2 Answers

  1. If becoming is about acquiring or strengthening some properties in yourself, then this word does not quite fit here. Because all living beings are already Buddhas by nature. The goal is not to acquire any secret knowledge, but to give up things that pollute the original pure free consciousness. That is, the Buddhist teacher does not tell anything new to consciousness, he simply helps to see what has always been known, but is hidden under the layers of addictions and aversions accumulated in the course of life. It often happens that the consciousness is polluted systematically, people constantly return to bad habits. Therefore, the rejection of them is also a gradual process, because it takes time to re-train your mind from bad habits to useful ones.

  2. The merits of becoming a Buddha are accumulated in countless kalpas. But they become a Buddha instantly.

    Actually, in the Theravada version, the Buddha is a unique being who can independently discover the Dhamma, that is, the teaching of how to get out of the chain of rebirths. Samasambuddas, that is, Buddhas who teach in one kalpa (the period of existence of the world in several billion years) maybe no more than five. There are also Pacchekabuddhas, that is, Buddhas who do not give the teaching (because there is simply no one to give it to). They are much more numerous than Samasambuddas, but also quite a few.

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