Sivali

Sivali

By Radhika Abeysekera


At the time of the Buddha Gotama there reigned a righteous King and Queen named Koliya and Suppavasa. After some time Queen Suppavasa conceived a child. The unborn child brought great fortune to the kingdom. Not only did the queen receive many gifts from friends and relatives, the whole kingdom became prosperous. Crops grew in abundance and everyone was well-fed and healthy.

The queen grew heavy with child but when the natural time for the birth arrived, she failed to deliver the baby. She grew uneasy as time passed by with still no signs of the birth, and asked the King to invite the Buddha and His retinue of monks for a meal. After the meal the Buddha blessed the queen by saying:

"May Suppavasa, daughter of the Koliya clan,
Be happy and healthy and give birth to a healthy son."

After the Buddha left, the queen gave birth to a beautiful, healthy son. As a mark of respect for the Buddha, who had eased the queen's heavy burden with His blessings, she invited the Buddha and his retinue to receive alms at the palace for seven days. They named the prince Sivali, as from the time of his conception, the people's hardships were alleviated through an abundance of rich crops.
One day when Sariputra was on his alms round he visited the prince and informed him of the suffering that he and his mother had undergone due to the delayed pregnancy. Sariputra then went on to explain to the prince the unwholesome action that his mother and he had performed and the resulting effects of their actions.

In a previous birth Sivali had been born as the King of Benares and had waged war on a neighboring kingdom. He had surrounded the kingdom and told the citizens to surrender or fight back. When they refused to surrender, in collaboration with his consort, his present mother, he had decided to surround the city and hold them hostage until they did so. The citizens, who did not want to fight back or live under the rule of such a king, had not surrendered. As a result, they had suffered greatly without food for a very long period. Many of the sick and the elderly had died but the arrogant king and his queen had not given in. Many months later the King had withdrawn his troops and released his hostages but he had paid dearly for the suffering he had caused. At death he was reborn in Avichi hell. The delayed pregnancy and the suffering he and his mother had undergone resulting from the delay were the residual effects of this action.

After illustrating the Noble Truth of suffering, Sariputra asked the prince if he would like to join the Noble Order so that he could seek the path to end all suffering. The prince was overjoyed at this invitation and agreed to join the order with his mother's permission.

The Queen, who was a devoted follower of the Buddha, agreed. She escorted Prince Sivali in procession to the monastery to be ordained. On the day of ordination when they shaved his hair, Sariputra advised Sivali to meditate on the impurities of the body. Sivali, who was spiritually advanced resulting from previous wholesome actions, focused his mind as instructed. Before the completion of the shaving of his hair, Sivali attained the supreme wisdom of Nibb?na.
The monks soon noticed a strange phenomenon when they were with Sivali as Sivali always seemed to have an abundance of rich, fragrant food and the other requisites (robes, shelter and medicine). Monks who were with him also had the opportunity to share in the bounty. Wherever Sivali went, people flocked around to prepare food for him. Donors offered Sivali all the requisites of a monk every time he went on his alms round.

Therefore, it was that wherever Sivali traveled, both people and Devas supported him. He and his retinue of 500 monks were in an uninhabited forest for seven days, but they were not short of food. The Devas made sure that they fulfilled all his requirements. Similarly, when Sivali was traveling through the desert he was well provided with requisites. The Buddha, seeing that Sivali was fulfilling a previous aspiration in His reign, declared that he was foremost among the monks in obtaining requisites. He also instructed monks who were traveling on long, tedious journeys through uninhabited terrain to be accompanied by Sivali, as with him by their side they would be ensured of the requisites. In fact, on one occasion when the Buddha and His retinue of 30,000 monks were traveling to visit the monk Khadhiravaniya Revata (Sariputra's younger brother) they had to cross an uninhabited forest. ?nanda, fearing that they would not be able to obtain food in the jungle for such a large number of monks, questioned the Buddha about the logistics of the journey. The Buddha assured Ananda that they had nothing to worry about as Sivali was with them. With Sivali present, there would be no shortage of food because even the Devas reveled in taking care of his requirements.

In general, only the doer reaps the effects of one's wholesome and unwholesome intentional actions. However, there are instances, as with Sivali, in which others too benefit from unusually strong actions of another. This overflow of the results of the effect of a person's strong kamma on others is known as nissandha pala (overflowing results of kamma). While with vipaka pala, results of kamma are reaped only by the doer, yet with nissandha pala, it is experienced by others who happen to be with you. Nissandha pala could be both wholesome and unwholesome in accordance with the deed performed. For instance, Sariputra did not obtain alms in one instance resulting from the nissandha pala of Losaka's strong unwholesome deeds.

