Dīpamkara (Dīpaṃkara) Skt. (Pali, Dīpankara), lit. “kindler of lights”; legendary buddha who is said to have lived an endlessly long time ago. Dīpamkara is considered the first of the twenty-four buddhas preceding the historical Buddha Shākyamuni. The latter, in the form of the ascetic Sumedha, is said to have vowed in the presence of Dīpamkara to become a buddha. Thanks to his supernatural powers Dīpamkara recognized that after an endless number of ages had elapsed, Sumedha would become a buddha named Gautama; he proclaimed to the multitude the glorious future of the ascetic.
Dīpamkara is considered the most important of all the predecessors of the Buddha Shākyamuni. He symbolizes all the buddhas of the past and, particularly in China, he is depicted together with Shākyamuni and Maitreya, the buddha of the future, as one of the “buddhas of the three times” (past, present, future).
According to tradition he was eighty ells tall, his retinue was composed of 84 thousand arhats, and he lived 100,000 years. The stūpa that holds his relics is thirty-six yojanas high. Legendary tales of his life abound.
Source: The Encyclopedia of Eastern Philosophy and Religion: Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Zen. Shambhala Publications, Inc.
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