Tathāgata
Tathāgata，[Derivation uncertain．Buddhaghosa （DA．I，59--67） gives eight explanations showing that there was no fixed tradition on the point，and that he himself was in doubt]．The context shows that the word is an epithet of an Arahant，and that non-Buddhists were supposed to know what it meant．The compilers of the Nikāyas must therefore have considered the expression as pre-Buddhistic； but it has not yet been found in any pre-Buddhistic work．Mrs．Rhys Davids （Dhs．tr．1099，quoting Chalmers J．R．A．S．Jan．，1898） suggests “he who has won through to the truth．” Had the early Buddhists invented a word with this meaning it would probably have been tathaṁgata，but not necessarily，for we have upadhī-karoti as well as upadhiṁ karoti．-- D．I，12，27，46，63； II，68，103，108，115，140，142； III，14，24 sq．，32 sq．，115，217，264 sq．，273 sq．； S．I，110 sq．； II，222 sq．； III，215； IV，127，380 sq．； A．I，286； II，17，25，120； III，35，etc．； Sn．236，347，467，557，1114； It．121 sq．； KhA 196； Ps．I，121 sq．； Dhs．1099，1117，1234； Vbh．325 sq．，340，etc．，etc．
--balāni （pl．） the supreme intellectual powers of a T．usually enumd as a set of ten：in detail at A．V，33 sq．=Ps．II，174； M．I，69； S．II，27； Nd2 466．Other sets of five at A．III，9； of six A．III，417 sq．（see bala）； --sāvaka a disciple of the T．D．II，142； A．I，90； II，4； III，326 sq．； It．88； Sn．p．15．（Page 296）