A human Buddha, as contrasted to celestial Buddhas. The name comes from the Sanskrit manuya, meaning “human” and Buddha meaning “the awakened one.” Such a Buddha is differentiated from the ĀDI-BUDDHA, Amitābha Buddha, Akshobhya Buddha and other DHYĀNI-BUDDHAS. Gautama Buddha was a Mānushya-Buddha, born of a human mother. On the other hand, the other kinds of Buddhas are celestial Buddhas. The Dhyāni-Buddhas are emanations from the primeval Ādi-Buddha. Helena P. Blavatsky adds that when a Mānushya-Buddha is born, a Dhyāni-Buddha creates through the power of meditation a mind-born Bodhisattva “whose mission it is after the physical death of his human, or Mānushya-Buddha, to continue his work on earth until the appearance of the subsequent Buddha” (CW XIV:391). 

P.S.H./V.H.C.

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