• Susīma

1. Susīma. The Bodhisatta in the time of Atthadassī Buddha. He was a Mahāsāla brahmin of Campaka and became an ascetic of great power. He heard the Buddha preach at Sudassana and was converted. J. i.39; Bu.xv.9f.; BuA.180.

2. Susīma. The Bodhisatta, son of the chaplain of the king of Benares. He later became king himself. See the Susīma Jātaka (No. 411).

3. Susīma. A king of Benares. See the Susīma Jātaka (No, 163). He is identified with Ananda. J. ii.50.

4. Susīma. A Devaputta. Once, when Ananda utters high praise of Sāriputta, Susīma, who is present, reflects on it and confirms all that Ananda has said. The retinue of Susīma listen enraptured, waxing wondrous, in divers colour-tones ("even as a beautiful lustrous beryl-stone of eight facets, well polished, when laid in an orange coloured cloth, shines, glows and blazes, etc.") (S.163f).

It is said (SA.i.98) that Susīma had been a fellow celibate of Sāriputta.

5. Susīma. One of the thousand sons of Sakka. He was one of the deva generals in the fight with the Asuras, but he was lazy, and Sakka had to admonish him (S.i.217; SA.i.262). He is probably identical with Susīma (4).

6. Susīma. A Paribbājaka (skilled in the Vedangas, says Buddhaghosa, SA.ii.93) of Rājagaha. When the Buddha's fame spread and his gains increased, Susīma's followers suggested that he should learn the Buddha's doctrine and preach it to the laity so that he and his followers, too, could reap some of the advantages.

Susīma agreed, and sought, Ananda, who, with the Buddha’s sanction, ordained him. In discussion with the monks who declared that they had obtained complete emancipation, etc., Susīma discovered that all of them did not possess supernatural powers, but thought they had gained nibbāna "through insight." He thereupon sought the Buddha to have the matter explained. The Buddha asked him many questions, and made him realize the truth of their statement. Susīma confessed his original purpose in joining the Order and asked for forgiveness (S.ii.119ff). He developed insight and became an arahant. SA.ii.96.

7. Susīma. A brahmin of Takkasilā and son of Sankha. He went to Benares and apprenticed himself to a teacher, who was his father's friend and who taught him various things. But he was able to understand only the beginning and the middle, and not the end. He therefore consulted his teacher, who confessed that neither did he understand the end, and advised him to seek the Pacceka Buddhas who were living in Isipatana. Susīma went there, entered the Order, and became a Pacceka Buddha. Soon afterwards he died, and Sankha, coming in search of his son, was told of what had happened. Sankha is identified with the Bodhisatta. DhA.iii.445f.; KhpA.198f.

See Sankha Jātaka (2).