THE ANUD¢PAN¢
roam about public roads and highways and cry aloud to human beings at all places, a
thousand years ahead of the event:
‚Friends, a thousand years from today, an Omniscient Buddha will evidently come
into being in this world!‛
The uproar of the multitude caused by such loud cries is known as Buddha-kolÈhala.
(Herein, the statement meaning that the Buddha-kolÈhala occurs a thousand years ahead
of the arrival of a Buddha should be noted in accordance with the life span of the
appearing Buddhas. It should not be noted as a statement made regardless of their life
spans. Reason: The Bodhisattas, such as Prince DÊpa~karÈ, Prince KondaÒÒa, Prince
Ma~gala, etc., who had appeared in a period of long life span, after descending to the
human world and enjoying kingly pleasures as human beings for ten thousand years or so,
renounced the world, practised
dukkkara-cariya
and became Buddhas. The
Budddha-
kolahala
originates in the celestial world, and on account of that
kolÈhala
, devas and
BrahmÈs in the ten thousand world-systems approach the Bodhisatta Deva to make the
request. Only after getting his consent, do SuddhÈvÈsa BrahmÈs roam the human abode and
make the announcement. Thus, more than one thousand years, or even more than five
thousand years, maybe nine or ten thousand years, after the prevalence of
Buddha-kolÈhala
,
the long-lived Buddhas appeared. Therefore, it should not be noted that the aforesaid
statement that ‚
Buddha-kolÈhala
lasts for a thousand years‛ is made with regard to all
Buddhas; the statement should be taken to have been made only with regard to a short-lived
Buddha such as Buddha Gotama.)
(4) Ma~gala-kolÈhala
Undecided as to the exact meaning of Ma~gala (auspiciousness), people gather and define
the word each in his own way, saying: ‚This is called Ma~gala!‛, ‚This is called
Ma~gala!‛, which gives rise to a tumult voicing: "They say it is Ma~gala." Such a
tumultuous voice is called Ma~gala-kolÈhala. SuddhÈvÈsa BrahmÈs knowing in advance that
the Buddha will give a discourse on Ma~gala and being aware of the thought of people
who yearn for the truth about auspiciousness, roam about public roads and highways and
cry aloud to human beings at all places, twelve years before the Buddha's delivery of the
Discourse:
‚Friends, twelve years from today, the Buddha will teach the Doctrine of
Ma~gala!‛
The uproar of the multitude caused by such loud cries is known as Ma~gala-kolÈhala.
(5) Moneyya-kolÈhala
The
kolÈhala
concerning the ascetic practice of
moneyya
is called Moneyya-kolÈhala (An
elaboration on the
Moneyya
Practice is made in the section on NÈlaka Thera as part of the
History of Elders in the Sangha Jewel.) SuddhÈvÈsa Brahmas, knowing in advance that a
bhikkhu
in the human world will approach the Buddha to ask about
moneyya
asceticism,
similarly roam about public roads and highways and cry aloud to human beings at all
places, seven years before the Buddha's Teaching:
‚Friends, seven years from today, a
bhikkhu
will approach the Buddha and ask
Moneyya Dhamma
!‛
The uproar of the multitude caused by such loud cries is known as Moneyya-kolÈhala.
These are the five
kolÈhalas
. Explanations of these five are given in the AÔÔhakathÈs of
the BuddhavaÑsa
,
JÈtaka, Kosala SaÑyutta, Khuddaka-PÈÔha, Sutta-NipÈta and also in the
JinÈla~kÈra.
Ref: The Request made to The Bodhisatta Deva
Five predicting Signs (
pubba-nimittas
) signalling The Approaching Death of Devas.