Pratyeka-buddha (gJ Skt. (Pali, pachcheka-buddha), lit. “solitary awakened one”; a term for an awakened one (buddha), who due to insight into the twelve nidānas has attained enlightenment on his own and only for himself. Meritorious qualities, such as omniscience (sarvajñatā), or the ten powers (dashabala), which characterize a fully enlightened one (samyaksambuddha) are not ascribed to him. In the levels of sainthood, he is placed between the arhats and the buddhas who have attained complete enlightenment.
Sometimes this term is also applied to enlightened ones who live in a time when there is no buddha and have attained enlightenment in a previous existence through insight into conditioned arising (pratītya-samutpāda).
The pratyeka-yāna (“vehicle of the solitary awakened ones”) is one of the three vehicles leading to the attainment of nirvana (triyāna).
Source: The Encyclopedia of Eastern Philosophy and Religion: Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Zen. Shambhala Publications, Inc.
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