504 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY. 



When the Teacher and the monks went into residence at Kosanibi 

 great numbers of people flocked thither and said, " Where is the 

 Teacher? Where is Sariputta? Moggallana? Kassapa? Bhaddiya? 

 Anuruddha 1 Ananda ? Bhagu 1 Kimbila ? " But nobody said, " Where 

 is Devadatta 1 " Thereupon Devadatta said to himself, " I retired 

 from the world with these monks ; I, like them, belong to the Warrior 

 caste ; but unlike them, I am the object of nobody's solicitude. With 

 whom can I make common cause, that I may obtain gain and honor 

 for myself 1 Bimbisara? He will have nothing to do with me. The 

 king of Kosala 1 ? Neither will he. What about Bimbisara's son 

 Ajatasattu ? He doesn't know anybody's virtues or vices. He 's the 

 very man ! " (138-9) 



Accordingly Devadatta assumed the form of a child girded about 

 with snakes, and descending from the sky, sat in Ajatasattu's lap. 

 Perceiving that he was frightened, Devadatta told him who he was, 

 and resumed his proper form. Ajatasattu bestowed all manner of 

 attentions upon Devadatta, until there arose in the latter 's mind, over- 

 mastered by gain and honor, the evil thought, " It is I who ought to 

 run the Congregation of Monks." Thereupon he went to the Teacher 

 and said : " Venerable sir, the Exalted One is stricken in years ; let 

 him live a life of ease in this world ; I will run the Congregation of 

 Monks ; make over the Order to me." Bat the Teacher repulsed De- 

 vadatta, called him a "lick-spittle," and caused proclamation to be 

 made concerning him at Rajagaha. 24 Thereupon Devadatta cherished 

 resentment against the Teacher, and resolved to make trouble for him. 

 (139-140) 



So Devadatta went to Ajatasattu and said : "Youth, aforetime men 

 were long-lived, but nowadays they don't live long; this makes it 

 probable that you won't live long. You kill your father and become 

 king, and I '11 kill the Buddha and become Buddha." When Aja- 

 tasattu was established in the kingdom, 25 Devadatta made three 

 attempts on the life of the Buddha. First he hired some men to kill 

 him, but they deserted their posts and obtained the Fruit of Conver- 



24 Oldenberg, relying on Fausboll's faulty text, says regarding this procla- 

 mation (SBE. xx. p. 239, note 2) : " It is not referred to by the Dhammapada 

 commentator." Norman, however, gives the same reading as the Vinaya. 



25 It is interesting to note that this account does not say that Ajatasattu 

 killed his father. The Vinaya says (ii. 190-191) that Ajatasattu's designs 

 were discovered and that Bimbisara abdicated in favor of his son. The Jataka 

 (vi. 129, lines 20-22) refers to the section of the Vinaya quoted above, and 

 then goes on to say that Ajatasattu killed his father ! In the Digha (i. 85 15 - 18 ) 

 Ajatasattu confesses to the Buddha that he killed his father. 



