How do you explain who is the Buddha?

Answer 1

Buddha was a spiritual teacher in ancient India named Siddhartha Gautama. Buddhasm was originally based on his teachings. In Sanskrit the word Buddha means "awakened one."

There is another Buddha, the "Laughing Buddha." This is the jolly super fat guy with the big ears, whose belly people rub for good luck. He was a Chinese monk who lived later.

Some will disagree, but I consider Siddhartha the real Buddha

Buddha is an enlightenment state which attained by a Bodhi Sathwa (The being who wish to become a Buddha and who works towards achieving it by cultivating the qualities and skills that is necessary throughout many life times)as a way of rediscovering the four noble truths or Dhamma for the sake of all living beings. The Buddha is not a state that can attained by everyone and its not common but rare. It takes great courage as well as a great kindness towards living beings in a person who wish to cultivate the qualities and skill that are necessary to become a Buddha. This kalpa(aeon) is known as Bhadra Kalpa(auspicious aeon) because there will be an occurance of 5 Buddhas, the 4th is Thathagathe Gouthame Buddha (or Siddhartha the name used before becoming Buddha). There will be no occurance of Buddha while there is Dhamma(Teachings of Buddha) already exist in the world. The 5th Buddha will be Maithree Buddha. The difference of the enlightenment of a Buddha and his deciples is that a Buddha achieves enlightenment through his own efforts without any guidance and thereby rediscovers Dhamma which have already been buried by the sands of time. The Buddha then will teach Dhamma and through his guidance and ones efforts he/she can attain enlightenment as a Rahath. This is a short explanation but there are so much things about this topic explained in detail in suttas of the Pali Canon. Ones who wish to learn more may refer to the pali canon or seek guidance from a Buddhist Monk.