In countries where Theravāda Buddhism is practiced by the majority of people, such as Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, it is customary for Buddhists to hold elaborate festivals, especially during the fair weather season, paying homage to the 29 Buddhas described in the Buddhavamsa. The Buddhavamsa is a text which describes the life of Gautama Buddha and the 27 Buddhas who preceded him, along with the future Metteyya Buddha. The Buddhavamsa is part of the Khuddaka Nikāya, which in turn is part of the Sutta Piṭaka. The Sutta Piṭaka is one of three main sections of the Pāli Canon of Theravāda Buddhism. The first three of these Buddhas—Taṇhaṅkara, Medhaṅkara, and Saraṇaṅkara—lived before the time of Dīpankara Buddha. The fourth Buddha, Dīpankara, is especially important, as he was the Buddha who gave niyatha vivarana to the Brahmin youth who would in the distant future become the bodhisattvaGautama Buddha. After Dīpankara, 25 more noble people would attain enlightenment before Gautama, the historical Buddha. Many Buddhists also pay homage to the future Buddha, Maitreya. According to Buddhist scripture, Maitreya will be a successor of Gautama who will appear on Earth, achieve complete enlightenment, and teach the pure Dharma. The prophecy of the arrival of Maitreya is found in the canonical literature of all Buddhist sects, and is accepted by most Buddhists as a statement about an event that will take place when the Dharma will have been forgotten on Jambudvipa. from the 2nd century Gandharan Art Period
In the earliest strata of Pali Buddhist texts, especially in the first four Nikayas, only the following seven Buddhas, The Seven Buddhas of Antiquity, are explicitly mentioned and named:
Vipassī
Sikhī
Vessabhū
Kakusandha
Koṇāgamana
Kasyapa
Gautama
One sutta called Cakkavatti-Sīhanāda Sutta from an early Buddhist text called the Digha Nikaya also mentions that following the Seven Buddhas of Antiquity, a Buddha named Maitreya is predicted to arise in the world. However, according to a text in the Theravada Buddhist tradition from a later strata called the Buddhavamsa, twenty-one more Buddhas were added to the list of seven names in the early texts. Other later Buddhist texts hold that each kalpa has 1,000, and Metteya to be the fifth and future Buddha of the bhadrakalpa. The previous kalpa was the vyuhakalpa, and the present kalpa is called the bhadrakalpa. Just as the Theravada tradition adds the names of 21 Buddhas to this initial list of seven Buddhas, Mahayana Buddhism adds even more names of Buddhas, sometimes claiming that there has been, is, and/or will be infinite number of Buddhas. According to the Theravada tradition, the seven Buddhas named in the early Buddhist texts are said to be of the following number in the specified kalpa, bridging the vyuhakalpa and the bhadrakalpa:
The Koṇāgamana Buddha, second Buddha of the bhadrakalpa, is mentioned in a 3rd-century BCE inscription by Ashoka at Nigali Sagar, in today's Nepal. There is an Ashoka pillar at the site today. Ashoka's inscription in the Brahmi script is on the fragment of the pillar still partly buried in the ground. The inscription made when Emperor Asoka at Nigali Sagar in 249 BCE records his visit, the enlargement of a stupa dedicated to the Kanakamuni Buddha, and the erection of a pillar: , at Nigali Sagar, 250 BCE According to Xuanzang, Koṇāgamana's relics were held in a stupa in Nigali Sagar, in what is now Kapilvastu District in southern Nepal.
Gautama Buddha (Sakyamuni, the fourth and present Buddha of the bhadrakalpa)
The historical Buddha, Gautama, also called Sakyamuni, is mentioned epigraphically on the Pillar of Ashoka at Rummindei. The Brahmi script inscription on the pillar gives evidence that Ashoka, emperor of the Maurya Empire, visited the place in 3rd-century BCE and identified it as the birth-place of the Buddha. , on the Rummindei pillar of Ashoka.
