THE GREAT CHRONICLE OF BUDDHAS
124
VijitÈrvÊ extended a warm welcome to the Buddha, made arrangements for His lodging and
invited Him and His Disciples for the next day's meal. The following day, he prepared the
meals properly and performed a ceremony of alms-food offering on an elaborate scale.
Having thus performed, the King listened to the Buddha's sermon, which was given in
appreciation of the offering. At the end of the sermon, he made a request: ‚May the
Venerable Ones spend the three months of
vassa
in the city of Candavati, to do the citizens
a favour.‛ And he performed matchless acts of charity to the congregation of monks led by
the Buddha during the whole period of
vassa
.
Then Buddha KoÓÉaÒÒa declared a prophecy: ‚Innumerable aeons from the present one,
in the aeon that appears after three
asa~khyeyya
and one hundred thousand aeons, you will
definitely become a Buddha.‛ (The prophecy, like the one made by Buddha DÊpa~karÈ,
given in full detail in the PÈli text, mentioning the practice of austerity and other events,
but they are not repeated here as they have already been given in the story of Sumedha
6
.)
Having declared the prophecy, Buddha KoÓÉaÒÒa carried on teaching. After listening to
the Buddha's sermon, the King's faith in the Buddha grew to a great extent and being
desirous of achieving Buddhahood, he made an offering of his vast kingdom to the Buddha,
in whose presence he became a monk. After learning the Three PiÔakas, he acquired the
eightfold attainment and fivefold higher knowledge. Reaching the apex of the higher
knowledge, he was reborn in the BrahmÈ abode on his death.
Particulars of Buddha KoÓÉaÒÒa
Buddha KoÓÉaÒÒa's place of birth was the city of Rammavati.
His father was King Sunanda, and His mother was SujÈtÈ Devi.
His two male Chief Disciples were Bhadda Thera and Subhadda Thera. His
attendant was Anuruddha Thera.
His two female Chief Disciples were TissÈ TherÊ and Upatissa TherÊ.
His Bodhi tree was a SÈlakalyÈnÊ tree.
His male lay attendants were Sona and UpasoÓa. His female lay attendants were
NandÈ and SirÊmÈ.
His height was eighty-eight cubits, and He shone like the moon or the sun at noon.
The life span then was one hundred thousand years and throughout that long
period He saved beings, such as devas, humans and BrahmÈs, taking them out of
the waters of
saÑsÈra
and placing them onto the land of NibbÈna.
While a lay-prince, Buddha KoÓÉaÒÒa had three palaces; Suci Golden Palace,
Suruci Golden Palace and Subha Golden Palace.
His female attendants were three hundred thousand. His Chief Consort was Ruci
DevÊ, and His son Vijitasena. He reigned for ten thousand years.
He used for His renunciation the chariot drawn by thoroughbred horses. When He
became Buddha, He stayed at CandÈrama (Canda Park).
In Buddha KoÓÉaÒÒa's Dispensation, the earth with
arahats
, whose
Èsava
s were
gone and who were purified of impurities, was in splendour like the open sky with
stars and planets. (That is to say, the colour of the
arahats
' robes covered the
surface of the whole earth.)
The
arahats
were of incomparable nobility. They were not at all disturbed by the
eight vicissitudes of life; it was hard for the fiery tempered unruly people to
approach them. When these
arahats,
who were endowed with great fame, were
desirous of passing into NibbÈna
,
they rose to the sky, about seven toddy palm
trees high, (as though the lightening rushes into the murky clouds). They entered
upon
tejo-kasiÓa
jhÈna
(attained with the fire-element as a
kasiÓa
object) and
6. This statement made by the another is repeated after the declaration of prophecy made by each
Buddha. We will leave out similar statements from the accounts of later Buddhas.