Dipankara

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Dipankara Buddha
7th century statue in a niche of Swayambhunath, Kathmandu The great stupa is surrounded by numerous monuments, secondary stupas and religious sculptures.
Sanskrit	Dīpaṃkara
Pāli	Dīpaṅkara
Burmese	‹See Tfd›ဒီပင်္ကရာ ([dìpɪ̀ɰ̃kəɹà])
Chinese	燃燈佛 (Pinyin: Rándēng Fó)
Japanese	燃燈仏（ねんとうぶつ） (romaji: Nentō Butsu)
Khmer	ព្រះពុទ្ធ ទីបង្ករៈ "Preah Puth Dipankara"
Korean	연등불 (RR: Yeondeung Bul)
Mongolian	ᠵᠣᠯᠠ ᠢᠢᠨ ᠵᠥᠬᠢᠶᠠᠭᠴᠢ᠂ ᠳᠢᠸᠠᠩ᠋ᠭᠠᠷ; Зулын Зохиогч, Дивангар; Zula yin Zohiyagci, Divangar
Sinhala	දීපඞ්කර බුදුන් වහන්සේ Dipankara Budun Wahanse
Thai	พระทีปังกรพุทธเจ้า Phra Thipangkon Phutthachao
Tibetan	མར་མེ་མཛད་ Wylie: mar me mdzad THL: Marmedzé
Vietnamese	Nhiên Đăng Phật
Information
Venerated by	Theravada, Mahayana, Vajrayana
Attributes	Causer of Light [citation needed]
Preceded by Śaraṇaṃkara Buddha Succeeded by Kauṇḍinya Buddha
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Dipankara (Pali: Dīpaṅkara; Sanskrit: Dīpaṃkara, "Lamp bearer") or Dipankara Buddha is one of the Buddhas of the past. He is said to have lived on Earth four asankheyyas and one hundred thousand kappas ago.^[1] According to some Buddhist or folk traditions, Dipankara was a previous Buddha who attained Enlightenment eons prior to Gautama Buddha, the historical Buddha.

Generally, Buddhists believe that there has been a succession of many Buddhas in the distant past and that many more will appear in the future. Dipankara was one of these previous Buddhas, while Gautama Buddha was the current and most recent Enlightened one, and Maitreya will be the next Buddha in the distant future.

Chinese Buddhism honors Dipankara as one of many Buddhas of the past. Dipankara, Gautama, and Maitreya are "the Buddhas of Three Times" in Yiguandao.