79. Kosambi was a large city surrounded by huge walls and situated on the banks of the Yamuna River. Because it was at a junction of several highways, it had become a centre for trade and commerce. Three of the city's most wealthy merchants, Ghosita, Kukkuta and Pavarika were also close friends, engaging in business deals together and having a common interest in religion. Ghosita had risen from humble origin to become treasurer to King Udena of Kosambi. His mother was a prostitute who had thrown him on a rubbish heap when he was born. A passer-by rescued the child and eventually he was taken in by the royal treasurer, who wanted another son. Named Ghosita, the boy grew and was treated as a member of the family. But after a few years, the treasurer's wife gave birth to a son and suddenly Ghosita was not wanted any longer. The treasurer arranged to have a potter kill the boy and dispose of the body. Ghosita was sent to the potter carrying a message saying that he was the boy to be killed. On the way, he met his foster-brother and not wanting to go on what he thought was just an errand, he offered to play marbles with his foster-brother, the loser having to go to the potter. Ghosita won the game and the other boy took the letter and was killed. Sometime later, in another attempt to kill him, Ghosita was sent to one of the treasurer's wealthy tax collectors in an outlying region, again with another letter saying that the boy should be killed. On the way Ghosita stopped for a meal in a rich man's house and when the man's daughter saw him, she immediately fell in love with him. As they talked, the girl asked to see the letter Ghosita was carrying and when she read it and explained its contents to him, Ghosita was shocked. They decided to write another letter saying that the tax collector should marry the boy and girl, build them a house to live in and look after them. They set out together with the letter and when they arrived, the tax collector read the letter and carried out its instructions. Ghosita and his young wife lived happily for several years and one day they heard that the treasurer was critically ill and likely to die. The young couple set out for Kosambi to visit the treasurer on his deathbed. When they entered the room, the treasurer saw them and with his dying breath said, "I will not let you inherit my wealth." However, his words were not clear and everyone thought he had said: "I will let you inherit my wealth," and so Ghosita got a part of the inheritance. With the money he received, he went into business and became very wealthy, and because of his skill with money, was eventually appointed treasurer.
80. Ghosita and his friends had heard about the Buddha and one day while in Savatthi on business, he went to meet the Buddha and invited him to come to Kosambi. Each of the three friends offered the Buddha a pleasure park which gradually grew into monasteries. Ghosita's park, which was just inside the east gate of Kosambi, came to be known as Ghositarama and grew into a great centre for the study of Dharma.
81. The Buddha stayed in Kosambi on several occasions and delivered many discourses there. His most famous disciple there was the woman Khujjuttara. She was a slave working in King Udena's harem, and as Queen Samavati and the other women were not allowed to leave the harem, one of her jobs was to run errands for the queen and the other women in the harem. One day, Khujjuttara went to the garden to buy flowers for the queen, as she usually did, and while there, she heard the Buddha teaching the Dharma, and understanding it so well she became a Stream-Winner. On returning to the harem, she told the queen about the Dharma and delighted by what she heard, the queen thereafter sent her regularly to hear the Buddha so she could repeat what she heard. In this manner, Khujjuttara became an expert in Dharma, in fact, the Buddha called her the most deeply learned of all his female lay disciples. All the discourses in the Itivuttaka, one of the most important books in the Tipitaka, were preserved by Khujjuttara and taught by her to the monks.
82. It was at Kosambi that the first serious crisis occurred in the Sangha. Two monks were living together in the same hut. The first of these monks was an expert in monastic discipline and was also conscientious and sincere. One day, this monk went to the toilet and when finished, failed to refill the water pot. His companion scolded him and accused him of breaking a rule. A bitter argument gradually developed, the second monk insisting that the first had broken a rule and the first insisting that he had not.[ N1 ] Eventually all the monks in Kosambi got involved, taking either one side or the other, and the whole community became "disputatious, quarrelsome and contentious, wounding each other with the weapon of the tongue."[ N2 ] The Buddha tried again and again to bring about a reconciliation but when the monks curtly told him to mind his own business, he decided to show his disapproval of their unruly behaviour by walking out on them. He tidied up the room where he was staying, took his robe and bowl, and left for more congenial surroundings, saying as he left:
"He abused me, he hit me,
He oppressed me, he robbed me."
