Sujāta untranslated

Sujāta 01. Sujāta Buddha. The twelfth of the twenty-four Buddhas. He was born in the city of Sumaṅgala, his father being the Khattiya Uggata and his mother Pabhāvatī. He was called Sujāta because his birth brought happiness to all beings. He lived as a householder for nine thousand years in three palaces – Siri, Upasiri and Nanda his wife being Sirinandā and his son Upasena. He left home on a horse, named Haṁsavaha, practised austerities for nine months, and attained Awakening under a bamboo (mahā veḷu) tree, after a meal of milk-rice given by the daughter of Sirinandana seṭṭhi of Sirinandana; grass for his seat was given by an Ājīvaka named Sunanda. His first sermon was to his younger brother, Sudassana, and the chaplain’s son, Deva, in the Sumaṅgala Park. He performed the Twin Miracle at the gate of Sudassana Park. The Bodhisatta was a Cakkavatti, and entered the Saṅgha under the Buddha. Sujāta’s chief disciples were Sudassana and Deva (Sudeva) among monks and Nāgā and Nāgasamālā among nuns. Nārada was his attendant. Sudatta and Citta were his chief lay patrons among men and Subhaddā and Padumā among women. His body was fifty cubits high; he lived for ninety thousand years, and died at Silārāma in Candavatī city, where a Thūpa, three gāvutas in height, was erected in his honour. Bv.xiii.1ff.; Bv­a.168 ff.; Ja.i.38; Mhv.i.8, etc.

Sujāta 02. Cousin of Padumuttara Buddha and brother of Devala. He later became one of Padumuttara’s Chief Disciples (Bv.xi.24; Bv­a.159; DN­a.ii.489). Heraññakāni Thera (Upaḍḍhadussadāyaka), in a previous birth, gave him a piece of cloth for a robe (Thag­a.i.266; Ap.ii.435), while Khemā gave him three meal-cakes and cut off her hair as an offering to him (Thīg­a.127; AN­a.i.187). Dhammadinnā also did obeisance to him and offered him alms (Thīg­a.196; MN­a.i.516).

Sujāta 03. An Ājīvaka, who gave grass for his seat to Piyadassī Buddha. Bv­a.172.

Sujāta 04. A king, father of Nārivāhana (q.v.).

Sujāta 05. A king, who later became a hermit. He was the Bodhisatta in the time of Tissa Buddha. Bv.xviii.9f.; Ja.i.40.

Sujāta 06. A yavapālaka, who gave grass for his seat to Vipassī Buddha. Bv­a.195.

Sujāta 07. A king of fifty-seven kappas ago; a former birth of Raṁsisaññaka Thera. Ap.i.210.

Sujāta 08. The name of Upāli Thera (q.v.) in the time of Padumuttara Buddha. Thag­a.i.229.

Sujāta 09. Sujāta Thera. He was a Brahmin of Benares, father of Sundarī Therī. While grieving for the death of his son, he met Vāsiṭṭhī Therī, and from her he heard about the Buddha, whom he visited at Mithilā. He entered the Saṅgha under the Buddha, attaining Arahant-ship on the third day (Thīg­a.229).

It is perhaps this Thera who is mentioned in the Saṁyuttanikāya (SN.ii.278f) as having won the special praise of the Buddha because of his bright expression.

Sujāta 10. A householder of Benares. He once went to hear the leader of a company of ascetics preach in the royal park and spent the night there. During the night, he saw Sakka arrive with his apsarases to pay homage to the ascetics, and he fell in love with one of them. His passion for her was so great that he died of starvation. The story is given in the Mahā Sutasomajātaka (Ja 537). Ja.v.468f.

Sujāta 11. The Bodhisatta born as a landowner of Benares. See the Sujātajātaka (Ja 352) (3).

Sujāta 12. Son of the Assaka king in Polanagara. He was expelled from the country at the request of his stepmother and lived in the forest. At that time Mahā Kaccāna, following on the holding of the First Council, was living in the Assaka country. One of Sujāta’s friends, a Devaputta in Tāvatiṁsa, appeared before Sujāta in the shape of a deer, and, after leading him to Mahā Kassapa, disappeared. Sujāta saw the Thera and talked with him. Mahā Kassapa saw that Sujāta had but five months to live, and, after stirring up his mind, sent him back to his father, urging him to good deeds. When the king heard his story he sent a messenger for Mahā Kaccāna. Sujāta lived another four months and, after death, was reborn in Tāvatiṁsa. Later he visited Mahā Kaccāna to show his gratitude and revealed his identity. The story is known as the Cūḷa Rathavimāna. Vv.v.13; Vv-a.259-270.

