A generic name, an appellative - but not a proper name - given to one who has attained Enlightenment (na mātarā katam, na pitarā katam – vimokkhantikam etam buddhānam bhagavantānam bodhiyā mūle … paññatti, MNid.458; Ps.i.174) a man superior to all other beings, human and divine, by his knowledge of the Truth (Dhamma).

The texts mention two kinds of Buddha: viz.,

Pacceka Buddhas - i.e., Buddhas who also attain to complete Awaken-ness but do not preach the way of deliverance to the world;
The name given to one who is enlightened by and for himself - i.e., one who has attained to supreme and perfect insight, but who dies without proclaiming the truth to the world - hence the equivalent “Silent Buddha” sometimes found in translations. Pacceka Buddhas practise their pāramī for at least two thousand asankheyya kappas. They are born in any of the three kulas: brāhmana, khattiya, or gahapati only in a vivattamāna kappa, during which Buddhas are also born, but they never meet a Buddha face to face. They cannot instruct others; their realization of the Dhamma is “like a dream seen by a deaf mute.” They attain to all the iddhi, samāpatti and patisanhidā of the Buddhas, but are second to the Buddhas in their spiritual development. They do ordain others; their admonition is only in reference to good and proper conduct (abhisamācārikasikkhā).

Sometimes (e.g., at J. iv.341) it is stated that a Pacceka Buddha’s knowledge and comprehension of ways and means is less than that of a Bodhisatta. They hold their uposatha in the Ratanamālaka, at the foot of the Mañjūsarukkha in Gandhamādana. It is possible to become a Pacceka Buddha while yet a layman, but, in this case, the marks of a layman immediately disappear. Three caves in the Nandamūlakapabbhāra - Suvannaguhā, Maniguhā and Rajataguhā - are the dwelling places of Pacceka Buddhas. Round the Ratanamālaka, q.v. (or Sabbaratanamālaka), seats are always ready to receive the Pacceka Buddhas. When a Pacceka Buddha appears in the world, he immediately seeks the Ratanamālaka, and there takes his appointed seat. Then all the other Pacceka Buddhas in the world assemble there to meet him, and, in reply to a question by the chief of them, he relates the circumstances which led to his enlightenment. Similarly, all the Pacceka Buddhas assemble at the same spot when one of them is about to die. The dying one takes leave of the others, and, after his death, they cremate his body and his relics disappear. These details are given in SnA.i.47, 51, 58, 63; KhpA.178, 199; ApA.i.125; see also s.v. Gandhamādana.

But, according to another account, they die on the mountain called Mahāpapāta (q.v.). There does not seem to be any limit to the number of Pacceka Buddhas who could appear simultaneously. In one instance, five hundred are mentioned as so doing, all sons of Padumavatī (q.v.), at the head of whom was Mahāpaduma. In the Isigili Sutta (M.iii.68ff ) appears a long list of Pacceka Buddhas who dwelt on the Isigili Mountain (q.v.), and after whom the mountain was named.

According to Buddhaghosa (MA.ii.889ff), the names in this list belonged to the five hundred sons of Padumavatī, but the number of the names is far less than five hundred. This discrepancy is explained by saying that as many as twelve bore the same name. Other names are found scattered over different texts, such as the Jātakatthakathā. E.g., Darīmukha (J.iii.240), Sonaka (v.249); see also DhA. iv.120, etc.

The name occurring most frequently in the texts is that of Tagarasikhī (q.v.). Mention is also made of the Pacceka Buddhas going among men for alms and spending the rainy season in dwellings provided by men. E.g., DhA.ii.112f.; iii.91, 368; iv.200. Their patthanā (SnA..51). Their wisdom less than that of a Bodhisatta (J.iv.341).

Among the teachings preserved of the Pacceka Buddhas, the most important is the Khaggavisāna Sutta (q.v.). For the definition of a Pacceka Buddha see Puggalapiññatti (p.14; cf. p.70). There he is described as one who understands the Truth by his own efforts, but does not obtain omniscience nor mastery over the Fruits (phalesu vasībhāvam).
and
Sammāsambuddhas, who are omniscient and are teachers of Nibbāna (Satthāro).
- sammā-sambodhi
‘Perfect Enlightenment’, Universal Buddha-hood, is the state attained by a Universal Buddha (sammā-sambuddha), i.e. one by whom the liberating law (dhamma) which had become lost to the world, has again been discovered, realized and clearly proclaimed to the world.

“Now, someone, in things never heard before, understands by himself the truth, and he therein attains omniscience, and gains mastery in the powers. Such a one is called a Universal Buddha, or Enlightened One” (Pug. 29).

The doctrine characteristic of all the Buddhas, and each time rediscovered by them and fully explained to the world, consists in the 4 Truths (sacca) of suffering, its origin, its extinction and the way to its extinction (s. magga). See bodhi.

Nibbāna

(Sanskrit nirvāna): lit. ‘extinction’ (nir + Ö va, to cease blowing, to become extinguished); according to the commentaries, ‘freedom from desire’ (nir+ vana). Nibbāna constitutes the highest and ultimate goal of all Buddhist aspirations, i.e. absolute extinction of that life-affirming will manifested as greed, hate and delusion, and convulsively clinging to existence; and therewith also the ultimate and absolute deliverance from all future rebirth, old age, disease and death, from all suffering and misery. Cf. Parinibbāna.

“Extinction of greed, extinction of hate, extinction of delusion: this is called Nibbāna” (S. XXXVIII. 1).

The 2 aspects of Nibbāna are:

(1) The full extinction of defilements (kilesa-parinibbāna), also called sa-upādi-sesa-nibbāna (s. It. 41), i.e. ‘Nibbāna with the groups of existence still remaining’ (s. upādi). This takes place at the attainment of Arahatship, or perfect holiness (s. ariya-puggala).
(2) The full extinction of the groups of existence (khandha-parinibbāna), also called an-upādi-sesa-nibbāna (s. It. 41, A.IV.118), i.e. ‘Nibbāna without the groups remaining’, in other words, the coming to rest, or rather the ‘no-more-continuing’ of this physico-mental process of existence. This takes place at the death of the Arahat. - (App.: Nibbāna).

Sometimes both aspects take place at one and the same moment, i.e. at the death of the Arahat; s. sama-sīsī.

“This, o monks, truly is the peace, this is the highest, namely the end of all constructions, the forsaking of every substratum of rebirth, the fading away of craving, detachment, extinction, Nibbāna” (A. III, 32).

“Enraptured with lust (rāga), enraged with anger (dosa), blinded by delusion (moha), overwhelmed, with mind ensnared, man aims at his own ruin, at the ruin of others, at the ruin of both, and he experiences mental pain and grief. But if lust, anger and delusion are given up, man aims neither at his own ruin, nor at the ruin of others, nor at the ruin of both, and he experiences no mental pain and grief. Thus is Nibbāna visible in this life, immediate, inviting, attractive, and comprehensible to the wise” (A.III.55).

“Just as a rock of one solid mass remains unshaken by the wind, even so neither visible forms, nor sounds, nor odours, nor tastes, nor bodily contacts, neither the desired nor the undesired, can cause such a one to waver. Steadfast is his mind, gained is deliverance” (A.VI.55).

“Verily, there is an Unborn, Unoriginated, Uncreated, Unformed. If there were not this Unborn, Unoriginated, Uncreated, Unformed, escape from the world of the born, the originated, the created, the formed, would not be possible” (Ud.VIII.3).

One cannot too often and too emphatically stress the fact that not only for the actual realization of the goal of Nibbāna, but also for a theoretical understanding of it, it is an indispensable preliminary condition to grasp fully the truth of anattā (q.v.), the egolessness and insubstantiality of all forms of existence. Without such an understanding, one will necessarily misconceive Nibbāna - according to one’s either materialistic or metaphysical leanings - either as annihilation of an ego, or as an eternal state of existence into which an ego or self enters or with which it merges. Hence it is said:

“Mere suffering exists, no sufferer is found;

The deed is, but no doer of the deed is there;

Nibbāna is, but not the man that enters it;

The path is, but no traveler on it is seen.”

(Vis.M. XVI)

Literature:

For texts on Nibbāna, see Path, 36ff. -
See Vis.M. XVI. 64ff. -
Anattā and Nibbāna, by Nyanaponika Thera (WHEEL 11);
The Buddhist Doctrine of Nibbāna, by Ven. P. Vajiranana & F. Story (WHEEL 165/166).

The Commentaries, however (e.g., SA.i.20; AA.i.65) make mention of four classes of Buddha:

Sabaññu-Buddhā
Pacceka Buddhā
Catusacca Buddhā
Suta Buddhā

All arahants (khīnāsavā) are called Catusacca Buddhā and all learned men Bahussuta Buddhā. A Pacceka Buddha practises the ten perfections (pāramitā) for two asankheyyas and one hundred thousand kappas, a Sabbañu Buddha practises it for one hundred thousand kappas and four or eight or sixteen asankheyyas, as the case may be (see below).

Seven Sabbaññu Buddhas are mentioned in the earlier books; these are

Vipassī

The nineteenth of the twenty four Buddhas. He was born in the Khema park in Bandhumatī, his father being Bandhumā and his mother Bandhumatī. He belonged to the Kondañña gotta. For eight thousand years he lived as a householder in three palaces: Nanda, Sunanda and Sirimā. His body was eighty cubits in height. His wife was Sutanā (v.l. Sudassanā) and his son Samavattakkhandha. He left the household in a chariot and practised austerities for eight months. Just before his enlightenment, the daughter of Sudassana setthi gave him milk rice, while a yavapālaka named Sujāta gave grass for his seat. His bodhi was a pātali tree. He preached his first sermon in Khemamigadāya to his step brother Khandha and his purohita’s son Tissa; these two later became his chief disciples. His constant attendant was Asoka; Candā and Candamittā were his chief women disciples. His chief lay patrons were Punabbasummitta and Nāga among men, and Sirimā and Uttarā among women. He died in Sumittārāma at the age of eighty thousand, and his relics were enshrined in a thūpa seven leagues in height. The Bodhisatta was a Nāga king named Atula. (Bu.xx.1ff.; BuA.195f.; D.ii.2ff).

Three reasons are given for the name of this Buddha (BuA.195; cf. DA.ii.454; SA.ii.15): (1) Because he could see as well by night as by day; (2) because he had broad eyes; (3) because he could see clearly after investigation. Vipassī held the uposatha only once in seven years (DhA.iii.236), but on such occasions the whole Sangha was present (Sp.i.186). The construction of a Gandhakuti for Vipassī brought Mendaka great glory in the present age. Mendaka’s name at the time was Avaroja (DhA.iii.364f). Aññākondañña was then known as Cūlakāla, and nine times he gave Vipassī Buddha the first fruits of his fields. DhA.i.81f.

Sikhī

Sikhī. The twentieth of the twenty four Buddhas.

He was born in the Nisabha pleasance in Arunavatī,
his father being the khattiya Aruna (Arunavā) and
his mother Pabhāvatī.
He was so named because his unhīsa stood up like a flame (sikhā).
For seven thousand years he lived in the household in three palaces - Sucanda, Giri, Vahana (BuA.p.201 calls them Sucanda kasiri, Giriyasa and Nārivasabha) -
his wife being Sabbakāmā and his son Atula.
He left home on an elephant,
practised austerities for eight months,
was given milk rice by the daughter of Piyadassī setthi of Sudassananigama,
and grass for his seat by Anomadassī.
His Bodhi was a pundarīka.
His first sermon was preached in the Migācira pleasaunce near Arunavatī,
and his Twin Miracle was performed near Suriyavatī under a campaka tree.

The Bodhisatta was Arindama, king of Paribhutta. Abhibhū and Sambhava were his chief disciples among monks, and Akhilā (Makhilā) and Padumā among nuns

His constant attendant was Khemankara.
Among his patrons were Sirivaddha and Canda (Nanda) among men,
and Cittā and Suguttā among women.
His body was sixty cubits high, and he lived to the age of seventy thousand years, dying in Dussārāma (Assārāma) in Sīlavatī.
Over his relics was erected a thūpa three leagues in height

(Bu.xxi.; BuA.201ff.; cf. D.ii.7; iii.195f.; J. i.41, 94; DhA.i.69; S. ii.9; Dvy.333).

Sikhī Buddha held the Pātimokkha ceremony only once in six years (DhA.iii.236; cf. Sp.i.191).

For a visit paid by him to the Brahma world see Abhibhū. His name also occurs in the Arunavatī Paritta (q.v.).

Sikhī Sutta. The process by which Sikhī Buddha, like the other Buddhas, reached Enlightenment. S. iii.9.

Kakusandha

The twenty-second of the twenty-four Buddhas and the first of the five Buddhas of the present Bhaddakappa.

He was the son of the brahmin Aggidatta, chaplain of Khemankara, king of Khemavatī, and Visākhā.
He was born in the Khema pleasaunce, and lived for four thousand years in the household in three palaces - Ruci, Suruci and Vaddhana (or Rativaddhana).
His wife was Virocamānā (or Rocanī), and he had a son, Uttara.
He left the world riding in a chariot, and practised austerities for only eight months.
Before his Enlightenment, he was given a meal of milk-rice by the daughter of the brahmin Vajirindha of the village Sucirindha, and grass for his seat by the yavapālaka Subhadda.
His bodhi was a Sirīsa-tree, and his first sermon was preached to eighty-four thousand monks in the park near the city of Makila.
He performed the Twin-Miracle under a Sāla-tree at the gates of Kannakujja. Among his converts was a fierce yakkha named Naradeva.
He held only one assembly of his monks.
Kakusandha’s body was forty cubits in height, and he died at the age of forty thousand years in the Khema pleasaunce.
The thūpa erected over his relics was one league high.

The Bodhisatta was at that time a king named Khema. The Buddha’s chief disciples were Vidhura and Sañjīva among monks, and Sama and Campā among nuns. His personal attendant was Buddhija. Accuta and Samana, Nandā and Sunandā were his most eminent lay-supporters (D.ii.7; Bu.xxiii; J.i.42; BuA.209ff). Kakusandha kept the fast-day (uposatha) every year (DhA.iii.236). In Kakusandha’s time a Māra, named Dūsī (a previous birth of Moggallāna), gave a great deal of trouble to the Buddha and his followers, trying greatly the Buddha’s patience (M.i.333ff;Thag.1187). The Samyutta Nikāya (S.ii.190f) mentions that during the time of Kakusandha, the Mount Vepulla of Rājagaha was named Pācīna-vamsa and the inhabitants were called Tivarā.

The monastery built by Accuta on the site where, in the present age, Anāthapindika erected the Jetavanārāma, was half a league in extent, and the ground was bought by golden kacchapas sufficient in number to cover it (J.i.94).

According to the Ceylonese chronicles (Dpv.ii.66; xv.25, 34; xvii.9, 16, etc.; Mhv.xv.57-90), Kakusandha paid a visit to Ceylon. The island was then known as Ojadīpa and its capital was Abhayanagara, where reigned King Abhaya. The Mahāmeghavana was called Mahātittha. The Buddha came, with forty thousand disciples, to rid the island of a pestilence caused by yakkhas and stood on the Devakūta mountain from where, by virtue of his own desire, all inhabitants of the country could see him. The Buddha and his disciples were invited to a meal by the king, and after the meal the Mahātittha garden was presented to the Order; there the Buddha sat, in meditation, in order to consecrate various spots connected with the religion. At the Buddha’s wish, the nun Rucānandā brought to the island a branch of the sacred bodhi-tree. The Buddha gave to the people his own drinking-vessel as an object of worship, and returned to Jambudīpa, leaving behind his disciples Mahādeva and Rucānandā to look after the spiritual welfare of the new converts to the faith.

In Buddhist Sanskrit texts the name of the Buddha is given as Krakucchanda (See especially Divy.254, 418f; Mtu.iii.247, 330).

2. Kakusandha Thera. Author of the Sinhalese Dhātuvamsa, probably a translation from the Pāli. He is generally assigned to the fifteenth century. P.L.C.255.

Konāgamana (Konāgamana)

The twenty-third in the list of the twenty-four Buddhas and the second Buddha to be born in the Bhaddakappa. He was born in the Subhagavatī Park in Sobhavatī, the capital of King Sobha, his father being the brahmin Yaññadatta and his mother Uttarā.

He lived in the household for three thousand years, in three palaces, Tusita, Santusita and Santuttha; his chief wife was Rucigattā and their son was Satthavāha. Konāgamana left the world on an elephant and practised austerities only for six months, at the end of which time he was given milk-rice by the daughter of the brahmin Aggisoma and grass for his seat by the yavapālaka Tinduka. His Bodhi was an Udumbara tree. His first sermon was preached in the Migadāya near Sudassana-nagara, at the foot of a Mahā-sāla tree. He held only one assembly of his disciples, who numbered thirty thousand. His body was thirty cubits in height.

He died in the Pabbatārāma at the age of thirty thousand. His relics were scattered. His chief disciples were Bhīyya and Uttara among monks, and Samuddā and Uttarā among nuns, his constant attendant being Sotthiya. His chief patrons were Ugga and Somadeva among laymen, and Sīvalā and Sāmā among laywomen. The Bodhisatta was a khattiya named Pabbata of Mithilā. He held an almsgiving, heard the Buddha preach and joined the Order. (D.i.7; Bu.xxiv; BuA.213ff; J. i.42f; according to the Jātaka his body was twenty cubits high; Sp.i.190).

The banker Ugga built for the Buddha a Sanghārāma half a league in extent (J.i.94).

On the day of the Buddha’s birth a shower of gold fell all over Jambudīpa, hence he was called Kanakāgamana, Konāgamana being a corrupt form of that word (BuA.213-14)

According to the Ceylon Chronicles (Dpv.ii.67; xv.25, 44, 48; xvii.9, 17, 73; Mhv.xv.91-124), Konāgamana visited their Island (then known as Varadīpa), with thirty thousand disciples, accepted the Mahānoma garden at Vaddhamāna, given by King Samiddha, and preached the doctrine. At the conclusion of his sermon, thirty thousand people realised the Truth. At the Buddha’s wish, the nun Kantakānandā (v.l. Kanakadattā) brought to Ceylon a branch of the Bodhi-tree. The Buddha also preached at the Ratanamāla, the Sudassanamāla and the Nāgamālaka and gave his girdle for the people’s worship. He left Mahāsumba and Kantakānandā to look after the new converts.

