<p>In Tibetan Buddhism, the primordial Buddha is Samantabhadra also known as Vajradhara. </p>

<p>Primordial Buddha is not a personality, so has no personal history. It is the essence of ever-existing Sat-Dharma implicit in the very nature of things.</p>

<p><a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vajradhara" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vajradhara</a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-11-09T13:24:20.537Z
2017-11-09T13:31:01.367Z
2017-11-09T13:31:01.367Z
Andriy Volkov
<p><a href="http://zugangzureinsicht.org/html/tipitaka/kn/j/j00/index_en.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Nidanakatha - Introductory story</a>, to the Jatakas may give some "answers", yet not sure if such as "the first Buddha ever" was ever mentioned by the Buddha.</p>

<p>Better to reflect the Dhamma of all Buddhasn</p>

<blockquote>
  <p><code>The non-doing of any evil,
  the performance of what's skillful,
  the cleansing of one's own mind: 
      this is the teaching
      of the Awakened.</code><a href="http://zugangzureinsicht.org/html/tipitaka/kn/dhp/dhp.14.than_en.html#dhp-183" rel="nofollow noreferrer">✦</a></p>
</blockquote>

<p>And "knowing": who ever meets the Dhamma, meets the Buddha, meeting the Buddha, one meets the Dhamma.</p>

<p>How seldom to meet a Buddhas Dhamma! Honor it and make the best of you wealth previouse gained.</p>

<p>Buddhas, if attentive reading, always have their previous "Teacher", devoted, vow before them.</p>

<p><em>[Note: This is a gift of Dhamma and not meant for commercial purpose or other low wordily gains by means of trade and exchange.]</em></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-11-09T15:22:39.440Z
2017-11-09T15:22:39.440Z
Samana Johann
<p>There will be no Buddha if there are no sentient beings. Everything is relative. The first Buddha began from the first sentient beings.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-11-09T12:02:11.600Z
2017-11-09T12:02:11.600Z
tutu
<p>You asked a very intelligent question; but this is an intellectual quest that fallen into the category of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_unanswered_questions" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Ten Unexpounded Questions</a>, I infer. It belongs to this group: <code>Is the world eternal?</code>. Discerning that question, it is asking <em>Does the world have beginning/When does the world first appear</em>; follow suit, <em>Who was the first Buddha?</em></p>

<p>Since the Buddha withdrawn from giving answer to the Ten, usually that's the end of it. And then the classical way is to stress, Buddha's teaching is for ending suffering... for someone like wounded by an arrow at heart dying immediately... etc. etc. full-stop. Done. </p>

<hr>

<p>But I think maybe you are interested to investigate a bit more... </p>

<p>The intellectual questions are confined by intellectual limitation. Intellectual limitation of procuring question or answer is limited in these four types:</p>

<ol>
<li>This is (P)</li>
<li>This is not (-P)</li>
<li>This is also is not (P also -P)<sup>1</sup></li>
<li>Neither this is nor is not (Neither P nor -P)<sup>2</sup></li>
</ol>

<p>Called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catu%E1%B9%A3ko%E1%B9%ADi" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Catuṣkoṭi</a>, I prefer the name "Four-statements". Not a fifth statement can be procured by the intellect, except combining the four to make sub-sets.  </p>

<p>A question asked from these Four-statements answered in the Four-statements, Buddha called it "game of the mind" (戲論). There are plenty of these examples in general teachings recorded in Agama Sutras; sophisticated examples in advance teachings recorded in such as Avatamsaka Sutra (the first Sutra spoken by the Buddha). For instant, if this same type of question asked by a Christian: Who created the world? Ans: God. Who created God? Ans (maybe:)): God's father. Who created God's father? Ans: God's grandfather... finally, one can only come up <em>this</em> answer to halt the question: <em>God is Alpha and Omega (the beginning and end/no beginning and end)</em>. See? How horrible the mind can elicit gaming!</p>

