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Bodhi

He lived at Suṃsumāragiri in the Bhagga country and built a palace called Kokanada. When the palace was completed, the Buddha was staying at Bhesakalāvana near by, and Bodhi sent a message by Sañjikāputta, inviting the Buddha to the palace, that he might bless it by being its first occupant. The Buddha agreed to come and, the next day, arrived with the monks for a meal. Bodhi came, with his retinue, to meet them at the foot of the steps and asked the Buddha to step on to the carpeting which was spread there. Three times the request was made, three times the Buddha kept silence. Thereupon Ānanda asked for the carpeting to be removed, saying that the Buddha’s refusal to step thereon was as an example to future generations. After the meal, Bodhi had a discussion with the Buddha (Vin.ii.127f.; M.ii.91ff), recorded in the Bodhirājakumāra Sutta.

The Commentary adds (MA.ii.739ff) that one of the reasons for the Buddha’s refusal to step on the carpet was that he knew the thoughts of Bodhi. Bodhi was saying to himself: “If I am to have a son, the Buddha will step on this carpet, if not, he will not.” The Buddha knew also that Bodhi was not destined to have a son because in a previous life he and his wife had lived on an island and eaten young birds. DhA.iii.137ff adds that the Buddha actually told Bodhi of the non fulfillment of his wish for a son, and related to him the story of his past life in which he and his wife ate birds' eggs.

Bodhi was the son of Udena, king ofKosambi, and his mother was the daughter of Candappajjota. Bodhi was skilled in the art of managing elephants (see also M.ii.94), which art he learned from his father, a master in this direction. It is said (M.ii.97)  that, while Bodhi was yet in his mother’s womb, she visited the Buddha at the Ghositārāma in Kosambī and declared that whatever child was born to her it would accept the Buddha, his teaching and the Order, as its abiding refuge. Later, after Bodhi’s birth, his nurse took him to the Buddha at Bhesakalāvana and made a similar declaration. When, therefore, Bodhi acknowledged the Buddha as his teacher, at the conclusion of the Bodhirājakumāra Sutta, he was seeking the Buddha’s refuge for the third time.

Some accounts* of the building of Bodhi’s palace add that as it was being completed, Bodhi conceived the idea of killing the architect or of blinding him so that he could never design a similar house for anyone else. He confided this idea to Sanjikāputta, who warned the architect. The latter, therefore, obtained special timber from Bodhi, saying it was for the palace, and made out of it a wooden bird large enough to hold himself and his family. When it was ready, he made it fly out of the window, and he and his family escaped to the Himālaya country, where he founded a kingdom and came to be known as King Katthavāhana.

* e.g., DhA.iii.134ff.; in J.iii.157 it is stated briefly that Bodhi did actually blind the architect. In a previous birth he put out the eyes of one thousand warriors. See the Dhonasākha Jātaka.

Dictionary of Pāli Proper Names • G.P. Malalasekera