In Konāgamana’s time Mount Vepulla was known as Vankaka, and the people living on the mountain were called Rohitassā, their term of life being thirty thousand years (S.ii.191). Konāgamana held the uposatha once a year (DhA.ii.236).

In the Northern books (E.g., Dvy.333; Mtu.i.114; ii.265f, 300, 302, 304, 430; iii.240-7, 330) Konāgamana is called Kanakamuni, Konākamuni, and Kanakaparvata.

A Thūpa, erected on the spot where Konāgamana was born, is thought to have existed down to the time of Asoka, who rebuilt it to double its original size and worshipped it in his twentieth year (Hultszch: Inscrip. of Asoka, p.165).

Hiouen Thsang (Beal., op. cit., ii.19) says he saw thūpas at Konāgamana’s birthplace and also at the spot where he met his father after the Enlightenment.

Fa Hien (Travels, p.36) saw thūpas at the latter place and also at the place of the Buddha’s death.

Kassapa

1. Kassapa Buddha.Also called Kassapa Dasabala to distinguish him from other Kassapas

The twenty-fourth Buddha, the third of the present neon (the Bhaddakappa) and one of the seven Buddhas mentioned in the Canon (D.ii.7).

He was born in Benares, in the Deer Park at Isipatana,
of brahmin parents, Brahmadatta and Dhanavatī, belonging to the Kassapagotta.
For two thousand years he lived in the household, in three different palaces, Hamsa, Yasa and Sirinanda. (The BuA.217 calls the first two palaces Hamsavā and Yasavā).
He had as chief wife Sunandā, by whom he begot a son, Vijitasena.
Kassapa left the world, traveling in his palace (pāsāda), and practiced austerities for only seven days.
Just before his Enlightenment his wife gave him a meal of milk-rice, and a yavapāla named Soma gave him grass for his seat.
His bodhi was a banyan-tree, and
he preached his first sermon at Isipatana to a crore of monks who had renounced the world in his company.
He performed the Twin-Miracle at the foot of an asana-tree outside Sundaranagara.
He held only one assembly of his disciples; among his most famous conversions was that of a yakkha, Naradeva (q.v.).
His chief disciples were Tissa and Bhāradvāja among monks, and Anulā and Uruvelā among nuns, his constant attendant being Sabbamitta.
Among his patrons, the most eminent were Sumangala and Ghattīkāra, Vijitasenā and Bhaddā.
His body was twenty cubits high, and,
after having lived for twenty thousand years, he died in the Setavya pleasance at Setavyā in Kāsī.
Over his relics was raised a thūpa one league in height, each brick of which was worth one crore.

It is said (MA.i.336ff ) that there was a great difference of opinion as to what should be the size of the thūpa and of what material it should be constructed; when these points were finally settled and the work of building had started, the citizens found they had not enough money to complete it. Then an anāgāmī devotee, named Sorata, went all over Jambudīpa, enlisting the help of the people for the building of the thūpa. He sent the money as he received it, and on hearing that the work was completed, he set out to go and worship the thūpa; but he was seized by robbers and killed in the forest, which later came to be known as the Andhavana.

Upavāna, in a previous birth, became the guardian deity of the cetiya, hence his great majesty in his last life (DA.ii.580; for another story of the building of the shrine see DhA.iii.29).

Among the thirty-seven goddesses noticed by Guttila, when he visited heaven, was one who had offered a scented five-spray at the cetiya (J.ii.256). So did Alāta offer Āneja-flowers and obtain a happy rebirth (J.vi.227).

The cause of Mahā-Kaccāna’s golden complexion was his gift of a golden brick to the building of Kassapa’s shrine (AA.i.116).

At the same cetiya, Anuruddha, who was then a householder in Benares, offered butter and molasses in bowls of brass, which were placed without any interval around the cetiya (AA.i.105).

Among those who attained arahantship under Kassapa is mentioned Gavesī, who, with his five hundred followers, strove always to excel themselves until they attained their goal (A.iii.214ff).

Mahākappina, then a clansman, built, for Kassapa’s monks, a parivena with one thousand cells (AA.i.175).

Bakkula’s admirable health and great longevity were due to the fact that he had given the first fruits of his harvest to Kassapa’s monks (MA.iii.932).

During the time of Kassapa Buddha, the Bodhisatta was a brahmin youth named Jotipāla who, afterwards, coming under the influence of Ghatīkāra, became a monk. (Bu.xxv.; BuA.217ff; D.ii.7; J.i.43, 94; D.iii.196; Mtu.i.303ff, 319). This Ghatīkāra was later born in the Brahma-world and visited Gotama, after his Enlightenment. Gotama then reminded him of this past friendship, which Ghatīkāra seemed too modest to mention (S.i.34f).

The Majjhima Nikāya (M.ii.45f ) gives details of the earnestness with which Ghatīkāra worked for Jotipāla’s conversion when Kassapa was living at Vehalinga. The same sutta bears evidence of the great regard Kassapa had for Ghatīkāra.

The king of Benares at the time of Kassapa was Kikī, and the four gateways of Kassapa’s cetiya were built, one by Kikī, one by his son Pathavindhara, one by his ministers led by his general, and the last by his subjects with the treasurer at their head (SnA.i.194).

It is said that the Buddha’s chief disciple, Tissa, was born on the same day as Kassapa and that they were friends from birth. Tissa left the world earlier and became an ascetic. When he visited the Buddha after his Enlightenment, he was greatly grieved to learn that the Buddha ate meat (āmagandha), and the Buddha preached to him the Āmagandha Sutta, by which he was converted (SnA.i.280ff).

The Ceylon Chronicles (Mhv.Xv.128ff; Sp.i.87; Dpv. xv.55ff; Mbv.129) mention a visit paid by Kassapa to Ceylon in order to stop a war between King Jayanta and his younger brother. The island was then known as Mandadīpa, with Visāla as capital. The Buddha came with twenty thousand disciples and stood on Subhakūta, and the armies seeing him stopped the fight. In gratitude, Jayanta presented to the Buddha the Mahāsāgara garden, in which was afterwards planted a branch of the Bodhi-tree brought over by Sudhammā, in accordance with the Buddha’s wish. The Buddha preached at the Asokamālaka, the Sudassanamālaka and the Somanassamālaka, and gave his rain-cloak as a relic to the new converts, for whose spiritual guidance he left behind his disciples Sabbananda and Sudhammā and their followers. In Kassapa’s time Mt. Vepulla at Rājagaha was known as Supassa and its inhabitants as the Suppiyas (S.ii.192).

But many other places had the same names in the time of Kassapa as they had in the present age - e.g., Videha (J.vi.122), Sāvatthi (J.vi.123), Kimbila (J.vi.121) and Bārānasī. (J.vi.120).

Besides the Āmagandha Sutta mentioned above, various other teachings are mentioned as having been first promulgated by Kassapa and handed on down to the time of Gotama and re-taught by him. Such, for instance, are the questions (pucchā) of Ālavaka and Sabhiya and the stanzas taught to Sutasoma by the brahmin Nanda of Takkasilā (J.v.476f; 453). The Mittavinda Jātaka (No.104) is mentioned as belonging to the days of Kassapa Buddha (J.i.413).

Mention is also made of doctrines which had been taught by Kassapa but forgotten later, and Gotama is asked by those who had heard faint echoes of them to revive them (E.g., MA, i.107, 528;AA.i.423). A sermon attributed to Kassapa, when he once visited Benares with twenty thousand monks, is included in the story of Pandita-Sāmanera (DhA.ii.127ff). It was on this occasion that Kassapa accepted alms from the beggar Mahāduggata in preference to those offered by the king and the nobles.

Kassapa held the uposatha only once in six months (DhA.iii.236).

Between the times of Kassapa and Gotama the surface of the earth grew enough to cover Sūkarakata-lena (MA.ii.677).

The records of Chinese pilgrims contain numerous references to places connected with Kassapa. Hiouien Thsang speaks of a stūpa containing the relics of the whole body of the Buddha, to the north of the town, near Srāvasti, where, according to him, Kassapa was born (Beal., op. cit., ii.13). Mention is also made of a footprint of Kassapa (Ibid.i., Introd. ciii). Stories of Kassapa are also found in the Divyāvadāna (E.g., pp.22f; 344f; 346f; see also Mtu., e.g., i.59, 303f).

The Dhammapada Commentary (iii.250f ) contains a story, which seems to indicate that, near the village of Todeyya, there was a shrine thought to be that of Kassapa and held in high honour by the inhabitants of the village. After the disappearance of Kassapa’s Sāsana, a class of monks called Setavattha-samanavamsa (”white-robed recluses”) tried to resuscitate it, but without success (VibhA.432).

2. Kassapa Thera. The son of an Udicca-brahmin of Sāvatthi, who died when Kassapa was still young. Having heard the Buddha preach at Jetavana, he entered the First Fruit of the Path and, with his mother’s leave, became a monk. Some time later, wishing to accompany the Buddha on a tour after the rains, he went to bid his mother farewell, and her admonition to him on that occasion helped him to win insight and become an arahant (Thag.v.82).

In the time of Padumuttara Buddha he had been a brahmin versed in the Vedas. One day, seeing the Buddha and wishing to pay homage, he cast a handful of sumana-flowers into the air over the Buddha’s head, and the flowers formed a canopy in the sky. In later births he was twenty-five times king, under the name of Cinnamāla (v.l. Cittamāla). (ThagA.ii.177f ).

He is probably identical with Sereyyaka Thera of the Apadāna.

3. Kassapa. A devaputta. He visited the Buddha late one night at Jetavana and uttered several stanzas, admonishing monks to train themselves in their tasks, laying particular stress on the cultivation of Jhāna (S.i.46).

Buddhaghosa says (SA.i.82) that Kassapa had heard the Buddha preach the Abhidhamma in Tāvatimsa. Having heard only a portion of the doctrine and not being sure of the admonition given by the Buddha to the monks regarding the practice of Jhāna-vibhanga, Kassapa thought he could supply the omission. The Buddha, knowing his capabilities, allowed him to give his views, and expressed his approval at the end of Kassapa’s speech.

4. Kassapa. A sage (isi); one of the famous sages of yore, of whom ten are several times mentioned in the books (E.g., D.i.104, 238; M.ii.169, 200; A.iii.224; iv.61; J. vi.99) as having been brahmin sages, who composed and promulgated the mantras and whose compositions are chanted and repeated and rehearsed by the brahmins of the present day. For details see Atthaka.

5. Kassapa (called Kassapa-mānava). The Bodhisatta in the time of Piyadassī Buddha. He was a brahmin versed in the Vedas, and having heard the Buddha preach, built a monastery costing one thousand crores. J. i.38; Bu.xiv.9f; BuA.176.

6. Kassapa.Another name for Akitti (q.v.). J. iv.240, 241; see also Jātakamālā vii.13.

7. Kassapa. A brahmin ascetic, the Bodhisatta, father of Nārada, whose story is given in the Cūla-Nārada Jātaka (q.v.). J. iv.221f.

8. Kassapa. A brahmin ascetic, father of the Bodhisatta in the story of the Kassapamandiya Jātaka. J. iii.38.

9. Kassapa. A great sage, the Bodhisatta, father of Isisinga (J.v.157, 159). The scholiast explains that Kassapa was the gotta or family name.

10. Kassapa. An ascetic, also called Nārada, who lived in a hermitage near Mt. Kosika in Himavā. He saw the Buddha Padumuttara in the forest, invited him into the hermitage, provided a seat and asked for words of advice. He was a former birth of Ekāsanadāyaka Thera. Ap.ii.381.

11. Kassapa.A setthi, probably of Rājagaha, who built the Kassapakārāma, named after him. SA.ii.230.

12. Kassapa.Son of Dhātusena by a morganatic marriage. He slew his father and became king of Ceylon as Kassapa I. (478-96 A.C.). Fearing the revenge of his brother Moggallāna, he erected the fortress at Sīhagiri and dwelt there. Later, repenting of his patricide, he did many meritorious deeds by way of amends (for details see Cv.xxxix.8ff), chief of which was the restoration of the Issarasamanārāma, to which he added buildings named after his daughters, Bodhī and Uppalavannā. In a fight with his brother’s forces his army fled in disorder, and Kassapa cut his throat with a dagger. Cv.xxxviii.80ff.; xxxix.1ff.

13. Kassapa.Son of Upatissa III. of Ceylon. He had sixteen companions as brave as himself and, with their help, several times repulsed the attacks of Silākāla, when the latter revolted against the king. He became known as Girikassapa on account of his prowess. In the last campaign Silākāla was victorious, and Kassapa, with his parents and his loyal followers, fled to Merukandara, but they lost their way and were surrounded by Silākāla. When the royal elephant fell Kassapa cut his own throat. Cv.xli.8-25.

14. Kassapa.Younger brother of Aggabodhi III.; he was made viceroy when Māna was killed (Cv.xliv.123f). When Aggabodhi had recovered the kingdom from the usurper Dāthopatissa, which he did only after various reverses in his fortunes, Kassapa abused his influence and plundered various sacred edifices to provide for his army (Cv.xliv.137f). On Aggabodhi’s death in exile in Rohana, Kassapa defeated Dāthopatissa, who claimed the throne, and became king in his place (Kassapa II. 641-50). He did not, however, wear a crown, the regalia having probably been stolen. As king he repented of his former misdeeds and did various acts of merit (Cv.xliv.147ff; xlv.1ff). He paid special honour to Mahādhammakathī Thera of Nāgasālā and to the Thera of Katandhakāra.

His children all being young at the time of his death, he entrusted the government to his sister’s son, Māna (Cv.xlv.8). According to the chronicles, Mānavamma was the son of Kassapa (Cv.xlvii.2). He also had a son named Mana (Cv.lvii.4).

15. Kassapa (Kassapa III., 717-24 A.C.). A younger brother of Aggabodhi V. (?); Kassapa’s younger brother was Mahinda I (Cv.xlviii.20-26) and his son Aggabodhi (Cv.xlviii.32).

16. Kassapa.One of the three younger brothers of Sena I., the others being Mahinda and Udaya (Cv.l.6). Kassapa was appointed Ādipāda and fought valiantly against the forces of the Pandu king, who was then invading Ceylon, but, finding his efforts of no avail, he fled to Kondivāta (Cv.vv.25ff). He was later killed at Pulatthipura by the orders of the Pandu king (Cv.vv.46). He had four sons, the eldest of whom was named Sena (Cv.vv.47).

17. Kassapa. Son of Kittaggabodhi, ruler of Rohana. When his eldest brother was murdered by his paternal aunt, Kassapa fled to the court of King Sena I., but, later, with Sena’s help, he won his father’s inheritance (Cv.l.54ff). He was probably killed by the Adipāda Kittaggabodhi. Cv.li.96; and Cv.Trs.i.157, n.2.

18. Kassapa.Younger brother of Sena II. and Udaya II. He was Mahādipāda or Yuvarāja under Udaya (Cv.li.91), and later became king as Kassapa IV. (896-913 A.C.) (Cv.lii.1ff). His daughter Sena married Kassapa V. (Cv.li.93)

19. Kassapa.Son of Sena II. The king gave him a special share of his own revenues and a share of the extraordinary revenues of the island (Cv.li.18, 20). Two wives of his are mentioned: Sanghā and Senā (Cv.li.18, 92). He became Yuvarāja under Kassapa IV. and ruled over Dakkhinadesa (Cv.lii.1), and, at the death of the king, he became ruler of Ceylon as Kassapa V. (probably 913-23 A.C.) (Cv.lii.37ff). He is sometimes referred to as the son of the twice-consecrated queen (dvayābhisekajāta), his mother being Sanghā, daughter of Kittaggabodhi (1) and Devā. In inscriptions Kassapa is referred to as Abhaya-Silāmegha-vanna (Cv.Trs.i.165, n.3). He was evidently a learned man, and a Sinhalese Commentary to the Dhammapadatthakathā is attributed to him (Edited byD. B. Jayatilaka, Colombo 1933). He had one wife, Vajirā (Cv.lii.62), a second, Devā (Cv.lii.64), and a third, Rājinī (Cv.lii.67). He had a son, Siddhattha, who died young, and another, who was given the title of Sakkasenāpati. The latter led an expedition to help the Pandu king against the King of Cola, but he died of plague in Cola (Cv.lii.72-8).

20. Kassapa.Son of Sena V. (Cv.liv.69)

21. Kassapa.Son of Mahinda V. (Cv.lv.10). When Mahinda was captured and taken away by the Colas, the people took charge of the young Kassapa and brought him up. When the boy was twelve years old the Cola king sent an army over to Ceylon to seize him; but this plan was frustrated by the official Kitti, of Makkhakudrūsa, and the minister Buddha, of Māragallaka (Cv.lv.24-9). Kassapa ascended the throne as Vikkamabāhu, but refused to be crowned until he should have conquered the Tamils in his kingdom. While preparations were afoot towards this end, he died of a vātaroga. He reigned twelve years (1029-1041 A.C.). (Cv.lvi.1-6; Cv.Trs.i.190, n.3). He is perhaps to be identified with the prince Kassapa who married Lokitā, cousin of Mahinda V., and by whom he had two sons, Moggallāna and Loka. Cv.lvii.28f; Cv.Trs.i.195, n.3.

22. Kassapa.Chief of the Kesadhātus (q.v.). For some time he carried on the government at Rohana, where he defeated the Tamils. He refused to own allegiance to Kitti (afterwards Vijayabāhu I.), and after six months of rule in Khadirangani, full of resentment that his services against the Tamils had not been recognised, he marched against Kitti and was slain in a battle near Kājaragāma. Cv.lvii.65-75.

