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Vessabhū Buddha

The twenty-first of the twenty-four Buddhas.

• He was born in the pleasance of Anoma (Commentary, Anūpama), his father being the warrior (khattiya) Suppatita (Supatita) and his mother Yasavatī.
• On the day of his birth he roared “like a bull” a shout of triumph, hence his name (vasabhanādahetuttā). (However, MT. 63 gives another explanation: hīnaṃ janānaṃ abhibhūto maggena abhibhavitakilesahīno ti vā. Dvy.333 calls him Visvabhū).
• For six thousand years he lived in the household in three palaces: Ruci, Suruci and Vaddhana (Rativaddhana); his wife was Sucittā, and their son Suppabuddha.
• He left home in a golden palanquin, practiced austerities for six months, was given milk-rice by Sirivaddhanā of Sucittanigama, and grass for his seat by the Nāga king Narinda, and attained Enlightenment under a sāla tree.
• He taught his first discourse at Anurārāma to his brothers, Sona and Uttara, who became his chief disciples.
• Among women his chief disciples were Dāmā and Samālā, his constant attendant Upasanta (Upasannaka), his chief lay patrons Sotthika and Rāma among men, and Gotamī (Kāligotamī) and Sirimā among women.
• He was sixty cubits in height and lived for sixty thousand years. He died at the Khemārāma in Usabhavatī and his relics were scattered.
• The Bodhisatta was King Sudassana of Sarabhavatī. (Bu.xxii.1 ff; BuA.205 ff; D.ii.5; J.i.41).
• Vessabhū Buddha kept the uposatha once in every six years. DhA.iii.236.