Who Is Ru Lai Fo Zu? – Updated

Ru Lai Fo Zu(如来佛祖, Tathagata Tathagata) is a Tathagata’s name in China from ancient times but most people don’t know who exactly the name refers to. 

From the term, “Ru Lai” is not a name, it is a title, which means Tathagata or the “Thus-Come-One” or “One Who Comes From Suchness” ;  Suchness refers to the true, “as-is” nature of reality, representing the world as it is in the present moment, free from conceptualization, judgment, or interpretation. It’s a title used for one who attains perfect enlightenment. “Fo Zu” is the same title as “Ru Lai” meaning Tathagata. There’s no one named or a similar translation of “Ru Lai Fo Zu” in the sutras.

Historically, some people thought Ru Lai Fo Zu referred to Shakyamuni Buddha, (Most likely these people misunderstand Shakyamuni Buddha¹ the same as Amitabha.) However, from the definition of the title, it can only refer to the Buddha – GOD Michael. 

Also, “Ru Lai Fo Zu” is an ambiguous term. If we translate the term by meaning directly into English, it is “Tathagata Tathagata”. All the words are titles without a name. 

Recently, I asked who Ru Lai Fo Zu was. GOD Michael and Shakyamuni Buddha confirmed that “Ru Lai Fo Zu” originally referred to Amitabha/GOD Michael, later the name became an ambiguous name due to Satan adding fake “Tathagathas” (the Five Tathāgatas) in Buddhism. 

Temples can rename/rededicate the statue of Ru Lai Fo Zu to a specific name as it’s an ambiguous name. If one prays to “Ru Lai Fo Zu”, one can pray to discard those prayers as there’s no specified god’s name in these prayers and Satan may handle them. 

Apr 17, 2026

1. People usually use “Buddha” as a general term similar to the usage of “god” in English, so I followed this tradition and did not use it as a hierarchical title in my writing as there are many difficult to understand titles in Buddhism for western common people. Technically in Buddhism, only Amitabha/GOD Michael is the Buddha (in common English term) or the Tathagata (in Buddhism Title), others e.g Guanyin goddess in Buddhism title is formally Guanyin Bodhisattva. ↩︎