Chapter 18: The Kapilavatthu Chapter
(1) Evaṃ bhagavā dvīhi sāvakappamukhehi. Thus the Blessed One was dwelling in the Veḷuvana Monastery together with many monks, with his two chief disciples as their leaders. At that time, King Suddhodana heard the news that the Lord was staying there. He commanded a minister to take a retinue of one thousand men to invite him.
The minister accepted the royal command and led his retinue on the sixty-yojana journey to the city of Rājagaha. Upon arriving, he went to listen to a Dhamma discourse. By the end of it, they all attained Arahantship. They then requested the going forth and full ordination. The Lord granted them the “Ehi Bhikkhu” ordination. The ministers all forgot to deliver the royal message. Then King Suddhodana sent another minister in the same manner, sending one minister with a retinue of one thousand, up to nine ministers with nine thousand followers, on nine separate occasions.
All of those ministers accomplished their own goal and remained silent. Then, the king thought, “The ministers I sent have not been able to inform the Lord.” So he commanded the minister Kāḷudāyī to go and invite the Lord. Minister Kāḷudāyī accepted the royal command but asked for the king’s permission to ordain. When the king agreed, he led a retinue of one thousand to the Veḷuvana Monastery. After listening to the Dhamma, he and his entire retinue attained Arahantship and requested the going forth and full ordination. The Lord ordained them all as “Ehi Bhikkhu” monks.
The elder Kāḷudāyī thought, “I have attained the path and fruit. It is now appropriate for the Teacher to travel to the city of Kapilavatthu on the full moon day of the month of Phagguna.” He then approached and informed the Lord, praising the journey to the city of Kapilavatthu in sixty verses and then speaking of the matter, saying, “Venerable Lord, your father, King Suddhodana, has been separated from you for a long time. His royal heart longs to see you. He has sent me to extend this invitation. Please bestow your compassion upon your relatives.”
(2) Sādhu sādhu udāyi karissāmi. The Blessed One accepted, saying, “It is well, Udāyi, it is well. The Tathāgata will bestow compassion upon his relatives. You should inform the community of monks.” The elder then informed the Sangha.
The Blessed One, with a retinue of twenty thousand monks, departed from the city of Rājagaha and traveled sixty yojanas to the city of Kapilavatthu. Meanwhile, the Sakyan kings, with the Buddha’s father at their head, heard the news of his arrival. Overjoyed, they gathered to prepare the path, raising flags and scattering flowers to welcome him. They also sent young royal princes and princesses, who were younger than the Lord, to receive him first. Then, the Teacher boarded a boat, crossed to the other shore, and disembarked. He displayed his glorious form, radiating the six-colored rays of light, and entered the Nigrodhārāma monastery along with twenty thousand Arahants. Upon arrival, he sat on the excellent Buddha-seat.
The Sakyan kings, led by King Suddhodana, were proud, thinking themselves older than the Lord, and so they did not pay homage to him. At that moment, the Teacher, knowing the disposition of his relatives, performed the Twin Miracle. He created a jeweled walkway and paced back and forth in the sky, then created another image of the Buddha to answer questions. He asked a question.
King Suddhodana, seeing the miracle, was filled with such joyful rapture that he could not contain himself. He raised his joined hands in homage to ask for the Lord’s forgiveness. The king’s homage at that time is known as the third salutation. When all the Sakyan kings saw the Buddha’s father paying homage to him, the Lord descended from the sky and sat again upon the Buddha-seat. At that moment, a “lotus rain” (pokkharavassa) fell. The Lord, taking the rain as the theme preached the Mahā Vessantara Jātaka. When the discourse ended, the Sakyan kings rose from their seats, paid homage, and departed. Not a single one of them invited the Lord for the next day’s meal.
(3) Punadivase bhagavā. The next day, the Blessed One, with his retinue of twenty thousand monks, entered the city at the time for the alms round. He walked for alms, radiating a six-colored aura. Standing near the city’s stone pillar, he contemplated, “Did the Buddhas of the past first enter the city to receive alms from the royal family, or what did they do?” He knew, “The Buddhas of the past would always walk for alms from house to house in order, fulfilling the practice of the alms round.” Knowing this, he proceeded from house to house for alms.
The people of the city, seeing the Lord, created a great commotion, rushing to see him and saying, “Prince Siddhattha is walking for alms!” Meanwhile, the mother of Rāhula heard the uproar and asked her maids the ladies-in-waiting informed her, “Your husband has arrived in the city and is walking for alms with a bowl.” Princess Bimbā heard this and thought, “My noble husband, with his hair and beard shaved, clad in ochre robes, carrying a bowl and walking for alms? How can this be?” She rose in a hurry, opened the lion window, and saw the Lord, his body radiant with the thirty-two marks of a great man and other signs. The princess’s royal heart was overcome, and she wept. She rushed to pay homage and inform King Suddhodana, saying, “Your Majesty, the noble prince is walking for alms.”
The king, hearing this, became distressed. He hurried down from the palace, went to the Buddha, his master, and said, “It is not proper for my noble son to walk for alms like this! Am I so poor and wretched that I cannot provide food for the entire Sangha?”
The Teacher replied, “Great King, this practice of the alms round is the lineage of the Tathāgatas; it is not the lineage of the warrior caste. For it is the custom of all Buddhas to sustain their lives through the practice of the alms round.” Then the Lord taught the Dhamma to his noble father, with verses beginning Uttiṭṭhe nappamajjeyya. At the end of the verses, his noble father was established in the fruit of stream-entry.
(End of Chapter 18: The Kapilavatthu Chapter)
