BUDDHISM-AMAZING FACTS-2

Among the most singular of the claims put forth on behalf of

Buddha, we may name the assertion, that though he taught the
same doctrines that former Buddhas had done, all his
revelations were the result of his own personal discovery, by
means of intuition, entirely apart from experience, without any
instruction from another, and without any aid from tradition, or
from any other of the sources by which knowledge is generally
communicated to man. In the interval between one Buddha and
another, 'not only does the religion of the preceding Buddhas
become extinct, but the recollection and record of all preceding
.events are also lost' – Mahawansa XXVIII

Let us refer Mahapadana Sutta – Deega Nikaya, to know about

.the far-fetched stories about some of the previous Buddhas
First Buddha – Vipassi – Lived before 91 Kalpa
Father King Bandumathie, Mother Queen Bandumathie – Lived
in the city of Bandumathie – Lifespan 80,000 years – Attained
enlightenment (became a Buddha) under a Palol tree – Qanda
& Tissa theras held the position of closest friends (agasaw) –
Asoka thera held the position of chief attendant – Khastriya
caste

Second Buddha – Siqee – Lived before 61 Kalpa

Father Aruna – Mother Prabavathie – Lived in the city of
Arunawathie – Attained enlightenment under an Atamba tree –
Abibu and Sambava held the position of closest friends –
Qemankara held the position of chief attendant – Lifespan
70,000 years – Khastriya caste

Third Buddha – Vessabu – Lived before 31 Kalpa

Father Suprathetha – Mother Yasomathie – Attained
enlightenment under a Sal tree – Lifespan 60,000 years –
Upasantha chief attendant – Sona & Uttara closest friend –
Khastriya caste

Four Buddhas in the present Kalpa

Kakusanda Buddha – Brahmin caste – Father Aggidatta –

Mother Visaka – Lived in the city of Qemawathie – Buddhija
chief attendant – Vidhura & Sanjeewa closest friends – Attained
.enlightenment under a Mahari tree – Lifespan 40,000 years
 Konagamana Buddha – Brahmin caste – Father Yanjadatta –
Mother Uttara Devi – Lived in the city of Sobawathie – Attained
enlightenment under a Dimbul tree – Lifespan 30,000 – Sottija
.chief attendant – Biyosa & Uttara closest friends
Kasyapa Buddha – Brahmin caste – Father Brahmadatta –
Mother Dhanawathie – Lifespan 20,000 – Tissa & Bharathwaja
closest friends – Sarvamitra chief attendant
Gautama Buddha last to appear in this Kalpa – Born in the city
of Kimbulwath – Father Suddodana – Mother Mahamaya –
Attained enlightenment under an Asathu tree – Ananda chief
attendant – Sariyuth & Mugalan closest friends

:Every time a Bodisatva is born, following incidents take place

Mother dies after seven days.1

Foetus remains in the womb for full ten months.2
Delivery of the child takes place in a standing position.3
No urine or faecal matter touches the child.4
Immediately after the birth of Bodisatva child two streams.5
of water, one cold and the other warm, begin to flow from
.the sky to wash the baby
Immediately after the birth of Bodisatva baby, walks seven.6
(steps forward and makes the roar of a lion (Sinha naada
(Source Ref: Mahapadana Sutta – Deega Nikaya – Tri Pitaka)
Kalpa
One Kalpa is considered to be one day of Brahma and
according to the calculations of this world it is equal to Koti 432
.years
= Million 10000000/1000000 = M 10 = 10000000 Koti 1
= 1 Kalpa = Billion 4.320 = M 4320 Koti 432
= B 393.12 = B 91 X 4.320 Kalpa 91
= B 263.52 = B 61 X 4.320 Kalpa 61
= B 133.92 = B 31 X 4.320 Kalpa 31

(Source: 'The Wonder that was India' By Dr. A.L. Basham)

