Susīma
1. Susīma.– The Bodhisatta in the time of Atthadassī Buddha. He was a Mahāsāla brahmin of Campaka and became an ascetic of great power. He heard the Buddha teach at Sudassana and was converted. J.i.39; Bu.xv.9 f; BuA.180.
2. Susīma.– The Bodhisatta, son of the chaplain of the king of Bārāṇasī. He later became king himself. See the Susīma Jātaka (No.411).
3. Susīma.– A king of Bārāṇasī. See the Susīma Jātaka (No, 163). He is identified with Ānanda. J.ii.50.
4. Susīma.– A devaputta. Once, when Ānanda utters high praise of Sāriputta, Susīma, who is present, reflects on it and confirms all that Ānanda has said. The retinue of Susīma listen enraptured, waxing wondrous, in divers colour-
It is said (SA.i.98) that Susīma had been a fellow celibate of Sāriputta.
5. Susīma.– One of the thousand sons of Sakka. He was one of the deva generals in the fight with the Asurā, but he was lazy, and Sakka had to admonish him (S.i.217; SA.i.262). He is probably identical with Susīma (4).
6. Susīma.– A wanderer (skilled in the Vedaṅga, says Buddhaghosa, SA.ii.93) of Rājagaha. When the Buddha’s fame spread and his gains increased, Susīma’s followers suggested that he should learn the Buddha’s doctrine and teach it to the laity so that he and his followers, too, could reap some of the advantages.
Susīma agreed, and sought, Ānanda, who, with the Buddha’s sanction, ordained him. In discussion with the monks who declared that they had obtained complete emancipation, etc., Susīma discovered that all of them did not possess supernatural powers, but thought they had gained nibbāna “through insight.” He thereupon sought the Buddha to have the matter explained. The Buddha asked him many questions, and made him realise the truth of their statement. Susīma confessed his original purpose in joining the Order and asked for forgiveness (S.ii.119 ff). He developed insight and became an Arahant. SA.ii.96.
7. Susīma.– A brahmin of Takkasilā and son of Saṅkha. He went to Bārāṇasī and apprenticed himself to a teacher, who was his father’s friend and who taught him various things. However, he was able to understand only the beginning and the middle, and not the end. He therefore consulted his teacher, who confessed that neither did he understand the end, and advised him to seek the Pacceka Buddhas who were living in Isipatana. Susīma went there, entered the Order, and became a Pacceka Buddha. Soon afterwards he died, and Saṅkha, coming in search of his son, was told of what had happened. Saṅkha is identified with the Bodhisatta. DhA.iii.445 f; KhA.198 f.
See Saṅkha Jātaka (2).