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Padumuttara Buddha

1. Padumuttara.– The tenth of the twenty-four Buddhas.

• He was born in Haṃsavatī, of the warrior (khattiya) Ānanda and his wife Sujātā.
• At the moments of his birth and his Enlightenment, a shower of lotuses fell in the ten thousand worlds, hence his name.
• He lived as a householder for ten thousand years in three palaces: Naravāhana, Yassa (or Yasavatī) and Vasavatti. His wife was Vasudattā, by whom he had a son, Uttara (according to SNA.i.341, his son was Uparevata).
• He left home in his palace (Vasavatti), and practised austerities only for seven days.
• A maiden of Ujjeni, called Rucinandā, gave him milk-rice, and the Ājīvaka Sumitta gave him grass for his seat.
• His Bodhi tree was a salala, under which he spent a week, and when he touched the ground with his foot, huge lotus flowers sprang out of the earth, covering his body completely with their pollen. (The Saṃyuttabhāṇakā give this as the reason for his name.)
• His first discourse was taught to his cousins Devala and Sujāta, who later became his chief disciples. The spot where the discourse was taught was Mithiluyyāna.
• Sumana was Padumuttara’s personal attendant, Amitā and Asamā his chief female disciples, Vitinna and Tissa his chief patrons among men, and Hatthā and Vicittā among women.
• His body was fifty-eight cubits high, and his aura spread for twelve leagues.
• He died in Nandārāma at the age of one hundred thousand, and a thūpa twelve leagues in height was erected over his relics.

In his time, the Bodhisatta was governor of a province (raṭṭhika) called Jaṭika (Jaṭila). Bu.xi.1 ff; BuA.157 ff; J.i.37, 44; DhA.i.99, 417; iii.146, etc; also Ap.i.57, 63, 101, 107; Mtu.ii.58.

It is said (e.g., MT.59) that in the time of Padumuttara there did not exist a single heretic.

Many of the eminent disciples of Gotama Buddha are said to have first conceived their desire for their respective positions in the time of Padumuttara Buddha, after seeing similar rank conferred on Padumuttara’s various disciples in acknowledgment of their special attainments — e.g., Ānanda, Aññā-Koṇḍañña, Anuruddha, Bāhiya Dārucīriya, Bhaddā-Kuṇḍalakesā, Bhaddā-Kāpilānī, Bhaddā-Kaccānā, Bhaddiya, Cūḷapanthaka, Dabba Mallaputta, Dhammadinnā, Kāludāyī, Kaṅkhā-Revata, Khadiravaniya-Revata, Kisāgotamī, Kumāra-Kassapa, Kuṇḍadhāna, Mahā-Kaccāna, Mahā-Kappina, Mahā-Kassapa, Mahā-Koṭṭhika, Mahāpajāpatī, Mogharāja, Nanda, Paṭācārā, Piliṇḍavaccha, Piṇḍola-Bhāradvāja, Puṇṇa-Mantāṇiputta, Rādha, Rāhula, Raṭṭhapāla, Sāgata, Sakulā, Siṅgālakamātā, Sīvalī, Sobhita, Soṇā, Soṇa-Koḷivisa, Soṇa-Kuṭikaṇṇa, Subhūti, Sundarī-Nandā, Upāli, Upasena, Upavāṇa, Uppalavaṇṇā, Uruvela-Kassapa, Vakkali, Vaṅgīsa, Vaṅgantaputta, and Vappa.

2. Padumuttara.– A Pacceka Buddha. M.iii.70.