Those who continue to hold such thoughts
Never still their hatred.
"He abused me, he hit me,
He oppressed me, he robbed me."
Those who do not hold such thoughts
Soon still their hatred.
For in this world
Hatred is never appeased by more hatred.
It is love that conquers hatred.
This is an eternal law.[ N3 ]
83. Not far from Kosambi was a park called the Eastern Bamboo Grove where a group of monks headed by Venerable Anuruddha stayed, and the Buddha decided to go there. When he arrived, the park keeper, not knowing who he was, refused to let him enter saying, "There are monks here who love silence. Please do not disturb them." Anuruddha saw this and told the park keeper to relent and welcome the Buddha. It was immediately obvious to the Buddha that, in stark contrast to the monks at Kosambi, these monks were living together in harmony and were practising with diligence. The Buddha asked them how they were able to do this. Anuruddha answered:
"Concerning this I think: 'Indeed, it is a gain for me, indeed it is good that I am living with such companions in the holy life.' I practise bodily, verbal and mental acts of love towards them, both in public and in private. I think: 'Why don't I set aside my own wishes and acquiesce to their wishes,' And then I act accordingly. Truly, we are different in body, but we are one in mind. This is how we are able to live together in friendliness and harmony, like milk and water mixed, looking on each other with the eye of affection." He then went on to describe the consideration they showed towards each other in their daily life. "Whoever returns from going to the village for alms food gets the seats ready, sets out water for drinking and washing, and puts out the refuge bowl. Whoever returns from the village last eats what is left of the food, or if he does not want it, throws it away where there are no crops or throws it in water where there are no creatures. He puts away the seats, the water bowl and refuge bowl, and sweeps the dining hall. Whoever sees the bowl for drinking water, the bowl for washing water or the water bowl in the toilet empty, he fills it. If he cannot do this himself, by using hand signals he invites his companions to help him, but we do not for such a minor thing break into speech. And then, once every five nights, we sit down together and talk about the Dharma."[ N4 ]
84. After staying at the Eastern Bamboo Grove for a while, the Buddha felt the need for a period of complete solitude and so he went to the forest near the village of Parileyya. The forest was a well-known haunt for wild animals and few people went there, and the Buddha was prepared to go without food in order to be completely alone for a while. He settled down at the foot of a beautiful sal tree and spent his time meditating. After a while, a huge bull elephant appeared and placed the water it was holding in its trunk in the Buddha's bowl. A monkey also would pick fruit and each day bring it to the Buddha. With the help of these animals, he was able to spend time without having any contact with people. Like many people since, the Buddha felt that the beauty of the forest and the company of animals could be a welcome reprieve from the noise and bustle of society.[ N5 ]
85. After staying at Parileyya for some time the Buddha left, and not wanting to return to Kosambi, he went to Savatthi. Meanwhile, back in Kosambi, the lay people decided to withdraw their support from the monks, who started coming back from their alms rounds with their bowls empty. Gradually, they found less reason to carry on their dispute and as their tempers cooled down, they began to feel ashamed of themselves. Eventually, a delegation of monks went to Savatthi to see the Buddha to ask for his forgiveness, which he gave, thus bringing the Kosambi dispute to an end.
Rahula -— The Son of the Enlightened One
86. Just before Prince Siddhartha renounced the world, his wife Yasodhara gave birth to a son. According to legend, when the birth was announced to the prince, he said, "A fetter (rahula) has been born, a bondage has been born," and this is how the boy got his name. It is more likely that he was named after a lunar eclipse (rahu) that might have occurred around the time of his birth. Either way, the birth of this child only served to make Prince Siddhartha's desire to escape from what had become for him a golden cage, even more difficult. On the evening he had finally decided to leave, the Buddha peered into the royal bedchamber to take one last look at his sleeping wife and child, but the mother's arm obscured the child's face.
