• Sujāta

1. Sujāta. The twelfth of the twenty four Buddhas.

• He was born in the city of Sumangala,
• his father being the khattiya Uggata and his mother Pabhāvatī.
• He was called Sujāta because his birth brought happiness to all beings.
• He lived as a householder for nine thousand years in three palaces - Siri, Upasiri and Nanda
• his wife being Sirinandā and his son Upasena.
• He left home on a horse, named Hamsavaha,
• practised austerities for nine months,
• and attained Enlightenment under a bamboo (mahāvelu) tree,
• after a meal of milk rice given by the daughter of Sirinandanasetthi of Sirinandans;
• grass for his seat was given by an Ajīvaka named Sunanda.
• His first sermon was to his younger brother, Sudassana, and the chaplain's son, Deva, in the Sumangala Park.
• He performed the Twin Miracle at the gate of Sudassana Park.
• The Bodhisatta was a Cakkavatti, and entered the Order under the Buddha.
• Sujāta's chief disciples were Sudassana and Deva (Sudeva) among monks
• and Nāgā and Nāgasamālā among nuns.
• Nārada was his attendant.
• Sudatta and Citta were his chief lay patrons among men
• and Subhaddā and Padumā among women.
• His body was fifty cubits high;
• he lived for ninety thousand years, and died at Silārāma in Candavatī city, where a thūpa, three gāvutas in height, was erected in his honour. Bu.xiii.1ff.; BuA.168 ff.; J.i.38; Mhv.i.8, etc.

2. Sujāta. Cousin of Padumuttara Buddha and brother of Devala. He later became one of Padumuttara's Chief Disciples (Bu.xi.24; BuA.159; DA.ii.489). Heraññakāni (Upaddhadussadāyaka) Thera, in a previous birth, gave him a piece of cloth for a robe (ThagA.ii.266; Ap.ii.435), while Khemā gave him three meal cakes and cut off her hair as an offering to him (ThigA.127; AA.i.187). Dhammadinnā also did obeisance to him and offered him alms (ThigA.196; MA.i.516).

3. Sujāta. An Ajīvaka, who gave grass for his seat to Piyadassī Buddha. BuA.172.

4. Sujāta. A king, father of Nārivāhana (q.v.).

5. Sujāta. A king, who later became a hermit. He was the Bodhisatta in the time of Tissa Buddha. Bu.xviii.9f.; J. i.40.

6. Sujāta. A yavapālaka, who gave grass for his seat to Vipassī Buddha. BuA.195.

7. Sujāta. A king of fifty seven kappas ago; a former birth of Ramsisaññaka Thera. Ap.i.210.

8. Sujāta. The name of Upāli Thera (q.v.) in the time of Padumuttara Buddha. ThagA.i.229.

9. Sujāta Thera. He was a brahmin of Benares, father of Sundarī Therī. While grieving for the death of his son, he met Vāsitthī Therī, and from her he heard about the Buddha, whom he visited at Mithilā.

He entered the Order under the Buddha, attaining arahantship on the third day (ThigA.229).

It is perhaps this Thera who is mentioned in the Samyutta Nikāya (S.ii.278f ) as having won the special praise of the Buddha because of his bright expression.

10. Sujāta. A householder of Benares. He once went to hear the leader of a company of ascetics preach in the royal park and spent the night there. During the night, he saw Sakka arrive with his apsarases to pay homage to the ascetics, and he fell in love with one of them. His passion for her was so great that he died of starvation. The story is given in the Mahāsutasoma Jātaka. J. v.468f.

11. Sujāta. The Bodhisatta born as a landowner of Benares. See the Sujāta Jātaka (3).

12. Sujāta. Son of the Assaka king in Polanagara. He was expelled from the country at the request of his stepmother and lived in the forest. At that time Mahā Kaccāna, following on the holding of the First Council, was living in the Assaka country. One of Sujāta's friends, a devaputta in Tāvatimsa, appeared before Sujāta in the shape of a deer, and, after leading him to Mahā Kassapa, disappeared. Sujāta saw the Thera and talked with him. Mahā Kassapa saw that Sujāta had but five months to live, and, after stirring up his mind, sent him back to his father, urging him to good deeds. When the king heard his story he sent a messenger for Mahā Kaccāna. Sujāta lived another four months and, after death, was reborn in Tāvatimsa. Later he visited Mahā Kaccāna to show his gratitude and revealed his identity.

The story is known as the Cūlarathavimāna. Vv.v.13; VvA.259-270.

13. Sujāta. Called Sujāta Pippalāyana of Mahātittha. He married the daughter of the brahmin Kapila, a previous birth of Bhaddā Kāpilānī. ThigA.73.