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Cūḷasumana

1. Cūḷasumana Thera.– An elder of Sri Lanka, master of the Tipiṭaka and a well-known commentator. His explanation, given at Lohapāsāda, of the meaning of liberated in both ways (ubhatobhāgavimutta) is regarded as the most authoritative interpretation (DA.ii.514). The Visuddhimagga (p.364; see also Cūḷasumma) also mentions a Cūḷasumana, resident at Niṅkapoṇṇa-padhānaghara on Cittalapabbata. He had discarded desire, and therefore the thought arose in him that he was a saint.

2. Cūḷasumana.– A householder of Sri Lanka who fell down dead when Pitirājā (Vaṭṭagāmaṇī) (q.v.) looked at him and gnashed his teeth in anger. Sp.ii.440 f.

3. Cūḷasumana.– A novice. In a past life he was the Sumanaseṭṭhi, under whom Annabhārā (q.v.) worked. In this age he was born at Muṇḍa, near the Viñjhā mountains, as the son of Mahāmunda. When Anuruddha became an Arahant and looked back into his past lives he saw how Sumana had helped him. He therefore visited Mahāmuṇḍa and enjoyed his hospitality during one rainy season. At the end of his stay he obtained Muṇḍa’s consent to ordain Cūḷasumana, who became an Arahant while his head was being shaved. Once, when Anuruddha suffered from indigestion, the novice Sumana, having discovered that the water from Anotatta would cure him, went there and brought the water, in spite of all the efforts of the Nāga-king Paṇṇaka (q.v.) to prevent him. Later, Paṇṇaka, realising the novice’s power, asked his pardon and became his friend and servitor. When Anuruddha went with Sumana to Sāvatthi to visit the Buddha, some of the monks began to play with Sumana, patting his head and tweaking his ears. In order to show them Sumana’s power, Anuruddha asked Ānanda to summon all the novices in the monastery and ask them to fetch water from Anotatta that he might wash his feet. Only Sumana, the youngest of them all, was able to do this, and his fame spread beyond all measure (DhA.iv.128 ff).