87. Seven years after he left, the Buddha returned to Kapilavatthu. Yasodhara took the little Rahula to listen to the Buddha's preaching. When they arrived, she said to him: "This is your father, Rahula. Go and ask him for your inheritance." The child walked through the assembly and stood before the Buddha, saying, "How pleasant is your shadow, O Monk." When the talk had finished and the Buddha left, Rahula followed him, and as they walked along Rahula said: "Give me my inheritance, O Monk." Of course the Buddha no longer had gold or property but he had something far more precious - the Dharma, so he turned to Sariputta and said: "Sariputta, ordain him."[ N1 ] Later, the Buddha's father, Suddhodana, and Yasodhara complained that the boy had been taken away without their permission, as a result of which the Buddha made it a rule that parental consent was necessary before someone could be ordained.[ N2 ]
88. As if to make up for the seven years he was without a father, the Buddha took great interest in Rahula's moral and spiritual education, teaching him many times himself, and making Sariputta his preceptor and Moggallana his teacher. Rahula responded to this excellent tutelage by being an eager and attentive student and it is said that each morning as he awoke, he would take a handful of sand and say: "May I have today, as many words of counsel from my teacher as there are here grains of sand." As a result of this enthusiasm, the Buddha said of his son that of all his disciples, he was the most anxious for training. When Rahula was still a boy, the Buddha discussed with him aspects of Dharma that were suitable for the young and in such a way as he could understand and remember.
89. Once, he got a pot of water and calling Rahula to his side said to him:
"Rahula, do you see the small amount of water in this pot?"
"Yes, sir."
"Even so, little is the training of those who have no shame at intentional lying."
The Buddha then threw the water away and said: "Do you see this small amount of water that I have thrown away?"
"Yes, sir."
"Even so, Rahula, thrown away is the training of those who have no shame at intentional lying."
The Buddha then turned the pot over and said: "Do you see this pot that has been turned over?"
"Yes, sir."
"Even so, turned over is the training of those who have no shame at intentional lying."
The Buddha then turned the pot upright again and said: "Do you see this pot now empty and void?"
"Yes, sir."
"Even so, Rahula, empty and void is the training of those who have no shame at intentional lying."
The Buddha then impressed upon his son the importance of speaking the truth.
"Rahula, for anyone who has no shame at intentional lying, there is no evil that that person cannot do. Therefore, you should train yourself like this: 'I will not tell a lie, not even in jest.'"
Having explained what has to be done, the Buddha went on to explain to Rahula how it could be done.
"What do you think about this, Rahula? What is the purpose of a mirror?"
"The purpose of a mirror is to look at yourself."
"Even so, Rahula, one should act with body, speech or mind only after first looking at oneself. Before acting with body, speech or mind, one should think: 'What I am about to do, will it harm me or others?' If you can answer: 'Yes, it will,' then you should not act. But if you can answer: 'No, it will not,' then you should act. You should reflect in the same way while acting and after having acted. Therefore, Rahula, you should train yourself thinking: 'We will act only after repeatedly looking at ourselves, only after reflecting on ourselves.'"[ N3 ]
90. Rahula was trained in the Ten Precepts and monastic discipline and when he was eighteen, the Buddha decided that he was ready for meditation and then gave him advice on how to practise.
"Rahula, develop a mind that is like the four great elements (earth, water, fire and air) because if you do this, pleasant or unpleasant sensory impressions that have arisen and taken hold of the mind will not persist. Just as when people throw faeces, urine, spittle, pus or blood on the earth or in the water, in a fire or the air, the earth, the water, the fire or the air is not troubled, worried or disturbed. So too, develop a mind that is like the four great elements. Develop love, Rahula, for by doing so ill-will will be got rid of. Develop compassion, for by doing so the desire to harm will be got rid of. Develop sympathetic joy, for by doing so, dislike will be got rid of. Develop equanimity, for by doing so sensory reaction will be got rid of. Develop the perception of the foul for by doing so, attachment will be got rid of. Develop the perception of impermanence for by doing so, the conceit, 'I am', will be got rid of. Develop mindfulness of breathing for it is of great benefit and advantage."[ N4 ]
Following his father's advice and guidance on meditation, Rahula finally attained enlightenment. He was eighteen at the time. After that his friends always referred to him as Rahula the Lucky (Rahulabhadda) and he tells why he was given this name.
