The Life or Legend of Gaudama, the Buddha of the Burmese (Volume I)Bigandet, Paul Ambroise
Religion
The Life or Legend of Gaudama, the Buddha of the Burmese (Volume I)
Bigandet, Paul Ambroise
Buddhism -- Burma; Burma -- Religion; Gautama Buddha
This present world we live in has been favoured above all others.
Already three Buddhas have appeared, viz., Kaukkasan, Gaunagong, and
Kathaba. These all belonged to the caste of Pounhas, and he who was to
be hereafter our Gaudama, during the many existences he passed through,
at the time of the manifestations of those three Buddhas, was always
born of the same caste. Kathaba is said to have lived and preached
during the ninth andrakap. It was he who, for the last time, assured the
future Gaudama that he would obtain the Buddhaship during the tenth
andrakap.
We will only mention his last existence in the seat of man, previous to
the one in which he was to obtain the great prize he had laboured for
with so much earnestness during innumerable existences. He became prince
under the name of Wethandra, and practised to an eminent, nay heroic,
degree the virtues of liberality and charity. To such an extent did he
obey the dictates of his liberal heart, that, after having given away
all the royal treasures, his white elephant, &c., he did not shrink from
parting with his own wife, the Princess Madi, and his two children,
Dzali and Gahna. He then died and migrated to the Toocita seat, and
enjoyed the blissfulness and felicity of Nats, under the name of
Saytakaytoo, during fifty-seven koudes of years.
The origin and beginning of the Kapilawot country, as well as of its
rulers, are to be alluded to as briefly as possible. In the country of
the middle, Mitzimadesa, the kings that ruled from the time of
Mahathamadat to that of Ookakaritz, king of Benares, were 252,556 in
number. The last-named monarch was married to five wives, and had
children by them all. The first queen happening to die, the king became
passionately enamoured of a young woman, whom he married. She soon
presented him with a son, whom the king, pressed by his young wife's
solicitations, declared heir-apparent, to the prejudice of his elder
sons. As might have been expected, the four elder sons loudly complained
of the preference given to their younger brother. To put an end to these
domestic disputes, the king called his four sons and their five sisters,
gave them a large retinue, and bade them go in a northerly direction, in
search of a spot favourable for building a new city. They followed their
father's advice. After long wandering through the forests, they came to
a place where lived the Rathee Kapila, who, becoming acquainted with the
object of their errand, desired them to stay with him and found a city.
He also wished that on the very spot where his hut stood the king's
palace should be erected. He predicted that this city would become
great, powerful, and illustrious; that it would be a city of peace,
since the animals in the forests lived peaceably, without ever
attempting to inflict harm on each other. The proposal was cheerfully
accepted. All the people set to work with great earnestness. When the
work was completed, they offered the new city to Kapila, who was made
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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