• Cittagutta

1. Cittagutta Thera.An arahant. He lived at the Bodhimanda-vihāra, and was present, with thirty thousand monks, at the foundation of the Mahā-Thūpa. Mhv.xxxix.41; Dpv. xix.6.

2. Cittagutta.An Elder living in the Kurandaka Cave. In the cave was a beautiful painting of the Renunciation of the Seven Buddhas, but he never saw it, though he lived there for sixty years. Three times the king sent for him, but he refused to go until the king decreed that no infant in the country should suck milk until the Elder should visit the palace. He dwelt in the palace for seven days and always pronounced the same blessing, no matter who saluted him: "May the king be happy." On the Elder's return to the cave, the deity in the ironwood tree outside stood holding a torch and the Elder attained arahantship (Vsm.38). It may be the same Elder who is mentioned elsewhere (Vsm.171) as having developed tejo-kasina on regarding the flame of a lamp on his return to the vihāra after listening to the Dhamma, and again pīta-kasina when he saw on Cittalapabbata a seat spread with pattanga-flowers (Vsm.173).

3. Cittagutta.An arahant. He lived in Ambapāsāna, in the village of Anganakola. He was a fluent speaker, and while yet a puthujjana, preached the Rathavinīta Sutta at the Lohapāsāda to a gathering of twelve thousand monks and nuns. In his explanation he referred to the glories of the Relic Chamber in the Mahā-Thūpa. Though he described them in great detail, yet the Elder Mahā Tissa, teacher of Asathakammika-Tissa, being present, told him that his description was incomplete (MT.552f). The story is told to indicate the magnitude of the glories of the Relic Chamber.