However, somewhat later during the period after Shakyamuni's death, there came to the world a thought that Shakyamuni had already been a Buddha preaching dharma for a long time before he was born into this mortal world, as written in some Buddhist sutra like Hokke-kyo Sutra (the Lotus Sutra), which mentions in its Chapter 16 (the Life Span of the Tathagata), for example, 'it has been immeasurable, boundless hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, millions of nayutas of kalpas since I in fact attained Buddhahood.'
しかし釈尊滅後、やや時代が下ると、法華経などのような一部の経典において、たとえば如来寿量品第十六には、「我実に成仏してより已来、無量無辺百千万億那由陀劫なり」などと書かれ、釈尊は、生まれる前にすでに仏であり長い間、法を説いていたという思想が生まれた。