45b: The Life Stories of the Female Lay Disciples

1. Sujātā, Wife of the Householder of Bārāṇasī

Aspiration in the Past

The future Sujātā was reborn into the family of a rich man in the city of Haṁsavatī, during the time of Buddha Padumuttara. On one occasion, as she was listening to a discourse by the Buddha, she saw a female lay disciple being named by the Buddha as the foremost in getting established in the three refuges. She aspired to that distinction. After making an extraordinary offering, she expressed her aspiration before the Buddha who predicted that her aspiration would be fulfilled.

Discipleship in Her Last Existence

The future Sujātā was reborn either in the Deva realm or the human world for 100,000 aeons. Some time before the appearance of the Buddha Gotama, she was reborn as the daughter of Seniya, in the town of Senā, near the Uruvelā forest. When she came of age, she went to the banyan tree which was near her town and after making an offering to its guardian spirit, she vowed that if she should be married to a bridegroom of equal social status and if she bore a boy as her first child, she would make an offering to the guardian spirit yearly. Her wish was fulfilled.

Sujātā was married to the son of a rich man of Bārāṇasī and her first child was a boy whom was named Yasa. She kept her vow and made annual offerings to the guardian spirit of the banyan tree.

After making these annual offering at the banyan tree for 20 times or so, on the day the Buddha was to attain Perfect Awakening in the year 528 BCE, Sujātā went to make her annual offering to the guardian spirit of the banyan tree.

On that occasion, Sujātā’s son, Yasa, was already married and was indulging in luxury in the three mansions. This is mentioned because Sujātā had been generally imagined as a young maiden when she offered the specially prepared milk rice to the Buddha.

On the full moon of May (Vesākha) in 528 BCE, after six years of self-tormenting practice in search of the truth, the Buddha attained Perfect Awakening. Sujātā rose early that morning to make an offering at the banyan tree. On that day, the young calves somehow did not go near their mothers for milk. When the housemaids of Sujātā brought the vessels to draw milk from the cows, the nipples of the cows automatically flowed freely with milk. On seeing the strange phenomenon, Sujātā herself collected the milk, put it in a new cooking vessel, kindled the fire and started cooking the rice milk.

When the milk was being boiled, extra-large bubbles arose in a series and rotated in clockwise direction in the pot and not a drop of milk overflowed. The Mahā Brahma held the white umbrella above the pot; the Four Great Kings guarded the pot with the royal swords in hand; Sakka attended to the fire which boiled the milk; Devas brought various nutrients from the four island continents and put them into the pot. In these ways, the celestial beings joined in the effort of Sujātā in preparing the milk rice.

While Sujātā was preparing the rice-milk, she called her servant Puṇṇā and said: “Good girl, Puṇṇā, I believe the guardian spirit of the banyan tree is in a particularly good mood because I had never seen such strange phenomena happen before in these long years. Now, go quickly and clean the precinct for offering at the banyan tree.” – “Very well, madam,” the servant girl responded and went to the banyan tree promptly.

The Bodhisatta sat at the foot of the banyan tree, earlier than the time for collection of his daily alms food. The servant girl, who went to clean the foot of the banyan tree, [1448] mistook the Bodhisatta for the guardian spirit of the tree and she reported to her mistress with excitement. Sujātā said: “Well, girl, if what you say is true, I will release you from bondage.” Then dressing and decorating herself, Sujātā went to the banyan tree, carrying on her head the milk rice, which was put into a golden vessel worth 100,000 pieces of money, covered with a golden lid and wrapped with a white piece of cloth and over which, garlands of fragrant flowers were placed so that they hang around the vessel. When she saw the Bodhisatta, whom she presumed to be the guardian spirit of the tree, she was intensely glad and approached him, bowing as she approached. Then she put down the vessel, took off the lid and offered it to the Bodhisatta, saying: “May your desire come to fulfilment as has mine!” Then she left him.

The Bodhisatta went to the River Nerañjarā, put down the golden vessel of rice-milk on its bank and bathed in the river. Then, coming out of the river, he ate the rice-milk in 49 morsels. After which, he placed the empty gold vessel on the River Nerañjarā. It floated against the river current and then sank.

He then went to the foot of the Bodhi tree. He attained Perfect Self-Awakening and remained there for seven weeks; each week at seven locations at and around the Bodhi tree. At the end of 49 days, during which the Buddha dwelled in the attainment of cessation, he went to Isipatana Deer Park where he set the Dhamma Wheel rolling by expounding the Dhamma to the Group-of-Five ascetics. Then he saw the ripeness of the past merit of Yasa, the son of Sujātā, wife of the householder of Bārāṇasī and he waited for him by sitting underneath a tree.

Yasa had grown weary of sensuous pleasure after seeing the unsightly spectacle in his harem in the middle of the night. “How suffering are these sentient beings with their mind and body being oppressed by all sorts of defilements! O, how terribly they are being tormented by defilements!” Yasa murmured and left his home in sheer disgust with life.

On leaving the town, he met the Buddha and after listening to his discourse, he gained penetrative knowledge of the truth and became established in the fruition of Stream-entry knowledge. ^{In the commentary on the Collection of the Numerical Discourses (Aṅguttara-nikāya), it is said he gained the three lower paths and fruitions.}

Yasa’s father traced his son’s whereabouts almost behind his heels. He went and asked the Buddha whether his son came that way. The Buddha, by his power, hid Yasa from his father’s vision and taught a discourse to his father. At the end of which, Yasa’s father attained Stream-entry knowledge and Yasa became an Arahat. Then, the Buddha made Yasa a monastic by summoning him: “Come, monastic,” and Yasa’s appearance instantly changed into that of a monastic, complete with alms bowl, robes and essential items for monastic use. These were all mind-made by the Buddha’s power.

Yasa’s father invited the Buddha to his home the next day for an offering of alms food. The Buddha went, accompanied by Ven. Yasa. After the meal, he taught a discourse, at the end of which, Ven. Yasa’s mother, Sujātā, and his erstwhile wife were established in the fruition of Stream-entry knowledge. On the same day, they were established in the three refuges.

Foremost Title Achieved

On one occasion, while the Buddha was naming foremost female lay-disciples, he declared:

Etad-aggaṁ bhikkhave mama sāvikānaṁ upāsikānaṁ
paṭhamaṁ saraṇaṁ gacchantīnaṁ yad-idaṁ Sujātā Seniya-dhītā.

Monastics, among my female lay-disciples who were the earliest to get established in the refuges, Sujātā, daughter of Seniya the householder, is the foremost. [1449]