A pratyekabuddha is the other type of follower in Nikāya Buddhism. The Japanese word for this is engaku. The characters used are: “en,” condition, and “gaku,” awaken. “Condition” refers to the twelve-fold chain of dependent origination. Pratyekabuddhas achieved awakening by becoming truly aware of the meaning of the twelve-fold chain. Because these followers preferred to practice Buddhism alone rather than to reside in temples, roaming fields without a teacher or a dwelling, they are also called dokukaku, or the self-awakened. The character “doku,” means “alone,” and “kaku,” is the same character as “gaku.” Another term for them that copies the pronunciation of part of the original word is byakushibutsu but in this chapter we will use the term pratyekabuddha.

As explained above, many of these pratyekabuddhas practiced Buddhism without a teacher. Such a practice would have been unthinkable during the lifetime of the Buddha, the great teacher. It is therefore clear that this type of follower began to appear after the Buddha’s death. Please keep in mind that the existence of pratyekabuddhas clearly implies that the Buddha’s life had ended and so there was no obvious teacher.