• Sujātā

1. Sujātā. An aggasāvikā (great disciple) of Sobhita Buddha. J. i.35; Bu.vii.22.

2. Sujātā. An aggasāvikā of Piyadassī Buddha. J. i.39; Bu.xiv.21.

3. Sujātā. Mother of Padumuttara Buddha. J. i.37; Bu.xi.19; MA.ii.722; DhA.i.417.

4. Sujātā. Mother of Kondañña Buddha. Bu.iii.25; J. i.30.

5. Sujātā. An Asura maiden who became the wife of Sakka. See Sujā.

6. Sujātā. Daughter of Senānī, a landowner of the village of Senānī near Uruvelā. She made a promise to the god of the banyan tree near by that she would offer a meal of milk rice to the god if she gave birth to a son. Her wish was fulfilled, the son was born, and she sent her maid, Punnā, to prepare the place for the offering. This was on the very day of the Buddha's Enlightenment, and Punnā, finding Gotama sitting under the banyan, thought that he was the tree god present in person to receive the offering. She brought the news to Sujātā, who, in great joy, brought the food in a golden bowl and offered it to him.

Gotama took the bowl to the river bank, bathed at the Suppatitthita ford and ate the food. This was his only meal for forty nine days. J. i.68f.; DhA.i.71, etc. In Lal.334-7 (267f.) nine girls are mentioned as giving food to the Buddha during his austerities. Cf. Dvy.392, where two are given, Nandā and Nandabalā.

Sujātā's meal was considered one of the most important of those offered to the Buddha, and the Devas, therefore, added to it divine flavours.

Yasa was Sujātā's son, and when he attained arahantship his father, who had come in search of him, became the Buddha's follower and invited him to a meal. The Buddha accepted the invitation and went with Yasa to the house. The Buddha preached at the end of the meal, and both Sujātā and Yasa's wife became sotāpannas. On that day Sujātā took the threefold formula of Refuge. She thus became foremost among lay women who had taken the threefold formula (aggam upāsikānam pathamam saranam gacchantīnam) (SnA..i.154; D.ii.135). She had made an earnest resolve to attain this eminence in the time of Padumuttara Buddha. A.i.26; AA.i.217f.

Sujata's stupa where she was cremated.

7. Sujātā.  An upāsikā of Ñātikā. The Buddha said that she had become a sotāpanna and had thus assured for herself the attainment of arahantship. D.ii.92; S. v.356f.

8. Sujātā. Youngest sister of Visākhā. She was the daughter of Dhanañjayasetthi and was given in marriage to Anāthapindika's son. She was very haughty and obstinate. One day, when the Buddha visited Anāthapindika's house, she was scolding the servants. The Buddha stopped what he was saying, and, asking what the noise was, sent for her and described to her the seven kinds of wives that were in the world. She listened to the sermon and altered her ways (A.iv.91f.; J. ii.347f).

The Sujāta Jātaka (No. 269) was preached to her.

9. Sujātā. A maiden of Benares. See the Manicora Jātaka. She is identified with Rāhulamātā. J. ii.125.

10. Sujātā Therī. She was the daughter of a setthi of Sāketa and was given in marriage to a husband of equal rank, with whom she lived happily. One day, while on her way home from a carnival, she saw the Buddha at Añjanavana and listened to his preaching. Even as she sat there her insight was completed, and she became an arahant. She went home, obtained her husband's permission, and joined the Order. Thig.145-50; ThigA.136f.