Also 7–8 Buddou, 9 Booddha, Bhooddha, Boudhou, Budh, Buddh, Buddho. [a. Skr. buddha enlightened, awakened, pa. pple. of budh to awake, know, perceive.] The title given by the adherents of one of the great Asiatic religions, thence called BUDDHISM, to the founder of their faith, Ṣākyamuni, Gautama, or Siddārtha, who flourished in Northern India in the 5th century B.C. Ṣākyamuni is regarded as only the latest of a series of Buddhas or infallible religious teachers, which is hereafter to be continued indefinitely.
When applied to Ṣākyamuni, Buddha is in English use treated as a proper name, and even when used in a general sense, it is always written with a capital B.
1681. R. Knox, Hist. Ceylon, 18. The Buddou, a great god among them.
1784. Sir W. Chambers in Asiat. Res. (1799), I. 163. The Siamese have two orders of priests, and so have the worshippers of Buddou.
1803. Mahony, in Asiat. Res., VII. 32. This last Bhooddha will be born of a Braminee woman.
1844. H. H. Wilson, Brit. India, II. 87. With the acquiescence of the priests of Buddha. Ibid., III. 50. Relics of the four last Buddhas.
1853. Wayland, Mem. Judson, App. II. 410. A Buddh is a being who by virtue of … certain austerities becomes the object of supreme adoration.
1858. Max Müller, Chips (1880), I. ii. 51. The first subjective system of faith in India, the religion of Buddha.
attrib. 1784. Sir W. Chambers, in Asiat. Res. (1799), I. 163. Knox says of the Buddou priests, [etc.].
1801. Joinville, in Asiat. Res., VII. 421. Some prince on the continent, professing the Boudhou religion.
Hence Buddhahood, the condition of a Buddha; Buddhaship, the office of a Buddha.
1837. G. Turnour, Maháwanso, I. xxviii. Prince Siddhattho attained Buddhohood, in the character of Gotamo Buddho.
1878. Dods, Mohammed, Buddha & Christ, iii. 147. Such then was the process by which Siddartha painfully won his way to Buddhahood.
1882. Schaff, Encycl. Rel. Knowl., I. 333. Gautama’s Buddhaship was for five thousand years.
