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Commentary on the Lineage of the Buddha Atthadassī

When the Fully Self-Enlightened One Piyadassī had attained final Nibbāna and his Dispensation had disappeared, having declined and increased, when human beings had unlimited lifespans, having gradually declined, when they had come to have a lifespan of a hundred thousand years, the supreme seer of welfare, a Buddha named Atthadassī arose in the world. He, having fulfilled the perfections, having been reborn in the Tusita city, having passed away from there, in the supremely beautiful city named Sobhana, took conception in the womb of Queen Sudassanā, the queen-consort in the family of a king named Sāgara, dwelt in the womb for ten months, and came forth from his mother's womb in the Sucindhana Park. As soon as the great man had come forth from his mother's womb, the owners of wealth recovered great treasures that had been deposited for a very long time and had come down through the succession of families; therefore, on his name-giving day, they gave him the name "Atthadassī." He dwelt in the house for ten thousand years. And he had three mansions named Amaragiri, Suragiri, and Girivāhana, which were supremely fragrant. There were thirty-three thousand women headed by Queen Visākhā.

He, having seen the four signs, when a son named Prince Sela had been born to Queen Visākhā, having mounted a king of horses named Sudassana, having gone forth in the great renunciation, went forth. Nine crores of people went forth following him. Surrounded by them, that great man, having practised the practice of striving for eight months, on the full moon day of Vesākha, having eaten the milk-rice brought for the purpose of making an offering by a female nāga named Sucindharā - the milk-rice given together with the golden dish by the female nāga whose entire body was visible to the great multitude - having spent the day residence in a young sal grove adorned with hundreds of young trees, in the evening time, having taken eight handfuls of kusa grass given by a serpent king named Mahāruci who had delight in the Teaching, having approached the Campaka Bodhi tree, having spread a mat of kusa grass fifty-three cubits in length and breadth, having folded his legs crosswise, having attained the highest enlightenment, the habitual practice of all Buddhas - "Through the round of many births, etc. it has reached the elimination of cravings" - having uttered an inspired utterance, having spent seven weeks in the very vicinity of the Bodhi tree, having accepted Brahmā's request for the teaching of the Teaching, having seen nine crores of monks who had gone forth together with him, capable of penetrating the noble Teaching, having gone through space, having descended into the Anoma Park near the city of Anoma, surrounded by them, he set in motion the wheel of the Teaching there. Then there was the first full realisation of the teaching for a hundred thousand koṭis.

Again, when the Blessed One, the leader of the world, having gone on a journey to the heavenly world, was teaching the Teaching there, there was the second full realisation for a hundred thousand koṭis. But when the Blessed One Atthadassī, just as our Blessed One entered the city of Kapilavatthu, entered the city of Sobhana and taught the Teaching, then there was the third full realisation of the teaching for a hundred thousand koṭis. Therefore it was said -

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1-5. "Right there" means in that very cosmic cycle - this is the meaning. But here an excellent cosmic cycle is intended as a "cream cosmic cycle." "In whatever cosmic cycle three Buddhas arise, that cosmic cycle is an excellent cosmic cycle" - this was said below in the commentary on the Chronicle of the Buddha Padumuttara. Therefore the excellent cosmic cycle is here called a "cream cosmic cycle." "Nihantvānā" means having dispelled. Or this itself is the reading. "Santo" means being. "With the Deathless" means with the deathless beverage of the achievement of path and fruition. "Tappayī" means he satisfied; the meaning is he gladdened. "The ten-thousand" means the ten-thousandfold world system. "A journey among the gods" means a journey to the world of the gods for the purpose of training the gods - this is the meaning.

