The Life of the Buddha: Kala Devala.
When the Bodhisatta was born there was great rejoicing in the heaven of the Thirty-three Gods. At that time also a certain hermit by name Kala Devala, an adept, sat in samadhi, visiting the heaven of the Thirty-three, and seeing the rejoicing he learnt its cause. Immediately he returned to earth, and repaired to the palace, asking to see the new-born child. The prince was brought in to salute the great adept, but he rose from his seat and bowed to the child, saying: "I may not work my own destruction"; for assuredly if the child had been made to bow to his feet, the hermit's head would have split atwain, so much had it been against the order of nature.
Now the adept cast backward and forward his vision over forty aeons, and perceived that the child would become a Buddha in his present birth; but he saw that he himself would die before the Great Enlightenment came to pass, and being reborn in the heaven of No-form, a hundred or even a thousand Buddhas might appear before he found the opportunity to become the disciple of any; and seeing this, he wept. He sent, however, for his nephew, then a householder, and advised him to become a hermit, for at the end of thirty-five years he would receive the teaching of the Buddha; and that same nephew, by name Nalak, afterwards entered the order and became an Arahat.
On the fifth day the name ceremonies were performed, and the child was called Siddhattha (Siddhartha). On this occasion eight soothsayers were present amongst the Brahmans, and of these seven foresaw that the child would become either a Universal Monarch or a Buddha, but the eighth, by name Kondanna, predicted that he would of a surety become a Buddha. This same Kondanna afterwards belonged to the five who became the Buddha's first disciples.
Then the prince's father inquired: "What will my son see, that will be the occasion of his forsaking the household life?" "The Four Signs," was the answer, "a man worn out by age, a sick man, a dead body, and a hermit." Then the king resolved that no such sights should ever be seen by his son, for he did not wish him to become a Buddha, but desired that he should rule the whole world; and he appointed an innumerable and magnificent guard and retinue to protect his son from any such illuminating omens, and to occupy his mind with wordly pleasures.
Seven days after the child's birth the Lady Maha Maya died, and was reborn in the heaven of the Thirty-three Gods, and Siddhattha was placed in the charge of his aunt and stepmother the Matron Gautami. And now came to pass another miracle, on the occasion of the Ploughing Festival. For while the king was inaugurating the ploughing with his own hands, and the nurses were preparing food, the Bodhisatta took his seat beneath a Jambu-tree, and, crossing his legs like a yogi, he exercised the first degree of contemplation; and though time passed, the shadow of the tree did not move. When the king beheld that miracle he bowed to the child, and cried: "This, dear one, is the second homage paid to thee!"
As the Bodhisatta grew up his father built for him three palaces, respectively of nine, five, and seven stories, and here he dwelt according to the seasons. Here the Bodhisatta was surrounded by every luxury, and thousands of dancing-girls were appointed for his service and entertainment. Taken to the teachers of writing and the other arts, he soon surpassed them all, and he excelled in all marital exercises.
When the Bodhisatta was born there was great rejoicing in the heaven of the Thirty-three Gods. At that time also a certain hermit by name Kala Devala, an adept, sat in samadhi, visiting the heaven of the Thirty-three, and seeing the rejoicing he learnt its cause. Immediately he returned to earth, and repaired to the palace, asking to see the new-born child. The prince was brought in to salute the great adept, but he rose from his seat and bowed to the child, saying: "I may not work my own destruction"; for assuredly if the child had been made to bow to his feet, the hermit's head would have split atwain, so much had it been against the order of nature.
Now the adept cast backward and forward his vision over forty aeons, and perceived that the child would become a Buddha in his present birth; but he saw that he himself would die before the Great Enlightenment came to pass, and being reborn in the heaven of No-form, a hundred or even a thousand Buddhas might appear before he found the opportunity to become the disciple of any; and seeing this, he wept. He sent, however, for his nephew, then a householder, and advised him to become a hermit, for at the end of thirty-five years he would receive the teaching of the Buddha; and that same nephew, by name Nalak, afterwards entered the order and became an Arahat.
On the fifth day the name ceremonies were performed, and the child was called Siddhattha (Siddhartha). On this occasion eight soothsayers were present amongst the Brahmans, and of these seven foresaw that the child would become either a Universal Monarch or a Buddha, but the eighth, by name Kondanna, predicted that he would of a surety become a Buddha. This same Kondanna afterwards belonged to the five who became the Buddha's first disciples.
Then the prince's father inquired: "What will my son see, that will be the occasion of his forsaking the household life?" "The Four Signs," was the answer, "a man worn out by age, a sick man, a dead body, and a hermit." Then the king resolved that no such sights should ever be seen by his son, for he did not wish him to become a Buddha, but desired that he should rule the whole world; and he appointed an innumerable and magnificent guard and retinue to protect his son from any such illuminating omens, and to occupy his mind with wordly pleasures.
Seven days after the child's birth the Lady Maha Maya died, and was reborn in the heaven of the Thirty-three Gods, and Siddhattha was placed in the charge of his aunt and stepmother the Matron Gautami. And now came to pass another miracle, on the occasion of the Ploughing Festival. For while the king was inaugurating the ploughing with his own hands, and the nurses were preparing food, the Bodhisatta took his seat beneath a Jambu-tree, and, crossing his legs like a yogi, he exercised the first degree of contemplation; and though time passed, the shadow of the tree did not move. When the king beheld that miracle he bowed to the child, and cried: "This, dear one, is the second homage paid to thee!"
As the Bodhisatta grew up his father built for him three palaces, respectively of nine, five, and seven stories, and here he dwelt according to the seasons. Here the Bodhisatta was surrounded by every luxury, and thousands of dancing-girls were appointed for his service and entertainment. Taken to the teachers of writing and the other arts, he soon surpassed them all, and he excelled in all marital exercises.
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place time topic people language
India - Ancient - Religion/philosophy - Indians/Buddhists - English
India - Ancient - Religion/philosophy - Indians/Buddhists - English
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