Dighanikaya 23.406_2

23.406_2

Ayaṃ panassa pubbayogato paṭṭhāya āvibhāvakathā – thero kira padumuttarassa bhagavato kāle seṭṭhiputto ahosi. Athekadivasaṃ bhagavantaṃ citrakathiṃ ekaṃ attano sāvakaṃ etadagge ṭhapentaṃ disvā bhagavato sattāhaṃ dānaṃ datvā ‘‘ahampi bhagavā anāgate ekassa buddhassa ayaṃ thero viya citrakathī sāvako bhavāmī’’ti patthanaṃ katvā puññāni karonto kassapassa bhagavato sāsane pabbajitvā visesaṃ nibbattetuṃ nāsakkhi. Tadā kira parinibbutassa bhagavato sāsane osakkante pañca bhikkhū nisseṇiṃ bandhitvā pabbataṃ āruyha samaṇadhammaṃ akaṃsu. Saṅghatthero tatiyadivase arahattaṃ patto, anuthero catutthadivase anāgāmī ahosi, itare tayo visesaṃ nibbattetuṃ asakkontā devaloke nibbattā.

And this is the account of his manifestation beginning from his past endeavor: in the time of the Blessed One Padumuttara, the elder was, it is said, the son of a guild-head. Then one day, seeing the Blessed One establish one of his own disciples, an eloquent speaker, as foremost in that rank, he gave alms to the Blessed One for seven days, made the aspiration: “Blessed One, may I too in the future become an eloquent disciple of a Buddha just like this elder,” and while performing meritorious deeds, he went forth in the Dispensation of the Blessed One Kassapa, but was unable to produce any distinction. At that time, it is said, when the Dispensation of the fully extinguished Blessed One was declining, five bhikkhus, having made a ladder and climbed a mountain, practiced the ascetic life. The elder of the Saṅgha attained arahantship on the third day; the second elder became a non-returner on the fourth day; the other three, being unable to produce any distinction, were reborn in the heaven realm.