It is worth noting that according to the modern day scientific
findings, the age of the universe is between 15 to 20 billion
years. Accordingly some of the previous Buddhas have lived
even before this universe had come into existence. What an
!amazing story
 In the first sermon preached by Buddha at Benares, he says,
"Within me, priests, for the attainment of these previously
unknown doctrines, the (divine) eye was developed, knowledge
was developed, wisdom was developed, perception was
developed, light was developed". But the claim to exclusive
clearness of perception, and extend of knowledge, put forth by
Buddha, is inconsistent with the power he attributed to the
Rishis. In the twelve kalpas previous to Gautama, twenty four
Buddhas appeared, and the doctrines of all former Buddhas are
the same as those of Gautama. Then, if Kaladewala, and other
Rrishis, could see backward forty kalpas, why were they not as
able to tell the doctrines of former Buddhas as Gautama
himself? If the tirttaka (sects of religions-non Buddhist)
unbelievers could see the past in the manner that Buddha
affirms, how could any of them oppose him, when, from the
power to see backward forty kalpas, they must have known
that their predecessors were in error? And if these men, who
could receive no aid from Buddha, because they were the
promoters of another system, could see the past, and learn all
about it, where was the necessity for Buddha, through
numberless births, to seek the attainment of the Buddhaship, in
order that he might teach men the way to nirwana, when
others, according to his own principles, were able to learn all
that was required to be known, in order to secure the same
consummation? Buddha must be wrong, on one side or the
other, either when he says that his doctrines were "previously
unknown", or when he says that his opponents could see
."backward "forty kalpas

There are other facts that lead us to question the truth of

Buddha's statement, as to men's entire ignorance of the
existence and doctrines of the former Buddhas. He tells us that
the Vedas were given in the time of Kasyapa Buddha. When we
ask how all knowledge of the former Buddhas was lost, if the
Vedas then given were still in existence, though corrupted, we
are told that the oblivion of the past extends only matters
connected with Buddhism, which reply is too unsatisfactory to
be marketed. But there are other events that tend to shake our
faith in this statement, unless the knowledge that so
extensively prevailed of former Buddhas was the consequence
of his own revelations, which it would be difficult to prove, as
the Pitakas give no sanction to such a conjecture. Fa Hian tells
us, in reference to the hill Kakutapeda: "It is here that the great
Kiashe (Kasyapa Buddha) is actually present. He perforated the
foot of the hill that he might enter it, and prevented any other
from entering in the same way. At a considerable distance
thence, there is a lateral opening, in which is the entire body of
:Kiashe (Kasyapa Buddha)". The Chinese have this formula
Namo Buddaya, Namo Dhammaya, Namo Sangaya, Namo"
Kasyapaya. Om! Hara, hara, hara. Ho, he, he. Namo Kasyapaya.
."Arhate. Samyak-Sambuddaya
In the journals of Fa Hian the references to Kasyapa are so
frequent, as to lead to the conclusion that in the age in which
he visited India, this Buddha was regarded with much and
widely-extended reverence. In the temple at Sanchi, there is an
inscription which records that a female devotee "caused money
to be given for the lamps of the four Buddhas". It is, therefore,
probable that much more was known of the former Buddhas in
the time of Gautama than is acknowledged by the Pitakas of Sri
Lanka, who worship no Buddha but the last. That there were
ever any beings in existence with endowments similar to those
attributed to the Buddhas, we must again deny, from the
arguments we have previously advanced, but there may have
been religious teachers, sages, or philosophers, whose system
was embraced and extended by the son of King Suddodana and
Queen Maha Maya. In some instances honours were paid to
these former Buddhas that were denied to Gautama. Fa Hian
says: Dewadatta has sectaries who still subsist, these honour
the three Buddhas of the past time, Shykiawenfoe (Gautama)
they honour not". From this it appears that the religion founded
by Dewadatta, the brother-in-law of Gautama, was yet in
existence eight hundred years after his death. According to the
Sri Lankan records, Dewadatta, after endeavouring in vain to
reach Buddha that he might ask and receive forgiveness for his
evil deeds, went to the Awichi hell, having previously been
abandoned by all his disciples. But how could his followers have
been led to worship the former Buddhas, and refuse to worship
Gautama, if all they knew about his predecessors was derived
from his own revelations? And if all Dewadatta's disciples left
him prior to his death, how is it that we find his system still
?followed after the lapse of so many centuries