23. Kassapa. A prince of Jambudīpa who, during the reign of Parakkamabāhu I. of Ceylon, sent costly gifts to the king of Rāmañña; the Rāmañña king forbade the envoys to land and insulted them. This is mentioned as one of the acts which led Parakkamabāhu to send an expedition against Rāmañña. Cv.lxxvi.28f

24. Kassapa Thera. According to the Gandhavamsa (p.61) he was the author of the Anāgatavamsa and also of the Mohavicchedanī, the Vimaticchedanī and the Buddhavamsa. This Buddhavamsa is evidently not the canonical work of the same name. The Sāsanavamsadīpa (Verse 1204, see also 1221) says that a Kassapa, an inhabitant of Cola, was the author of a Vimativinodanī. The Sāsanavamsa (p.33; see also P.L.C.160) calls this a Vinayatīkā and the author an inhabitant of the Tamil country. The Mohavicchedanī is there described as a lakkhanagandha (a treatise on grammar?) and is ascribed to another Kassapa.

25. Kassapa. A Kassapa Thera is mentioned in the Sāsanavamsa (p.50) as having been among those responsible for the establishment of the religion in Yonakarattha. He was an inhabitant of Majjhimadesa.

26. Kassapa. The Sāsanavamsa (p.71) mentions a Kassapa Thera of Arimaddana, in the time of King Narapati. While on tour he reached a country called Pollanka, where the people grew very fond of him and where he became known as Pollanka Thera. Some time later he was crossing to Ceylon and the vessel in which he was refused to move. Lots were drawn, as it was necessary to discover who aboard the vessel was the sinner. The lot fell repeatedly on Kassapa, because, in a former life, he had harassed a dog in the water. He was accordingly thrown overboard, but was rescued by Sakka, in the form of a crocodile. The thera reached Yakkhadīpa (q.v.) and there, as a result of practising compassion, the blind yakkhas gained their sight. Kassapa went later to Sīhaladīpa, whence he returned home with relics and seeds of the Bodhi-tree and models of the Mahācetiya and Lohapāsāda.

27. Kassapa. The name is sometimes used as a shortened form of Kassapagotta (q.v.). (E.g., J. vi.224, 225, etc., in reference to the Ājīvaka Guna). Nārada-tāpasa is also once addressed as Kassapa (J.vi.58).

28. Kassapa.See also Acela Kassapa, Uruvela Kassapa, Kumāra°, Gayā°, Dasabala°, Nadī°, Nārada°, Pūrana°, Mahā° and Lomasa°.

Kassapa was evidently a well-known gotta name (e.g., MA.i.584) and people born in a family bearing that name were often addressed as Kassapa - e.g., Uruvela-Kassapa (AA.i.165) and, again, Nāgita Thera (D.i.151)

E.g., D.ii.5f.; S. ii.5f.; cp. Thag.491; J. ii.147; they are also mentioned at Vin.ii.110, in an old formula against snake bites. Beal. (Catena, p. 159) says these are given in the Chinese Pātimokkha. They are also found in the Sayambhū Purāna (Mitra, Skt. Buddhist Lit. of Nepal, p. 249).

This number is increased in the later books. The Buddhavamsa

Buddhavamsa

The fourteenth book of the Khuddaka Nikāya (DA.i.17).

The Dīgha-bhānakas excluded it from the canon, but it was accepted by the Majjhima-bhānakas (DA.i.17).

It contains, in verse, the lives of the twenty five Buddhas, of whom Gotama was the last. The name of the Bodhisatta under each Buddha is also given. The last chapter deals with the distribution of Gotama’s relics.

It is said (Bu.i.74) that the Buddhavamsa was preached, at Sāriputta’s request, at the Nigrodhārāma in Kapilavatthu, after the Buddha had performed the miracle of the Ratanacankama. The Commentary on the Buddhavamsa is known as the Madhurattha-vilāsinī (q.v.).

The Gandhavamsa (p.61) speaks of a Buddhavamsa written by an author named Kassapa. This is probably not the same work. Mention is also made (Gv.60) of a Tīkā to the Buddhavamsa, Paramatthadīpāni by name.

contains detailed particulars of twenty five Buddhas, including the last, Gotama, the first twenty four being those who prophesied Gotama’s appearance in the world. They are the predecessors of Vipassī, etc., and are the following:

Dīpankara, Kondañña, Mangala, Sumana, Revata, Sobhita, Anomadassī, Paduma, Nārada, Padumuttara, Sumedha, Sujāta, Piyadassī, Atthadassī, Dhammadassī, Siddhattha, Tissa and Phussa.

The same poem, in its twenty seventh chapter, mentions three other Buddhas - Tanhankara, Medhankara and Saranankara - who appeared in the world before Dīpankara.

The Lalitavistara has a list of fifty four Buddhas and the Mahāvastu of more than a hundred. The Cakkavatti Sīhanāda Sutta

Cakkavattisihanāda Sutta

Preached to the monks at Mātulā. It is a sermon on the necessity of living in accordance with the Dhamma, with the Dhamma as one s refuge.

The Sutta contains the story of the Cakkavatti Dalhanemi and his eldest son, and the manner in which a Cakka-vatti administers the law, ruling by righteousness, over a people made virtuous by his instruction. But, later, there is a gradual corruption of morals, followed by the decay and destruction of human life with all its attendant comforts. This is followed by a gradual restoration of virtuousness, accompanied by the return of prosperity and longevity.

The Sutta also records the prophecy of the coming of the Buddha Metteyya (D.iii.58ff). It is said (DA.iii.858) that at the end of this discourse twenty thousand monks became arahants and eighty-four thousand others realised the Truth.

(D.iii.75ff ) gives particulars of Metteyya Buddha

. Metteyya

The future Buddha Metteyya (Pāli), Maitreya (Sanskrit), Maitri (Sinhala), Mi-ruk (Korean), Mi-Lo (Chinese),
Miroku (Japanese), and Byama-pa (Tibetan), which may be the very same individual as the prophesized returning
Judeo-Christian Messiah and the Islamic rescuer Mahdi… He is the 5th & last Buddha of this universal eon cycle.
(Bu.xxvii.21).

According to the Cakkavatti Sīhanāda Sutta, he will be born, when human beings will live to an age of eighty thousand years, in the city of Ketumatī (present Benares), whose king will be the Cakkavattī Sankha. Sankha will live in the fairy palace where once dwelt King Mahāpanadā, but later he will give the palace away and will himself become a follower of Metteyya Buddha (D.iii.75ff).

The Anāgatavamsa (J.P.T.S.1886, pp.42, 46ff., 52; DhSA.415 gives the names of his parents) gives further particulars. Metteyya will be born in a very eminent brahmin family and his personal name will be Ajita. Metteyya is evidently the name of his gotta. For eight thousand years he will live the household life in four palaces Sirivaddha, Vaddhamāna, Siddhattha and Candaka - his chief wife being Candamukhī and his son Brahmavaddhana. Having seen the four signs while on his way to the park, he will be dissatisfied with household life and will spend one week in practicing austerities. Then he will leave home, travelling in his palace and accompanied by a fourfold army, at the head of which will be eighty-four thousand brahmins and eighty four thousand Khattiya maidens. Among his followers will be Isidatta and Pūrana, two brothers, Jātimitta, Vijaya, Suddhika and Suddhanā, Sangha and Sanghā, Saddhara, Sudatta, Yasavatī and Visākhā, each with eighty four thousand companions. Together they will leave the household and arrive on the same day at the Bodhi tree. After the Enlightenment the Buddha will preach in Nāgavana and King Sankha will, later, ordain himself under him. Metteyya’s father will be Subrahmā, chaplain to King Sankha, and his mother Brahmavatī. His chief disciples will be Asoka and Brahmadeva among monks, and Padumā and Sumanā among nuns. Sīha will be his personal attendant and his chief patrons Sumana, Sangha, Yasavatī and Sanghā. His Bodhi will be the Nāga tree. After the Buddha’s death, his teachings will continue for one hundred and eighty thousand years.

According to the Mahāvamsa (Mhv.Xxxii.81f.; see Mil.159), Kākavannatissa and Vihāramahādevī, father and mother of Dutthagāmani, will be Metteyya’s parents, Dutthagāmani himself will be his chief disciple and Saddhātissa his second disciple, while Prince Sāli will be his son.

At the present time the future Buddha is living in the Tusita deva-world (Mhv.Xxxii.73). There is a tradition that Nātha is the name of the future Buddha in the deva world.

The worship of the Bodhisatta Metteyya seems to have been popular in ancient Ceylon, and Dhātusena adorned an image of him with all the equipment of a king and ordained a guard for it within the radius of seven yojanas (Cv.xxxviii.68).

Dappula I. made a statue in honour of the future Buddha fifteen cubits high (Cv.xlv.62). It is believed that Metteyya spends his time in the deva-world, preaching the Dhamma to the assembled gods, and, in emulation of his example, King Kassapa V. used to recite the Abhidhamma in the assemblies of the monks (Cv.lii.47). Parakkamabāhu I. had three statues built in honour of Metteyya (Cv.lxxix.75), while Kittisirirājasīha erected one in the Rajata-vihāra and another in the cave above it (Cv.c.248,259). It is the wish of all Buddhists that they meet Metteyya Buddha, listen to his preaching and attain to Nibbāna under him. See, e.g., J. vi.594; MT. 687; DhSA.430

For a complete description of the next Buddha Metteyya See:
The Coming Buddha, Ariya Metteyya. Sayagyi U Chit Tin:
http://www.buddhanet.net/budsas/ebud/metteya/arimet02.htm
and
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/Metteyya/arimet00.htm
also published as BPS Wheel 381/383

who will be born in the world during the present kappa. The Anāgatavamsa gives a detailed account of him. Some MSS. of that poem (J.P.T.S. 1886, p. 37) mention the names of ten future Buddhas, all of whom met Gotama who prophesied about them. These are Metteyya, Uttama, Rāma, Pasenadi Kosala, Abhibhū, Dīghasonī, Sankacca, Subha, Todeyya, Nālāgiripalaleyya (sic).

The Mahāpadāna Sutta (D.ii.5f ) which mentions the seven Buddhas gives particulars of each under eleven heads (paricchedā) -

the kappa in which he is born,
his social rank (jāti),
his family (gotta),
length of life at that epoch (āyu),
the tree under which he attains Enlightenment (bodhi),
the names of his two chief disciples (sāvakayuga),
the numbers present at the assemblies of arahants held by him (sāvakasannipāta),
the name of his personal attendant (upatthākabhikkhu),
the names of his father and mother and of his birthplace.

The Commentary (DA.ii.422ff) adds to these other particulars -

the names of his son and his wife before his Renunciation,
the conveyance (yāna) in which he leaves the world,
the monastery in which his Gandhakuti was placed,
the amount of money paid for its purchase,
the site of the monastery, and the name of his chief lay patron.

In the case of Gotama, the further fact is stated that on the day of his birth there appeared also in the world Rāhulamātā, Ananda, Kanthaka, Nidhikumbhi (Treasure Trove), the Mahābodhi andKāludāyī.

Gotama was conceived under the asterism (nakkhatta) of Uttarāsālha, under which asterism he also made his Renunciation (DA.ii425), preached his first sermon and performed the Twin Miracle. Under the asterism of Visākha he was born, attained Enlightenment and died; under that of Māgha he held his first assembly of arahants and decided to die; under Assayuja he descended from Tāvatimsa.

The Buddhavamsa Commentary says (BuA.2f) that in the Buddhavamsa particulars of each Buddha are given under twenty two heads, the additional heads being the details of the first sermon, the numbers of those attaining realization of truth (abhisamaya) at each assembly, the names of the two chief women disciples, the aura of the Buddha’s body (ramsi), the height of his body, the name of the Bodhisatta (who was to become Gotama Buddha), the prophecy concerning him, his exertions (padhāna) and the details of each Buddha’s death. The Commentary also says that mention must be made of the time each Buddha lived as a householder, the names of the palaces he occupied, the number of his dancing women, the names of his chief wife, and his son, his conveyance, his renunciation, his practice of austerities, his patrons and his monastery.

There are eight particulars in which the Buddhas differ from each other (atthavemattāni). These are length of life in the epoch in which each is born, the height of his body, his social rank (some are born as khattiyas, others as brahmins), the length of his austerities, the aura of his body (thus, in the case of Mangala, his aura spread throughout the ten thousand world systems, while that of Gotama extended only one fathom; - but when he wishes, a Buddha can spread his aura at will, BuA.106); the conveyance in which he makes his renunciation, the tree under which he attains Enlightenment, and the size of the seat (pallanka) under the Bodhi tree.

Only the first five are mentioned in DA.ii.424; also at BuA.105; all eight are given at BuA.246f., which also gives details under each of the eight heads, regarding all the twenty five Buddhas.

In the case of all Buddhas, there are four fixed spots (avijahitatthānāni). These are:

the site of the seat under the Bodhi tree (bodhipallanka),
the Deer Park at Isipatana where the first sermon is preached,
the spot where the Buddha first steps on the ground at Sankassa on his descent from Tusita (Tāvatimsa?)
the spots marked by the four posts of the bed in the Buddha’s Gandhakuti in Jetavana.

The monastery may vary in size; the site of the city in which it stands may also vary, but not the site of the bed. Sometimes it is to the east of the vihāra, sometimes to the north (DA.ii.424;BuA.247).

Thirty facts are mentioned as being true of all Buddhas (samatimsavidhā dhammatā).

In his last life every Bodhisatta is conscious at the moment of his conception;
in his mother’s womb he remains cross legged with his face turned outwards;
his mother gives birth to him in a standing posture;
the birth takes place in a forest grove (araññe);
immediately after birth he takes seven steps to the north and roars the “lion’s roar”;
he makes his renunciation after seeing the four omens and after a son is born to him;
he has to practise austerities for at least seven days after donning the yellow robe;
he has a meal of milk rice on the day of his Enlightenment;
he attains to omniscience seated on a carpet of grass;
he practises concentration in breathing;
he defeats Māra’s forces;
he attains to supreme perfection in all knowledge and virtue at the foot of the Bodhi tree;
Mahā Brahmā requests him to preach the Dhamma;
he preaches his first sermon in the Deer Park at Isipatana;
he recites the Pātimokkha to the fourfold assembly on the full moon day of Māgha;
he resides chiefly in Jetavana, he performs the Twin Miracle in Sāvatthi;
he preaches the Abhidhamma in Tāvatimsa;
he descends from there at the gate of Sankassa;
he constantly lives in the bliss of phalasamāpatti;
he investigates the possibility of converting others during two jhānas;
he lays down the precepts only when occasion arises for them;
he relates Jātakas when suitable occasions occur;
he recites the Buddhavamsa in the assembly of his kinsmen;
he always greets courteously monks who visit him;
he never leaves the place where he has spent the rainy season without bidding farewell to his hosts;
each day he has prescribed duties before and after his meal and during the three watches of the night;
he eats a meal containing flesh (mamsarajabhojana) immediately before his death;
and just before his death he enters into the twenty four crores and one hundred thousand samāpattī.

There are also mentioned four dangers from which all Buddhas are immune:

no misfortune can befall the four requisites intended for a Buddha;
no one can encompass his death;
no injury can befall any of his thirty two Mahāpurisalakkhanā or eighty anubyañjanā;
nothing can obstruct his aura (BuA.248).

A Buddha is born only in this Cakkavāla out of the ten thousand Cakkavālas which constitute the jātikkhetta (AA.i.251; DA.iii.897). There can appear only one Buddha in the world at a time (D.ii.225; D.iii.114; the reasons for this are given in detail inMil. 236, and quoted in DA.iii.900f). No Buddha can arise until the sāsana of the previous Buddha has completely disappeared from the world. This happens only with the dhātuparinibbāna (see below). When a Bodhisatta takes conception in his mother’s womb in his last life, after leaving Tusita, there is manifested throughout the world a wonderful radiance, and the ten thousand world systems tremble.

Similar earthquakes appear when he is born, when he attains Enlightenment, when he preaches the first sermon, when he decides to die, when he finally does so (D.ii.108f.; cp. DA.iii.897).

The Mahāpādāna Sutta (D.ii.12-15) and the Acchariya-bbhuta-dhamma Sutta (M.iii.119-124) contain accounts of other miracles, which attend the conception and birth of a Buddha. Later books (e.g., J. i.) have greatly enlarged these accounts. They describe how the Bodhisatta, having practised the thirty Pāramī, and made the five great gifts (pañcamahāpariccāgā), and thus reached the pinnacle of the threefold cariyā - ñātattha-cariyā, lokattha-cariyā and buddhi-cariyā - gives the seven mahādānā, as in the case of Vessantara, making the earth tremble seven times, and is born after death in Tusita.

The Bodhisatta, who later became Vipassī Buddha, remained in Tusita during the whole permissible period - fifty seven crores and sixty seven thousand years. But most Bodhisattas leave Tusita before completing the full span of life there. Five signs appear to warn the devaputta that his end is near (see Deva); the gods of the ten thousand worlds gather round him, beseeching him to be born on earth that he may become the Buddha. The Bodhisatta thereupon makes the five investigations (pañcamahāvilokanāni).

Sometimes only one Buddha is born in a kappa, such a kappa being called Sārakappa; sometimes two, Mandakappa; sometimes three, Varakappa; sometimes four, Sāramandakappa; rarely five, Bhaddakappa (BuA.158f). No Buddha is born in the early period of a kappa, when men live longer than one hundred thousand years and are thus not able to recognize the nature of old age and death, and therefore not able to benefit by his preaching. When the life of man is too short, there is no time for exhortation and men are full of kilesa. The suitable age for a Buddha is, therefore, when men live not less than one hundred years and not more than ten thousand. The Bodhisatta must first consider the continent and the country of birth. Buddhas are born only inJambudīpa, and there, too, only in the Majjhimadesa. He must then consider the family; Buddhas are born only in brahmin or khattiya families, whichever is more esteemed during that particular age. Then he must think of the mother: she must be wise and virtuous; and her life must be destined to end seven days after the Buddha’s birth.

