Academic Sutta Name Notes PSA Plae Vagga Nikaya PTS Keywords
J.248 Ki.msukopama Jaataka Four monks came to the Buddha and asked him for a topic of meditation. He gave them various topics and they, having retired to various places, all became arahants: One by understanding the six-fold sense sphere, the second the five khandas, the third the four mahabhutas and the fourth the eighteen dhatu. They returned and related to the Buddha each the particular excellence attained by him and one asked how all of these methods could lead to nirvana. The Buddha related the story of his past where four sons of Brahmadatta, king of Benares, having asked their charioteer to show them a kimsuka tree, are shown the tree at four different times -- when the buds are just sprouting, when the leaves were green, at the time of blossoming and at the time of fruit-bearing. When asked to describe the tree, the first likened it to a burnt stump, the second to a banyan tree, the third to a piece of meat and the fourth to an acacia. The matter was referred to the king who resolved the difficulty. The king was the bodhisatva. 57/514 Jaataka Khuddhaka J.ii.265ff. character, aspect


Previous Page | Contents | Next Page
Last modified on: Sunday, 2 January 2000.