20-21. Ven. Rāhula and Ven. Raṭṭhapāla
Aspiration in the Past
During the early part of the aeon of Buddha Padumuttara, the future Rāhula and the future Raṭṭhapāla were born into well-to-do families in Haṁsavatī, however their names and clans are not mentioned in the old commentaries.
When they came of age, they married and at the death of their fathers, they became heads of their respective households. In taking over the family properties from the custodians of their family estates, they came to know the immense wealth they had inherited. They pondered: “Our forbears have amassed these vast fortunes but have not been able to take them along when they left the present existence. As for us, we would take them along into the hereafter in whatever way we can. So they started to practise generosity. They erected distribution stations at the four gates of the city, where all the needs of destitute and travellers were provided liberally.
Of the two friends, one was in the habit of inquiring into the needs of the recipients who came to receive his generosity and would give according to their needs, and he was therefore known as Āgatapāka, “the discriminative giver.” The other never asked about the needs of the recipient but let them take however much they wanted, and hence he was known as Anaggapāka, “the liberal giver.”
One early morning, the two friends went out from their village to wash their faces. At that time, two recluses, using their supernormal powers, disappeared from the Himavanta mountains and reappeared at a place not far away from the two friends. They made themselves invisible and stood by the roadside and were visible only when they were heading to the village with their alms bowls and other vessels seeking for alms. The two friends went near and paid homage to the recluses, who asked them: “Men of great merit, when did you come here?” And the two friends replied: “Venerable sirs, we have just arrived.” Then they each invited a recluse to their respective homes, offered them alms food, after which they asked and received the promise from the recluses to receive their offerings every day thenceforth.
One of them, the recluse who had agreed to be the regular recipient to the future Rāhula was phlegmatic, and to cool his heated body, he used to spend the daytime in the abode of a Nāga, named Pathavindhara, which lay beneath the ocean. The recluse went there by making the ocean water cleft into a dry passage-way. On returning from his watery sojourn, where he had enjoyed the favourable weather, to the human abode, on the occasion, he gave an appreciative talk about the daily food offerings. After hearing the repeated reference to “the abode of the Nāga Pathavindhara,” the supporter became curious to know what the expression denoted. This recluse explained to him: “Ah, it is our wish that you be as great as the lord of Nāgas named Pathavindhara,” and told him the grandeur of the Nāga from under the seas. From that day onwards, the future Rāhula’s mind was inclined to the Nāga existence, as he visualized it from the recluse’s description.
The other recluse used to spend his daytime at a Deva mansion, named Serisaka, after the big celestial tree that stood in front of it in Tāvatiṁsa. And this recluse, who saw the palace of Sakka, the Lord of the Devas, mentioned it in his words of appreciation and felicitation about the daily food-offering he received at the future Raṭṭhapāla’s house. When the future Raṭṭhapāla asked him to explain what he was referring to, he explained the greatness of Sakka and his wish that his supporter will be as great as Sakka. Thenceforward the future Raṭṭhapāla’s mind was inclined to the celestial state of Sakka.
When the two rich friends passed away from their existence, future Rāhula, whose mind was inclined to the Nāga lord’s existence, was reborn as the Nāga lord Pathavindhara and future Raṭṭhapāla, whose mind was inclined to Sakka’s existence, was reborn as Sakka in the Tāvatiṁsa Realm.
Past Aspiration of the Future Rāhula
At the moment of his rebirth as a Nāga, Pathavindhara looked at his own body and felt sorry that he had indeed became a reptile. He thought of the limited vision of his benefactor, the recluse in his previous existence: “Ah, my teacher would seem to know no
A significant activity in his Nāga existence was that Pathavindhara had to attend, as part of his Nāga King Virūpakkha’s entourage, the half monthly meetings presided over by Sakka, where the Four Great Kings paid their homage to the Lord of the Devas. Sakka saw his old friend, Pathavindhara, and even from a distance recognized him. He asked him: “Friend, in which realm were you reborn?”