Having made these decisions, the Bodhisatta goes to Nandanavana in Tusita, and while wandering about there “falls away” from Tusita and takes conception. He is aware of his death but unaware of his cuti-citta or dying thought. The Commentators seem to have differed as to whether there is awareness of conception. When the Bodhisatta is conceived, his mother has no further wish for indulgence in sexual pleasure. For seven days previously she observes the uposatha vows, but there is no mention of a virgin birth; the birth might be called parthenogenetic (see Mil.123).

On the day of the actual conception, the mother, having bathed in scented water after the celebration of the Asālha festival, and having eaten choice food, takes upon herself the uposathavows and retires to the adorned state bedchamber. As she sleeps, she dreams that the Four Regent Gods raise her with her bed, and, having taken her to the Himālaya, bathe her in LakeAnotatta, robe her in divine clothes, anoint her with perfumes and deck her with heavenly flowers (according to the Nidānakathā, J. i.50, it is their queens who do these things, re the Bodhisatta assuming the form of an elephant, see Dial.ii.116n). Not far away is a silver mountain and on it a golden mansion. There they lay her with her head to the east. The Bodhisatta, assuming the form of a white elephant, enters her room, and after circling right wise three times round her bed, smites her right side with his trunk and enters her womb. She awakes and tells her husband of her dream. Soothsayers are consulted, and they prophesy the birth of a Cakka-vatti or of a Buddha.

The two Suttas mentioned above speak of the circumstances obtaining during the time spent by the child in his mother’s womb. It is said (DA.ii.437) that the Bodhisatta is born when his mother is in the last third of her middle age. This is in order that the birth may be easy for both mother and child. Various miracles attend the birth of the Bodhisatta. The Commentaries expound, at great length, the accounts of these miracles given in the Suttas. Immediately after birth the Bodhisatta stands firmly on his feet, and having taken seven strides to the north, while a white canopy, is held over his head, looks round and utters in fearless voice the lion’s roar: “Aggo ‘ham asmi lokassa, jettho ‘ham asmi lokassa, settho ‘ham asmi lokassa, ayam antimā jāti, natthi dāni punabbhavo” (D.ii.15).

To the later Buddhists, not only these acts of the Bodhisatta, but every item of the miracles accompanying his birth, have their symbolical meaning. See, e.g., DA.ii.439; thus, standing on the earth means the attaining of the four iddhi-pādas; facing north implies the spiritual conquest of multitudes; the seven strides are the seven bojjhangas; the canopy is the umbrella of emancipation; looking round means unveiled knowledge; fearlessness denotes the irrevocable turning of the Wheel of the Law; the mention of the last birth, the arahantship he will attain in this life, etc.

There seems to have been a difference of opinion among the Elders of the Sangha as to what happened when the Bodhisatta took his seven strides northwards. Did he walk on the earth or travel through the air? Did people see him go? Was he clothed? Did he look an infant or an adult? Tipitaka Culābhaya, preaching on the first floor of the Lohapāsāda, settled the question by suggesting a compromise: the Bodhisatta walked on earth, but the onlookers felt he was travelling through the air; he was naked, but the onlookers felt he was gaily adorned; he was an infant, but looked sixteen years old; and after his roar he reverted to infancy! (DA.ii.442)

After birth, the Bodhisatta is presented to the soothsayers for their prognostications and they reassert that two courses alone are open to him either to be a Cakka-vatti or a Buddha. They also discover on his body the thirty two marks of the Great Man (Mahāpurisa) (These are given at D.ii.17 19; also M.ii.136f). The Bodhisatta has also the eighty secondary signs (asīti anubyañjana) such as copper coloured nails glossy and prominent, sinews which are hidden and without knots, etc. (The list is found in Lal. 121 [106]). The Brahmāyu Sutta (for details seeM.ii.137f) gives other particulars about Gotama, which are evidently characteristic of all Buddhas. Thus, in walking he always starts with the right foot, his steps are neither too long nor too short, only his lower limbs move; when he gazes on anything, he turns right round to do so (nāgavilokana). When entering a house he never bends his body (Cp. DhA.ii.136); when sitting down, accepting water to wash his bowl, eating, washing his hands after eating, or returning thanks, he sits with the greatest propriety, dignity and thoroughness. When preaching, he neither flatters nor denounces his hearers but merely instructs them, rousing, enlightening and heartening them (M.ii.139). His voice possesses eight qualities: it is frank, clear, melodious, pleasant, full, carrying, deep and resonant; it does not travel beyond his audience (for details concerning his voice see DA.ii.452f.; and MA.ii.771f). A passage in the Anguttara (A.iv.308) says that a Buddha preaches in the eight assemblies - of nobles, brahmins, householders, recluses, devas of the Cātummahārājika world, and of Tāvatimsa, of Māras and of Brahmās. In these assemblies he becomes one of them and their language becomes his.

The typical career of a Buddha is illustrated in the life of Gotama. He renounces the world only after the birth of a son. This, the Commentary explains (DA.ii.422), is to prevent him from being taken for other than a human being. He sees the four omens before his Renunciation: an old man, a sick man, a dead man, and a recluse. Some Buddhas see all four on the same day, others, likeVipassī, at long intervals (DA.ii.457). On the night before the Enlightenment, the Bodhisatta dreams five dreams (A.iii.240). After the Enlightenment the Buddha does not preach till asked to do so by Mahā Brahmā. This is on order that the world may pay greater attention to the Buddha and his teaching (DA.ii.467). A Buddha generally travels from the Bodhi tree to Isipatana for his first sermon, through the air, but Gotama went on foot because he wished to meet Upaka on the way (DA.ii.471).

The Buddha’s day is divided into periods, each of which has its distinct duties (DA.i.45f; SnA.i.131f, etc.). He rises early, and having attended to his bodily functions, sits in solitude till the time arrives for the alms round. He then puts on his outer robe and goes for alms, sometimes alone, sometimes with a large following of monks. When he wishes to go alone he keeps the door of his cell shut, which sign is understood by the monks (Ibid., 271). Occasionally he goes long distances for alms, travelling through the air, and then only khīnāsavā are allowed to accompany him (ThagA.ii.65). Sometimes he goes in the ordinary way (pakatiyā), sometimes accompanied by many miracles. After the meal he returns to his cell; this is the pure bhattakicca.

Having washed his feet, he would emerge from his cell, talk to the monks and admonish them. To those who ask for subjects of meditation, he would give them according to their temperament. He would then retire to his cell and, if he so desire, sleep for a while. After that, he looks around the world with his divine eye, seeking whom he may serve, and would then preach to those who come to him for instruction. In the evening he would bathe, and then, during the first watch, attend to monks seeking his advice. The middle watch is spent with devas and others who visit him to question him. The last watch is divided into three parts: the first part is spent in walking about for exercise and meditation; the second is devoted to sleep; and the third to contemplation, during which those who are capable of benefiting by the Buddha’s teaching, through good deeds done by them in the past, come into his vision. Only beings that are veneyyā (capable of benefiting by instruction) and who possess upanissaya, appear before the Buddha’s divine eye (DA.ii.470).

The Buddha gives his visitors permission to ask what they will. This is called Sabbaññupavārana, and only a Buddha is capable of holding to this promise to answer any question (SnA..i.229). Except during the rains, the Buddha spends his time in wandering from place to place, gladdening men and inciting them to lead the good life. This wandering is called cārikā and is of two kinds - turita and aturita. The first is used for a long journey accomplished by him in a very short time, for the benefit of some particular person. Thus Gotama travelled three gāvutas to meet Mahā Kassapa, thirty yojanas to see Alavaka and Angulimāla, forty five yojanas to see Pukusāti, etc. In the case of aturita cārikā progress is slow. The range of a Buddha’s cārikā varies from year to year. Sometimes he would tour the Mahāmandala of nine hundred yojanas, sometimes the Majjhimamandala of nine hundred yojanas, sometimes only the Antomandala of six hundred yojanas. A tour of the Mahāmandala occupies nine months, that of the Majjhimamandala eight, and that of the Antomandala from one to four months. Details of the cārikā and the reasons for them are given at length in DA.i.240 3. When the Buddha cannot go on a journey himself, he sends his chief disciples (SnA..ii.474). The Buddha announces his intention of undertaking a journey two weeks before he starts, so that the monks may get ready (DhA.ii.167).

The Buddha is omniscient, not in the sense that he knows everything, but that he could know anything should he so desire (see MNid.178,179; see also MNidA.223; SnA.i.18.). His ñāña is one of the four illimitables (neither can the Buddha’s body be measured for purposes of comparison with other bodies, MA.ii.790). He converts people in one of three ways:

by exhibition of miraculous powers (iddhipātihāriya),
by reading their thoughts (ādesanāpātihāriya),
or teaching them what is beneficial to them according to their character and temperament (anusāsanīpātihāriya).

It is the last method, which the Buddha most often uses (BuA.81) The Buddha’s rivals say that he possesses the power of fascination (āvattanīmāyā); but this is untrue, as sometimes (e.g., in the case of the Kosambi monks) he cannot make even his own disciples obey him. Some beings, however, can be converted only by a Buddha. They are called buddha veneyyā (SnA..i.331). Some are pleased by the Buddha’s looks, others by his voice and words, yet others by his austerities, such as the wearing of simple robes, etc.; and finally, those whose standard of judgment is goodness, reflect that he is without a peer (DhA.iii.113f.).

Though the Buddha’s teaching is never really lost on the listener, he sometimes preaches knowing that it will be of no immediate benefit (see, e.g., Udumbarikasīhanāda Sutta, D.iii.57). It is said that wherever a monk dwells during the Buddha’s time, in the vicinity of the Buddha, he would always have ready a special seat for the Buddha because it is possible that the Buddha would pay him a special visit (DA.i.48). Sometimes the Buddha will send a ray of light from his Gandhakuti to encourage a monk engaged in meditation and, appearing before him in this ray of light, preach to him. Stanzas so preached are called obhāsagāthā (SnA..i.16, 265).

Every Buddha founds an Order; the first pātimokkhuddesagāthā of every Buddha is the same (DA.ii.479). The attainment of arahantship is always the aim of the Buddha’s instruction (DA.iii.732). Beings can obtain the four abhiññā only during the lifetime of a Buddha (AA.i.204). A Buddha has ten powers (balāni) which consist of his perfect comprehension in ten fields of knowledge,

A.v.32f.; M.i.69, etc. At S. ii.27f., ten similar powers are given as consisting of his knowledge of the Paticasamuppāda. The powers of a disciple are distinct from those of a Buddha (Kvu.228); they are seven (see, e.g., D.iii.283) and physical strength equal to that of one hundred thousand crores of elephants (BuA.37). He alone can digest the food of the devas or food which contains the ojā put into it by the devas. No one else can eat with impunity the food which has been set apart for the Buddha (SnA..i.154). Besides these excellences, a Buddha possesses the four assurances (vesārajjāni, given at M.i.71f)), the eighteen Āvenikadhammā*, and the sixteen anuttariyas**.

*Described at Lal. 183, 343, Buddhaghosa also gives (at DA.iii.994) a list of eighteen buddhadhammā, but they are all concerned with the absence of duccarita in the case of the Buddha.

**Given by Sāriputta in the Sampasādāniya Sutta (D.iii.102ff.).

The remembrance of former births a Buddha shares with six classes of purified beings, only in a higher degree. This ability is possessed in ascending scale by titthiyā, pakatisāvakā, mahāsāvakā, aggasāvakā, pacceka buddhā and buddhā (E.g.,Vsm.411).

Every Buddha holds a Mahāsamaya, and only a Buddha is capable of preaching a series of suttas to suit the different temperaments of the mighty assembly gathered there (D.ii.255; DA.ii.682f).

A Buddha is not completely immune from disease (e.g., Gotama). Every Buddha has the power of living for one whole kappa,” but no Buddha does so, his term of life being shortened by reason of climate and the food he takes (DA.ii.413).

The Commentary explains (DA.ii.554f.) that kappa here means Āyukappa, the full span of a man’s life during that particular age. Some, like Mahāsīva Thera, maintained that if the Buddha could live for ten months, overcoming the pains of death, he could as well continue to live to the end of this Bhaddakappa. But a Buddha does not do so because he wishes to die before his body is overcome by the infirmities of old age.

No Buddha, however, dies till the sāsana is firmly established (D.iii.122). There are three parinibbānā in the case of a Buddha: kilesa parinibbāna, khandha parinibbāna and dhātu parinibbāna. The first takes place under the Bodhi tree, the second at the moment of the Buddha’s death, the third long after (DA.iii.899f.; for the history of Gotama’s relics see Gotama). Some Buddhas live longer than others; those that are dighāyuka have only sammukhasāvakā (disciples who hear the Doctrine from the Buddha himself), and at their death their relics are not scattered, only a single thūpa being erected over them (SnA.. 194, 195). Short lived Buddhas hold the uposatha once a fortnight; others (e.g. Kassapa Buddha) may have it once in six months; yet others (e.g. Vipassī) only once in six years (ThagA.ii.62).

After the Buddha’s death, his Doctrine is gradually forgotten. The first Pitaka to be lost is the Abhidhamma, beginning with the Patthāna and ending with the Dhammasangani. Then, the Anguttara Nikāya of the Sutta Pitaka, from the eleventh to the first Nipāta; next the Samyutta Nikāya from the Cakkapeyyāla to the Oghatarana; then the Majjhima, from the Indriyabhāvanā Sutta to the Mūlapariyāya Sutta, and then the Dīgha, from the Dasuttara to the Brahmajāla. Scattered gāthā like the Sabhiyapucchā, and the Ālavakapucchā, last much longer, but they cannot maintain the sāsana. The last Pitaka to disappear is the Vinaya, the last portion being the mātikā of the Ubhatovibhanga (VibhA.432).

When a Buddha dies, his body receives the honours due to a monarch (these are detailed at D.ii.141f). It is said that on the night on which a Buddha attains Enlightenment, and on the night during which he dies, the colour of his skin becomes exceedingly bright (D.ii.134). Here we have the beginning of a legend which later grew into an account of an actual “transfiguration” of the Buddha.

At all times, where a Buddha is present, no other light can shine (SnA..ii.525).

No Buddha is born during the samvattamānakappa, but only during the vivattamānakappa (SnA..i.51). A Bodhisatta who excels in paññā can attain Buddhahood in four asankheyyas; one who exels in saddhā, in eight, and one whose viriya is the chief factor, in sixteen (SnA..i.47f). When once a being has become a Bodhisatta there are eighteen conditions from which he is immune (SnA..i.50). The Buddha is referred to under various epithets. The Anguttara Nikāya gives one such list. There he is called Samana, Brāhmana, Vedagū, Bhisaka, Nimmala, Vimala, Ñānī and Vimutta (C.iv. 340). Buddhaghosa gives seven others: Cakkkumā, Sabbabhūtanukampī, Vihātaka, Mārasenappamaddī, Vusitavā, Vimutto and Angirasa (DA.iii.962f).

The Buddha generally speaks of himself as Tathāgata. This term is explained at great length in the Commentaries - e.g., DA.i.59f. His followers usually address him as Bhagavā, while others call him by his name (Gotama). In the case of Gotama Buddha, we find him also addressed as Sakka (Sn. vs. 345; perhaps the equivalent of Sākya), Brahma (Sn. p.91; SnA.ii.418), Mahāmuni (BuA.38) and Yakkha (M.i.386; also KS.i.262). Countless other epithets occur in the books, especially in the later ones. One very famous formula, used by Buddhists in their ritual, contains nine epithets, the formula being: Bhagavā araham sammāsambuddho, vijjācaranasampanno, sugato, lokavidū, anuttaro, purisadammasārathi, satthā devamanussānam, Buddho Bhagavā (these words are analysed and discussed in Vsm. 198 ff). It is maintained (e.g., DA.i.288) that the Buddha’s praises are limitless (aparimāna). One of his most striking characteristics, mentioned over and over again, is his love of quiet.

E.g., D.i.178f.; he is also fond of solitude (patissallāna), (D.ii.70; A.iv.438f.; S. v.320f., etc.). When he is in retirement it is usually akāla for visiting him (D.ii.270). There are also certain accusations, which are brought against a Buddha by his rivals, for this very love of solitude. “It is said that his insight is ruined by this habit of seclusion. By intercourse with whom does he attain lucidity in wisdom? He is not at his ease in conducting an assembly, not ready in conversation, he is occupied only with the fringe of things. He is like a one eyed cow, walking in a circle” (D.iii.38).

In this his disciples followed his example (D.iii.37). The dwelling place of a Buddha is called Gandhakuti. His footprint is called Padacetiya, and this can be seen only when he so desires it. When once he wishes it to be visible, no one can erase it. He can also so will that only one particular person shall see it (DhA.iii.194). It is also said that his power of love is so great that no evil action can show its results in his presence (SnA..ii.475). A Buddha never asks for praise, but if his praises are uttered in his presence he takes no offence (ThagA.iii.42). When the Buddha is seated in some spot, none has the power of going through the air above him (SnA..i.222). He prefers to accept the invitations of poor men to a meal (DhA.ii.135).

See also Gotama and Bodhisatta. Also the article on Buddha in the N.P.D.

2. Buddha. A king of forty one kappas ago, a previous birth of Vacchapāla (Pāyāsadāyaka) Thera. ThagA.i.160; Ap.i.157.

3. Buddha. A minister of Mahinda V. He was a native of Māragallaka and, in association with Kitti, another minister, vanquished the Cola army at Palutthagiri. He received as reward his native village. Cv.lv.26 31.

4. Buddha. A Kesadhātu, general of Parakkamabāhu I. He inflicted a severe defeat on Mānābharana at Pūnagāmatittha. Cv.lxxii.7.

