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Girimānanda Thera

He was the son of King Bimbisāra’s chaplain and, having seen the might of the Buddha when the Buddha entered Rājagaha, joined the Order. He lived in a village studying, but one day, when he came to Rājagaha to visit the Buddha, the king asked him to remain, promising to look after him. The king, however, forgot his promise, and Girimānanda had to live in the open. The gods, fearing to wet him, stopped rain from falling. The king, observing the drought and discovering the reason for it, built him a hermitage wherein the Thera put forth effort and became an Arahant.

In the time of Sumedha Buddha he was a householder, and when his wife and children died he fled into the forest in grief. There the Buddha consoled him, and he offered flowers to the Buddha and sang his praises (Thag.vv.325‑9; ThagA.i.409 ff; Ap.i.330 f).

Girimānanda Sutta.– Taught at Jetavana. Ānanda brings news to the Buddha that Girimānanda is ill; would the Buddha go and visit him? The Buddha suggests that Ānanda should repeat to Girimānanda the ten perceptions (saññā) — the perception of impermanence (anicca-saññā), not-self (anatta-saññā), repulsiveness (asubha-saññā), danger (ādīnava-saññā), abandoning (pahāna-saññā), dispassion (virāga-saññā), cessation (nirodha-saññā), disenchantment in the world (sabbaloka-anabhirati-saññā), the impermanence of all conditioned things (sabbasankhāresu anicca-saññā), and the mindfulness of respiration (ānāpānasatisaññā) — and proceeds to expound them in detail. Ānanda does so and Girimānanda recovers. A.v.108 ff.