ama.

It is only natural that the line of Buddhas should extend after as well
as before Gotama. In the Pitakas there are allusions to such a posterior
series, as when for instance we hear[754] that all Buddhas past and to
come have had and will have attendants like Ananda, but Metteya the
Buddha of the future has not yet become an important figure. He is just
mentioned in the Digha Nikaya and Buddha-Vamsa and the Milinda Panha
quotes an utterance of Gotama to the effect that "He will be the leader
of thousands as I am of hundreds," but the quotation has not been
identified.

The Buddhas enumerated are supreme Buddhas (Samma-sam-buddha) but there
is another order called Pacceka (Sanskrit Pratyeka) or private Buddhas.
Both classes attain by their own exertions to a knowledge of the four
truths but the Pacceka Buddhas are not, like the supreme Buddhas,
teachers of mankind and omniscient[755]. Their knowledge is confined to
what is necessary for their own salvation and perfection. They are
mentioned in the Nikayas as worthy of all respect[756] but are not
prominent in either the earlier or later works, which is only natural,
seeing that by their very definition they are self-centred and of little
importance for mankind. The idea of the private Buddha however is
interesting, inasmuch as it implies that even when the four truths are
not preached they still exist and can be discovered by anyone who makes
the necessary mental and moral effort. It is also noticeable that the
superiority of a supreme Buddha lies in his power to teach and help
others. A passionless and self-centred sage falls short of the ideal.

[Footnote 1: The frontier seems to be about Long. 65 deg. E.]

[Footnote 2: See Coedes's views about Srivijaya in _B.E.F.E.O._ 1918, 6.
The inscriptions of Rajendracola I (1012-1042 A.D.) show that Hindus in
India were not wholly ignorant of Indian conquests abroad.]

[Footnote 3: But the Japanese syllabaries were probably formed under
Indian influence.]

[Footnote 4: Probably the Christian doctrine of the atonement or
salvation by the death of a deity is an exception. I do not know of any
Indian sect which holds a similar view. The obscure verse Rig Veda x.
13. 4 seems to hint at the self-sacrifice of a deity but the hymn about
the sacrifice of Purusha (x. 90) has nothing to do with redemption or
atonement.]

[Footnote 5: It is possible (though not, I think, certain) that the
Buddha called his principal doc