5. Buddha. See Buddhanāyaka.

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09/01/10

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– Buddha

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WISDOM IS POWER

Awakened One Shows the Path to Attain Ultimate Bliss

Anyone Can Attain Ultimate Bliss Just Visit:

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The Free e-Nālandā University has been re-organized to function through the following Schools of Learning :

Buddha Taught his Dhamma Free of cost, hence the Free- e-Nālandā follows suit

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TWELVEFOLD CONDITIONED ARISING

BODHISATTVA

PARAMITA

SIX PARAMITAS

III. SIX SPIRITUAL POWERS

SIX PATHS OF REBIRTH

TEN DHARMA REALMS

FIVE SKANDHAS

EIGHTEEN REALMS

FIVE MORAL PRECEPTS

IV. MEDITATION

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FOUR APPLICATIONS OF MINDFULNESS

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Breakthrough to the Truths Safeguards Against Downfall Rebirth!

The Blessed Gotama Buddha once explained:
Bhikkhus & friends, see this little bit of dust, I have taken up upon the nail of my little-finger? What do you think is most: This tiny bit of dust or this great Planet Earth? The Bhikkhus then responded: Venerable Sir, this great Planet Earth is much more, incomparably more. The minute speck of dust is trifling, microscopic, negligible in comparison.

The Blessed Gotama Buddha then pointed out:
Similarly and exactly so too, Bhikkhus & friends, those beings are few and
quite rare, who are reborn among human beings! Beings reborn
elsewhere, lower, as non-humans are much more numerous and common.
Why is it so? Because, Bhikkhus, they have not seen the 4 Noble Truths!
What four?
This is Suffering;
Craving is the Cause of Suffering;
No Craving is the End of Suffering;
The Noble 8-fold Way Ends all Suffering.
Therefore, Bhikkhus & friends, exertion should be made Now to understand:
All This is Suffering; This Greedy Craving is the sole Cause of all Suffering;
No Craving is the End of Suffering; The Noble 8-fold Way Ends all Suffering.
Therefore should effort to fathom these 4 Noble Truths be made NOW!

Comments:
Animals are much more common than humans (trillions of billions of insects & fish),since this rebirth at this level is much more common! Similarly with ghosts,demons, and hell beings. Downfall to these states are common, because evil and immoral action such as Killing, Stealing, Lying, & Abusing are common!
Ethics is thus the core factor of creation & conditioning of future being.

Source (edited extract):
The Grouped Sayings of the Buddha. Samyutta Nikāya. [V:465-6]
section 56: Saccasamyutta. Thread 61: The Downfall …

Rare is Human Rebirth!

http://what-buddha-said.net/library/DPPN/g/gotama.htm

· Gotama

The last of the twenty-five Buddhas.

No comprehensive account of Gotama Buddha is as yet possible. The details given in this article are those generally accepted by orthodox Theravādins and contained in their books, chiefly the Pāli Commentaries, more especially the Nidānakathā of the Jātaka and the Buddhavamsa Commentary.

Biographical details are also found in the Mahā Vagga and the Culla Vagga of the Vinaya Pitaka, the Buddhavamsa and in various scattered passages of the Nikayas of the Sutta Pitaka. References to these are given where considered useful. Controversy exists with regard to many of the matters mentioned; for discussion of the varying views regarding these, reference should be made to the works of Oldenberg, Rhys Davids (both Professor and Mrs. Rhys Davids), Kern, E. J. Thomas and other scholars. Further particulars of persons and places mentioned can be obtained by reference to the articles under the respective names.

He was a Sākiyan (the Sākiyans were evidently subjects of the Kosala king; the Buddha calls himself a Kosalan, M.ii.124), son of Suddhodana (all Pāli Commentaries and Sanskrit works represent the Buddha as the son of a king, descendant of a long line of famous ancestors), chief ruler of Kapilavatthu, and of Mahā Māyā, Suddhodana’s chief consort, and he belonged to the Gotama-gotta. Before his conception he was in the Tusita heaven, waiting for the due time for his birth in his last existence. Then, having made the “five investigations” (pañcavilolcanāni) (see Buddha), he took leave of his companions and descended to earth. (According to the Lalitavistara he appointed the Bodhisatta Maitreya as king of Tusita in his place). Many wondrous and marvellous events attended his conception and birth. (Given in the Acchariyabbhutadhamma Sutta, M.iii.118f; also D.ii.12f. A more detailed account is found in J. i.47ff; both the Lai. and the Mtu.ii.14ff differ as to the details given here of the conception and the birth).

The conception takes place on the full-moon day of Āsālha, with the moon in Uttarāsālha, and Maya has no relations with her husband. She has a marvellous dream in which the Bodhisatta, as a white elephant, enters her womb through her side. When the dream is mentioned to the brahmins, they foretell the birth of a son who will be either a universal monarch or a Buddha. An earthquake takes place and thirty-two signs appear, presaging the birth of a great being. The first of these signs is a boundless, great light, flooding every corner of the ten thousand worlds; everyone beholds its glory, even the fires in all hells being extinguished. Ten months after the conception, in the month of Visākha, Māyā wishes to visit her parents in Devadaha. On the way thither from Kapilavatthu she passes the beautiful Lumbini grove, in which she desires to wander; she goes to a great sāla-tree and seizes a branch in her hand; labour pains start immediately, and, when the courtiers retire, having drawn a curtain round her, even while standing, she is delivered of the child. It is the day of the full moon of Visākha; four Mahābrahmas receive the babe in a golden net, and streams of water descend from the sky to wash him. The boy stands on the earth, takes seven steps north-wards and utters his lion-roar, “I am the chief in the world.” On the same day seven other beings were born: the Bodhi-tree, Rāhula’s mother (Rāhulamātā, his future wife), the four Treasure-Troves (described at DA.i.284), his elephant, his horse Kanthaka, his charioteer Channa, and Kāludāyī. The babe is escorted back to Kapilavatthu on the day of his birth and his mother dies seven days later.

The isi Asita (or Kāladevala), meditating in the Himālaya, learns from the Tāvatimsa gods of the birth of the Buddha, visits Suddhodana the same day and sees the boy, whom they both worship. Asita weeps for sorrow that he will not live to see the boy’s Buddhahood, but he instructs his nephew Nālaka (v.l. Naradatta) to prepare himself for that great day. On the fifth day after the birth is the ceremony of name-giving. One hundred and eight brahmins are invited to the festival at the palace; eight of them - Rāma, Dhaja, Lakkhana, Manti, Kondañña, Bhoja, Suyāma and Sudatta - are interpreters of bodily marks, and all except Kondañña prophesy two possibilities for the boy; but Kondañña, the youngest, says, quite decisively, that he will be a Buddha. The name given to the boy at this ceremony is not actually mentioned, but from other passages it is inferred that it was Siddhattha (q.v.).

Among other incidents recounted of the Buddha’s boyhood is that of his attaining the first jhāna under a jambu-tree. One day he is taken to the state ploughing of the king where Suddhodana himself, with his golden plough, ploughs with the farmers. The nurses, attracted by the festivities, leave the child under a jambu-tree. They return to find him seated, cross-legged, in a trance, the shadow of the tree remaining still, in order to protect him. The king is informed and, for the second time, does reverence to his son. J. i.57f; MA.i.466f; the incident is alluded to in the Mahā Saccaka Sutta (M.i.246); the corresponding incident recounted in Mtu. (ii.45f.) takes place in a park, and the, details differ completely. The Lai. has two versions, one in prose and one in verse and both resemble the Mtu.; but in these the Buddha is represented as being much older. The Divy (391) and the Tibetan versions (e.g., Rockhill, p.22) put the incident very much later in the Buddha’s life. Other incidents are given in Lai. and Mtu.

The Bodhisatta is reported to have lived in the household for twenty-nine years a life of great luxury and excessive ease, surrounded by all imaginable comforts. He owns three palaces - Ramma, Suramma and Subha - for the three seasons. Mention is made of his luxurious life in A.i.145; also in M.i.504; further details are given in AA.i.378f.; J. i.58. See also Mtu.ii.115; cf. Vin.i.15; D.ii.21.

When the Bodhisatta is sixteen years old, Suddhodana sends messengers to the Sākyans asking that his son be allowed to seek a wife from among their daughters; but the Sākyans are reluctant to send them, for, they say, though the young man is hand-some, he knows no art; how, then, can he support a wife? When this is reported to the prince, he summons an assembly of the Sākyans and performs various feats, chief of these being twelve feats with a bow which needs the strength of one thousand men. (The feats with the bow are described in the Sarabhanga Jātaka, J.v.129f ). The Sākyans are so impressed that each sends him a daughter, the total number so sent being forty thousand. The Bodhisatta appoints as his chief wife the daughter of Suppabuddha, who, later, comes to be called Rāhulamātā. She is known under various names: Bhaddakaccā (or Kaccānā), Yasodharā. Bimbā, Bimbasundarī and Gopā. For a discussion see Rāhulamātā.

According to the generally accepted account, Gotama is twenty-nine when the incidents occur which lead to final renunciation. Following the prophecy of the eight brahmins, his father had taken every precaution that his son should see no sign of old age, sickness or death. But the gods decide that the time is come for the Awaken-ness, and instil into Gotama’s heart a desire to go into the park. On the way, the gods put before him a man showing signs of extreme age, and the Bodhisatta returns, filled with desire for renunciation. The king, learning this, surrounds him with even greater attractions, but on two other days Gotama goes to the park and the gods put before him a sick man and a corpse. (According to some accounts, e.g. that of the Dīghabhānakas, the four omens were all seen on the same day, J. i.59)

On the full-moon day of Āsālha, the day appointed for the Great Renunciation, Gotama sees a monk and hears from his charioteer praise of the ascetic life. Feeling very happy, he goes to the park to enjoy himself. Sakka sends Vissakamma himself to bathe and adorn him, and as Gotama returns to the city in all his majesty, he receives news of the birth of his son. Foreseeing in this news a bond, he decides to call the babe Rāhula (q.v.). Kisā Gotamī (q.v.) sees Gotama on the way to the palace and, filled with longing for him, sings to him a song containing the word nibbuta. The significance of the word (=extinguished, at peace) thrills him, and he sends to Kisā his priceless gold necklace which she, however, accepts as a token of love. Gotama enters the palace and sleeps. He wakes in the middle of the night to find his female musicians sleeping in attitudes which fill him with disgust and with loathing for the worldly life, and he decides to leave it. (In some versions the Renunciation takes place seven days after the birth of Rāhula, J. i.62). He orders Channa to saddle Kanthaka, and enters his wife’s room for a last look at her and their son.

He leaves the city on his horse Kanthaka, with Channa clinging to its tail. The devas muffle the sound of the horse’s hoofs and of his neighing and open the city gates for Gotama to pass. Māra appears before Gotama and seeks to stay him with a promise that he shall be universal monarch within seven days. On his offer being refused, Māra threatens to shadow him always. Outside the city, at the spot where later was erected the Kanthakanivattana-cetiya, Gotama turns his horse round to take a last look at Kapilavatthu. It is said that the earth actually turned, to make it easy for him to do so. Then, accompanied by the gods, he rides thirty leagues through three kingdoms - those of the Sākyans, the Koliyans and the Mallas - and his horse crosses the river Anomā in one leap. On the other side, he gives all his ornaments to Channa, and with his sword cuts off hair and beard, throwing them up into the air, where Sakka takes them and enshrines them in the Cūlāmani-cetiya in Tāvatimsa. The Brahmā Ghatikāra offers Gotama the eight requisites of a monk, which he accepts and adopts. He then sends Channa and Kanthaka back to his father, but Kanthaka, broken-hearted, dies on the spot and is reborn as Kanthaka-devaputta.

The account given here is taken mainly from the Nidānakathā (J.i.59ff) and evidently embodies later tradition; cp. D.ii.21ff. From passages found in the Pitakas (e.g., A.i.145; M.i.163, 240;M.ii.212f.) it would appear that the events leading up to the Renunciation were not so dramatic as given here, the process being more gradual. I do not, however, agree with Thomas (op. cit., 58) that, according to these accounts, the Bodhisatta left the world when “quite a boy.” I think the word dahara is used merely to indicate “the prime of youth,” and not necessarily “boyhood.” The description of the Renunciation in the Lal. is very much more elaborate and adds numerous incidents, no account of which is found in the Pāli.

From Anomā the Bodhisatta goes to the mango-grove of Anupiya, and after spending seven days there walks to Rājagaha (a distance of thirty leagues) in one day, and there starts his alms rounds. Bimbisāra’s men, noticing him, report the matter to the king, who sends messengers to enquire who this ascetic is. The men follow Gotama to the foot of the Pandavapabbata, where he eats his meal, and they then go and report to the king. Bimbisāra visits Gotama, and, pleased with his hearing, offers him the sovereignty. On learning the nature of Gotama’s quest, he wins from him a promise to visit Rājagaha first after the Awaken-ness.

This incident is also mentioned in the Pabbajjā Sutta (Sn.vv.405-24), but there it is the king who first sees Gotama. It is significant that, when asked his identity, Gotama does not say he is a king’s son. The Pali version of tile sutta contains nothing of Gotama’s promise to visit Rājagaha, but the Mtu. version (ii.198-200), which places the visit later, has two verses, one of which contains the request and the other the acceptance; and the SnA. (ii.385f.), too, mentions the promise and tells that Bimbisāra was informed of the prophecy concerning Gotama. There is another version of the Mtu. (ii.117-20) which says that Gotama went straight to Vaisāli after leaving home, joining Ālāra, and later visited Uddaka at Rājagaha. Here no mention is made of Bimbisāra. We are told in the Mhv. (ii.25ff) that Bimbisāra and Gotama (Siddhattha) had been playmates, Bimbisāra being the younger by five years. Bimbisāra’s father (Bhātī) and Suddhodana were friends.

Journeying from Rājagaha, Gotama in due course becomes a disciple of Ālāra-Kālāma. Having learnt and practised all that ālāra has to teach, he finds it unsatisfying and joins Uddaka-Rāmaputta; but Uddaka’s doctrine leaves him still unconvinced and he abandons it. He then goes to Senānīgāma in Uruvelā and there, during six years, practises all manner of severe austerities, such as no man had previously undertaken. Once he falls fainting and a deva informs Suddhodana that Gotama is dead. But Suddhodana, relying on the prophecy of Kāladevala, refuses to believe the news. Gotama’s mother, now born as a devaputta in Tāvatimsa, comes to him to encourage him. At Uruvelā, the Pañcavaggiya monks are his companions, but now, having realised the folly of extreme asceticism, he decides to abandon it, and starts again to take normal food; thereupon the Pañcavaggiyas, disappointed, leave him and go to Isipatana.

J.i.66f. The Therīgāthā Commentary (p.2) mentions another teacher of Gotama, named Bhaggava, whom Gotama visited before Ālāra. Lal. (330 [264]) contains a very elaborate account of Gotama’s visits to teachers; he goes first to two brahmin women, Sākī and Padmā, then to Raivata and Rajaka, son of Trimandika, and finally (as far as this chapter is concerned) to Ālāra at Vaisāli. A poem containing an account of the meeting of Gotama with Bimbisāra is inserted into this account. The next chapter tells of Uddaka. An account of Gotama’s visits to teachers and of the details of his austerities is also given in the Mahā Saccaka Sutta, already referred to (M.i.240ff); the Mahā Sīhanāda Sutta (M.i.77ff) contains a long and detailed account of his extreme asceticisms. See also M.i.163ff; ii.93f.

Gotama’s desire for normal food is satisfied by an offering brought by Sujātā to the Ajapāla banyan tree under which he is seated. She had made a vow to the tree, and her wish having been granted, she takes her slave-girl, Punnā, and goes to the tree prepared to fulfil her promise. They take Gotama to be the Tree-god, come in person to accept her offering of milk-rice; the offering is made in a golden bowl and he takes it joyfully. Five dreams he had the night before convince Gotama that he will that day become the Buddha. (The dreams are, recounted in A.iii.240 and in Mtu.ii.136f). It is the full-moon day of Visākha; he bathes at Suppatittha in the Nerañjarā, eats the food and launches the bowl up stream, where it sinks to the abode of the Nāga king, Kāla (Mahākāla).

Gotama spends the rest of the day in a sāla-grove and, in the evening, goes to the foot of the Bodhi-tree, accompanied by various divinities; there the grass-cutter Sotthiya gives him eight handfuls of grass; these, after investigation, Gotama spreads on the eastern side of the tree, where it becomes a seat fourteen hands long, on which he sits cross-legged, determined not to rise before attaining Awaken-ness.

J.i.69. The Pitakas know nothing of Sujātā’s offering or of Sotthiya’s gift. Lal. (334-7 [267-70]) mentions ten girls in all who provide him with food during his austerities. Divy (392) mentions two, Nandā and Nandabalā.

Māra, lord of the world of passion, is determined to prevent this fulfilment, and attacks Gotama with all the strength at his command. His army extends twelve leagues to the front, right, and left of him, to the end of the Cakkavāla behind him, and nine leagues into the sky above him. Māra himself carries numerous weapons and rides the elephant Girimekhala, one hundred and fifty leagues in height. At the sight of him all the divinities gathered at the Bodhi-tree to do honour to Gotama - the great Brahmā, Sakka, the Nāga-king Mahākāla - disappear in a flash, and Gotama is left alone with the ten pāramī, long practised by him, as his sole protection. All Māra’s attempts to frighten him by means of storms and terrifying apparitions fail, and, in the end, Māra hurls at him the Cakkāvudha. It remains as a canopy poised over Gotama. The very earth bears witness to Gotama’s fitness to be the Enlightened One, and Girimekhala kneels before him. Māra is vanquished and flees headlong with his vast army. The various divinities who had fled at the approach of Māra now return to Gotama and exult in his triumph.

The whole story of the contest with Māra is, obviously, a mythological development. It is significant that in the Majjhima passages referred to earlier there is no mention of Māra, of a temptation, or even of a Bodhi-tree; but see D.ii.4 and Thomas (op. cit., n.1). According to the Kālingabodhi Jātaka, which, very probably, embodies an old tradition, the bodhi-tree was worshipped even in the Buddha’s life-time. The Māra legend is, however, to be found in the Canonical Padhāna Sutta of the Sutta Nipāta. This perhaps contains the first suggestion of the legend. For a discussion see Māra.