In the city of Sucandaka, it is said, Santa the prince and Upasanta the son of the royal chaplain, not seeing substance in the three Vedas and in all the other doctrines, stationed four wise and confident men at the four gates of the city - "Whatever wise ascetic or brahmin you see or hear of, come and inform us of that." And at that time Atthadassī, the Lord of the World, reached the city of Sucandaka. Then the men who had been appointed by them, having gone, announced to them the arrival there of the One of Ten Powers. Thereupon Santa and Upasanta, having heard of the Tathāgata's arrival, with delighted minds, with a retinue of a thousand, having gone forward to meet the matchless One of Ten Powers, having paid respect, having invited him, having given an incomparable great gift to the Community headed by the Buddha for seven days, on the seventh day together with the people dwelling in the entire city, heard a talk on the Teaching. On that day, it is said, ninety-eight thousand, having gone forth by the "Come, monk" ordination, attained arahantship. In the midst of that assembly the Blessed One recited the Pātimokkha. That was the first assembly.

But when the Blessed One, teaching the Teaching to his own son, the Elder Sela, having gladdened eighty-eight thousand, having given them the going forth by the "Come, monk" form, having brought them to arahantship, recited the Pātimokkha. That was the second assembly. Again, at the great blessing assembly, on the full moon day of Māgha, teaching the Teaching to gods and humans, having brought seventy-eight thousand to arahantship, he recited the Pātimokkha. That was the third assembly. Therefore it was said -

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6-8. At that time, it is said, our Bodhisatta was a wealthy brahmin named Susīma in the city of Campaka, esteemed by the world. He, having given away all his wealth to the destitute, helpless, poor, wayfarers, and so on, having gone to the vicinity of the Himalaya, having gone forth into the going forth as a hermit, having produced the eight attainments and the five direct knowledges, having become one of great supernormal power and great might, having shown the public the blameless and blameworthy nature of wholesome and unwholesome mental states, stood waiting for the arising of a Buddha.

Then at another time, when the leader of the world Atthadassī had arisen in the world and was raining the rain of the nectar of the Teaching in the midst of the eight assemblies in the great city of Sudassana, having heard his Teaching, having gone to the heavenly world, having brought divine mandārava flowers, lotuses, coral tree blossoms, and so on from the world of the gods, showing his own power, with his body visible, having rained a shower of flowers in the four directions like a great cloud covering the four continents, having made all around a flower pavilion, flower-made arched gateways, golden nets, and so on made of flowers, he venerated the One of Ten Powers with an umbrella of mandārava flowers. That Blessed One too declared of him - "In the future he will become a Buddha named Gotama" - thus he declared. Therefore it was said -

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9-13. Therein, "matted-hair ascetic" - he has matted hair, thus he is a matted-hair ascetic. "Considered the best on earth" means considered, esteemed thus by the entire world as the foremost, the highest, the most excellent - this is the meaning.

Now that Blessed One's city was named Sobhana. His father was a king named Sāgara, his mother was named Sudassanā, Santa and Upasanta were the two chief disciples, Abhaya was the attendant, Dhammā and Sudhammā were the two chief female disciples, the campaka tree was the Bodhi tree, and his body was eighty cubits in height. The bodily radiance, having pervaded all around at all times to the extent of a yojana, stood; the life span was a hundred thousand years; Visākhā was the name of his chief queen; Sela was the name of his son; and he departed by horse vehicle. Therefore it was said -

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14-25. Therein, "full like the king of stars" means like the king of stars whose entire disc is complete and spotless in the autumn season - this is the meaning. "Natural" means arising by way of nature, not by way of determination. Whenever the Blessed One wishes, he could pervade even many hundreds of thousands of crores of world-circles with his radiance. "Rays" (raṃsī) means rays of light. "Through the extinction of clinging" means through the elimination of clinging, like a fire through the exhaustion of fuel. That Blessed One too, through the elimination of the four kinds of clinging, attained final Nibbāna through the Nibbāna element without residue of clinging, in the city of Anupama, in the Anomā Park. But his relics scattered by his determination. The remainder here in the verses is clear in itself.

The commentary on the Lineage of the Buddha Atthadassī is completed.

The fourteenth lineage of the Buddhas is concluded.