They call me Rahula the Lucky for two reasons:
One is that I am the Buddha's son.
And the other is that I have seen the truth.[ N5 ]
91. Other than this, we know very little about Rahula. He does not seem to have been prominent at being either a Dharma teacher or a trainer of other monks. It is likely that Rahula kept himself in the background so that he could not be accused of taking advantage of being the son of the Enlightened One.
Dharma
92. It is often mistakenly thought that it is the job of monks and nuns to practise and teach the Dharma, while it is the job of lay men and women to practise the Five Precepts and support the monks and nuns by providing them with their needs. This is an incorrect and dangerous belief, and in countries where it is widely accepted it has helped lead to a corruption of the Dharma. The Buddha's goal was to develop a community of disciples, ordained and lay, men and women, who were well-educated in the Dharma, who practised it fully, and who taught it to and learned it from each other.[ N1 ] While the Buddha praised Anathapindika for his great generosity, he reserved his highest praise for Citta of Macchikasanda and Hatthaka of Alavi because they were both skilful in and diligent at giving something infinitely more precious than material things - the Dharma.[ N2 ]
93. Citta was the model Buddhist layman whose learning and behaviour the Buddha urged others to emulate. On one occasion, the Buddha said to the monks: "Should a devoted mother wish to encourage her beloved only son in a proper way she should say to him: 'Try to become like the disciple Citta and the disciple Hatthaka of Alavi.'"[ N3 ] Citta was a rich merchant and landowner in the town of Macchikasanda, not far from Savatthi. He seems to have heard the Dharma for the first time from the monk Mahanama, after which he offered to the Sangha a park he owned and in it built a spacious monastery. After that, any monks or nuns coming to Macchikasanda were always assured of a warm welcome and adequate support. The Buddha considered Citta to be the most learned and lucid of all the lay Dharma teachers. After accepting the Dharma, he explained it to the other citizens of the town, converting five hundred of them, and on one occasion took all of the new converts to Savatthi to see the Buddha. The discourses in the Tipitaka preached to and by Citta indicate his profound grasp of the most subtle aspects of the Dharma and indeed later he became a Non-Returner.
94. Once a group of monks were sitting In a pavilion in the monastery that Citta had built discussing Dharma. Some were saying that it is the sense objects that fetter the mind while others suggested that it is the sense organs that cause the problems. Citta arrived at the monastery, and when he saw the monks he asked what they were discussing, and they told him. Citta said, "Sirs, these two things, sense objects and sense organs, are different. I will use a simile so that you can understand what I mean. Suppose a black ox and a white ox were tied together with a yoke or rope. Now would it be right to say that the black ox was the fetter of the white ox or that the white ox was the fetter of the black ox?"
"Certainly not," answered the monks. "The black ox is not the fetter of the white ox nor is the white ox the fetter of the black ox. They are both fettered by the yoke or rope." Citta agreed and then said: "Well, sirs, in the same way, the eye is not the fetter of visual objects nor are visual objects the fetter of the eye. But rather, the desire that arises from the meeting of the two, that is the fetter. And it is the same with the other sense organs and their objects." The monks were delighted by Citta's lucidity in explaining and answering the question.[ N4 ]
95. On another occasion, the monk Kamabhu, perplexed by one of the Buddha's sayings, asked Citta if he could explain what it meant. The saying was:
Pure-limbed, white-canopied, one-wheeled,
The chariot rolls on.
Look at he who is coming,
He is a faultless stream-cutter, he is boundless.
