Upvote:0
Firstly, "Buddha, the Gospel" is not a canonical text.
Secondly, the Buddha is a like a position, just as a King or a President is a position. Usually there can only be one Sammasambuddha at a time, just as there can only be one King or President at a time in a country.
Thirdly, the Buddha has the omniscience to look into the past and, to some extent, to the future. So, he is able to tell the stories of the Buddhas of old times and foresee the coming of the next Buddha.
For e.g. if your country follows the same political system as the UK where the head of the ruling political party would become the Prime Minister - if you have the same party in power for many decades (just like in Singapore or Malaysia today), then the current Prime Minister would surely know the previous Prime Ministers, and could predict who would become the next Prime Minister (from his party).
Lastly, the Buddha is not reborn anymore after the end of his life, in any way.
Upvote:1
He never said that! Buddha Metteya is a different person. There have been many Buddhas in the past and all of them are different persons.
Buddha is a title. Think of it as king of a country. How many kings there have been? Are they all one person?
This is another good example for how easily people misinterpret the suttas. Just because one is able to read the Suttas(either Pali or English) one may not be able to grasp the true meaning without a proper teacher.