutra: Some stories about former Buddhas of the past. This sutra is actually about Earthstore Bodhisattva, but in talking about him, the buddha also mentioned other buddhas and the specific benefits granted by each of those buddhas. There's also a chapter specifically about other buddhas--Read the chapter of the Names of Buddhas. http://cttbusa.org/ess/earthstore9.htm

Medicine Master Buddha Sutra: About Medicine Master Buddha and his vows and compassionate means to teach and rescue living beings. http://gbm-online.com/Sutras.asp

(Avatamsaka Sutra) The Flower Adornment Sutra's chapter on the Thus Come One's manifestations has mentionings of many buddhas, but mainly about bodhisattvas and their offerings. But there is chapter 7, "Names of the Buddhas" and that would be more of what you're looking for.

Then there is the Sutra of the Buddha speaks the names of Buddhas. I don't think this is in english yet... but there are ove 10,000 buddha names mentioned, and the buddha spoke a variety of benefits in repenting to the buddhas.

Answer 4

You can also read the Jataka stories.

The Jataka is called the Buddha's recollection of his past lives as animals.

They're basically existing Indian stories which became 'Buddhasised' to teach Buddhist moral principles. Some might take them literally, some might not.

One important lesson from the Jataka is that you can be a good being without having a teacher teach it to you. Noone needs a teacher/a Buddha to be good; you can discover it on your own, though a teacher/Buddha makes things easier.

On another level, Theravada Buddhism recognises 5 Buddhas (Buddha is the latest one). It names the 5 Buddhas but I don't know the stories of them and their dhamma probably became lost until Buddha re-taught the universal principles of dhamma. The final 6th Buddha will be Maitreya. Maitreya comes when the Dhamma is completely lost, then Maitreya shows the path of dhamma again, then Maitreya's dhamma becomes lost, then the world ends.