Citta explained the verse with great originality and insight. He said: "'Pure-limbed' means virtue, 'white-canopied' means freedom, 'onewheeled' means mindfulness, 'rolls on' means coming and going. 'Chariot' means the body, 'he who is coming' means the enlightened one, 'stream' means craving, 'faultless', 'stream-cutter' and 'boundless' all mean one who has destroyed the defilements." Citta's ability to give a spiritual interpretation to what appeared to be merely a beautiful verse surprised and delighted Kamabhu.[ N5 ]
96. But Citta was not just able to teach the Dharma, he was also able to demonstrate its superiority over other doctrines. Once Nigantha Nataputta, the founder of Jainism and one of the most well-known religious teachers of the time, arrived in Macchikasanda with a large number of his disciples. Citta went to meet Nataputta who, knowing he was a disciple of the Buddha, asked him, "Do you believe, as the Buddha teaches, that it is possible to attain a meditative state where all thought stops?" "No," answered Citta, "The Buddha teaches this but I do not believe it." Surprised and pleased that Citta seemed to be saying that he doubted some of the Buddha's teaching, Nataputta looked around at all his disciples saying as he did, "See what a straightforward and clever person Citta is. Anyone who could believe in a meditative state where all thought stops might just as well believe that the mind can be caught in a net or that the Ganges can be stopped flowing by using the hand." When he had finished, Citta asked: "What is better, venerable sir, to know or to believe?" "Knowledge is far better than belief," replied Nataputta. "Well, I can attain that meditative state where all thought ceases. So why should I believe what the Buddha says is true. I know it is true." Annoyed at being caught out, Nataputta again looked around at his disciples and said: "See what a cunning, deceitful and crooked person this Citta is." Remaining calm and unruffled by this outburst, Citta said: "If your first statement is true then your second one must be false, and if your second statement is true then your first one must be false," and having said that he got up and left, leaving Nataputta struggling for a reply.[ N6 ]
97. Later in life, Citta became ill and it was obvious to his family that he did not have long to live. As he lay on his deathbed, devas gathered around him telling him to set his mind on being reborn into a position of wealth and power. Knowing that he was a Non-Returner, destined to be reborn into one of the high heaven realms, he said to the devas, "That is impermanent and will have to be left behind in the end." Not being able to see the devas, Citta's family and friends thought he was delirious. Citta told them he was talking to devas and then, after urging those gathered around to take refuge in the Three Jewels, he peacefully passed away.[ N7 ]
98. Another eminent lay disciple was Hatthaka of Alavi, a son of the ruler of Alavi. Hatthaka first met the Buddha as he was walking one winter evening. Surprised to see this lone ascetic in just one thin robe and sleeping on the hard ground, Hatthaka asked the Buddha, "Are you happy?" The Buddha replied, "Yes, I am happy." "But sir," Hatthaka asked, "the ground is hard and the wind is cold, how can you be happy?" The Buddha asked: "Despite living in a cosy, well-thatched house, with a comfortable bed and two wives to look after him, is it possible that due to greed, anger, fear or ambition that a man might feel unhappy?" "Yes," answered Hatthaka, "that is quite possible." "Well," said the Buddha, "I have got rid of all greed, anger, fear and ambition, so whether I sleep here or in a cosy house, I am always happy, always very happy.[ N8 ]
99. Hatthaka was famous not so much for his generosity or his knowledge of Dharma, but for his ability to attract people to the Dharma. Once he brought five hundred people, all obviously keen to practise the Dharma, to see the Buddha who asked him: "How do you manage to interest so many people in the Dharma?" Hatthaka answered: "Lord, I do it by using the four bases of sympathy, which you yourself taught me. When I know that someone can be attracted by generosity, I am generous. When I know that they can be attracted by kind words, I speak to them with kindness. When I know that they can be attracted by doing them a good turn, I do them a good turn, and when I know they can be attracted by treating them equally, I treat them with equality." Obviously, when people attended talks on Dharma organised by Hatthaka, they always received a warm personal welcome that made them feel liked and respected, and so they would come again, gradually getting interested in the Dharma. The Buddha praised Hatthaka for his skill. "Well done, Hatthaka, well done, this is the way to attract people." After Hatthaka had left, the Buddha said to the monks: "Consider it true that Hatthaka of Alavi is possessed of these eight marvellous and wonderful qualities. He has faith, virtue, conscientiousness and fear of blame, he is learned, generous, wise and modest."[ N9 ]
