Originally in Buddhism, as may be seen in the legend of Kako-shichibutsu (seven Buddhas in the past), Shakyamuni Buddha was believed to have successfully established such a great religion as Buddhism not within his generation, but as a result of the accumulated good conduct of his many predecessor Buddhas who had attained enlightenment and Buddhahood in the past world.
もともと仏教では、過去七仏にみられるように釈迦仏が仏教という大宗教を成したのは単に釈迦一代のみの事業ではなく、過去においてすでに成道し成仏した仏陀たちの前世の功徳が累積した結果であるという思想があった。