<p>But, The Truth is beyond these Four-statements; beyond intellect, beyond the mind; can be pointed, yet not caged for display, like the finger pointing to the moon. That's the deepest teaching of the Buddha. Nagarjuna elaborated the teaching profoundly, for easy application, used one word: Emptiness (空).</p>

<p>OK. I'm diving a bit too much into the sea, giving too long an answer, a bit scary too, huh? Better is finding out by yourself :)</p>

<hr>

<p>Now let's go headlong into your title question: </p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Who was the first buddha?</p>
</blockquote>

<p>The short answer is: 。 <em><code>(silence)</code></em></p>

<p>Additional: The number of buddhas isn't increasing nor decreasing... etc., for this analogy is an extended fabrication constructed by the Four-statements.</p>

<hr>

<p>Now let's deal with the next: </p>

<blockquote>
  <p>how did he become buddha without the dharma or a guru?</p>
</blockquote>

<p>I think the <em>he</em> you referred to Buddha Shakyamuni. First, the Dharma is constant and present, not created hence can't be destroyed; the word used to refer is <em>suchness</em>, or <em>thusness</em>. By the moment Prince Siddhartha realized full enlightenment, he embodied the Dharma, by embodied the Dharma he realized full enlightenment, called Buddha Shakyamuni. </p>

<p><em>Guru</em> I think you meant teacher. Buddha's teachers are previous Buddhas, one of the most significant Gurus for our Buddha, would be Buddha Dipamkara. To be the Lord Buddha of the Three-thousand-world (三千大千世界)<sup>3</sup>, one has to receive the <em>Mark</em> (授記) from the previous Buddha. In Buddha Shakyamuni's case, the <em>Mark</em> was endorsed by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C4%ABpankara_Buddha" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Buddha Dipamkara</a><sup>4</sup>. When a Buddha is perfectly enlightened, worth to be the teacher of all humans and devas, opens the deathless gate for all, he is called a Samyaksambuddha, one who attained the pinnacle of enlightenment, Anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi. My <a href="https://buddhism.stackexchange.com/a/22705/10304">other post</a> may provide more info.  </p>

<p>There is another type of Buddha, he doesn't have a Guru [to endorse him the Mark], called Pratyekabuddha, or called self-awaken Buddha (獨覺佛). He realizes full enlightenment by discovering the Dharma by himself, contemplating the 12 Nidanas, during time there's no Buddha appearing. He doesn't teach nor forming <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sangha" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Saṃgha</a> to carry on any teaching. </p>

<hr>

<p>Indeed your question is well formulated, involving understanding many Buddhist doctrines. My answer just serves as indications, it's for you to explore the richness of the Buddha Dharma, how Buddha sees cosmology, life, the world... etc. _/|\ _ <em><code>(all-my-ten)</code></em>        </p>

<hr>

<p><sub>Footnotes:</sub></p>

<p><sub>1. From Chinese wording I think it made more sense to use <em>also</em> then <em>and</em>. Obviously putting <em>and</em> is violating logic.</sub></p>

<p><sub>2. It follows that the 4th statement should be treated same way.</sub></p>

<p><sub>3. Three-thousand-world has different definitions, I'm still not clear about the grouping of solar systems and galaxies how they referred to in Buddhist cosmology. My assertion is, either one galaxy one world, or one thousand galaxies one world. If it's the later, then 1,000 Milkyway-like star-clusters will be one Samyaksambuddha's teaching ground ~ huge classroom! Sources related to one 3TW presiding one Lord Buddha: Agama Sutras, Avatamsaka Sutra, Mahāprajnāpāramitāśāstra, Abhidharma-kośa, etc.</sub></p>

