Licchavī

Licchavī

Licchavī

Licchavī

Licchavī

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A hall in the Mahāvana near Vesāli. The Buddha stayed there on several occasions, and in the books are found records of various eminent persons who visited him there and of his conversations with them. Among such visitors are mentioned several Licchavi chiefs, Mahāli Otthatthaddha, DN.i.150ff. SN.i.230f. SN.iii.68f. AN.v.86f. Nandaka, SN.v.389 Sunakkhatta, MN.ii.252 Bhaddiya, AN.ii.190f. Sāḷha and Abhaya, AN.ii.200 all attended by numerous retinues; their senāpati, Sīha, who went with five hundred chariots, having only decided after much hesitation to see the Buddha; AN.iii.38f. AN.iv.79 AN.iv.179ff. the Jaina Saccaka, whom the Buddha won only after much argumentation, as described in the Cūḷa- and the Mahā-Saccaka Suttas; MN.i.227ff. MN.i.237ff. the householder Ugga of Vesāli, acclaimed by the Buddha for the possession of eight eminent qualities; AN.iii.49 AN.iv.208f. SN.iv.109 the upāsaka Vāseṭṭha; AN.iv.258f. the two goddesses, daughters of Pajjunna, both known as Kokanadā; SN.i.29f. and the brahmin Piṅgiyāni. AN.iii.237f.

The Licchavis waited on the Buddha and ministered to him during his stay in the Kūṭāgārasālā, and it is said that they were of various hues: some blue, others yellow, etc. And Piṅgiyānī, seeing the Buddha shining in their midst, surpassing them all, once uttered the Buddha’s praises in verse, winning, as reward from the Licchavis, five hundred upper garments, all of which, be, in turn, presented to the Buddha. AN.iii.239f. On one occasion, when the Buddha was preaching to the monks regarding the six spheres of sense contact, Māra arranged an earthquake to break the monks’ concentration, but failed to achieve his object. SN.i.112 It was here that the Buddha finally agreed to grant the request of the five hundred Sākyan women, led by Pajāpatī Gotamī, that they might be ordained as nuns. They had followed the Buddha hither from Kapilavatthu AN.iv.274f. Vin.ii.253f.. The Buddha gave Pajāpatī Gotamī, at her special request, a summary of his doctrine. AN.iv.280 It was also at the Kūṭāgārasālā that the Buddha uttered his prophecy as to the ultimate downfall of-the Licchavis. SN.ii.267f.

It was customary for the Buddha, when staying at the Kūṭāgārasālā, to spend the noonday siesta in the woods outside the Mahāvana, at the foot of a tree; visitors coming at that time would, if their desire to see him was insistent, DN.i.151 AN.iii.75 seek him there or be conducted to him. Sometimes he would express his desire to see no one during such a retreat, except the monk who brought him his food.

On one occasion the retreat lasted a fortnight, and on his return he found that a large number of monks had committed suicide as a result of a sermon he had preached to them before his retreat on the un-loveliness of the body. He then caused the monks to be assembled, and asked them to concentrate on breathing. SN.v.320f. Sometimes the Buddha would walk from the Kūṭāgārasālā to places of interest in the neighbourhood—e.g., the Sārandada-cetiya AN.iii.167 and the Cāpāla-cetiya.SN.v.258 AN.iv.308f. It was from the Cāpāla-cetiya, during one of these walks that he gazed for the last time on Vesāli. He then returned to the Kūṭāgārasālā, where he announced that his death would take place within three months. DN.ii.119f. SN.v.258ff.

There was a sick ward attached to the monastery, where the Buddha would often visit the patients and talk with them. SN.iv.210f. AN.iii.142

The books also contain the names of others who stayed at the Kūṭāgārasālā when the Buddha was in residence—e.g., Ānanda, who was visited there by the Licchavis Abhaya and Panditakumāra;. AN.i.220 Anuruddha, who lived there in a forest hut; SN.iii.116 SN.iv.380 Nāgita, the Buddha’s former attendant, and Nāgita’s nephew the novice Sīha; DN.i.151 also Cāla, Upacāla, Kakkaṭa, Kaḷimbha, Nikata, and Kaṭissaha, all of whom left the Kūṭāgārasālā and retired to the Gosiṅgasālavana, when the visits of the Licchavis to the Buddha became disturbing to their solitude. AN.v.133f.