Gotama spends that night in deep meditation. In the first watch he gains remembrance of his former existences; in the middle watch he attains the divine eye (dibbacakkhu); in the last watch he revolves in his mind the Chain of Causation (paticcasamuppāda). As he masters this, the earth trembles and, with the dawn, comes Awaken-ness. He is now the supreme Buddha, and he breaks forth into a paean of joy (udāna).

There is great doubt as to which were these Udāna verses. The Nidānakathā and the Commentaries generally quote two verses (153, 154) included in the Dhammapada collection (anekajāti samsāram, etc.). The Vinaya (i.2) quotes three different verses (as does also DhsA.17), and says that one verse was repeated at the end of each watch, all the watches being occupied with meditation on the paticcasamuppāda. Mtu. (ii.286) gives a completely different Udāna, and in another place (ii.416) mentions a different verse as the first Udāna. The Tibetan Vinaya is, again, quite different (Rockhill, p.33). For a discussion see Thomas, op. cit., 75ff.

For the first week the Buddha remains under the Bodhi-tree, meditating on the Paticcasamuppāda; the second week he spends at the Ajapālanigrodha, where the “Huhuhka” Brahmin accosts him (Mara now comes again and asks the Buddha to die at once; D.ii.112) and where Mara’s daughters, Tanhā, Aratī and Rāgā, appear before the Buddha and make a last attempt to shake his resolution (J.i.78; S. i.124; Lal.490 (378)); the third week he spends under the hood of the nāga-king Mucalinda (Vin.i.3); the fourth week is spent in meditation under the Rājāyatana tree*; at the end of this period takes place the conversion of Tapussa and Bhallika. They take refuge in the Buddha and the Dhamma, though the Buddha does not give them any instruction.

*This is the Vinaya account (Vin.i.1ff); but the Jātaka (i.77ff, extends this period to seven weeks, the additional weeks being inserted between the first and second. The Buddha spends one week each at the Animisa-cetiya, the Ratanacankama and the Ratanaghara, and this last is where he thinks out the Abhidhamma Pitaka.

Doubts now assail the Buddha as to whether he shall proclaim to the world his doctrine, so recondite, so hard to understand. The Brahma Sahampati (according to J. i.81, with the gods of the thousand worlds, including Sakka, Suyāma, Santusita, Sunimmita, Vasavatti, etc.) appears before him and assures him there are many prepared to listen to him and to profit by his teaching, and so entreats him to teach the Dhamma. The Buddha accedes to his request and, after consideration, decides to teach the Dhamma first to the Pañcavaggiyas at Isipatana. On the way to Benareshe meets the ājīvaka Upaka and tells him that he (the Buddha) is Jina. On his arrival at Isipatana the Pañcavaggiyas are, at first, reluctant to acknowledge his claim to be the Tathāgata, but they let themselves be won over and, on the full-moon day of Āsālha, the Buddha preaches to them the sermon which came to be known as the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta. (Vin.i.4ff;M.i.118ff; cp. D.ii.36ff. Regarding the claim of this sutta to be the Buddha’s first sermon, see Thomas, op. cit., p.86; see also Pañcavaggiyā). At the end of the sermon Kondañña becomes a sotāpanna and they all become monks.

This sermon is followed five days later by the Anattalakkhana Sutta, at the conclusion of which all five become arahants. The following day the Buddha meets Yasa, whom he converts. Yasa’s father, who comes seeking him, is the first to take the threefold formula of Refuge.

Yasa becomes an arahant and is ordained. The Buddha accepts a meal at his house, and Yasa’s mother and one of his former wives are the first two lay-women to become the Buddha’s disciples. Then four friends of Yasa and, afterwards, fifty more, enter the Order and become arahants. There are now sixty arahants besides the Buddha, and they are sent in different directions to preach the Dhamma. They return with many candidates for admission to the Order, and the Buddha, who up till now had ordained men with the “ehi bhikkhu” formula, now allows the monks themselves to perform the ceremony of ordination (Vin.i.15ff; J. i.81f).

After spending the rainy season at Benares (about this time Māra twice tries to tempt the Buddha, once after he had sent the disciples out to preach and once after the Retreat, S. i.105, 111; Vin.i.21, 22), the Buddha returns to Senānigāma in Uruvela, on the way converting and ordaining the thirty Bhaddavaggiyā. At Uruvela, after a long and protracted exercise of magical powers, consisting in all of three thousand five hundred miracles, the Buddha wins over the three Kassapa brothers, the Tebhātika Jatilā, with their thousand followers, and ordains them. They become arahants after listening to the Ādittapariyāya Sutta preached at Gayāsīsa; with these followers he visits Rājagaha, where King Seniya Bimbisāra comes to see him at the Latthivanuyyāna. The following day the Buddha and the monks visit the palace, preceded by Sakka disguised as a youth and singing the praises of the Buddha. After the meal, the king gifts Veluvana to the Buddha and the Order. The Buddha stays for two months at Rājagaha (BuA.4), and it is during this time that Sāriputta and Moggallāna join the Order, through the instrumentality of Assaji (Vin.i.23ff). It was probably during this year, at the beginning of the rainy season, that the Buddha visited Vesāli at the request of the Licchavis, conveyed through Mahāli. The city was suffering from pestilence and famine. The Buddha went, preached the Ratana Sutta and dispelled all dangers (DhA.iii.436ff).

The number of converts now rapidly increases and the people of Magadha, alarmed by the prospect of childlessness, widow-hood, etc., blame the Buddha and his monks. The Buddha, however, refutes their charges (Vin.i.42f).

The account of the first twenty years of the Buddha’s ministry is summarised from various sources, chiefly from Thomas’s admirable account in his Life and Legend of the Buddha (pp.97ff). The necessary references are to be found under the names mentioned.

On the full-moon day of Phagguna (February-March) the Buddha, accompanied by twenty thousand monks, sets out for Kapilavatthu at the express request of his father, conveyed through Kāludāyī. (This visit is not mentioned in the Canon; but see Thag.527-36; AA.i.107, 167; J.i.87; DhA.i.96f; ThagA.i.997ff).

By slow stages he arrives at the city, where he stays at the Nigrodhārāma, and, in order to convince his proud kinsmen of his power, performs the Yamakapātihārjya and then relates the Vessantara Jātaka. The next day, receiving no invitation to a meal, the Buddha begs in the streets of the city; this deeply grieves Suddhodana, but later, learning that it is the custom of all Buddhas, he becomes a sotāpanna and conducts the Buddha and his monks to meal at the palace. There all the women of the palace, excepting only Rāhulamātā, come and do reverence to the Buddha. Mahā Pajāpatī becomes a sotāpanna and Suddhodana a sakadāgāmi. The Buddha visits Rāhulamātā in her own apartments and utters her praises in the Candakinnara Jātaka. The following day the Buddha persuades his half-brother, Nanda, to come to the monastery, where he ordains him and, on the seventh day, he does the same with Rāhula. This is too great a blow for Suddhodana, and at his request the Buddha rules that no person shall be ordained without the consent of his parents. The next day the Buddha preaches to Suddhodana, who becomes an anāgāmī. During the Buddha’s visit to Kapilavatthu, eighty thousand Sākyans join the Order, one from each family. With these he returns to Rājagaha, stopping on the way at Anupiya, where Anuruddha, Bhaddiya, Ananda, Bhagu, Kimbila and Devadatta, together with their barber, Upāli, visit him and seek ordination.

On his return to Rājagaha the Buddha resides in the Sītavana. (J.i.92, the story is also told in the Vinaya ii.154, but no date is indicated). There Sudatta, later known as Anāthapindika, visits him, is converted, and invites him to Sāvatthi. The Buddha accepts the invitation and journeys through Vesāli to Sāvatthi, there to pass the rainy season. (Vin.ii.158; but see BuA.3, where the Buddha is mentioned as having spent the vassa in Rājagaha). Anāthapindika gifts Jetavana, provided with every necessity, for the residence of the Buddha and his monks. Probably to this period belongs the conversion of Migāra, father-in-law of Visākhā, and the construction, by Visākhā, of the Pubbārāma at Sāvatthi. The vassa of the fourth year the Buddha spends at Veluvana, where he converts Uggasena. (DhA.iv.59f). In the fifth year Suddhodana dies, having realised arahant-ship, and the Buddha flies through the air, from the Kūtāgārasālā in Vesāli where he was staying, to preach to his father on his death-bed. According to one account it is at this time that the quarrel breaks out between the Sākyans and the Koliyans regarding the irrigation of the river Rohinī. (AA.i.186; SnA.i.357; ThigA.141; details of the quarrel are given in J. v.412ff). The Buddha persuades them to make peace, and takes up his abode in the Nigrodhārāma. Mahā Pajāpatī Gotamī, with other Sākiyan women, visits him there and asks that women may be allowed to join the Order. Three times the request is made, three times refused, the Buddha then returning to Vesāli. The women cut off their hair, don yellow robes and follow him thither. Ananda intercedes on their behalf and their request is granted. (Vin.ii.253ff; A.iv.274f.; for details see Mahā Pajāpati).

In the sixth year the Buddha again performs the Yamakapātihāriya, this time at the foot of the Gandamba tree in Sāvatthi. Prior to this, the Buddha had forbidden any display of magic powers, but makes an exception in his own case (DhA.iii.199f.; J. iv.265, etc.).

He spends the vassa at Mankulapabbata. After the performance of the miracle he follows the custom of all Buddhas and ascends to Tāvatimsa in three strides to preach the Abhidhamma to his mother who is born there as a deva, and there he keeps the seventh vassa. The multitude, gathered at Sāvatthi at the Yamakapātihāriya, refuse to go away until they have seen him. For three months, therefore, Moggallāna expounds to them the Dhamma, while Culla Anāthapindika provides them with food. During the preaching of the Abhidhamma, Sāriputta visits the Buddha daily and learns from him all that has been recited the previous day. At the end of the vassa, the Buddha descends a jewelled staircase and comes to earth at Sankassa, thirty leagues from Sāvatthi. (For details see Devorohana). It was about this time, when the Buddha’s fame was at its height, that the notorious Ciñcā-mānavikā was persuaded by members of some hostile sect to bring a vile accusation against the Buddha. A similar story, told in connection with a paribbājikā named Sundarī, probably refers to a later date.

The eighth year the Buddha spends in the country of the Bhaggas and there, while residing in Bhesakalāvana near Sumsumāragiri, he meets Nakulapitā and his wife, who had been his parents in five hundred former births (A.A.i.217).

The same is told of another old couple in Sāketa. See the Sāketa Jātaka. The Buddha evidently stayed again at Sumsumāragiri many years later. It was during his second visit that Bodhirājakumāra (q.v.) invited him to a meal at his new palace in order that the Buddha might consecrate the building by his presence.

In the ninth year the Buddha is at Kosambī. While on a visit to the Kuru country he is offered in marriage Māgandiyā, the beautiful daughter of the brahmin Māgandiyā. The refusal of the offer, accompanied by insulting remarks about physical beauty, arouses the enmity of Māgandiyā who, thenceforward, cherishes hatred against the Buddha.

Sn., pp.163ff; SnA.ii.542ff; DhA.i.199ff Thomas (op. cit., 109) assigns the Māgandiyā incident to the ninth year. I am not sure if this is correct, for the Commentaries say the Buddha was then living at Sāvatthi.

In the tenth year there arises among the monks at Kosambī a schism which threatens the very existence of the Order. The Buddha, failing in his attempts to reconcile the disputants, retires in disgust to the Pārileyyaka forest, passing on his way through Bālakalonakāragāma and Pācīnavamsadāya. In the forest he is protected and waited upon by a friendly elephant who has left the herd. The Buddha spends the rainy season there and returns to Sāvatthi. By this time the Kosambī monks have recovered their senses and ask the Buddha’s pardon. This is granted and the dispute settled. (Vin.i.337ff; J. iii.486f; DhA.i.44ff; but see Ud.iv.5; s.v. Pārileyyaka).

In the eleventh year the Buddha resides at the brahmin village of Ekanālā and converts Kasi-Bhāradvāja (Sn., p.12f.; S.i.172f). The twelfth year he spends at Verañjā, keeping the vassa there at the request of the brahmin Verañja. But Verañja forgets his obligations; there is a famine, and five hundred horse-merchants supply the monks with food. Moggallāna’s offer to obtain food by means of magic power is discouraged (Vin.iii.1ff; J. iii.494f; DhA.ii.153). The thirteenth Retreat is kept at Cālikapabbata, where Meghiya is the Buddha’s personal attendant (A.iv.354; Ud.iv.1). The fourteenth year is spent at Sāvatthi, and there Rāhula receives the upasampadā ordination.

In the fifteenth year the Buddha revisits Kapilavatthu, and there his father-in-law, Suppabuddha, in a drunken fit, refuses to let the Buddha pass through the streets. Seven days later he is swallowed up by the earth at the foot of his palace (DhA.iii.44).

The chief event of the sixteenth year, which the Buddha spent at Ālavī, is the conversion of the yakkha Ālavaka. In the seventeenth year the Buddha is back at Sāvatthi, but he visits Ālavī again out of compassion for a poor farmer who becomes a sotāpanna after hearing him preach (DhA.iii.262ff). He spends the rainy season at Rājagaha. In the next year he again comes to Ālavī from Jetavana for the sake of a poor weaver’s daughter. She had heard him preach, three years earlier, on the desirability of meditating upon death. She alone gave heed to his admonition and, when the Buddha knows of her imminent death, he journeys thirty leagues to preach to her and establish her in the sotāpattiphala (DhA.iii.170ff).

The Retreat of this year and also that of the nineteenth are spent at Cālikapabbata. In the twentieth year takes place the miraculous conversion of the robber Angulimāla. He becomes an arahant and dies shortly after. It is in the same year that Ananda is appointed permanent attendant on the Buddha, a position which he holds to the end of the Buddha’s life, twenty-five years later (For details see Ananda). The twentieth Retreat is spent at Rājagaha.

With our present knowledge it is impossible to evolve any kind of chronology for the remaining twenty-five years of the Buddha’s life. The Commentaries state that they were spent at Sāvatthi in the monasteries of Jetavana and Pubbārāma. (E.g., BuA.3; SnA. p.336f, says that when the Buddha was at Sāvatthi, he spent the day at the Migāramātupāsāda in the Pubbārāma, and the night at Jetavana or vice versa).

This, probably, only implies that the Retreats were kept there and that they were made the head quarters of the Buddha. From there, during the dry season, he went every year on tour in various districts. Among the places visited by him during these tours are the following:

· Aggālavacetiya, Anotatta, Andhakavinda, Ambapālivana, Ambalatthikā, Ambasandā, Assapura, Āpana, Icchānangala, Ukkatthā (Subhagavana), Ukkācelā, Ugganagara, Ujuññā (Kannakatthaka deer-park), Uttara in Koliya, Uttarakā, Uttarakuru, Uruvelakappa, Ulumpa, Ekanālā, Opasāda, Kakkarapatta, Kajangalā (Mukheluvana), Kammāssadhamma, Kalandakanivāpa (near Benares), Kimbilā, Kītāgiri, Kundadhānavana (near Kundakoli), Kesaputta, Kotigāma, Kosambī (Ghositārāma and Badarikārāma), Khānumata, Khomadussa, Gosingasālavana, Candalakappa, Campā (Gaggarā), Cātuma, Cetiyagiri in Vesāli, Jīvakambavana (in Rājagaha), Tapodārāma, Tindukkhānu (paribbājakārāma), Todeyya, Thullakotthita, Dakkhināgiri, Dandakappa, Devadaha, Desaka in the Sumbha country, Nagaraka, Nagaravinda, Nādikā (Giñjakāvasatha), Nālandā (Pāvārika mango-grove), Nālakapāna (Palāsavana), Pankadhā, Pañcasalā, Pātikārāma, Beluva, the Brahma world, Bhaddavatī, Bhaddiya (Jātiyāvana), Bhaganagara (Anandacetiya), Maninālakacetiya, Mana-sākata, Mātulā, Mithilā (Makhādeva mango-grove), Medatalumpa, Moranivāpa, Rammaka’s hermitage, Latthivana, Videha, Vedhañña-ambavana, Venāgapura, Verañjā, Veludvāra, Vesāli (also various shrines there, Udenacetiya, Gotamacetiya, Cāpalacetiya, Bahuputta-kacetiya, Sattambacetiya, Sārandadacetiya), Sakkara, Sajjanela, Salalāgāraka in Sāvatthi, Sāketa (Añjanavana), Sāmagāma, Sālavatikā, Sālā, Simsapāvana, Silāvatī, Sītavana, Sūkarakhatalena, Setavyā, Hatthigāma, Halidavassana and the region of the Himālaya.

There is a more or less continuous account of the last year of the Buddha’s life. This is contained in three suttas: the Mahā Parinibbāna, the Mahā Sudassana and the Janavasabha. These are not separate discourses but are intimately connected with each other. The only event prior to the incidents recounted in these suttas, which can be fixed with any certainty, is the death of the Buddha’s pious patron and supporter, Bimbisāra, which took place eight years before the Buddha’s Parinibbāna (Mhv.ii.32). It was at this time that Devadatta tried to obtain for himself a post of supremacy in the Order, and, failing in this effort, became the open enemy of the Buddha. Devadatta’s desire to deprive the Buddha of the leadership of the Sangha seems to have been conceived by him, according to the Vinaya account (Vin.ii.184), almost immediately after he joined the Order, and the Buddha was warned of this by the devaputta Kakudha. This account lends point to the statement contained especially in the Northern books, that even in their lay life Devadatta had always been Gotama’s rival.