<p><sup>4. Sources: in the Sutras collected in one of the 12 Sutra-sections of the Chinese Canon, the Agama Section (which is equivalent to Pali Canon's Nikaya Pitaka); Diamond Sutra, Dharmagupta Vinaya (survived only in the Chinese Canon), Mahāprajnāpāramitāśāstra, etc.</sup></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-09-15T12:27:57.503Z
What's the origin of the statement, "`to be the Lord Buddha of the Three-thousand-world (三千大千世界), one has to receive the Mark (授記) from the previous Buddha`" ... is that from the Lotus Sutra? And/or is it somehow inherent in the way that "Dharma is transmitted"?
ChrisW
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2017-09-15T12:31:44.057Z
@ChrisW I will have to retrieve... one Lord Buddha presides over one 3TW is the case, or maybe in Avatamsaka or Brahma Net. About the Mark is in Lotus.
Mishu 米殊
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-09-15T12:41:15.207Z
@ChrisW your next part of the question is stepping into the esoteric area. in Lotus Sutra, it said, all previous Lord Buddhas are teaching Lotus this Sutra... i don't want to sound like a mystic but in the whole Lotus Sutra in fact no Lotus Sutra was taught at all! if you can see this... that's why many people said it's inconsistent and using it as one of the evidences to attack it...
Mishu 米殊
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-09-16T15:33:52.067Z
@Mishu米殊 How could the number of buddhas not be increasing? Are you not working to become a buddha? And is it not impossible for a buddha to lose perfect enlightenment?
jacknad
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2017-09-16T15:40:26.557Z
@Mishu米殊based on your answer I suppose the 1st buddha would have been a Pratyekabuddha.
jacknad
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-09-17T06:12:01.167Z
If you prefer to think in this way it's perfectly ok, @jacknad. But what about further investigating that comes to next concern, will then there not enough space for the Buddhas since it's only increasing... etc. This is the process of discovering the truth by yourself. Only by realizing the truth yourself you are at it. Truth is not words, so is my writings here and there.
Mishu 米殊
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-09-17T06:18:34.957Z
I was quite captivated by the Pratyekabuddha, before I even cared about Buddhism, I though that was cool. But I notice, in many Sutras and Vinayas I read, when it involved narrating a Pratyekabuddha, it never mentioned his name, but if about previous Buddha, it definitely with that Buddha's name. Now, how can you know which one is the 1st since none of them has a name? How do you call "him", because you must say so and so is the 1st right? Again, it's for you to discover. But of import, it seemed Buddha discouraged one aspired to be a Pratyekabuddha if there is option of being Buddha...
Mishu 米殊
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-09-15T12:19:33.000Z
2017-09-18T08:40:40.703Z
2017-09-18T08:40:40.703Z
Mishu 米殊
<p>If the number of buddhas is increasing, who was the first, and how did he become buddha without the dharma or a guru?</p>

<mahayana><buddha>
Who was the first buddha?
# Who was the first buddha?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-09-15)

If the number of buddhas is increasing, who was the first, and how did he become buddha without the dharma or a guru?

**Tags:** mahayana, buddha


---

## 4 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2017-09-15. Score: 5 | Accepted answer

You asked a very intelligent question; but this is an intellectual quest that fallen into the category of the [Ten Unexpounded Questions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_unanswered_questions), I infer. It belongs to this group: `Is the world eternal?`. Discerning that question, it is asking *Does the world have beginning/When does the world first appear*; follow suit, *Who was the first Buddha?*

Since the Buddha withdrawn from giving answer to the Ten, usually that's the end of it. And then the classical way is to stress, Buddha's teaching is for ending suffering... for someone like wounded by an arrow at heart dying immediately... etc. etc. full-stop. Done.

---

But I think maybe you are interested to investigate a bit more...

The intellectual questions are confined by intellectual limitation. Intellectual limitation of procuring question or answer is limited in these four types:

1. This is (P)
2. This is not (-P)
3. This is also is not (P also -P)1
4. Neither this is nor is not (Neither P nor -P)2

Called [Catuṣkoṭi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catu%E1%B9%A3ko%E1%B9%ADi), I prefer the name "Four-statements". Not a fifth statement can be procured by the intellect, except combining the four to make sub-sets.

