CHINESE SUPERSTITIONS - University of Oregon

— 387 —
of milk spurted from her breasts (1). The poor slave of the present
day had given birth to Buddha 500 times in previous phases
of his
existence, but owing to her stinginess (2), she was refused the pri-
vilege of being his mother in his five hundredth and first, or last birth.
9. Khema, or the For lunate.— Daughter of Pasenadi ;Prasenajit),
king of Kosala, she was born under a tent, while her father waged
war against Brahrnadatta, Bajah of Benares. Luckily a son was
born to the Bajah, and the young prince being betrothed to Khema,
the warring parties were thus reconciled (3). When the day
appointed for the marriage arrived, Khema refused the hand of the
youthful prince, and rising in the air, took refuge in a Buddhist
monastery. Here, she became most proficient in the intelligence of
the Law, and could expound its most abstruse precepts
monks themselves.
even to the
10. Virupa, or the Ugly-faced. — This female Arhat was also
a daughter of Pasenadi, and sister to Khema. In a former existence,
she refused an alms to a Pratyeka-Buddha, and for this misdeed,
was reborn as a most ugly woman (4). Nobody wishing to take
her for wife, she was married during the night to a merchant, who
on seeing her the next day, confined her to prison. Here, she attempted
to commit suicide, but was delivered by Buddha, who transformed
her at the same time into a beautiful damsel. To return thanks
for such a favour, she renounced the world, and became a Buddhist
nun (5).
p. 418.
(1) Journal Asiatique. Aout-Sept. 1879. p. 180. n° 8; Avril-Juin, 1883.
(2) Lorsqu'elle etait mere du futur Sakyamuni, elle l'empechait toujours
de se faire initier, et s'opposait a ses liberalitds, de la son £tat d'esclave.
Journal Asiatique. Avril-Juin, 1883. p. 418.
(3) Monier Williams. Buddhism, p. 48. — Journal Asiatique. Aout-Sept.
1879. p. 180; A\ril-Juin, 1883. p. 415, and 421. — Chinese Superstitions. Vol.
VII. p. 336.
(4) According to Buddhist tenets, our present condition is the result of
evil done in a previous existence. See Chinese Superstitions. Vol. VII. p. 384.
(5) Journal Asiatique. Avril-Juin, 1883. p. 416-417.
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