“Lord, unfortunate is my destination. I was reborn as a reptile in the realm of the Nāgas. But you were fortunate to have a good teacher in the past, and have been reborn in the Deva realm.”
“Do not be disappointed for your unfortunate destination. There has arisen in the world, Buddha Padumuttara. Go to him, perform great deeds of merit, and wish for the state of Sakka, so that we would live together in this Tāvatiṁsa Realm.” – “Very well my Lord,” said Pathavindhara, “I will follow your advice.”
Then he went to see Buddha Padumuttara, and invited him to his undersea realm. He made preparations for a great offering the whole night together with his followers.
Early in the next morning, at dawn, the Buddha said to his personal attendant: “Sumana, the Realised One is going to a far-off land to collect alms food. Let only Arahats who have memorised the Dhamma-Vinaya and have attained the fourfold analytical knowledge and the six supernormal powers, accompany me, and not the worldling monastics.” The attendant announced this order among the monastics.
Then the Buddha, accompanied by Arahats, who had memorised the Dhamma-Vinaya and had attained the fourfold analytical knowledge and the six supernormal powers, rose into the sky and went to the abode of Pathavindhara, the lord of the Nāgas. As Pathavindhara waited to welcome the Buddha, he saw him and his company of Arahats walking above the wavy waters of emerald green of the great ocean. There was a procession of majestic Arahats with the Buddha at the head and a young novice, named Uparevata, who was the son of the Buddha. Pathavindhara was particularly overawed by the young novice for having such supernormal powers just like the elder monastics. He felt thrilled with joy at the magnificent sight.
When the Buddha took the seat prepared for him and the Arahats took their respective seats according to seniority, the seat assigned for novice Uparevata was high in front of the Buddha. As the young novice was sitting there, Pathavindhara, while serving the food to the Buddha and the Saṅgha, looked keenly at the Buddha and the young novice in turn. He noticed that the novice had the 32 distinct marks of a great man just like those on the body of the Buddha. That was the reason for his keen inspection of the Buddha and the novice in turn.
Pathavindhara was wondering why the young novice resembled the Buddha so much and how both were related to each other. He asked one of the Arahats: “Venerable sir, how is this young novice related to the Fortunate One?” The Arahat replied: “Lord of Nāgas, he is the son of the Fortunate One.” Pathavindhara was deeply impressed by the novice. “What a superb status this novice occupies! The son of the greatest man in the whole world, unrivalled in personal glory! His body is partly like that of the Fortunate One himself. Oh, how I would like to be the son of a Buddha at some future time.”
Having been moved by this aspiration, the lord of Nāgas invited the Buddha to his residence for seven days and made great offerings to him. Thereafter, he made his aspiration before the Buddha: “Venerable sir, for this great deed of merit, may I become the son of some Future Buddha, just like novice Uparevata.” The Buddha saw that the Nāga lord’s aspiration would be fulfilled and made the prediction: “You will become the son of Buddha Gotama in the future,” then he departed.
Past Aspiration of the Future Raṭṭhapāla
At the next half-monthly Deva meeting to pay homage to Sakka as a member of the Nāga King Virūpakkha’s retinue, Sakka asked his old-time friend Pathavindhara: “Well, friend, have you made your aspiration for the Tāvatiṁsa Realm?” Pathavindhara answered: “No, my lord.” – “But why didn’t you do that? What disadvantage do you see in Deva existence?” – “My lord, it is not for any disadvantage I see in Deva existence. The fact is I have seen the novice Uparevata, the son of the Buddha who was just wonderful. Since I had cast my eyes on him, I have no aspiration other than to become the son of a Future Buddha, exactly like this novice Uparevata. So I made my aspiration before the Buddha to become the son of some Future Buddha. My lord, I would ask you to make some aspiration before the Buddha. Let us live together in future existences in Saṁsāra.”
