V: The Prophecy – 61 

 

becoming a Buddha, and teaching of the first discourse because he had 
wandered about only in the forests and in the sky, totally absorbed in the 
bliss of the absorptions and in the exercise of the super knowleges, taking 
no interest in any event of the human world. It was only while he was 
travelling through the air and saw the people of Rammavatī were 
attending to road-mending and cleaning, that he descended to earth to ask 
what was going on. This suggests that Sumedha was some few thousand 
years old at that time, as the duration of life, when Buddha Dīpaṅkara 
appeared, was 100,000 years. 

Sumedha Helps with Road-Mending 

Sumedha was filled with joy on hearing the word “Buddha,” uttered by the 
people of Rammavatī. He experienced great mental happiness and repeated the 
word Buddha, Buddha, as he could not contain the intense joy that had arisen in 
him. 

Standing on the spot where he had descended, Sumedha was filled with 
happiness and also stirred by spiritual urgency (

saṁvega

). He thought thus: “I 

will sow excellent seeds of merit in the fertile ground of this Buddha Dīpaṅkara, 
for the cultivation of good deeds. Rare and difficult, indeed, it is to witness the 
happy moment of a Buddha’s appearance. That happy moment has now come to 
me. Let me not let it pass by unheeded.” 

Having thought thus, he asked the people: “Men, if you are preparing the road 
for the Buddha’s visit, allot me a stretch of the road. I, too, would like to 
participate in your road-mending work.” – “Very well,” said the people, and 
because they were confident that he was a person of great supernormal powers, 
they allotted him a big, boggy and very uneven portion of ground which would 
be difficult to mend. As they assigned him his share of work, they said: “You 
may improve and make it delightful with decorations.” 

Then Sumedha, with his heart gladdened by thinking of the attributes of the 
Buddha, decided: “I can mend the road with my supernormal powers so that it 
will look pleasant. But if I do so, the people around me may not think highly of 
it, because it will be done easily, in an instant. Today, I should do my duties with 
my own physical labour.” Having decided thus, he filled the bog with earth 
which he carried from a distance.