The Life Stories of the Monks – 1938
Etad-aggaṁ bhikkhave mama sāvakānaṁ bhikkhūnaṁ
saddhā-pabbajitānaṁ yad-idaṁ Raṭṭhapālo.
Monastics, among my monastic disciples who take up the monastic life
through sheer religious conviction, Raṭṭhapāla is the foremost (
etad-agga
).
Ven. Raṭṭhapāla had to stay away from food for seven days as a token of
his strong desire to renounce the household life. That was why he was
declared the foremost monastic who took up the monastic life through
faith.
22. Ven. Kuṇḍadhāna
Aspiration in the Past
The future Kuṇḍadhāna was born into a worthy family in the city of Haṁsavatī
during the time of Buddha Padumuttara. Like all other future great disciples, he
went to the Buddha’s monastery to listen to his discourse. There he saw a
monastic
[1283]
named by the Buddha as the foremost among those who were
first to be selected for invitation to offerings of alms food by the supporters. The
worthy man’s heart was bent on receiving similar honours under some Future
Buddha and so he made a great offering to the Buddha for seven days and on the
seventh day, he expressed his aspiration for that honour in the future. Buddha
Padumuttara saw that this aspiration of his would be fulfilled and made the
prediction accordingly. After which, he returned to the monastery.
Evil Action Committed in the Past
The future Kuṇḍadhāna passed away from the human existence in which he
received the Buddha’s prediction after spending a life performing meritorious
deeds. He was reborn either in the Deva realm or the human realm for a great
many aeons. During the time of Buddha Kassapa, he became a terrestrial Deva.
Buddha Kassapa appeared during the time when the human lifespan was 20,000
years, unlike Buddha Gotama’s time when the human lifespan was 100 years and
the Monastic Rules (
Pātimokkha
) was recited bi-monthly on the Observance Day
(
Uposatha
), the Observance Day congregations to recite the Monastic Rules
(
Pātimokkha
) took place only once in six months during the time of Buddha
Kassapa.