Buddhahood
Buddhahood is the attainment of full awakening and becoming a Buddha. The term buddha has acquired somewhat different meanings in the various Buddhist traditions. An equivalent term for Buddha is Tathāgata, 'the thus-gone'.
In Theravada Buddhism, reaching full awakening is equivalent in meaning to reaching Nirvāṇa. Attaining Nirvāṇa is the ultimate goal of Theravada and other śrāvaka traditions. It involves the abandonemnt of the ten fetters and the cessation of dukkha. Full awakening is reached in four stages.
In Mahāyāna Buddhism the Bodhisattva is the ideal. Not one's own liberation in Nirvāṇa, but the liberation of all living beings is seen as the ultimate goal.
In time, the Buddha's awakening came to be understood as an immediate full awakening and liberation, instead of the insight into and certainty about the way to follow to reach enlightenment. In some Zen traditions this perfection came to be relativized again; according to one contemporary Zen master, "Shakyamuni buddha and Bodhidharma are still practicing."
But Mahayana Buddhism also developed a cosmology with a wide range of buddhas and bodhisattvas, who assist humans on their way to liberation.
Read more about this topic: Enlightenment In Buddhism