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A Paribbājaka of some ascetic Order. When
the heretics of this Order found that their gains were grown less owing to the
popularity of the Buddha, they enlisted the
support of Cińcā in their attempts to discredit him. She was very beautiful and
full of cunning, and they persuaded her to pretend to pay visits to the Buddha
at Jetavana. She let herself be seen going
towards the vihāra in the evening, spent the night in the heretics' quarters
near by, and in the morning men saw her returning from the direction of the
vihāra. When questioned, she said that she had passed the night with the Buddha.
After some months she simulated pregnancy by tying a disc of wood round her body
and appearing thus before the Buddha, as he preached to a vast congregation, she
charged him with irresponsibility and callousness in that he made no provision
for her confinement. The Buddha remained silent, but
Sakka's throne was heated and he caused a mouse to sever the cords of the
wooden disc, which fell to the ground, cutting Cińcā's toes. She was chased out
of the vihāra by those present, and as she stepped outside the gate the fires of
the lowest hell swallowed her up (DhA.iii.178f; J. iv.187f; ItA.69).
In a previous birth, too, she had helped in various ways to harm the
Bodhisatta. For details see:
It is stated (Ap.i.299; UdA.263f) that the Buddha was subjected to the
ignominy of being charged by Cińcā with incontinence, because in a previous
birth he had reviled a Pacceka Buddha.
v.l. Cińcī; cp. Sundarī 3.

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