• Mittavindaka

1. Mittavindaka. A previous birth of Losaka Tissa. For his story see the Losaka Jātaka.

2. Mittavindaka. The son of a very rich merchant of Benares in the days of Kassapa Buddha. His parents were sotāpannas, but he himself was an unbeliever. When his father died, Mittavindaka stopped all alms. His mother bribed him one full moon day to keep the fast by promising him one thousand. He agreed to do this, and went to the monastery where he slept all night, and then, on his return to the house, refused to eat until he was given the money. Later, he wished to go on a trading voyage, and, when his mother tried to restrain him, he knocked her down. In mid ocean the ship refused to move, and when lots were cast, the lot fell three times on Mittavindaka. He was, therefore, fastened to a raft and cast adrift. The raft was cast up on an island where lived four female spirits of the dead. They passed seven days in bliss and then seven in woe. He lived with them for the seven days of bliss, and when they departed to do their penance, he left them and came to several islands, one after the other, each one greater than the last in prosperity and in its number of women. He then went on the Ussada niraya, which appeared to him as a most beautiful city. There he saw a man supporting on his head a wheel as sharp as a razor, but to Mittavindaka it appeared as a lotus bloom. He asked the man for it, and insisted on getting it in spite of the man's warning. No sooner had he taken the wheel on his head than he started suffering the torments of hell. At that time the Bodhisatta, born as a deva, was going round Ussada with his retinue. He saw Mittavindaka, who asked him the reason for his torture, and the Bodhisatta told him that it was the result of his greed and his wickedness to his mother. There would be no salvation for him till his sins were expiated. J.iv.1ff.; see also Losaka and the three Mittavinda Jātakas (Nos. 82, 104, 369); cp. VibhA.471; Avadānas iii.6 (36) and Dvy.603f.

The story is given in the Catudvāra Jātaka.

Mittavindaka is an example of a person who behaved wrongly towards his mother. AA.ii.466.