Bhadda Kapilani - Jataka

Jataka

The Jataka documents many accounts of the past reincarnations of the Bhadda Kapilani. In many of these, she is related to Kasyapa.

At the time of the former Vipassi Buddha, they were a poor brahmin couple, to the extent that they had only one single upper garment, so that only one of them could leave the hut at a given time. In this story, the brahmin was called "he with one garment" (ekasataka). In their life as that poor brahmin couple, both had listened to the sermons of the Vipassi Buddha. Through listening to that Buddha's teaching, the brahmin wanted to offer his only garment to the sangha. But after he had so resolved, he pondered that as it was his and his wife's only garment, he thought that he should consult her. However he went ahead and offered the garment to the monks. Having done so, he clapped his hands and joyfully shouted "I have vanquished! I have vanquished!". When the king, who had listened to the sermon behind a curtain, heard what had occurred, he sent sets of garments to the brahmin and made him the court chaplain, ending the couple's poverty.

Bhadda was once the mother of a brahmin youth who was a pupil of the future Gautama Buddha and wanted to become an ascetic. Kasyapa was her husband and Ananda was their son. Bhadda wanted her son to know the worldly life before being allowed to become an ascetic. This came to young brahman drastically when his teacher's mother fell in love with him and contemplated killing her son. This encounter with passion gave him a deep revulsion for worldly life, and earned his parents gave him permission to go forth as an ascetic.

Another time Kasyapa and Bhadda had been the brahmin parents of four sons who in the future were to be Gautama Buddha, Anuruddha, Sariputra and Mahamoggallana. All four had wanted to become ascetics and despite early resistance from their parents were allowed to so.

In one previous life Bhadda was the wife of a landowner. One day, having argued with her sister-in-law, she begrudged her the merit of offering alms to a Pratyekabuddha. She took the Pratyekabuddha's bowl, filling it with mud. She felt remorse, took the bowl back, washed it, filled it with delicious and fragrant food and offered it to the Pratyekabuddha. As a result, in her next life she was wealthy, but her body was odorous. Her husband, later to be Kasyapa, could not bear this and left her. In preparation of disposing of her property, she had her ornaments melted down and formed into a golden brick and went to monastery and donated it to the construction of a stupa in honor of the recently deceased Kassapa Buddha. After she had done that, her body became fragrant again, and Kasyapa, took her back.

Two lives before her final existence, Bhadda was queen of Varanasi and used to support several Pratyekabuddhas. Deeply moved by their sudden death, she left the royal life and lived a one of meditation in the Himalayas. She was reborn in a Brahma-world, as was Kasyapa. After the end of the long life-span they were reborn as Pipphali Kassapa and Bhadda Kapilani.