1: The Book of the Ones
1. Obsession of the Mind - 277
- DG BB TBW © Translated from the Pali by Bhikkhu Bodhi (More copyright information)
1"It is impossible and inconceivable, bhikkhus, that two arahants who are perfectly enlightened Buddhas [n.154] This is redundant, since sammā sambuddha means simply "a perfectly enlightened one," but I render the term thus to avoid misunderstanding. Though arahant disciples achieve sambodhi, full enlightenment, and are occasionally spoken of as sambuddha, "enlightened," the designation sammā sambuddha is reserved for the founder, who alone attains anuttara sammā sambodhi, "unsurpassed perfect enlightenment." could arise contemporaneously in one world system; there is no such possibility. But it is possible that one arahant who is a perfectly enlightened Buddha might arise in one world system; there is such a possibility." [n.155] Mp explains the word "contemporaneously" (apubbaṁ acarimaṁ, lit., "not before, not after") to cover the period from the time a bodhisatta enters his mother's womb until the Buddha’s relics disappear. There can be only one Buddha at a time because a Buddha is without a counterpart or peer (see AN1.172 & AN1.174). Thus if two Buddhas were to arise simultaneously, this statement would be invalidated. The issue is also dealt with at Mil 236–39, cited by Mp. Mp says that because no suttas speak of the arising of Buddhas in other world systems, while there are suttas that say Buddhas do not arise elsewhere, it is only in this world system (imasmiṁyeva cakkavāḷe) that they arise. Mp-ṭ cites several suttas that it interprets as excluding the possibility of Buddhas arising elsewhere, but these texts do not seem to be as categorical as the author supposes. Perhaps this argument was intended to counter the idea being advanced in early Mahāyāna sūtras (or even among other pre-Mahāyāna schools) that Buddhas arise in the world systems of the ten directions. For the early Buddhist view on world systems, see AN3.81.