THE GREAT CHRONICLE OF BUDDHAS
1236
the city of HaÑsavati and in the afternoon, while the lion was in search of food, He entered
the lion's den and was absorbed in
nirodha-samÈpatti,
in sitting posture with his legs
crossed, in midair
When the lion came back from his search for food and stood at the entrance of the den,
he saw the Buddha's miraculous sitting in midair and it occurred to him thus: ‚The man,
who has come to my place, is able to sit there. This noble personage must be great and
worthy of honour indeed! As he is worth honouring, he is able to sit cross-legged in midair
in the cave. His body light also spreads and flashes everywhere. I have never seen such a
miracle. This noble individual must be the best of all who ought to be honoured. I too
should do honour to Him to the best of my ability.‛ So thinking, the lion bring all kinds of
terrestrial and watery flowers from the forest and spread them on the ground up to the
height where the Buddha was sitting. Then he stood right in front of the Buddha,
worshipping him. The next day, he discarded the withered flowers and replaced with fresh
one to make a similar seat and with it, honoured the Buddha.
In this way, the lion made floral seats for seven days and he took great delight in it. At
the same time, he acted as a guard at the entrance of the cave honouring the Buddha
thereby. On the seventh day, the Buddha emerged from His
nirodha-samÈpatti
and stood at
the cave's entrance. Then the lion circumambulated Him three times keeping Him to his
right and paid homage to Him from the four cardinal points and stood still after stepping
back.
The Buddha, having realized that such performance of meritorious acts was efficacious
enough for his attainment of the Path and the Fruition, rose into the sky and returned to the
monastery.
Life as Son of A Wealthy Merchant
As for the lion, because he was separated from the Buddha, he felt very unhappy and
after his death took rebirth in the family of a wealthy (
mahÈ-sÈla
) merchant in HamsÈvatÊ
City. On coming of age, he went along, one day, with other citizens and while listening to
the Buddha's Teaching, he saw Him declaring a monk, the best among those who spoke
boldly on the Path and the Fruition. As in the case of the pervious
mahÈ-theras
, the
merchant's son performed
mahÈ-dÈna
to the Buddha for seven days and aspired after a
similar position in future.
Seeing that the man's wish would be fulfilled, the Buddha predicted to that effect. After
receiving the prophecy, the, merchant's son did good works till his death. When he passed
away from that life, he was never reborn in the woeful states for a hundred thousand aeons
but, instead, alternatively only in the realms of devas and human beings.
(b) Ascetic Life adopted in His Final Existence
Having reborn thus from the human realm to the deva and vice versa, Pindola was born
into the family of a wealthy brahmin, in the city of RÈjagaha, during the lifetime of the
present Buddha and was named BhÈradvÈja.
The Name PiÓÉola BharadvÈja
When BhÈradvÈja came of age, he studied the three Vedas and when he had accomplished
his studies, he became a teacher, going from place to place and teaching five hundred
brahmin youths. As he himself was a teacher, at every feeding-place he personally received
the food rather aggressively. As he was somewhat greedy with regard to food, he
emphatically looked for food together with his students, asking: ‚Where is gruel available?
Where is rice obtained?‛ On account of his wandering and longing for food wherever he
was, he came to be known as PiÓÉola BhÈradvÈja, ‚BhÈradvÈja the seeker of food.‛
Survival of The Name even in Monkhood
At a later time, PiÓÉola BhÈradvÈja suffered economic misfortune and became poor. One
day, the Buddha went to RÈjagaha and gave a sermon. After listening to the sermon, the
Brahmin developed faith and took ordination as a
bhikkhu
.