Kimbila untranslated

Kimbila 01. Kimila Thera, Kimmila Thera. Thera. A Sākiyan of Kapilavatthu. He was converted with Bhaddiya and four other Sākyan nobles at Anupiyā, shortly after the Buddha’s visit to Kapilavatthu (Vin.ii.182; Dhp­a.i.112f). The Theragāthā Commentary says (Thag­a.i.235f; Thag.118, 155f. According to Dhp­a.i.117, Kimbila became an Arahant soon after ordination together with Bhagu; see also Ja.i.140 and AN­a.i.108) that while at Anupiyā the Buddha, in order to arouse Kimbila, conjured up a beautiful woman in her prime and then showed her to him passing into old age. Greatly inspired, Kimbila sought the Buddha, heard the Dhamma and, having entered the Saṅgha, in due course won Arahant-ship. Kimbila seems to have maintained throughout his early friendship with Anuruddha, dwelling with him and Nandiya, now in this wood or park, now in that. The Buddha visited them at Pācīnavaṁsadāya when he was going away, disgusted with the recalcitrant monks of Kosambī (Vin.i.350; Ja.iii.489; see also Upakkilesasutta, MN.iii.155ff and Thag­a.i.275f). They were in the Gosiṅgasālavana when the Buddha preached to them the Cūḷa Gosiṅgasutta, at the conclusion of which, Dīgha Parajana Yakkha sang the praises of all three (MN.i.205ff). Their number was increased by the presence of Bhagu, Kuṇḍadhāna, Revata and Ānanda, on the occasion when the Buddha preached the Naḷakapānasutta in the Palāsavana at Naḷakapāna (MN.i.462ff).

In three different places in the Aṅguttaranikāya (AN.iii.247; 339; iv.84) record is made of a conversation between Kimbila and the Buddha, when Kimbila asks how the Dhamma could be made to endure long after the Buddha’s death and what were the causes which might bring about its early disappearance. The conversation took place in the Veḷuvana (Niceḷuvana?) in Kimbilā. According to the Aṅguttara Commentary (AN­a.ii.642), however, it would appear that the Kimbila mentioned here was not Kimbila the Sākyan but another. We are told that this Kimbila was a seṭṭhiputta of Kimbilā. He joined the Saṅgha and acquired the power of knowing his previous births. He recollected how he had been a monk at the time when Kassapa Buddha’s religion was falling into decay, and seeing how the Faith was neglected by its followers, he made a stairway up a cliff and lived there as a recluse. It was this memory of his previous life which prompted Kimbila’s question.

Elsewhere (SN.v.322f) the Buddha is reported as questioning Kimbila at the same spot on the question of breathing. Kimbila remains silent though the question is put three times. Ānanda intervenes and suggests that the Buddha should himself furnish the answer so that the monks may learn it and profit thereby.

In the time of Kakusandha Buddha, Kimbila had been a householder; after the Buddha’s death he erected a pavilion of salala-garlands round his cetiya (Thag­a.i.235). He is probably to be identified with Salaḷamaṇḍapiya Thera of the Apadāna (Ap.i.333).

The Dhammapada Commentary (Dhp­a.i.115; iv.126) mentions a story which shows how delicately nurtured Kimbila was. One day, in a discussion with his friends, Anuruddha and Bhaddiya, as to where rice came from, Kimbila remarked that it came from the granary (koṭṭhe).

Kimbila 02. A seṭṭhiputta of Kimbilā who later became a monk. See Kimbila (1).

Kimbilā. A town on the banks of the Ganges. It was in a veḷuvana (more probably a niceḷuvana; the Aṅguttara Commentary ii.642 explains it as a Mucalindavana) there the Buddha stayed and where the Kimbila and Kimbilāsuttas were preached (AN.iii.247, etc.; SN.iv.181f; v.322).

According to the Aṅguttara Commentary (AN­a.ii.642), it was the birthplace of the seṭṭhiputta Kimbila (Kimbila 2). The city existed in the time of Kassapa Buddha and was the residence of the woman who later became Kaṇṇamuṇḍapetī (Pv.12; Pv-a.151). Among the palaces seen by Nimi when he visited heaven was that of a Deva who had been a very pious man of Kimbilā (Ja.vi.121). Another such pious person of the same city was Rohaka with his wife Bhaddiṭṭhikā. Vv.xxii.4; Vv-a.109.