Sujāta 13. called Sujāta Pippalāyana of Mahā Tittha. He married the daughter of the Brahmin Kapila, a previous birth of Bhaddā Kāpilānī. Thīg­a.73.

Sujātā 01. An Aggasāvikā of Sobhita Buddha. Ja.i.35; Bv.vii.22.

Sujātā 02. An Aggasāvikā of Piyadassī Buddha. Ja.i.39; Bv.xiv.21.

Sujātā 03. Mother of Padumuttara Buddha. Ja.i.37; Bv.xi.19; MN­a.ii.722; Dhp­a.i.417.

Sujātā 04. Mother of Koṇḍañña Buddha. Bv.iii.25; Ja.i.30.

Sujātā 05. An Asura maiden who became the wife of Sakka. See Sujā.

Sujātā 06. Daughter of Senānī, a landowner of the village of Senānī near Uruvelā. She made a promise to the god of the banyan tree near by that she would offer a meal of milk-rice to the god if she gave birth to a son. Her wish was fulfilled, the son was born, and every year she would make her offerings. One year she sent her maid, Puṇṇā, to prepare the place for the offering. This was on the very day of the Buddha’s Awakening, and Puṇṇā, finding Gotama sitting under the banyan, thought that he was the tree god present in person to receive the offering. She brought the news to Sujātā, who, in great joy, brought the food in a golden bowl and offered it to him.

Gotama took the bowl to the river bank, bathed at the Suppatiṭṭhita ford and ate the food. This was his only meal for forty-nine days. Ja.i.68f.; Dhp­a.i.71, etc. In Lalitavistara 334-7 (267f.) nine girls are mentioned as giving food to the Buddha during his austerities. Cf. Divy.392, where two are given, Nandā and Nandabalā.

Sujātā’s meal was considered one of the most important of those offered to the Buddha, and the Devas, therefore, added to it divine flavours.

Yasa (q.v.) was Sujātā’s son, and when he attained Arahant-ship his father, who had come in search of him, became the Buddha’s follower and invited him to a meal. The Buddha accepted the invitation and went with Yasa to the house. The Buddha preached at the end of the meal, and both Sujātā and Yasa’s wife became Sotāpannas. On that day Sujātā took the threefold formula of Refuge. She thus became foremost among lay women who had taken the threefold formula (aggaṁ upāsikānaṁ paṭhamaṁ saraṇaṁ gacchantīnaṁ) (Snp­a.i.154; DN.ii.135). She had made an earnest resolve to attain this eminence in the time of Padumuttara Buddha. AN.i.26; AN­a.i.217f.

Sujātā 07. An upāsikā of Ñātikā. The Buddha said that she had become a Sotāpanna and had thus assured for herself the attainment of Arahant-ship. DN.ii.92; SN.v.356f.

Sujātā 08. Youngest sister of Visākhā. She was the daughter of Dhanañjaya seṭṭhi and was given in marriage to Anāthapiṇḍika’s son. She was very haughty and obstinate. One day, when the Buddha visited Anāthapiṇḍika’s house, she was scolding the servants. The Buddha stopped what he was saying, and, asking what the noise was, sent for her and described to her the seven kinds of wives that were in the world. She listened to the sermon and altered her ways (AN.iv.91f.; Ja.ii.347f). The Sujātajātaka (Ja 269) was preached to her.

Sujātā 09. A maiden of Benares. See the Maṇicorajātaka (Ja 194). She is identified with Rāhulamātā. Ja.ii.125.

Sujātā 10. Sujātā Therī. She was the daughter of a seṭṭhi of Sāketa and was given in marriage to a husband of equal rank, with whom she lived happily. One day, while on her way home from a carnival, she saw the Buddha at Añjanavana and listened to his preaching. Even as she sat there her insight was completed, and she became an Arahant. She went home, obtained her husband’s permission, and joined the Saṅgha. Thīg.145-50; Thīg­a.136f.