A question asked from these Four-statements answered in the Four-statements, Buddha called it "game of the mind" (戲論). There are plenty of these examples in general teachings recorded in Agama Sutras; sophisticated examples in advance teachings recorded in such as Avatamsaka Sutra (the first Sutra spoken by the Buddha). For instant, if this same type of question asked by a Christian: Who created the world? Ans: God. Who created God? Ans (maybe:)): God's father. Who created God's father? Ans: God's grandfather... finally, one can only come up *this* answer to halt the question: *God is Alpha and Omega (the beginning and end/no beginning and end)*. See? How horrible the mind can elicit gaming!

But, The Truth is beyond these Four-statements; beyond intellect, beyond the mind; can be pointed, yet not caged for display, like the finger pointing to the moon. That's the deepest teaching of the Buddha. Nagarjuna elaborated the teaching profoundly, for easy application, used one word: Emptiness (空).

OK. I'm diving a bit too much into the sea, giving too long an answer, a bit scary too, huh? Better is finding out by yourself :)

---

Now let's go headlong into your title question:

> Who was the first buddha?

The short answer is: 。 *`(silence)`*

Additional: The number of buddhas isn't increasing nor decreasing... etc., for this analogy is an extended fabrication constructed by the Four-statements.

---

Now let's deal with the next:

> how did he become buddha without the dharma or a guru?

I think the *he* you referred to Buddha Shakyamuni. First, the Dharma is constant and present, not created hence can't be destroyed; the word used to refer is *suchness*, or *thusness*. By the moment Prince Siddhartha realized full enlightenment, he embodied the Dharma, by embodied the Dharma he realized full enlightenment, called Buddha Shakyamuni.

*Guru* I think you meant teacher. Buddha's teachers are previous Buddhas, one of the most significant Gurus for our Buddha, would be Buddha Dipamkara. To be the Lord Buddha of the Three-thousand-world (三千大千世界)3, one has to receive the *Mark* (授記) from the previous Buddha. In Buddha Shakyamuni's case, the *Mark* was endorsed by [Buddha Dipamkara](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C4%ABpankara_Buddha)4. When a Buddha is perfectly enlightened, worth to be the teacher of all humans and devas, opens the deathless gate for all, he is called a Samyaksambuddha, one who attained the pinnacle of enlightenment, Anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi. My [other post](https://buddhism.stackexchange.com/a/22705/10304) may provide more info.

There is another type of Buddha, he doesn't have a Guru [to endorse him the Mark], called Pratyekabuddha, or called self-awaken Buddha (獨覺佛). He realizes full enlightenment by discovering the Dharma by himself, contemplating the 12 Nidanas, during time there's no Buddha appearing. He doesn't teach nor forming [Saṃgha](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sangha) to carry on any teaching.

---

Indeed your question is well formulated, involving understanding many Buddhist doctrines. My answer just serves as indications, it's for you to explore the richness of the Buddha Dharma, how Buddha sees cosmology, life, the world... etc. \_/|\ \_ *`(all-my-ten)`*

---

Footnotes:

1. From Chinese wording I think it made more sense to use *also* then *and*. Obviously putting *and* is violating logic.

2. It follows that the 4th statement should be treated same way.

3. Three-thousand-world has different definitions, I'm still not clear about the grouping of solar systems and galaxies how they referred to in Buddhist cosmology. My assertion is, either one galaxy one world, or one thousand galaxies one world. If it's the later, then 1,000 Milkyway-like star-clusters will be one Samyaksambuddha's teaching ground ~ huge classroom! Sources related to one 3TW presiding one Lord Buddha: Agama Sutras, Avatamsaka Sutra, Mahāprajnāpāramitāśāstra, Abhidharma-kośa, etc.