Sakka accepted Pathavindhara’s suggestion and as he was thinking about his ideal aspiration, he saw a monastic endowed with great powers. He reviewed the lineage of that monastic and saw that the monastic was the son of a noble family that had the ability to unite a country that had been divided, and that the monastic had to obtain parental consent to join the Saṅgha, only after starving himself in protest for seven days. He decided to emulate that monastic.
He asked the Buddha about the monastic, even though he knew it by his own divine powers. Then he made great offerings to the Buddha for seven days, at the end of which he expressed his great wish thus: “Venerable sir, for this great deed of merit may I be declared by some Future Buddha as the foremost monastic among those who took up the monastic life through their conviction just like that monastic whom the Fortunate One declared as such.” The Buddha saw that Sakka’s aspiration would be fulfilled and said: “Sakka, you will be declared as the foremost among monastics who joined the Saṅgha, through sheer conviction under Buddha Gotama in the future.” After pronouncing that prediction the Buddha departed. And Sakka also returned to his celestial abode.
Raṭṭhapāla as Manager of Offerings
The future Raṭṭhapāla and the future Rāhula passed away from their existences as Sakka and Pathavindhara respectively, faring in the Deva realm and the human world for thousands of aeons. Ninety-two aeons prior to the present aeon was the time of Buddha Phussa. The father of Buddha Phussa was King Mahinda. The Buddha had three half-brothers from different mothers. The king monopolised the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Saṅgha because he would not share the meritorious deed of attending to the needs of the Buddha with anyone.
One day, a rebellion broke out in a remote area of King Mahinda’s country. The king said to his three sons: “Sons, there is a rebellion in a far-away region. Either I myself, or the three of you, must go and put the region in order. If I am to go, you must see that attendance on the Buddha be kept up in the usual manner.” The three sons unanimously said: “Dear father, it is not for you to go. We will go and put that region in order.” They made obeisance to their father and went to the disturbed area, quelled the rebels and returned in triumph.
On the way home, the three princes sought counsel of their trusted lieutenants: “Men, back in the capital, our father will bestow some boon on us. What sort of boon should we name?” The lieutenants said: “My lords, at the death of your royal father, nothing will be unattainable to you. The right to attend on your eldest brother, the Buddha, is indeed the boon you should ask for.” – “Very well, my men, your advice is sound.” And they went before their royal father.
The king was very pleased with them and said they would be rewarded with whatever they wished for. The princes asked for the privilege of attending on the Buddha as their boon. “That, I cannot give, sons,” the king said, “name any other.” – “We want no other boon. That is the only thing we yearn for.” After some refusals by the king and affirmations on the part of the three princes, the king at last felt obliged to concede, lest he would be going back on his word. He warned his sons, though, in these words: “I will now comply with your request. But I wish to warn you, the Buddha is in the habit of staying in seclusion, just like the lion in his own den. So you have to be fully attentive in waiting on him. Do not ever be amiss about your duties.”
The three princes, on being permitted the task of waiting on the Buddha for three months, discussed among themselves: “Since we are going to wait on the Buddha, we ought to don robes and take up the monastic life as novices.” They decided to be absolutely free from the stench of demerit.
“Free from the stench of demerit (nirāma-gandha)” according to the commentary. The sub-commentary elaborates on this term thus: Stench is to be interpreted as demerit, and also as defilement. Stench is inseparable from defilement: Whenever defilement arises, it produces a bad smell. Stench means a mind where defilements arise continuously. The metaphor stench is used to denote something obnoxious, impure as though polluted by excreta, frowned upon by the wise and virtuous, it is an agent that makes everything stink. This last quality of the defilements is also manifested by evil persons whose body literally stinks, whereas the dead body of a purified one has no bad smell.
Accordingly, they did so and took part in the daily offering of food to the Buddha and the Saṅgha but entrusted the job to a committee of three trusted men to supervise the task.
