Sumana
1. See Sumana Buddha
2. Sumana.– Attendant of Padumuttara Buddha (J.i.37; Bu.xi.24). His eminence prompted Ānanda (Sumana in that birth) to resolve to be an attendant of some future Buddha. ThagA.ii.122; see also Ap.i.195.
3. Sumana.– Step-
4. Sumana.– A pupil of Anuruddha. He represented the monks from Pāveyyaka at the Second Council. Vāsabhagāmī was his colleague. See also Sumana (8). Mhv.iv.49, 58; Dpv.iv.48; v.24; Vin.ii.305, etc.
5. Sumana.– A garland maker, given as an example of one whose acts bore fruit in this very life (Mil.115, 291, 350; cf. DhSA.426; PSA.498). He was Bimbisāra’s gardener, and provided the king daily with eight measures of jasmine flowers, for which he received eight pieces of money, One day, while on his way to the palace, he saw the Buddha, and threw two handfuls of flowers into the air, where they formed a canopy over the Buddha’s head. Two handfuls thrown on the right, two on the left and two behind, all remained likewise in the air and accompanied the Buddha as he walked through the city, a distance of three leagues, that all might see the miracle.
When Sumana returned home with his empty basket and told his wife what he had done, she was fearful lest the king should punish him. Going to the palace, she confessed what he had done, and asked for forgiveness for herself as she had had no part in the deed. Bimbisāra visited the Buddha and then sent for Sumana. Sumana confessed that when he offered the flowers to the Buddha he was quite prepared to lose his life. The king gave him the eightfold gift: eight female slaves, eight sets of jewels, eight thousand pieces of money, eight women from the royal harem, and eight villages.
In reply to a question by Ānanda, the Buddha said that in the future the garland maker would become a Pacceka Buddha, Sumana. DhA.ii.40 f; KhA.129. According to KhA., the Pacceka Buddha’s name will be Sumanissara.
6. Sumana.– Chief lay supporter of Kassapa Buddha. DA.ii.424; but see Sumaṅgala (2).
7. Sumana Thera.– He belonged to a brahmin family of Kosala. His mother’s brother was an Arahant, and ordained him as soon as he grew up. Sumana soon acquired the four absorptions (jhāna) and fivefold higher knowledge (abhiññā) and, in due course, attained Arahantship.
Ninety-
8. Sumana Thera.– See Cūḷa Sumana (3). He is probably identical with Sumana (4), and may be identical with Sumana (7) if the uncle mentioned in connection with the latter is Anuruddha.
Thirty-
9. Sumana Thera.– He is mentioned as having lived in Andhavana with Khema. Together they visited the Buddha, and, when Khema had gone away, Sumana talked with the Buddha about Arahants (A.iii.348 f). He is probably identical with Sumana (7) or (8).
10. Sumana.– A millionaire in the time of Padumuttara Buddha. He was the employer and, later, the friend of Annabhāra (q.v.)
11. Sumana.– A householder in the time of Duṭṭhagāmaṇī Abhaya, in the village of Bhokkanta in South Sri Lanka. Later he lived in the village Mahāmuni, in the district of Dīghavāpi. Ubbirī was born as his daughter and was named Sumanā. Sumanā married Lakuntaka Atimbara. DhA.iv.50 f.
12. Sumana.– A millionaire of Sāvatthi. He was the father of Anāthapiṇḍika and Subhūti Thera. ThagA.i.23; AA.i.125, 208.
13. Sumana.– A Pacceka Buddha of thirty-
14. Sumana.– Eldest son of King Bindusāra. He was killed by Asoka. Nigrodha-
15. Sumana.– Son of Saṅghamittā and Aggibrahmā (Mhv.v.170). He joined the Order at the age of seven; even as a novice (sāmaṇera) he was gifted with the sixfold higher knowledge (abhiññā) and accompanied Mahinda to Sri Lanka (Mhv.xiii.4,18). Once when he announced that Mahinda was going to teach his voice was heard all over Sri Lanka (Mhv.xiv.33). In order to get relics for the cetiyas in Sri Lanka, he went (by air) to Papphapura (Pāṭaliputta), and from there to Sakka’s abode, for the Buddha’s right collar bone. He supervised the placing of the relics in the Thūpārāma-
16. Sumana.– Governor of Girijanapada in the time of Kākavaṇṇa Tissa. He was a friend of Veḷusumana's father. Mhv.xxiii.69.
17. Sumana.– A yakkha chief, to be invoked in time of need by followers of the Buddha. D.iii.205.
18. Sumana.– One of the chief lay patrons of Metteyya Buddha. Anāgat.vs.98.
19. Sumana.– A Pacceka Buddha of the future. See Sumana (5).
20. Sumana.– A gardener of Kosambī. He worked for three millionaires Ghosaka, Kukkuṭa, and Pāvārika. With their permission, he entertained the Buddha one day, and it was at his house that Khujjuttarā (q.v.) met and heard the Buddha. DhA.i.208 f.
21. Sumana.– A millionaire’s son of Rājagaha. Puṇṇa (Puṇṇasīha) (q.v.) was his servant, but, later, Puṇṇa, as the result of giving alms to Sāriputta, became rich and Sumana married his daughter, Uttarā. Sumana was an unbeliever, and Uttarā, wishing for leisure in which to practise her religion, obtained for him the services of the courtesan Sirimā, paying her with the money obtained from her father. DhA.iii.104, 302 f.
22. Sumana.– A deity who lived in the fortified chamber over the gate in Jetavana. DhA.i.41.
23. Sumana.– See Samiddhisumana.
24. Sumana.– An eminent monk, who was present at the Foundation Ceremony of the Mahā Thūpa. Dpv.xix.8; in MT. (524) he is called Mahā Sumana.
25. Sumana.– The guardian deity of Samantakūṭa (q.v.) See also Cv.lxxxvi.19.
26. Sumana.– The personal name of Uggahamāna. MA.ii.709.