Lamp of all Beings, you will be known as Gautama. You will be the son of King Suddhodana and Queen Maya. Sariputta and Moggallana will be your chief disciples. Your caretaker will be named Ananda." In the 40-plus years of his life after enlightenment, Gautama Buddha is said to have recounted almost 554 past life stories, (called Jataka tales) of his prior existences. Gautama Buddha is quoted as saying a person starts the journey to become a Buddha filling 10 Paramita or "perfections". Some sources and scriptures recount that the Bodhisattva Gautama was born as Prince Sumedha in the time of Dipankara, and was rich and gave away all his wealth to become a monk. It is said that Gautama Bodhisattva received his first Niyatha Vivarana, (or definite foresighting by a Buddha) from Dipankara. This encounter, among many other predictions of Gautama Buddha's future enlightenment, can be found in the Mahayana text Sangatha Sutra. Veneration By the 17th century, Dipankara had become a figure of veneration in Nepalese Buddhist communities. These followers consider him a protector of merchants and associate him with alms-giving. He is also considered the protector of sailors, and sometimes statues of Dipankara are found on the coastline to guide and protect the ships in their route. Some Chinese folk religionists in Taiwan and Chinese overseas communities also worshipped Dipankara Buddha. The Buddhavamsa says that Dipankara achieved Nirvana in Nandarama, where a stupa was built which was thirty six yojanas high. See also List of the twenty-eight Buddhas Randeng Daoren Samyak References Buddhas