• Sumedha

1. Sumedha. The Bodhisatta in the time of Dípankara Buddha. He was a very rich brahmin of Amaravatí, and, having left the world, became an ascetic of great power in the Himálaya. While on a visit to Rammma-nagara, he saw people decorating the road for Dípankara 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 Dípankara, 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.

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

3. Sumedha. A khattiya, father of Nárada 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 Sudattá.
• He lived in the household for nine thousand years, in three palaces, Sucanda, Kañcana (Koñca) and Sirivaddha,
• his wife being Sumaná and his son Sumitta (Punabbasumitta).
• He left home on an elephant,
• practised austerities for eight months,
• was given a meal of milk rice by Nakulá, and
• grass for his seat by the Ajívaka Sirivaddha.
• He obtained Enlightenment under a mahánimba(mahánípa)-tree.
• His body was eighty eight cubits in height.
• His chief disciples were Sarana and Sabbakáma among monks
• and Rámá and Surámá among women.
• Ságara was his personal attendant.
• His chief lay patrons were Uruvela and Yasava among men,
• and Yasodhará and Sirimá 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 Medháráma.
• His relics were scattered. Bu.xii.??; BuA.163f.

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

6. Sumedha. An upattháka of Sumedha Buddha, whom Pilindavaccha met at that time. Ap.i.59; but see Bu.xii.23, where Sumedha's upattháka is called Ságara. 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 Buddhanága wrote the Vinayatthamañjúsá. P.L.C. 201.

10. Sumedha. A Thera of Cútaggáma, probably of the fourteenth century; author of the Sádhucaritodaya and the Anápattidípaní. P.L.C.247.