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Nattier: Indian Roots of Pure Land Buddhism 195NOTES1. An early (quite likely pre-Buddhist) tradition holds that other buddhashad existed in the past. According to one widespread tradition, Ûåkyamuniis the fourth Buddha of the present “good eon” (bhadrakalpa), having beenpreceded by others who lived and taught long before. On the buddhas ofthe past (and subsequent traditions concerning future ones) see Jan Nattier,Once Upon a Future Time: Studies in a Buddhist Prophecy of Decline(Berkeley: Asian Humanities Press, 1991), pp. 19–26, and Jan Nattier,“Buddhas,” in Encyclopedia of Buddhism, Robert E. Buswell, Jr., ed., pp.71–74 (New York: Routledge, 2003).2. On the ten epithets of the Buddha, and in particular the ways in whichthey were interpreted by early Chinese translators, see Jan Nattier, “TheTen Epithets of the Buddha in the Translations of Zhi Qian,” Annual Reportof The International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology at SokaUniversity for the Academic Year 2002, vol. 6 (2003): pp. 207–250.3. The masculine pronoun is chosen advisedly, for during the initial periodof formulation of the bodhisattva ideal only men seem to have been viewedas capable of pursuing this path. For a discussion of attitudes towardwomen in some of the first Mahåyåna scriptures to be translated intoChinese see Paul Harrison, “Who Gets to Ride in the Great Vehicle? Self-Image and Identity Among the Followers of the Early Mahåyåna,” Journalof the International Association of Buddhist Studies 10-1 (1987): pp. 67–89;for a detailed discussion of the place of women in one of these texts, theFajing jing (Ugraparip®cchå-s¥tra, Taishø, vol. 12, no. 322), see Jan Nattier,A Few Good Men: The Bodhisattva Path According to The Inquiry ofUgra (Ugraparip®cchå) (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2003),especially pp. 96–100.4. On traditions concerning the decline and repeated disappearance ofBuddhism, which are found in a number of Buddhist canonical texts, seeNattier, Once Upon a Future Time. In some Indian Mahåyåna circles theidea that the Buddha had entered extinction was modified, with theformulation of ideas such as the “three bodies of the Buddha” (trikåya),suggesting that there is a permanent entity (the dharmakåya) of which allbuddhas who appear in the world are mere manifestations. Since thesedevelopments postdate the sources with which we are concerned here weneed not deal with them in detail. It is worth noting that not all occurrencesof the term dharmakåya in Buddhist scriptures have this meaning;see Paul Harrison, “Is the Dharmakåya the Real ‘Phantom Body’ ofthe Buddha?” Journal of the International Association of BuddhistStudies 15-1 (1992): pp. 44–94.