Dipankar Buddha

 Dipankar ( "lamp bearer" in Sanskrit or Dipankha in Nepal Bhasa, Newari Language) is one of the Buddhas of the past, believed to have lived on earth one hundred thousand years from now. The number of Buddhas are often collectively known under the name of 'Thousand Buddhas". Each was responsible for a life cycle. According to some Buddhist traditions, Dipankara was a Buddha who reached enlightenment aeons prior to Gautama, 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. It is believed that Dipankar would be one of the numerous previous Buddhas, while Gautama was the most recent, and Maitreya will be the next Buddha in the future. Dipankar is generally represented as a sitting Buddha, but a standing Dipankar Buddha is common in Nepal, China and Thailand. Dipankar is depicted with the right hand in a protection mudra, and often he forms it with both hands. He is generally depicted with two Bodhisattvas, Manjushri and Vajrapani (common in Java, Indonesia) or Avalokiteshvara and Vajrapani (common in Sri Lanka); or with the Buddhas who come after him, Gautama and Maitreya. By the 17th century, Dipankara had become a figure of veneration in Nepalese Buddhist communities. These followers consider him a protector of merchants and associate him with alms-giving.