4. Sources: in the Sutras collected in one of the 12 Sutra-sections of the Chinese Canon, the Agama Section (which is equivalent to Pali Canon's Nikaya Pitaka); Diamond Sutra, Dharmagupta Vinaya (survived only in the Chinese Canon), Mahāprajnāpāramitāśāstra, etc.

> **Comments:**
> **username_5**: What's the origin of the statement, "`to be the Lord Buddha of the Three-thousand-world (三千大千世界), one has to receive the Mark (授記) from the previous Buddha`" ... is that from the Lotus Sutra? And/or is it somehow inherent in the way that "Dharma is transmitted"?  
> **username_4**: @username_5 I will have to retrieve... one Lord Buddha presides over one 3TW is the case, or maybe in Avatamsaka or Brahma Net. About the Mark is in Lotus.  
> **username_4**: @username_5 your next part of the question is stepping into the esoteric area. in Lotus Sutra, it said, all previous Lord Buddhas are teaching Lotus this Sutra... i don't want to sound like a mystic but in the whole Lotus Sutra in fact no Lotus Sutra was taught at all! if you can see this... that's why many people said it's inconsistent and using it as one of the evidences to attack it...  
> **username_0**: @Mishu米殊 How could the number of buddhas not be increasing? Are you not working to become a buddha? And is it not impossible for a buddha to lose perfect enlightenment?  
> **username_0**: @Mishu米殊based on your answer I suppose the 1st buddha would have been a Pratyekabuddha.  
> **username_4**: If you prefer to think in this way it's perfectly ok, @username_0. But what about further investigating that comes to next concern, will then there not enough space for the Buddhas since it's only increasing... etc. This is the process of discovering the truth by yourself. Only by realizing the truth yourself you are at it. Truth is not words, so is my writings here and there.  
> **username_4**: I was quite captivated by the Pratyekabuddha, before I even cared about Buddhism, I though that was cool. But I notice, in many Sutras and Vinayas I read, when it involved narrating a Pratyekabuddha, it never mentioned his name, but if about previous Buddha, it definitely with that Buddha's name. Now, how can you know which one is the 1st since none of them has a name? How do you call "him", because you must say so and so is the 1st right? Again, it's for you to discover. But of import, it seemed Buddha discouraged one aspired to be a Pratyekabuddha if there is option of being Buddha...  

---

### Answer by username_1 on 2017-11-09. Score: 1

In Tibetan Buddhism, the primordial Buddha is Samantabhadra also known as Vajradhara.

Primordial Buddha is not a personality, so has no personal history. It is the essence of ever-existing Sat-Dharma implicit in the very nature of things.

<https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vajradhara>


---

### Answer by username_2 on 2017-11-09. Score: 0

[Nidanakatha - Introductory story](http://zugangzureinsicht.org/html/tipitaka/kn/j/j00/index_en.html), to the Jatakas may give some "answers", yet not sure if such as "the first Buddha ever" was ever mentioned by the Buddha.

Better to reflect the Dhamma of all Buddhasn

> `The non-doing of any evil,
> the performance of what's skillful,
> the cleansing of one's own mind:
> this is the teaching
> of the Awakened.`[✦](http://zugangzureinsicht.org/html/tipitaka/kn/dhp/dhp.14.than_en.html#dhp-183)

And "knowing": who ever meets the Dhamma, meets the Buddha, meeting the Buddha, one meets the Dhamma.

How seldom to meet a Buddhas Dhamma! Honor it and make the best of you wealth previouse gained.

Buddhas, if attentive reading, always have their previous "Teacher", devoted, vow before them.

*[Note: This is a gift of Dhamma and not meant for commercial purpose or other low wordily gains by means of trade and exchange.]*


---

### Answer by username_3 on 2017-11-09. Score: 0

There will be no Buddha if there are no sentient beings. Everything is relative. The first Buddha began from the first sentient beings.


---

