UpasÄḷha JÄtaka (No. 166)
Taught to UpasÄḷha. The story of the past is that of a brahmin UpasÄḷhaka (identified with UpasÄḷha). He instructed his son that after death he should be burnt in a cemetery unpolluted by the presence of outcasts. While descending GijjhakÅ«á¹a, having ascended the mountain in order to find such a spot, they met the Bodhisatta, who was a holy ascetic, possessed of various attainments and mystic powers. When the Bodhisatta had heard their story, he revealed to them that on that very same spot UpasÄḷha had been burnt fourteen thousand times, and taught them the way of deathlessness (J.ii.54ff).
The UpasÄḷhaka JÄtaka was taught by the Buddha to the novice VanavÄsÄ«-Tissa when the Buddha visited him in his forest solitude. DhA.ii.99.
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