Buddhism
Buddhism does not teach a creator God; the names honoured here belong to the Buddha, the awakened teacher, and to the ultimate goal he taught: the Dhamma (truth) and Nibbana (liberation). Most come from the early Pali suttas, above all the classic list of the Buddha's qualities ('iti pi so…'); the last few are Mahayana or Pure Land terms and are marked as such.
- Buddhabuddha
The Awakened One: one who has woken up fully to the truth of things.
Ascribed to the Buddha. One of the nine qualities in the 'iti pi so' recollection.
Anguttara Nikaya 6.10 ↗ - Bhagavat (the Blessed One)bhagavā
The Blessed or Fortunate One, worthy of reverence; the usual way the suttas refer to the Buddha.
Ascribed to the Buddha. Same root as the Hindu 'Bhagavan', but here a title of honour, not of a deity.
Anguttara Nikaya 6.10 ↗ - Arahantarahaṃ
The Worthy One: one who has destroyed greed, hatred and delusion and is worthy of offerings.
Ascribed to the Buddha, and also to his fully liberated disciples.
Anguttara Nikaya 6.10 ↗ - Sammasambuddhasammāsambuddha
The Perfectly Self-Awakened One, who found the way unaided and taught it to others.
Ascribed to the Buddha.
Digha Nikaya 2 ↗ - Sugatasugata
The Well-Gone One: one who has gone well, and gone to the good destination.
Ascribed to the Buddha.
Anguttara Nikaya 6.10 ↗ - Lokavidulokavidū
Knower of the Worlds: one who understands the world, its origin, its ending and the way beyond it.
Ascribed to the Buddha.
Anguttara Nikaya 6.10 ↗ - Unsurpassed Guide of those to be tamedanuttaro purisadammasārathi
The incomparable trainer of people ready to be trained, like a charioteer guiding horses.
Ascribed to the Buddha.
Anguttara Nikaya 6.10 ↗ - Teacher of gods and humanssatthā devamanussānaṃ
The teacher whose instruction reaches both heavenly beings and people.
Ascribed to the Buddha. In Buddhism the gods are themselves unenlightened beings who can learn from him.
Anguttara Nikaya 6.10 ↗ - Tathagatatathāgata
The one 'thus gone' or 'thus come': the title the Buddha used for himself.
Ascribed to the Buddha. The sutta explains he is so called because he speaks and acts just as he has realised.
Anguttara Nikaya 4.23 ↗ - Dhammadhamma
The truth the Buddha realised and taught: visible here and now, timeless, inviting all to come and see.
Ascribed to the teaching itself, the second of the Three Jewels (Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha).
Anguttara Nikaya 6.10 ↗ - Nibbana (Nirvana)nibbāna
The 'blowing out' of greed, hatred and delusion; the highest happiness and the end of suffering.
Ascribed to the goal, not to a being. The Dhammapada calls it the highest happiness.
Dhammapada 204 ↗ - The Unborn, the Unconditionedajāta, asaṅkhata
That which is not born, not made, not conditioned; because it exists, escape from the conditioned is possible.
Ascribed to Nibbana. A rare early passage describing the ultimate in positive terms.
Udana 8.3 ↗ - Dharmakayadharmakāya
The Truth-Body: the Buddha understood as identical with ultimate reality itself, beyond any physical form.
Mahayana doctrine (the 'three bodies' of the Buddha). The Pali Digha Nikaya already calls the Tathagata 'dhamma-body' as an epithet.
Digha Nikaya 27 ↗ - Amitabhaamitābha
Infinite Light: the Buddha of the western Pure Land, also called Amitayus, Infinite Life.
Pure Land (Mahayana). The sutra explains both names: his light and his life are immeasurable.
Larger Sukhavativyuha Sutra §12, §14 ↗ - Buddha-naturebuddhadhātu / tathāgatagarbha
The potential for awakening, or awakened nature itself, present in every living being.
Mahayana, especially East Asian and Tibetan traditions (Chinese 佛性 foxing). Not found as a doctrine in the Pali canon.
Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra; Tathagatagarbha sutras ↗