100. Modesty, in particular, was evident in Hatthaka's character. While some take great pride in their wealth or are motivated by self-aggrandisement to convert others to the Dharma, Hatthaka was always quiet and unassuming. He did all he could to interest people in the Dharma purely out of concern for them, not to make a name for himself. On another occasion, when the monks told Hatthaka that the Buddha had praised his many good qualities, he said, "I hope there were no lay people present when the Lord did this." The monks assured him that there were none and later when they told this to the Buddha, he said, "Well done, well done. That man is genuinely modest. He does not like his good qualities to be known by others. Modesty is another of Hatthaka's good qualities."[ N10 ]
When Hatthaka died he was reborn as a deva, and one night he came to visit the Buddha. The Buddha asked him if he had any regrets and he replied, "I died regretting only that I never saw enough of the Buddha, heard enough Dharma or was able to serve the Dharma enough."[ N11 ]
101. At the Buddha's time, women had little role in society except as wives or mothers. But when the Sangha of nuns was established, women immediately had an avenue for spiritual development and the opportunity to prove themselves as religious adepts and teachers - roles that they took to with great success. The Buddha praised the nun Khema for her great wisdom, Patacara for her expertise in monastic discipline and Dharmadinna for her energy and skill in teaching the Dharma.[ N12 ] And it was not just nuns who became model disciples, laywomen did also. One of the most important of the Buddha's laywomen disciples was Samavati, whose story is a long and interesting one.
102. Once a man and his wife lived in a particular village in Vamsa with their uncommonly beautiful daughter named Samavati. The family was a happy one but one summer an epidemic broke out in the village killing many people and forcing the others to flee. Samavati and her parents together with many others went to Kosambi, the capital of Vamsa, hoping to find relief. The city was full of refugees and concerned citizens had set up facilities to provide food for them. When the food was distributed each noon, pushing and scuffling would break out as desperate refugees would try to grasp as much as they could in the fear that by tomorrow there would be none. When Samavati first came for food, she asked for enough for three people, soon she was asking for enough for two and eventually only enough for one. Mitta, the man who distributed the food at the place where Samavati went, noticed this and one day said to her sarcastically: "So, you have finally worked out how much your stomach can hold, have you?" "No," explained Samavati, "at first, I had to get enough for myself and my parents. Then my father died, so I only needed enough for two. Then my mother died, so now I only need enough for myself." When Mitta heard this, he felt very ashamed of his sarcasm and apologised to Samavati. She told Mitta about how she had fallen on hard times and moved by sympathy, Mitta asked Samavati if he could adopt her as his daughter - an offer that she gratefully accepted.
103. Now that her position had improved, Samavati set about helping to improve the lot of the refugees. She brought order and discipline to the food distribution and soon, instead of noisy, pushing crowds, orderly queues were formed, ensuring that everyone got their fair share and no one went without. One day, Ghosita, a wealthy merchant who had been appointed royal treasurer, was touring the city and he noticed how efficiently the food distribution programme was going and he inquired from Mitta who was responsible for it. Ghosita was introduced to Samavati and as soon as he saw her, he was struck by her beauty and also by the patience with which she carried out her work. He asked Mitta if he could adopt Samavati. Mitta reluctantly agreed, knowing that Samavati would now be heir to a vast fortune. So it was that within a few months, Samavati had gone from destitution to wealth and status. But soon she was to rise even higher. Now that she moved in high circles, it was not long before she came to the notice of King Udena of Kosambi. The king already had two wives, Vasuladatta and Magandiya, both of whom, although physically beautiful, had rather unattractive characters and Udena was lonely and unhappy. As soon as he saw Samavati, he fell in love with her and resolved to have her as his wife. He informed Ghosita of his wish, a demand that filled Ghosita with sadness, as he deeply loved her and had come to look upon her as his real daughter. But although King Udena had a reputation of flying into a rage when he could not get what he wanted, Ghosita decided to refuse the king's request. The king was furious. He dismissed Ghosita from his post, expelled him from Kosambi and confiscated all his wealth. Samavati was deeply saddened by this, and to save her foster father she went to Udena and offered to become his wife, after which the king stopped his persecution of Ghosita. Samavati was patient and accepting by nature and so she soon settled into her new life in the royal palace and learned to put up with Udena's occasional outbursts of temper, and he in turn loved her deeply.
