Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v1.c16.961

v1.c16.961

When Mahāpanthaka discovered his brother’s stupidity, he asked him to leave the Order,² but Cūlapanthaka so loved the Buddha’s teaching that he did not wish to return to the lay-life. One day Jīvaka Komārabhacca, wishing to give alms to the Buddha and the monks, asked Mahāpanthaka, who was acting as steward, to collect all the monks in the monastery. This he did, omitting only Cūlapanthaka who, he said, had made no progress in the Doctrine. Greatly grieved, Cūlapanthaka determined to leave the Order, but as he was going out the Buddha met him, took him into the Gandhakuṭi and comforted him, giving him a clean piece of cloth. “Sit with your face to the East,” said the Buddha, “repeat the words ‘rajoharaṇaṃ’ and wipe your face with the cloth.” As Cūlapanthaka carried out these orders he noticed that the cloth became dirty, and as he concentrated his mind on the impermanence of all things, the Buddha sent a ray of light and exhorted him about the necessity of getting rid of the impurities of lust and other evils. At the end of the admonition Cūlapanthaka attained arahantship with the four paṭisambhidā, which included knowledge of all the Piṭakas.