Subha untranslated

Subha 01. A Pacceka Buddha. MN.iii.70; Ap­a.i.106.

Subha 02. A young man (māṇava) called Todeyyaputta. He once visited the Buddha in Sāvatthī, asking him various questions. The interview is described in the Subhasutta (q.v.). At the end of the discourse he declared himself the Buddha’s follower. While on his way back from the city, he met Jāṇussoṇī, and, on being asked what he thought of the Buddha, spoke of him in terms of the highest praise, saying that none but Gotama’s own peer could utter sufficient praise of him (MN.i.196f., 208f.; Jāṇussoṇī addresses him as Bhāradvāja). Subha is described (MN­a.ii.802; cf. MN.i.202) as the son of the Brahmin Todeyya (q.v.) of Tudigāma. Elsewhere however, a different account is given of his conversion (DN­a.ii.384f.; cf. MN­a.ii.963f., which adds that the Buddha proved the identity of the dog by getting it to indicate the place where Todeyya’s treasure lay buried).

Subha’s father was a very rich merchant, chaplain to Pasenadi, but a great miser. After death he was born as a dog in the same home. One day, when the Buddha was going his alms round in Tudigāma near Sāvatthī, he arrived at Subha’s house. The dog saw the Buddha and barked, and the Buddha addressed it as “Todeyya.” The dog thereupon ran into the house and lay on a bed, from which no one could drive it away. When Subha asked the cause of the uproar, he was told the story. Thereupon he was very angry, saying that his father had been born in the Brahmaloka, and, in order to refute the Buddha, he visited the monastery. This was the occasion for the preaching of the Subhasutta. Soon after the Buddha’s death, when Ānanda, was staying in Sāvatthī, Subha sent a young man to Ānanda, with his respects and an invitation to his house. Ānanda, having taken medicine, did not go that day. But he went the next day, accompanied by a monk of Cetiya (Cetaka). Their conversation is recorded in the Subhasutta (2) (DN.i.204f). See also Cūḷa Kammavibhaṅgasutta, which too was preached to Subha.

Subha 03. A palace guard, son of Datta. He closely resembled King Yasalālakatissa in appearance, and the king used to place him on the throne, decked in royal ornaments, and watch the ministers doing obeisance to him, while he himself took the guard’s place. One day, while Subha was on the throne, he reprimanded the king, disguised as a guard, for smiling disrespectfully, and had him led away and executed before the truth was discovered. Subha then became king and ruled for six years (120-6 CE.). He built the Subharājapariveṇa, the Vallīvihāra, the Ekadvāra vihāra and the Nandigāmaka vihāra. He was deposed by Vasabha (Mhv.xxxv.51ff.; Dpv.xxi.45). His daughter married Vaṅkanāsikatissa. She had been adopted by a bricklayer, but Vasabha discovered her identity and married her to his son. Her good fortune was owing to a meal she had given to an Arahant Thera. For details see Mhv.xxxv.101ff.; see also Cv.xxxviii.13f.

Subha 04. A palace occupied by Koṇḍañña Buddha before his renunciation. Bv.iii.26.

Subha 05. A palace occupied by Gotama Buddha before his renunciation. Bv­a.230; but Bv.xxvi.14 calls it Subhata.

Subha 06. A senāpati who, during the thirteenth century, built a fortress in Subhagiri. Cc.lxxxi.4.

Subhā 01. A group of Brahmas; the group includes the Parittasubhā, the Appamāṇasubhā and the Subhakiṇhā. MN.iii.102.

Subhā 02. Subhā Kammāradhītā She was the daughter of a rich goldsmith of Rājagaha. One day she went to pay obeisance to the Buddha and he preached to her. She became a Sotāpanna, and later she joined the Saṅgha under Mahā Pajāpatī. From time to time her relations tried to persuade her to leave the Saṅgha and return to the world. One day she set forth, in twenty-four verses, the dangers of household life and dismissed them, convinced of her rightness. Then, striving for insight, she attained Arahant-ship on the eighth day (Thīg.vs.338-61). The Buddha saw this and praised her in three verses (Thīg.vs.362-4). Sakka visited her with the gods of Tāvatiṁsa and uttered another verse in her praise. Thīg­a.365; Thīg­a.236f.

Subhā 03. Subhā Jīvakambavanikā She belonged to an eminent Brahmin family of Rājagaha, and, seeing the bane in the pleasures of sense, became a nun under Pajāpatī Gotamī. She was called Subhā because her body was beautiful. One day, in Jīvakambavana, a libertine, in the prime of youth, seeing her going to her siesta, stopped her, inviting her to sensual pleasures. She talked to him of the evils of such pleasures, but he persisted. Seeing that he was particularly enamoured of the beauty of her eyes, she pulled out one of them, saying: “Come, here is the offending eye.” The man was appalled and asked her forgiveness. Subhā went to the Buddha, and, at sight of him, her eye recovered. Filled with joy, she stood worshipping him, and he taught her and gave her an exercise for meditation. She developed insight and became an Arahant. Thīg.vss.366-399; Thīg­a.245f.