Tathagata

 

The painting is "Tathagata" by Anna Schalk

[A Sanskrit and Pali word.]

A title or epithet of the Buddha. The term can mean 'one who has thus come' or 'one who has thus gone'.

The Buddha used the term to refer to himself after he had attained enlightenment (bodhi), and it became one of the stock epithets for him.

Other honorific titles include Bhagavan (lord), Jina (conqueror), Arhat (worthy one), and Samyak-sambuddha (perfectly enlightened Buddha).

The historical Buddha Siddhartha Gautama was also known as Sakyamuni or the sage of the Sakyas, and is commonly referred to this way in the Mahayana tradition.

The th in Tathagata does not have the th sound found in father, but the t h sound found in hothouse.

 ---Source: Dictionary of Buddhism, by Damien Keown---