• Sumedha

1. Sumedha. The Bodhisatta in the time of Dīpankara Buddha. He was a very rich brahmin of Amaravatī, and, having left the world, became an ascetic of great power in the Himālaya. While on a visit to Rammma-nagara, he saw people decorating the road for Dīpankara Buddha, and undertook to do one portion of the road himself. The Buddha arrived before his work was finished, and Sumedha lay down on a rut for the Buddha to walk over him. He resolved that he, too, would become a Buddha, and Dīpankara, looking into the future, saw that his wish would come true. This was the beginning of Gotama Buddha's qualification for Enlightenment. J. i.2ff.; DhA.i.68; Bu.ii.5ff.; SnA.i.49; in Chinese Records he is called Megha. The Dvy. (p.247) calls him Sumati.

Sumedha and Dīpankara Buddha.

2. Sumedha. A khattiya, father of Dīpankara Buddha. J.i.29; Bu.ii.207.

3. Sumedha. A khattiya, father of Nārada Buddha. J.i.37; but Bu.x.18 calls him Sudeva.

4. Sumedha. The eleventh of the twenty four Buddhas.

• He was born in Sudassana,
• his father being the khattiya Sudatta and
• his mother Sudattā.
• He lived in the household for nine thousand years, in three palaces, Sucanda, Kañcana (Koñca) and Sirivaddha,
• his wife being Sumanā and his son Sumitta (Punabbasumitta).
• He left home on an elephant,
• practised austerities for eight months,
• was given a meal of milk rice by Nakulā, and
• grass for his seat by the Ajīvaka Sirivaddha.
• He obtained Enlightenment under a mahānimba(mahānīpa)-tree.
• His body was eighty eight cubits in height.
• His chief disciples were Sarana and Sabbakāma among monks
• and Rāmā and Surāmā among women.
• Sāgara was his personal attendant.
• His chief lay patrons were Uruvela and Yasava among men,
• and Yasodharā and Sirimā among women.
• He preached his first sermon at Sudassana, to his younger brothers.
• The Bodhisatta was the ascetic, Uttara.
• Sumedha lived for ninety thousand years and died in Medhārāma.
• His relics were scattered. Bu.xii.??; BuA.163f.

5. Sumedha. The name of a brahmin family in the time of Tissa Buddha. Vārana Thera was born in the family. ThagA.i.353.

6. Sumedha. An upatthāka of Sumedha Buddha, whom Pilindavaccha met at that time. Ap.i.59; but see Bu.xii.23, where Sumedha's upatthāka is called Sāgara. Perhaps this refers to another.

7. Sumedha. A king of twenty kappas ago, a previous birth of Avopphiya Thera. Ap.i.112.

8. Sumedha. A king of seven kappas ago, a previous birth of Padasaññaka Thera. Ap.i.119.

9. Sumedha. An Elder of Ceylon, at whose request Buddhanāga wrote the Vinayatthamañjūsā. P.L.C. 201.

10. Sumedha. A Thera of Cūtaggāma, probably of the fourteenth century; author of the Sādhucaritodaya and the Anāpattidīpanī. P.L.C.247.