Sañjaya untranslated

Sañjaya 01. A gardener (uyyānapāla) of Brahmadatta, king of Benares. See the Vātamigajātaka. He is identified with the slave girl who tried to tempt Cūḷa Piṇḍapātikatissa Thera. Ja.i.156f.

Sañjaya 02. A rājā of Tagara. He renounced the world with ninety crores of others and became an ascetic. Dhammadassī Buddha preached to them and they all attained Arahant-ship. Bv.xvi.3; Bv­a.183.

Sañjaya 03. Father of Vessantara. He was the son of Sivi, king of Jetuttara, and after his father’s death succeeded him as king. His wife was Phusatī. He is identified with Suddhodana of the present age. See the Vessantarajātaka (Ja 547) for details. He is mentioned in a list of kings at Dpv.iii.42.

Sañjaya 04. Sañjaya Thera. He was the son of a wealthy Brahmin of Sāvatthī, and, following the example of Brahmāyu, Pokkharasāti, and other well-known Brahmins, found faith in the Buddha and became a Sotāpanna. He entered the Saṅgha and attained Arahant-ship in the tonsure hall.

In the time of Vipassī Buddha he spent all his wealth in good deeds and was left poor. Even then he continued to wait on the Buddha and his monks and led a good life. Eight kappas ago he was a king named Sucintita (Thag.vs.48; Thag­a.i.119f).

He is evidently to be identified with Veyyāvacaka Thera of the Apadāna. Ap.i.138.

Sañjaya 05. Sañjaya Akāsagotta. In the Kaṇṇakatthalasutta Viḍūḍabha tells the Buddha that it was Sañjaya who started the story round the palace to the effect that, according to the Buddha, no recluse or Brahmin can ever attain to absolute knowledge and insight. Sañjaya is sent for by Pasenadi, but, on being questioned, says that Viḍūḍabha was responsible for the statement. MN.ii.127, 132.

Sañjaya 06. Son of the Brahmin Vidhura and younger brother of Bhadrakāra. See the Sambhavajātaka. He is identified with Sāriputta. Ja.v.67.

Sañjaya 07. Sañjaya Belaṭṭhiputta. One of the six famous heretical teachers of the Buddha’s day. He was a great skeptic, his teaching being the evasion of problems and the suspension of judgment. His doctrines seem to have been identical with those of the Amarāvikkhepikas (eel-wrigglers) who, when asked a question, would equivocate and wriggle like an eel. Sañjaya’s teachings are given at DN.i.58; cf. the “eel-wrigglers” at DN.i.27.

It is probable that Sañjaya suspended his judgments only with regard to those questions the answers to which must always remain a matter of speculation. It may be that he wished to impress on his followers the fact that the final answer to these questions lay beyond the domain of speculation, and that he wished to divert their attention from fruitless enquiry and direct it towards the preservation of mental equanimity.

Buddhaghosa gives us no particulars about Sañjaya, beyond the fact that he was the son of Belaṭṭha (DN­a.i.144). Sanskrit texts call him Sañjayī Vairatiputra (e.g., Mvu.iii.59f) and Sañjayi Vairattīputra (e.g., Divy.143,145).

He is evidently identical with Sañjaya the Paribbājaka who was the original teacher of Sāriputta and Moggallāna (Vin.i.39). It is said that when these two disciples left Sañjaya to become pupils of the Buddha, they were joined by two hundred and fifty others. Sañjaya then fainted, and hot blood issued from his mouth. Vin.i.42; according to Dhp­a.i.78, Sāriputta and Moggallāna tried to persuade Sañjaya to accept the Buddha’s doctrine, but they failed, and only one half of his disciples joined them. The Paribbājaka Suppiya was also a follower of Sañjaya (DN­a.i.35).

Barua thinks (Op. cit., 326) that the Aviruddhakas mentioned in the Aṅguttara (AN.iii.276) were also followers of Sañjaya – that they were called Amarāvikkhepakā for their philosophical doctrines, and Aviruddhakā for their moral conduct.

Sañjaya 08. One of the ten sons of Kāḷāsoka (q.v.).