To seek the cause of this strange phenomenon we need to go back many aeons to the time of the Buddha Padumuttara. Sivali, who had been born as a poor man, had the opportunity to see the Buddha Padumuttara confer on another monk the honor of being foremost among monks who obtain the requisites. Fascinated by the way, everyone desired to provide alms and robes to this monk; Sivali had decided that he too would like to hold a similar position in a future birth. He had then performed many acts of generosity to the Buddha Padumuttara and His retinue and made an aspiration.

The Buddha Padumuttara, foreseeing that Sivali's aspiration would be fulfilled had prophesied that at the time of the Gotama Buddha he would be foremost among the monks who obtained requisites. From this point onwards, Sivali had started in earnest to work toward his aspiration. At death, he was reborn in a heavenly realm where he enjoyed many years of heavenly bliss.
The next documented birth story took place at the time of the Buddha Vipassi, 91 world cycles before our Gotama Buddha. Sivali was born as a merchant in the City of Bandhumati. The City was preparing a great alms giving for the Buddha Vipassi and His retinue of monks, when they realized that they were short of curd and honey, a delicacy that was often served after the noonday meal, messages were sent all over the city to obtain the required delicacy. Unable to obtain the quota required, the king's men raised the price of the curd and honey from one gold coin to 100 coins.
In the meantime, they approached Sivali, a merchant who sold curd and honey, and offered 100 gold coins for his merchandise. Sivali was surprised at the unusually high offer and asked for whose consumption they were buying the curd. They told him that it was for the Buddha Vipassi and His retinue of monks, Sivali asked permission to donate his wares to the Buddha. He then renewed his aspiration to be foremost among the monks who received requisites. The Buddha Vipassi, seeing that Sivali's aspiration would be fulfilled, blessed him by saying, "May your aspiration be fulfilled." Sivali then became a devotee of the Vipassi Buddha and practiced His Dhamma.

Sivali fulfilled his aspiration to be foremost among the monks who obtained requisites at the time of the Gotama Buddha, which was a result of his strong aspiration and the meritorious deeds and efforts performed in previous births.
To date, Buddhists venerate the Arahant Sivali, and often keep a picture or a discourse known as the Sivali Paritta in their home as a symbol of abundance of food and prosperity.


Dhammapada Verse 414

The Story of Thera Sivali

While residing in the Kundadhana forest near the city of Kundakoliya, the Buddha uttered Verse (414), with reference to Thera Sivali.

Princess Suppavasa of Kundakoliya was in pregnancy for seven years and then for seven days she was in labor pains. She kept contemplating on the unique qualities of the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Samgha and in the end she sent her husband to the Buddha to pay obeisance to him on her behalf and to inform him of her condition. When informed of the condition of the princess, the Buddha said,

"May Suppavasa be free from danger and from sorrow, may she give birth to a healthy noble son in safety."

As the Buddha spoke these words, Suppavasa gave birth to her son at her house. On that very day, soon after the birth of the child, the Queen invited the Buddha and his retinue to their house for Alms-food. The newly born child offered filtered water to the Buddha and the bhikkhus. To celebrate the birth of the child, the parents invited the Buddha and the bhikkhus to their house to offer food for seven days.

When the child grew up he was admitted to the Order and as a bhikkhu he was known as Sivali. As soon as they shaved off his head, he attained arahatship. Later, he became famous as the bhikkhu who received the largest amount of offerings. As a recipient of offerings, he was unsurpassed.
On one occasion, the bhikkhus asked the Buddha the reason for confining Sivali in his mother's womb for seven years although he has the qualifications to become an arahat. To them the Buddha replied, "Bhikkhus! In a previous existence, Sivali was the son of a king who lost his kingdom to another king. In trying to regain their kingdom he had besieged the city on the advice of his mother. As a result, the people in the city were without food or water for seven days. This evil deed was the cause of Sivali's imprisonment in his mother's womb. But now, Sivali has come to the end of all Dukkha, he has realized Nibbana."

Then the Buddha spoke in verse as follows:

Verse 414. Him I call a brahmana, who, having traversed this dangerous swamp (of passion), this difficult road (of moral defilements), the ocean of life (samsara) and the darkness of ignorance (moha), and having crossed the fourfold Flood, has reached the other shore (Nibbana); who practices Tranquility and Insight Meditation, who is free from craving and from doubt, who clings to nothing and remains in perfect peace.