Buddhist birth stories; or, Jataka tales, Volume 1
Religion
Buddhist birth stories; or, Jataka tales, Volume 1
Jataka stories, English
After him appeared the Teacher _Sujāta_. He also had three assemblies
of his saints; at the first assembly sixty thousand monks were present,
at the second fifty, at the third forty. At that time the Bodisat was
a _universal monarch_; and hearing that a Buddha was born he went to
him and heard the Law, and gave to the Order, with the Buddha at their
head, his kingdom of the four continents with its seven treasures,
and took the vows under the Teacher. All the dwellers in the land,
taking advantage of the birth of a Buddha in their midst, did duty as
servants in the monasteries, and continually gave great donations to
the Order, with the Buddha at their head. And to him also the Teacher
prophesied. The city of this Blessed One was called Sumangala, Uggata
the king was his father, Pabhāvatī his mother, Sudassana and Deva his
chief disciples, Nārada his servitor, and Nāgā and Nāgasamālā his chief
female disciples, and the great Bambu-tree his Bo-tree; this tree,
they say, had smaller hollows and thicker wood than ordinary bambus
have,[164] and in its mighty upper branches it was as brilliant as a
bunch of peacocks’ tails. The body of this Blessed One was fifty cubits
high, and his age was ninety thousand years.
234. In that age, the Maṇḍakalpa, appeared the Leader Sujāta,
Mighty jawed and grandly framed, whose measure none can take,
and hard to equal.
After him, when eighteen hundred world-cycles had elapsed, three
Buddhas, Piyadassin, Atthadassin, and Dhammadassin, were born in
one kalpa. _Piyadassin_ also had three assemblies of his saints; at
the first a million million monks were present, at the second nine
hundred million, at the third eight hundred million. At that time
the Bodisat, as _a young brahman called Kassapa_, who had thoroughly
learnt the three Vedas, listened to the Teacher’s preaching of the Law,
and built a monastery at a cost of a million million, and stood firm
in the Refuges and the Precepts. And to him the Teacher prophesied,
saying, “After the lapse of eighteen hundred kalpas thou shalt become
a Buddha.” The city of this Blessed One was called Anoma, his father
was Sudinna the king, his mother Candā, Pālita and Sabbadassin his
chief disciples, Sobhita his servitor, Sujātā and Dhammadinnā his chief
female disciples, and the Priyaŋgu-tree his Bo-tree. His body was
eighty cubits high, and his age ninety thousand years.
235. After Sujāta came Piyadassin, Leader of the world,
Self-taught, hard to match, unequalled, of great glory.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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