Enlisting the support of Ajātasattu, he tried in many ways to kill the Buddha. Royal archers were bribed to shoot the Buddha, but they were won over by his personality and confessed their intentions. Then Devadatta hurled a great rock down Gijjhakūta on to the Buddha as he was walking in the shade of the hill; the hurtling rock was stopped by two peaks, but splinters struck the Buddha’s foot and caused blood to flow; he suffered great pain and had to be taken to the Maddakucchi garden, where his injuries were dressed by the physician Jīvaka (S.i.27). The monks wished to provide a guard, but the Buddha reminded them that no man had the power to deprive a Tathāgata of his life.

Devadatta next bribed the royal elephant keepers to let loose a fierce elephant, Nālāgiri, intoxicated with toddy, on the road along which the Buddha would go, begging for alms. The Buddha was warned of this but disregarded the warning, and when the elephant appeared, Ananda, against the strict orders of the Buddha, threw himself in its path, and only by an exercise of iddhi-power, including the folding up of the earth, could the Buddha come ahead of him. As the elephant approached, the Buddha addressed it, pervading it with his boundless love, until it became quite gentle. (This incident, with great wealth of detail, is related in several places - e.g., in J.v.333ff).

These attempts to encompass the Buddha’s death having failed, Devadatta, with three others, decides to create a schism in the Order and asks the Buddha that five rules should be laid down, whereby the monks would be compelled to lead a far more austere life than hitherto. When this request is refused, Devadatta persuades five hundred recently ordained monks to leave Vesāli with him and take up their residence at Gayāsīsa, where he would set up an organisation similar to that of the Buddha. But, at the Buddha’s request, Sāriputta and Moggallāna visit the renegade monks; Sāriputta preaches to them and they are persuaded to return. When Devadatta discovers this, he vomits hot blood and lies ill for nine months. When his end approaches, he wishes to see the Buddha, but he dies on the way to Jetavana - whither he is being conveyed in a litter - and is born in Avīci.

From Gijjhakūta, near Rājagaha, the Buddha starts on his last journey. Just before his departure he is visited by Vassākāra, and the talk is of the Vajjians; the Buddha preaches to Vassākāra and the monks on the conditions that lead to prosperity. The Buddha proceeds with a large concourse of monks to Ambalatthikā and thence to Nālandā, where Sāriputta utters his lion-roar (sīhanāda) regarding his faith in the Buddha. The Buddha then goes to Pātaligāma, where he talks to the villagers on the evil consequences of immorality and the advantages of morality. He utters a prophecy regarding the future greatness of Pātaliputta and then, leaving by the Gotamadvāra, he crosses the river Ganges at Gotamatittha. He proceeds to Kotigāma and thence to Ñātika, where he gives to Ananda the formula of the Dhammādāsa, whereby the rebirth of disciples could be ascertained. From Ñātika he goes to Vesāli, staying in the park of the courtesan Ambapāli. The following day he accepts a meal from Ambapāli, refusing a similar offer from the Licchavis; Ambapāli makes a gift of her park to the Buddha and his monks. The Buddha journeys on to Beluva, where he spends the rainy season, his monks remaining in Vesāli. At Beluva he falls dangerously ill but, with great determination, fights against his sickness. He tells Ananda that his mission is finished, that when he is dead the Order must maintain itself, taking the Dhamma alone as its refuge, and he concludes by propounding the four subjects of mindfulness (D.ii.100). The next day he begs in Vesāli and, with Ananda, visits the Cāpāla-cetiya. There he gives to Ananda the opportunity of asking him to live until the end of the kappa, but Ananda fails to take the hint. Soon afterwards Māra visits the Buddha and obtains the assurance that the Buddha’s nibbāna will take place in three months. There is an earthquake, and, in answer to Ananda’s questions, the Buddha explains to him the eight causes of earthquakes. This is followed by lists of the eight assemblies, the eight stages of mastery and the eight stages of release. The Buddha then repeats to Ananda his conversation with Māra, and Ananda now makes his request to the Buddha to prolong his life, but is told that it is now too late; several opportunities he has had, of which he has failed to avail himself. The monks are assembled in Vesāli, in the Service Hall, and the Buddha exhorts them to practise the doctrines he has taught, in order that the religious life may last long. He then announces his impending death.

According to the Commentaries (e.g., DA.ii.549), after the rainy season spent at Beluva, the Buddha goes back to Jetavana, where he is visited by Sāriputta, who is preparing for his own Parinibbāna at Nālakagāma. From Jetavana the Buddha went to Rājagaha, where Mahā-Moggallāna died. Thence he proceeded to Ukkācelā, where he spoke in praise of the two chief disciples. From Ukkācelā he proceeded to Vesāli and thence to Bhandagāma. Rāhula, too, predeceased the Buddha (DA.ii.549).

The next day, returning from Vesāli, he looks round at the city for the last time and goes on to Bhandagāma; there he preaches on the four things the comprehension of which destroys rebirth-noble conduct, earnestness in meditation, wisdom and freedom.

He then passes through the villages of Hatthigāma, Ambagāma and Jambugama, and stays at Bhoganagara at the Ananda-cetiya. There he addresses the monks on the Four Great Authorities (Mahāpadesā), by reference to which the true doctrine may be determined (Cf. A.ii.167ff). From Bhoganagara the Buddha goes to Pāvā and stays in the mango-grove of Cunda, the smith. Cunda serves him with a meal which includes sūkaramaddava. (There is much dispute concerning this word. See Thomas, op. cit., 149, n.3). The Buddha alone partakes of the sūkaramaddava, the remains being buried. This is the Buddha’s last meal; sharp sickness arises in him, with flow of blood and violent, deadly pains, but the Buddha controls them and sets out for Kusinārā. On the way he has to sit down at the foot of a tree. Ananda fetches him water to drink from the stream Kakutthā, over which five hundred carts had just passed; but, through the power of the Buddha, the water is quite clear. Here the Buddha is visited by Pukkusa, the Mallan, who is converted and presents the Buddha with a pair of gold-coloured robes. The Buddha puts them on and Ananda notices the marvellous brightness and clearness of the Buddha’s body. The Buddha tells him that the body of a Buddha takes on this hue on the night before his Awaken-ness and on the night of his passing away, and that he will die that night at Kusinārā. He goes to the Kākutthā, bathes and drinks there and rests in a mango-grove. There he instructs Ananda that steps must be taken to dispel any remorse that Cunda may feel regarding the meal he gave to the Buddha.

From Kakutthā the Buddha crosses the Hiraññavatī to the Upavattana sāla-grove in Kusinārā. There Ananda prepares for him a bed with the head to the north. All the trees break forth into blossom and flowers cover the body of the Buddha. Divine mandārava-flowers and sandalwood powder fall from the sky, and divine music and singing sound through the air. But the Buddha says that the greater honour to him would be to follow his teachings.

The gods of the ten thousand world systems assemble to pay their last homage to the Buddha, and Upavāna, who stands fanning him, is asked to move away as he obstructs their view.

Ananda asks for instruction on several points, including how the funeral rites should be performed; he then goes out and abandons himself to a fit of weeping; the Buddha sends for him, consoles him and speaks his praises. Ananda tries to persuade the Buddha not to die in a mud-and-wattle village, such as is Kusinārā, but the Buddha tells him how it was once the mighty Kusāvatī, capital of Mahāsudassana.

The Mallas of Kusināra are informed that the Buddha will pass away in the third watch of the night, and they come with their families to pay their respects. The ascetic Subhadda comes to see the Buddha and is refused admission by Ananda, but the Buddha, overhearing, calls him in and converts him. Several minor rules of discipline are delivered, including the order for the excommunication of Channa. The Buddha finally asks the assembled monks to speak out any doubts they may have. All are silent and Ananda expresses his astonishment, but the Buddha tells him it is natural that the monks should have no doubts. Then, addressing the monks for the last time, he admonishes them in these words: “Decay is inherent in all component things; work out your salvation with diligence.” These were the Buddha’s last words. Passing backwards and forwards through various stages of trance, he attains Parinibbāna. There is a great earthquake and terrifying thunder, and the Brahmā Sahampati, Sakka king of the gods, Anuruddha and Ananda utter stanzas, each proclaiming the feeling uppermost in his mind. It is the full-moon day of the month of Visākha and the Buddha is in his eightieth year.

The complete passing away.

The concluding passage of the Mahā-Parinibbāna Sutta (D.ii.167) states that the Buddha’s relics were eight measures, seven of which were honoured in Jambudīpa and the remaining one in the Nāga realm in Rāmagāma. One tooth was in heaven, one in Gandhāra, a third in Kālinga (later taken to Ceylon), and a fourth in the Nāga world. Ajātasattu’s share was deposited in a thūpa and forgotten. It was later discovered by Asoka (with the help of Sakka) and distributed among his eighty-four thousand monasteries. Asoka also recorded the finding of all the other relics except those deposited in Rāmagāma. These were later deposited in the Mahācetiya at Anurādhapura (Mhv.Xxxi.17ff). Other relics are also mentioned, such as the Buddha’s collar-bone, his alms bowl, etc. (Mhv.Xvii.9ff; Mhv.i.37, etc.).

It is said (E.g., DA.iii.899) that just before the Buddha’s Sāsana disappears completely from the world, all the relics will gather together at the Mahācetiya, and travelling from there to Nāgadīpa and the Ratanacetiya, assemble at the Mahābodhi, together with the relics from other parts. There they will reform the Buddha’s golden hued body, emitting the six-coloured aura. The body will then catch fire and completely disappear, amid the lamentations of the ten thousand world-systems.

The Ceylon Chronicles (Mhv.i.12ff; Dpv.i.45ff; ii.1ff etc.) record that the Buddha visited the Island on three separate occasions.

(The Burmese claim that the Buddha visited their land and went to the Lohitacandana Vihāra, presented by the brothers Mahāpunna and Cūlapunna of Vānijagāma (Ind. Antiq.xxii., and Sās.36f.).

The first was while he was dwelling at Uruvelā, awaiting the moment for the conversion of the Tebhātika Jatilas, in the ninth month after the Enlightenment, on the full-moon day of Phussa (Dec. Jan.). He came to the Mahānāga garden, and stood in the air over an assembly of yakkhas then being held. He struck terror into their hearts and, at his suggestion, they left Ceylon and went in a body to Giridīpa, hard by. The Buddha gave a handful of his hair to the deva Mahāsumana of the Sumanakūta mountain, who built a thūpa which was later enlarged into the Mahiyangana Thūpa. The Buddha again visited Ceylon in the fifth year, on the new-moon day of Citta (March-April), to check an imminent battle between two Nāga chiefs in Nāgadīpa; the combatants were Mahodara and Cūlodara, uncle and nephew, and the object of the quarrel was a gem-set throne. The Buddha appeared before them, accompanied by the deva Samiddhi-Sumana, carrying a Rājayatana tree from Jetavana, settled their quarrel and received, as a gift, the throne, the cause of the trouble. He left behind him both the throne and the Rājayatana tree for the worship of the Nāgās and accepted an invitation from the Nāga king, Maniakkhika of Kalyāni, to pay another visit to Ceylon. Three years later Maniakkhika repeated the invitation and the Buddha came to Kalyāni with five hundred monks, on the second day of Vesākha. Having preached to the Nāgas, he went to Sumanakūta, on the summit of which mountain he left the imprint of his foot (Legend has it that other footprints were left by the Buddha, on the bank of the river Nammadā, on the Saccabaddha mountain and in Yonakapura). He then stayed at Dīghavāpī and from there visited Mahāmeghavana, where he consecrated various spots by virtue of his presence, and proceeded to the site of the later Silācetiya. From there he returned to Jetavana.

Very little information as to the personality of the Buddha is available. We are told that he was golden-hued (E.g., Sp.iii.689), that his voice had the eight qualities of the Brahmassāra (E.g.,D.ii.211; M.ii.166f. It is said that while an ordinary person spoke one word, Ananda could speak eight; but the Buddha could speak sixteen to the eight of Ananda, MA.i.283) - fluency, intelligibility, sweetness, audibility, continuity, distinctness, depth and resonance - that he had a fascinating personality - he was described by his opponents as seductive (E.g., M.i.269, 275) - that he was handsome, perfect alike in complexion and stature and noble of presence (E.g., M.ii.167). He had a unique reputation as a teacher and trainer of the human heart. He was endowed with the thirty-two marks of the Mahāpurisa. (For details of these, see Buddha). There is a legend that Mahā Kassapa, though slightly shorter, resembled the Buddha in appearance.

Attempts made, however, to measure the Buddha always failed; two such attempts are generally mentioned - one by a brahmin of Rājagaha and the other by Rāhu, chief of the Asuras (DA.i.284f). The Buddha had the physical strength of many millions of elephants (e.g., VibhA.397), but his strength quickly ebbed away after his last meal and he had to stop at twenty-five places while travelling three gāvutas from Pāvā to Kusināra (DA.ii.573).

Mention is often made of the Buddha’s love of quiet and peace, and even the heretics respected his wishes in this matter, silencing their discussions at his approach (E.g., D.i.178f; iii.39; even his disciples had a similar reputation, e.g., D.iii.37). Examples are given of the Buddha refusing to allow noisy monks to live near him. (E.g., M.i.456; see also M.ii.122, where a monk was jogged by his neighbour because he coughed when the Buddha was speaking). He loved solitude and often spent long periods away from the haunts of men, allowing only one monk to bring him his meals. E.g., S.v.12, 320; but this very love of solitude was sometimes brought against him. By intercourse with whom does he attain to lucidity in wisdom? they asked. His insight, they said, was ruined by his habit of seclusion (D.iii.38).

According to one account (A.i.181), it was his practice to spend part of the day in seclusion, but he was always ready to see anyone who urgently desired his spiritual counsel (E.g., A.iv.438).

In the Mahā Govinda Sutta (D.ii.222f ) Sakka is represented as having uttered “eight true praises” of the Buddha. Perhaps the most predominant characteristics of the Buddha were his boundless love and his eagerness to help all who sought him. His fondness for children is seen in such stories as those of the two Sopākas, of Kumāra-Kassapa, of Cūla Panthaka and Dabba-Mallaputta and also of the novices Pandita and Sukha. His kindness to animals appears, for instance, in the introductory story of the Maccha Jātaka and his interference on behalf of Udena’s aged elephant, Bhaddavatikā (q.v.). The Buddha was extremely devoted to his disciples and encouraged them in every way in their difficult life. The Theragāthā and the Therīgāthā are full of stories indicating that he watched, with great care, the spiritual growth and development of his disciples, understood their problems and was ready with timely interference to help them to win their aims. Such incidents as those mentioned in the Bhaddāli Sutta (M.i.445), the introduction to the Tittha Jātaka and the Kañcakkhandha Jātaka, seem to indicate that he took a personal and abiding interest in all who came under him. It was his unvarying custom to greet with a smile all those who visited him, inquiring after their welfare and thus putting them at their ease (Vin.i.313). When anyone sought permission to question him, he made no conditions as to the topic of discussion. This is called sabbaññupavārana. E.g., M.i.230. When the Buddha himself asked a question of any of his interrogators, they could not remain silent, but were bound to answer; a yakkha called Vajirapāni was always present to frighten those who did not wish to do so (e.g., M.i.231).

The Buddha was not over-anxious to get converts, and when his visitors declared themselves his followers he would urge them to take time to consider the matter - e.g., in the case of Acela Kassapa and Upāligahapati.

When he was staying in a monastery, he paid daily visits to the sick ward to talk to the inmates and to comfort them (See, e.g., Kutāgārasālā). The charming story of Pūtigata-Tissa shows that he sometimes attended on the sick himself, thus setting an example to his followers. In return for his devotion, his disciples adored him, but even among those who immediately surrounded him there were a few who refused to obey him implicitly - e.g., Lāludāyī, the companions of Assaji and Punabbasuka, the Chabbaggiyas, the Sattarasavaggiyas and others, not to mention Devadatta and his associates.

The Buddha seems to have shown a special regard for Sāriputta, Ananda and Mahā Kassapa among the monks, and for Anāthapindika, Mallikā, Visakhā, Bimbisāra and Pasenadi among the laity. He seems to have been secretly amused by the very human qualities of Pasenadi and by his failure to appreciate the real superiority of Mallikā, his wife.

The Buddha always declared that he was among the happy ones of this earth, that he was far happier, for instance, than Bimbisāra (E.g., M.i.94), and he remained unmoved by opposition or abuse. E.g., in the case of the organised conspiracy of Māgandiyā (DhA.iv.1f.).

The Milindapañha (p.134) mentions several illnesses of the Buddha: the injury to his foot has already been referred to; once when the humours of his body were disturbed Jīvaka administered a purge (Vin.i.279); on another occasion he suffered from some stomach trouble which was cured by hot water, or, according to some, by hot gruel (Vin.i.210f.; Thag.185). The Dhammapada Commentary (DhA.iv.232; ThagA.i.311f) mentions another disorder of the humours cured by hot water obtained from the brahmin Devahita, through Upavāna. The Commentaries mention that he suffered, in his old age, from constant backache, owing to the severe austerities practised by him during the six years preceding his Awaken-ness, and the unsuitable meals taken during that period were responsible for a dyspepsia which persisted throughout the rest of his life (SA.i.200), culminating in his last serious illness of dysentery. MA.i.465; DA.iii.974; see also D.iii.209, when he was preaching to the Mallas of Pāvā.

The Apadāna (Ap.i.299f) contains a set of verses called Pubbakammapiloti; these verses mention certain acts done by the Buddha in the past, which resulted in his having to suffer in various ways in his last birth. He was once a drunkard named Munāli and he abused the Pacceka Buddha Surabhi. On another occasion he was a learned brahmin, teacher of five hundred pupils. One day, seeing the Pacceka Buddha Isigana, he spoke ill of him to his pupils, calling him “sensualist.” The result of this act was the calumny against him by Sundarikā in this life.

