 Bhagavān 世尊
佛所說的每一部經，都是開始於阿難尊者所聞，以及說法當時的情境。到目前為止《阿彌陀經》的經文是﹕
 mayā  ekasmin samaye
「如是我聞，一時」的下一個字是 Bhagavān 我們都翻譯成世尊。它也是每一部經典必須具有的六種成就之一，前面已講解信、聞、時三種成就；Bhagavān符合了主成就——此經的說法主。此經是講述西方極樂世界教主阿彌陀佛，而是由 釋迦牟尼佛所說。所以我們這個世界的眾生才能知道阿彌陀佛，以及往生他的國土的種種絕妙利益。
Bhagavān世尊，在此指釋迦牟尼佛，寫這個字時 是 bha、 是 ga， va 。 在va 後成 va 的長音vā， 是 n 後沒有母音（如果有母音則是）如果你查看梵文字典，它是在 Bhagavat  之下，尾音 -van是表示這個字是一句中的主詞。
是佛的名號之一。和其它的名號如 覺者， 一切智者一樣。而釋迦牟尼，是佛的別名。意思是釋迦的聖者。釋迦 是佛的族姓，牟尼 muni意思是聖者，尤指發願靜寂之人。
釋迦牟尼佛也有一個名字——悉達多Siddhārtha，指此人已完成 （siddha  ）他的目標（ rtha），表示他已證得佛道。
有人也許會說：「但是你可騙不了我，我知道這個名字是佛尚未開始修行時的名字，那時他到底完成了什麼目標？」
當他的父母取悉達多名字時，只認為他可以成就他所有的目標，沒有想到是最高目標。也可以說釋迦牟尼佛在過去無量世的修行中，已完成了成佛的必要條件。
總之，「佛」和「世尊」是名號；「釋迦牟尼」是別號；「悉達多」是佛的個人的名字。
Bhagavān 字義上的意思是「持有榮耀」，可以分析成二部份﹕
（1） bhaga 「榮耀」。
（2） -vān 「持有」（或 -vat 前面已有解釋）。整個字的意思是「持有榮耀之人」，就是為人所尊敬的人；受到別人的尊敬，同時也是個值得尊敬的人。
Bhagavān 還有許多其他的意義，佛陀也有其他的名號。你是否知道以下的名號是什麼？
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上一期的答案是 釋迦牟尼佛。 |
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Bhagavān "The Honored One"
Every Sūtra spoken by the Buddha begins with Ananda's account of how he heard the Sūtra and the circumstances under which it was spoken. The text of the Amitābha Sūtra has so far read:
mayā ekasmin samaye
"Thus I have heard at one time..."
The next word is Bhagavān, which we translate "Honored One." Of the Six Establishments which must be completed in order that a S&tra be spoken, the opening words of the text fulfilled the establishments of faith, hearing and time. Bhagavān meets the fourth, that of the host. Host refers to the Dharma Speaking Host, the person who speaks this Sūtra. The Sūtra itself tells of Amitābha Buddha, the Buddha of the Western Paradise Sukhāvatī, and it was spoken by the Buddha so that living beings of our realm might come to know of Amitābha and the wonderful advantages to be gained from obtaining rebirth in his land.
Bhagavān, "The Honored One," therefore, refers to Buddha, the Buddha whom we know from history. In writing , is bha, is ga, and va. after makes va into vā; is n with no vowel following (na would be written  .) If you look Bhagavān up in a Sanskrit dictionary, it is listed in the form , Bhagavat. , -vān, is the form the end of the word takes when the Honored One is subject of the sentence.
is one of the Buddha's titles, just as are the titles Buddha, "Enlightened One" and  , "All Knower". Any Buddha may be addressed by these titles, whereas is the name of a particular Buddha and is something like a family name. "" means "Sage of the  " or the " Sage", " " being the clan to which the Buddha belonged, and muni meaning "holy man", especially one who takes a vow of silence.
Buddha also has a personal name, Siddhārtha, meaning "One whose goal ( artha) is accomplished ( siddha)", signifying that he is one who has realized Buddhahood.
"But," you object, "you can't fool me. I know the Buddha had this name before he'd even begun to cultivate. What goal had he accomplished then?”
When his parents named him Siddhārtha, they meant whatever goal he had would be achieved, little realizing it would be the very highest goal! You can also explain this by saying that had completed all the prerequisites to Buddhahood in numberless past lives of cultivation.
To summarize, Buddha and Bhagavān are titles; is the family name and Siddhārtha is the Buddha's personal name.
Very literally, Bhagavān means, "Possessing Honor", and can be analyzed into two parts:
(1)bhaga "honor".
(2) -vān, "possessing" (or -vat, as
explained above.)
The word as a whole means "One possessing honor", that is, one honored and revered by others, having honor from them and being honorable in return.
Bhagavān has many other meanings, and the Buddha has many other titles. Can you figure these titles out?
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The answer to last issue's quiz is |
