• Lomasakangiya Thera

An arahant. In the time of Kassapa Buddha he had been a monk. After Kassapa Buddha had preached the Bhaddekaratta Sutta, a certain monk had talked about it to Lomasakangiya, who, unable to understand it, said, "May I, in the future, be able to teach thee this sutta!" And the other answered "May I ask thee!"

In the present age, Lomasakangiya was born in a Sākiyan family of Kapilavatthu, while the other monk became the deva Candana.

Lomasakangiya (so called because he was delicate and the soles of his feet were covered with hair; MA.ii.961 says he was so called because he had only a little down on his body, kāyassa Īsakalomasākāratāya) did not go with the Sākiyan young men who joined the Order. Noticing this, Candana appeared before him and questioned him on the Bhaddekaratta Sutta. Lomasakangiya did not know it, and Candana reminded him of his past wish. Lomasakangiya, therefore, went to consult the Buddha, and, later, wished to join the Order. He was sent back to obtain his parents' consent. His mother, fearing for his health, would not agree, but he uttered a verse (Thag.27) which convinced her. After his ordination, he went into a forest, and, when his companions warned him against the cold, he repeated the verse, and, being devoted to meditation, soon won arahantship. ThagA.i.84; the story given in Ap.ii.504f., both of the past and the present, differs in several details.

According to the Lomasakangiya Bhaddekaratta Sutta (M.iii.199f.; cf. Ap.ii.505, according to which, it was this sutta which led to his becoming an arahant), Candana visited Lomasakangiya in the Nigrodhārāma in Kapilavatthu, where he lived after his ordination, and questioned him on the Bhaddekaratta Sutta. When Lomasakangiya again confessed his ignorance, Candana, taught him the verses, and then the former packed his bedding and went to Sāvatthi, where the Buddha, at his request, taught him the Sutta.

In the time of Vipassī Buddha, he offered nāga flowers to the Buddha. ThagA.i.84; Ap.ii.504; cf. Ap.ii.450 (Nāgapupphiya); it is these latter Apadāna verses which are quoted in ThagA.

See also Lomasavangīsa.