Bodhisattva, not a Buddha. A Buddha has escaped samsara, a bodhisattva is usually holding off on finishing enlightenment in the hopes of helping others attain it, though others are just on the verge of it.
Siddhartha Gautama was born a bodhisattva, but became a Buddha when he achieved enlightenment, at which point he wasn’t reborn.
This means that what the Dalai Lama is saying is ultimately that he’s either continuing to forgo enlightenment or that he has accepted that it hasn’t come in this lifetime. If he had it would’ve been a big deal in his school of Buddhism and all that recognize him as the bodhisattva he claims to be. Like, an astronomically big deal.
Bodhisattva, not a Buddha. A Buddha has escaped samsara, a bodhisattva is usually holding off on finishing enlightenment in the hopes of helping others attain it, though others are just on the verge of it.
Siddhartha Gautama was born a bodhisattva, but became a Buddha when he achieved enlightenment, at which point he wasn’t reborn.
This means that what the Dalai Lama is saying is ultimately that he’s either continuing to forgo enlightenment or that he has accepted that it hasn’t come in this lifetime. If he had it would’ve been a big deal in his school of Buddhism and all that recognize him as the bodhisattva he claims to be. Like, an astronomically big deal.