In another life he reviled a disciple of a Buddha, named Nanda; for this he suffered in hell for twelve thousand years and, in his last life, was disgraced by Ciñcā. Once, greedy for wealth, he killed his step-brothers, hurling them down a precipice; as a result, Devadatta attempted to kill him by hurling down a rock. Once, as a boy, while playing on the highway, he saw a Pacceka Buddha and threw a stone at him, and as a result, was shot at by Devadatta’s hired archers. In another life he was a mahout, and seeing a Pacceka Buddha on the road, drove his elephant against him; hence the attack by Nālāgiri. Once, as a king, he sentenced seventy persons to death, the reward for which he reaped when a splinter pierced his foot. Because once, as a fisherman’s son, he took delight in watching fish being caught, he suffered from a grievous headache when Vidūdabha slaughtered the Sākiyans. In the time of Phussa Buddha he asked the monks to eat barley instead of rice and, as a result, had to eat barley for three months at Verañja. (According to the Dhammapada Commentary [iii.257], the Buddha actually had to starve one day at Pañcasālā, because none of the inhabitants were willing to give him alms.) Because he once killed a wrestler, he suffered from cramp in the back. Once, when a physician, he caused discomfort to a merchant by purging him, hence his last illness of dysentery. As Jotipāla, he spoke disparagingly of the Enlightenment of Kassapa Buddha, and in consequence had to spend six years following various paths before becoming the Buddha. He was one of the most short-lived Buddhas, but because of those six years his Sāsana will last longer (Sp.i.190f).

The Buddha was generally addressed by his own disciples as Bhagavā. He spoke of himself as Tathāgata, while non-Buddhists referred to him as Gotama or Mahāsamana. Other names used are Mahāmuni, Sākyamuni, Jina, Sakka (e.g., Sn.vs.345) and Brahma (Sn.vs.91; SnA.ii.418), also Yakkha (q.v.).

The Anguttara Nikāya (A.i.23ff) gives a list of the Buddha’s most eminent disciples, both among members of the Order and among the laity. Each one in the list is mentioned as having possessed pre-eminence in some particular respect.

Among those who visited the Buddha for discussion or had interviews with him or received instruction and guidance direct from him, the following may be included in addition to those already mentioned (this list does not pretend to be complete; some of the names have already been mentioned in this monograph in various connections):

· Ankura, Aggidatta, Acela-Kassapa, Ajātasattu, Ajita the Paribbājaka, Ajita the Licchavi general, Attadattha, Anitthigandhakumāra, Anurāddha, Anuruddha, Annabhāra, Abhaya-rājakumāra, Abhayā, Abhiñjaka, Abhibhūta, Abhirūpa-Nandā, Ambattha, the monk Arittha, Ariya the fisherman, Asama, Asibandhaputta, Assaji, Assalāyana, Ākotaka, Āmagandha, the yakkhas Ālavaka and Indaka, Ugga of Vesāli, Ugga the minister, Uggata-Sarīra, Uggaha, Ujjaya, Unnābha, Uttara-devaputta, Uttara the Nāga king, Uttara, pupil of Pārasariya, Uttiya, Udaya and Udāyi the brahmins, Uttara, pupil of Brahmāyu, Uttarā, daughter of Punna, Uttarā the aged nun, Upavāna, Upasālha, Upasena, Upāligahapati, Ubbirī, Eraka, Esakārī, Kakudha, Kandaraka, Kapila the fisherman, Kappa, Kappatakura, Kalārakkhattiya, Kassapa the deva, Kāna, Kānamātā, Kātiyāna, Kāpathika, Kāmada, Kāranapāli, the Kālāmas, Kāligodhā, Kimbila, Kisāgotami, Kukkutamitta the hunter, Kundadhāna, Kundaliya, Kulla, Kūtadanta, Keniya the Jatila, Kevaddha, Kesi the horse trainer, Kokanadā, the two daughters of Pajjuna, Kokālika, Khadiravaniya-Revata, Khānu-Kondañña, Khema the deva, Khemā, Ganaka-Moggallāna, Gavampati, Guttā, Gotama Thera, Cankī, Candana, Candābha, Candimā (Candimasa), Citta-Hatthasārīputta, Cunda, Cunda-Samanuddesa, Cundī, Culla-Dhanuggaha, Culla-Subhaddhā, Chattapānī, Janapada-Kalyāni-Nandā, Janavasabha, Jantu, Jambuka, Jambukhādaka, Jānussoni, Jāliya, Jīvaka-Komārabhacca, Jenta, Jotikagahapati, Tāyana, Tālaputa, Tikanna, Timbaruka, Tissa, cousin of the Buddha, Tissa, friend of Metteyya, Tissa of Roruva, Tudu-brahmā, Thulla-Tissa, Dandapanī, Dāmalī, Dāsaka, Dīgha the deva, Dīghajānu, Dīghata-passī, Dīghanakha, Dīghalatthi, Dīghāvu, Dummukha, Dona, Dhammadinna, Dhammārāma, the Dhammika-upāsaka, Dhammika the brahmin, Nanda Thera, Nanda the herdsman, Nandana, Nandiya-paribbājaka, Nandiya the Sākiyan, Nandivisāla, Nāgita, Nālakatāpasa, Nālijangha, Nigamavāsi-Tissa, Nigrodha, Ninka, Nīta, Nhātakamunī, Paccanīkasāta, Pañcasikha, Pañcālacanda, Patācārā, Pasenadi, king of Kosala, Pahārāda the asura, Pātaliya, Pārāpariya, Pingala-Kaccha, Pingiyānī, Pilinda-Vaccha, Pilotika, Punna, Punna-Koliyaputta, Punna-Mantānīputta, Punnā, Punniya, Pessa the elephant trainer, Pokkharasāti, Potthapāda, Pothila, Potaliya, Phagguna, Baka-brahmā, Bahuputtikā, Bāvarī and his sixteen disciples, Bāhiya-Dārucīriya, Bāhuna, Bilālapādaka, Belatthakāni, Bojjhā, Brahmāyu, Bhagu, Bhaggava, Bhadda, Bhaddā-Kundakakesī, Bhaddāli, Bhaddiya the Licchavi, several Bhāra-dvājas (Akkosaka*, Aggika*, Asurinda*, Ahimsaka*, Kāsi*, Jatā*, Navakammika*, Bilangika*, Suddhika*, Sundarika*), Bhāradvāja, husband of Dhanañjāni, Bhāradvāja, friend of Vāsettha, Bhuñjati, Bhumiya, Bhesika the barber, Macchari-Kosiya, Manibhadda, Mandissa, Mahā-kappina, Mahā-Kassapa, Mahā-kotthita, Mahā-Cunda, Mahā-dhana, Mahā-nāma, Mahā-Moggallāna, Mahāli (Otthaddha), the two Māgandiyas - one the brahmin and one the paribbājaka, Māgha, Mānava-Gāmiya, Mānatthaddha, Mātuposaka, Mālunkyaputta, Miga-jāla, Migasira, Mendaka of Bhaddiya, Moliya-Phagguna, Moliya-Sīvaka, Yasoja, Ratthapāla, Rādha, Rāhula, Rāsiya, Rūpānandā, Roja the Malla, Rohinī, Rohitassa, Lakuntaka-Bhaddiya, the goddess Lājā, Lomasakangiya, Lohicca, Vakkali, Vangisa, Vajjiyamāhita, Vaddha the Licchavi, Vaddhamāna, Vappa, Varadhara, Vassakāra, Vārana, Vāsettha-upāsaka, Vāsettha, friend of Bhāradvāja, Visākha Pañcalaputta, Visākhā, Vīrā, Vekhanasa, Vendu, Vatambari, Sakuludāyi, Sakka, Sankicca, the two Sangāravas, Sangharakkhita (Bhāgineyya°), Saccaka, Sajjha, Satullapa-devas, Sanankumāra, Santati, Sandha, Sandhāna, Samiddhi, Sarabha, Sarabhanga, Sātāgira, Sātāli, Sāti, Sānu, Sikhā-Moggallāna, Sigāla, Sirimā, Siva, Sīvali, Sīha the general, Sukhā, Suciloma, Sujātā, daughter-in-law of Anāthapindika, Sudatta, Sunakkhatta, Sunīta, Sundara-Samudda, Sundarī-Nandā, the leper Suppabuddha, Suppa-vāsā, Subha Todeyyaputta, the two nuns named Subhā, Subhūti, the novice Sumana, Sumanā, sister of Pasenadi, Subrahmā, Surādha, Suriya, Susima, Seniya, Seri, Sela, Sona-Kutikanna, Sona-Kolivisa, Sonadanda, Sonā, the two Sopākas, Hatthaka Ālavaka, Hatthaka-devaputta and Hemavata.

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Rebirth Part IV

http://what-buddha-said.net/drops/Rebirth.htm

The laws of kamma are as inviolable as the law of gravity: SN XLII.6

http://www.cambodianbuddhist.org/english/website/canon/samyutta/sn42-006.html

Samyutta Nikaya XLII.6

Paccha-bhumika Sutta

[Brahmans] of the Western Land

Translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
For free distribution only.

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn42/sn42.006.than.html

· Tipitaka · Samyutta Nikaya · SN 42

SN 42.6

PTS: S iv 311

CDB ii 1336

Paccha-bhumika Sutta: [Brahmans] of the Western Land

translated from the Pali by

Thanissaro Bhikkhu

On one occasion the Blessed One was staying near Nālandā in the Pavarika Mango Grove. Then Asibandhakaputta the headman went to the Blessed One and on arrival, having bowed down to him, sat to one side. As he was sitting there he said to the Blessed One: “The brahmans of the Western lands, lord — those who carry water pots, wear garlands of water plants, purify with water, & worship fire — can take [the spirit of] a dead person, lift it out, instruct it, & send it to heaven. But the Blessed One, worthy & rightly self-awakened, can arrange it so that all the world, at the break-up of the body, after death, reappears in a good destination, the heavenly world.”

“Very well, then, headman, I will question you on this matter. Answer as you see fit. What do you think: There is the case where a man is one who takes life, steals, indulges in illicit sex; is a liar, one who speaks divisive speech, harsh speech, & idle chatter; is greedy, bears thoughts of ill-will, & holds to wrong views. Then a great crowd of people, gathering & congregating, would pray, praise, & circumambulate with their hands palm-to-palm over the heart [saying,] ‘May this man, at the break-up of the body, after death, reappear in a good destination, the heavenly world!’ What do you think: would that man — because of the prayers, praise, & circumambulation of that great crowd of people — at the break-up of the body, after death, reappear in a good destination, the heavenly world?”

“No, lord.”

“Suppose a man were to throw a large boulder into a deep lake of water, and a great crowd of people, gathering & congregating, would pray, praise, & circumambulate with their hands palm-to-palm over the heart [saying,] ‘Rise up, O boulder! Come floating up, O boulder! Come float to the shore, O boulder!’ What do you think: would that boulder — because of the prayers, praise, & circumambulation of that great crowd of people — rise up, come floating up, or come float to the shore?”

“No, lord.”

“So it is with any man who takes life, steals, indulges in illicit sex; is a liar, one who speaks divisive speech, harsh speech, & idle chatter; is greedy, bears thoughts of ill-will, & holds to wrong views. Even though a great crowd of people, gathering & congregating, would pray, praise, & circumambulate with their hands palm-to-palm over the heart — [saying,] ‘May this man, at the break-up of the body, after death, reappear in a good destination, the heavenly world!’ — still, at the break-up of the body, after death, he would reappear in destitution, a bad destination, the lower realms, hell.

“Now what do you think: There is the case where a man is one who refrains from taking life, from stealing, & from indulging in illicit sex; he refrains from lying, from speaking divisive speech, from harsh speech, & from idle chatter; he is not greedy, bears no thoughts of ill-will, & holds to right view. Then a great crowd of people, gathering & congregating, would pray, praise, & circumambulate with their hands palm-to-palm over the heart [saying,] ‘May this man, at the break-up of the body, after death, reappear in destitution, a bad destination, the lower realms, hell!’ What do you think: would that man — because of the prayers, praise, & circumambulation of that great crowd of people — at the break-up of the body, after death, reappear in destitution, a bad destination, the lower realms, hell?”

“No, lord.”

“Suppose a man were to throw a jar of ghee or a jar of oil into a deep lake of water, where it would break. There the shards & jar-fragments would go down, while the ghee or oil would come up. Then a great crowd of people, gathering & congregating, would pray, praise, & circumambulate with their hands palm-to-palm over the heart [saying,] ‘Sink, O ghee/oil! Submerge, O ghee/oil! Go down, O ghee/oil!’ What do you think: would that ghee/oil, because of the prayers, praise, & circumambulation of that great crowd of people sink, submerge, or go down?”

“No, lord.”

“So it is with any man who refrains from taking life, from stealing, & from indulging in illicit sex; refrains from lying, from speaking divisive speech, from harsh speech, & from idle chatter; is not greedy, bears no thoughts of ill-will, & holds to right view. Even though a great crowd of people, gathering & congregating, would pray, praise, & circumambulate with their hands palm-to-palm over the heart — [saying,] ‘May this man, at the break-up of the body, after death, reappear in a destitution, a bad destination, the lower realms, hell!’ — still, at the break-up of the body, after death, he would reappear in a good destination, the heavenly world.”

When this was said, Asibandhakaputta the headman said to the Blessed One: “Magnificent, lord! Magnificent! Just as if he were to place upright what was overturned, to reveal what was hidden, to point out the way to one who was lost, or to carry a lamp into the dark so that those with eyes could see forms, in the same way has the Blessed One — through many lines of reasoning — made the Dhamma clear. I go to the Blessed One for refuge, to the Dhamma, & to the community of monks. May the Blessed One remember me as a lay follower who has gone for refuge from this day forward, for life.”

Why not just settle for divine rebirth among the devas?: SN V.7

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn05/sn05.007.than.html

· Tipitaka · Samyutta Nikaya · SN 5

SN 5.7

PTS: S i 133

CDB i 227

Upacala Sutta: Sister Upacala

translated from the Pali by

Thanissaro Bhikkhu

Alternate translation: Bodhi

At Savatthi. Then, early in the morning, Upacala the nun put on her robes and, taking her bowl & outer robe, went into Savatthi for alms. When she had gone for alms in Savatthi and had returned from her alms round, after her meal she went to the Grove of the Blind to spend the day. Having gone deep into the Grove of the Blind, she sat down at the foot of a tree for the day’s abiding.

Then Mara the Evil One, wanting to arouse fear, horripilation, & terror in her, wanting to make her fall away from concentration, approached her & said, “Where do you want to reappear, nun?”

“I don’t want to reappear anywhere, my friend.”

[Mara:]

The devas of the Thirty-three,

the Hours, the Contented,

those who delight in creation,

& those in control:

direct your mind there

and it will enjoy

delight.

[Sister Upacala:]

The devas of the Thirty-three,

the Hours, the Contented,

those who delight in creation,

& those in control:

they are bound

with the bonds of sensuality;

they come again

under Mara’s sway.

The whole world is burning.

The whole world is aflame.

The whole world is blazing.

The whole world is provoked.

The Unprovoked, Unblazing

— that people run-of-the-mill

don’t partake,

where Mara’s

never been —

that’s where my heart

truly delights.

Then Mara the Evil One — sad & dejected at realizing, “Upacala the nun knows me” — vanished right there.

Notes

To reappear = to be reborn.

See also: SN 6.15; SN 9.6.

The preciousness of our human life: SN XX.2, SN LVI.48

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn20/sn20.002.than.html

· Tipitaka · Samyutta Nikaya · SN 20

SN 20.2

PTS: S ii 263

CDB i 706

Nakhasikha Sutta: The Tip of the Fingernail

translated from the Pali by

Thanissaro Bhikkhu

Staying at Savatthi. Then the Blessed One, picking up a little bit of dust with the tip of his fingernail, said to the monks, “What do you think, monks? Which is greater: the little bit of dust I have picked up with the tip of my fingernail, or the great earth?”

“The great earth is far greater, lord. The little bit of dust the Blessed One has picked up with the tip of his fingernail is next to nothing. It doesn’t even count. It’s no comparison. It’s not even a fraction, this little bit of dust the Blessed One has picked up with the tip of his fingernail, when compared with the great earth.

02 09 2010 Buddha

COMPUTER IS AN ENTERTAINMENT INSTRUMENT!

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Using such an instrument

The Free e-Nālandā University has been re-organized to function through the following Schools of Learning :

Buddha Taught his Dhamma Free of cost, hence the Free- e-Nālandā follows suit

As the Original Nālandā University did not offer any Degree, so also the Free e-Nālandā University.

I. KAMMA

AWAKEN-NESS

II. ARHAT

III.

IV.

V.

VI.

with

Level I: Introduction to Buddhism

Level II: Buddhist Studies

TO ATTAIN

Level III: Stream-Enterer

Level IV: Once - Returner

Level V: Non-ReturnerLevel VI: Arhat

Jambudvipa, i.e, PraBuddha Bharath scientific thought in

mathematics,

astronomy,

alchemy,

and

anatomy

Buddha

sammā-sambodhi

Nibbāna

Vipassī

Sikhī

Kakusandha

Konāgamana (Konāgamana)

Kassapa

Buddhavamsa

Cakkavattisihanāda Sutta

. Metteyya

COMPUTER IS AN ENTERTAINMENT INSTRUMENT!

INTERNET!

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ENTERTAINMENT NET!

TO BE MOST APPROPRIATE!

Using such an instrument

The Free e-Nālandā University has been re-organized to function through the following Schools of Learning :

Buddha Taught his Dhamma Free of cost, hence the Free- e-Nālandā follows suit

As the Original Nālandā University did not offer any Degree, so also the Free e-Nālandā University.

I. KAMMA

AWAKEN-NESS

II. ARHAT

III.

IV.

V.

VI.

with

Level I: Introduction to Buddhism

Level II: Buddhist Studies

TO ATTAIN

Level III: Stream-Enterer

Level IV: Once - Returner

Level V: Non-ReturnerLevel VI: Arhat

Jambudvipa, i.e, PraBuddha Bharath scientific thought in

mathematics,

astronomy,

alchemy,

and

anatomy

Gotama

· Gotama

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I.
KAMMA

II.
ARHAT

Level V: Non-Returner
Level VI: Arhat

I.
KAMMA

II.
ARHAT

Level V: Non-Returner
Level VI: Arhat