Among these three supervisors, one was in charge of procuring rice and cereals, the second in charge of issuing groceries to meet the daily needs of the meals, and the third in charge of cooking and other preparations for the offering. The three men were reborn during the time of Buddha Gotama as King Bimbisāra, Visākha the merchant, and Ven. Raṭṭhapāla, respectively.
Rāhula’s Life as Prince Pathavindhara
The future Rāhula was reborn as the eldest son of King Kikī of the Kāsi country during the time of Buddha Vipassī. He was named by his parents as Prince Pathavindhara. He had seven sisters, namely:
1. Princess Samaṇī = the future Ven. Khemā.
2. Princess Samaṇaguttā = the future Ven. Uppalavaṇṇā.
3. Princess Bhikkhunī = the future Ven. Paṭācārā.
4. Princess Bhikkhadāyikā = the future Ven. Kuṇḍalakesī.
5. Princess Dhammā = the future Ven. Kisā Gotamī.
6. Princess Sudhammā = the future Ven. Dhammadinnā.
7. Princess Saṅghadāyikā = the future lay supporter Visākhā.
Prince Pathavindhara became the heir-apparent after his seven sisters had donated seven monastic complexes to Buddha Kassapa. The heir-apparent requested his sisters to let him donate the cost of one of the seven monastic complexes, but his seven sisters pointed out to their eldest brother that he had means to donate another monastic complex. So Prince Pathavindhara built 500 monastic complexes on an appropriate scale according to his status. He spent all his life in deeds of merit. On his death, he was reborn in the Deva realm.
Ascetic Life in His Final Existence
During the time of Buddha Gotama, Prince Pathavindhara was reborn as Prince Rāhula, son of Prince Siddhattha and his chief Princess Yasodharā. Rāhula’s boyhood friend was Raṭṭhapāla, the son of Raṭṭhapāla, the wealthy merchant of the market town of Thullakoṭṭhika in the kingdom of Kuru.
The admission of Rāhula into the Saṅgha, an interesting episode, can be read in chapter 18. Many discourses that are connected with Rāhula, such as the Long Discourse giving Advice to Rāhula (Mahā-rāhulovāda-sutta, MN 62) and others can be found in chapters 31 and 32b.
After the Buddha had admitted his son, he used to admonish the young novice every day as follows: “Rāhula, seek the company of a good friend. Dwell in the forest abode. Be
The above sutta is entitled the Continual Advice to Rāhula (Abhiṇha-rāhulovāda-sutta, Snp 2.13).
It was the custom of the novice Rāhula to pick up a handful of sand early in the morning and say to himself: “May I get admonitions from the Fortunate One or from my preceptor in number comparable to the grains of sand in my hand.” This habit of his gained him the reputation as a novice inclined to good advice as befitting the son of the Fortunate One and as such a worthy son of a worthy father.
This recognition of Rāhula’s noble character trait became the topic of discussion among the monastics. The Buddha knew it, and thinking that that would very well make a ready subject for another discourse and would also highlight Ven. Rāhula’s qualities even better, he taught a discourse at the audience hall. Having seated himself on the Dhamma throne of the Buddha, he asked the monastics what they had been talking about before he went in. The monastics replied: “Venerable sir, we were discussing the noble trait in the novice Rāhula’s readiness to receive admonition.” The Buddha then related a past existence of Rāhula where he had displayed the same noble trait, as mentioned in the Story about the Deer having Three Postures (Tipallattha-miga-jātaka, Ja 16).
The Buddha taught the young novice Rāhula at the tender age of seven to be truthful at all times, to refrain from untruth even by way of jesting. The discourse on this subject goes by the title of the Advice to Rāhula given in Ambalaṭṭhika Park (Ambalaṭṭhika-rāhulovāda-sutta, MN 61), see chapter 20a.