104. One of Samavati's servants was Khujjuttara, so called because she had a hunch back. Like the other women of the royal household, Samavati was confined to the palace. So when she wanted flowers to wear in her hair, she had to send her servant to get them. Each day, she would give eight pieces of money to Khujjuttara, who would spend four on the flowers and keep the rest for herself. One day, as Khujjuttara was on her usual errand, she saw a group of people sitting, listening to the Buddha and out of curiosity, stopped to listen to what was being said. The Buddha noticed this woman at the back of the crowd and although she was ugly in appearance, he could tell that she had a good potential to understand the Dharma. He changed the gist of his talk to a subject that he knew she could respond to and by the end of the talk she had become a Stream-Winner. Although she didn't know what had happened to her, she now felt remorseful about stealing Samavati's money and on her return, she bowed before the queen and confessed her wrong doing. She also told her about the Buddha and his teaching. Samavati was fascinated, both by the dramatic change in Khujjuttara and by what she heard about the Buddha's teaching, and after forgiving Khujjuttara she urged her to go and find out more about the Dharma. So each day, Khujjuttara would go and listen to the Buddha and faithfully repeat everything she heard to Samavati, who eventually took the Three Refuges and later influenced all the other women in the royal household to do the same. One day when he was in a particularly good mood and pleased with Samavati, King Udena offered to give her anything she desired. For a long time she had wanted to hear the Dharma from the Buddha himself, so straight away she asked that the Buddha be invited to the palace, and the king gave orders for the invitation to be sent. The Buddha declined the invitation but instructed Ananda to go in his place. Ananda gave a talk to the assembled nobles and by the time he had finished, Samavati had become a Stream-Winner. With Samavati's encouragement, many members of the royal household then became enthusiastic Buddhists, although the headstrong and volatile Udena expressed little interest in any religion, especially one that required a curbing of anger. But gradually, through Samavati's patient and gentle persuasion even he began to meditate, albeit reluctantly at first, eventually becoming more good-tempered.
105. Meanwhile, one of King Udena's other wives, Magandiya, became increasingly jealous of Samavati. She never missed the opportunity to make sarcastic comments, both to Samavati's face and behind her back, to ridicule her religion and belittle her genuine effort to practise it, and to depreciate her in the eyes of the king. Despite this, Samavati refused to retaliate and continued to be as polite and good natured to Magandiya as she was to everyone else, which only served to make Magandiya even more hostile. Next, she tried to turn the king against Samavati by making it look as if Samavati was plotting against him, but this was not successful either. Finally she decided to have Samavati killed. With the help of her relatives, Magandiya planned to have the women's quarters in the palace set on fire. So filled with hatred was she, that she was quite prepared to risk the lives of the other women who likewise lived there, just to kill her rival. The arsonists did their job and Samavati, together with nearly five hundred other people, was killed in the fire. King Udena was devastated by Samavati's death and went into a long period of mourning. When he began to think about how the tragedy could have happened, it gradually became clear that it was not an accident. He suspected Magandiya, but as he knew that he could never pressure her into confessing, he decided to use other means. One day, in the presence of Magandiya, the king said to one of his ministers: "I've always suspected that Samavati was plotting against me. Now that she is gone, I can sleep in peace. Whoever got rid of her did me a great favour and if I knew who it was, I would give them a reward." Always ready to win the king's favour, Magandiya immediately came forward and told the king that she, with the help of her relatives, had burned down the women's quarters. Udena faked delight and told her to call her relations together so that they could be rewarded. Later, when Magandiya led her conspirators into the presence of the king, she could immediately see by the expression on his face that she had been tricked into making a terrible mistake. In an uncontrollable fury, Udena ordered Magandiya and the others to be arrested and then taken outside and burned alive. People were horrified by the king's actions but most believed that Magandiya had got what she had deserved.[ N13 ] Next Page