When Rāhula was eighteen, the Buddha taught him a discourse entitled the Long Discourse giving Advice to Rāhula (Mahā-rāhulovāda-sutta, MN 62), see chapter 31.
To give practical lessons in insight-meditation, 22 suttas were directed at Rāhula, compiled in the Collection of the Thematic Discourses (Saṁyutta-nikāya), forming the chapter entitled the Thematic Discourses connected with Rāhula (Rāhula-saṁyutta, SN 18); and there is also another discourse entitled the Discourse concerning Rāhula (Rāhula-sutta, AN 4.177).
As Rāhula became spiritually more mature, when he had just been admitted into the Saṅgha as a full-fledged monastic, the Buddha taught him another discourse entitled the Short Discourse giving Advice to Rāhula (Cūḷa-rāhulovāda-sutta, MN 147), see chapter 31.
Foremost Title Achieved
On one occasion, in the congregation of monastics where the Buddha named outstanding monastics, he declared:
Etad-aggaṁ bhikkhave mama sāvakānaṁ bhikkhūnaṁ
Sikkhā-kāmānaṁ yad-idaṁ Rāhulo.
Monastics, among the monastics who welcome admonition concerning the threefold training, Rāhula is the foremost (etad-agga).
Ven. Rāhula was designated as the foremost among those monastics who welcomed admonition concerning the threefold training because from the day he became a novice he always had a most keen desire to be instructed. Every morning, he awaited admonition and advice from the Buddha or from his preceptor. He wanted as many words of advice as they would give, even as many as the grains of sand he used to hold in his hand every morning.
Raṭṭhapāla’s Monastic Life
In his tour of the kingdom of Kuru, the Buddha arrived at the market town of
Although they had permitted their son to leave household life, Raṭṭhapāla’s parents were still unhappy about it. Whenever monastics arrived at their door on the alms round, the father would say to them: “What business do you have here? You have taken away my only son. What more do you want to do from us?”
The Buddha stayed at Thullakoṭṭhika for fifteen days only and returned to Sāvatthī. There, at Sāvatthī, Raṭṭhapāla meditated on insight and became an Arahat.
Ven. Raṭṭhapāla then asked permission from the Buddha to visit his parents. Hence, he went to Thullakoṭṭhika. While going for alms collection in the town, he stood at the door of his father, where, as in the case of Ven. Sudinna, he received stale cakes, but he ate them as if they were the food of Devas. His father felt guilty about the alms food he had offered and invited his monastic son to his house to take a wholesome meal but Ven. Raṭṭhapāla said that since he had finished the day’s meal, he would come the next day.
On the following day, after finishing his meal at his father’s house, he gave a discourse to the womenfolk of the household who were fully garbed, and enabled them to perceive loathsomeness of the body. Then all of a sudden, like an arrow, he flew up to the sky and descended in the royal gardens of King Korabya where he sat on a rock platform. He sent word to the king through the gardener about his presence there. King Korabya went to pay homage to him. Ven. Ratthapāla gave a discourse, in detail, on the four principles of loss or decay (pārijuñña). After which, he returned to Sāvatthī, travelling by stages, and arrived at the Buddha’s monastery.
This is a brief account of Ven. Raṭṭhapāla. Full details may be gleaned from the Discourse to Ratṭhapāla (Raṭṭhapāla-sutta, MN 82).
Foremost Title Achieved
On one occasion, in a monastic congregation where the Buddha named foremost monastics, he declared:
Etad-aggaṁ bhikkhave mama sāvakānaṁ bhikkhūnaṁ
saddhā-pabbajitānaṁ yad-idaṁ Raṭṭhapālo.
Monastics, among my monastic disciples who take up the monastic life through sheer religious conviction, Raṭṭhapāla is the foremost (etad-agga).
Ven. Raṭṭhapāla had to stay away from food for seven days as a token of his strong desire to renounce the household life. That was why he was declared the foremost monastic who took up the monastic life through faith.