Maha Prajnaparamita Sastra
by Gelongma Karma Migme Chödrön | 2001 | 941,039 words
This page describes “shaivala-jataka” as written by Nagarjuna in his Maha-prajnaparamita-sastra (lit. “the treatise on the great virtue of wisdom”) in the 2nd century. This book, written in five volumes, represents an encyclopedia on Buddhism as well as a commentary on the Pancavimsatisahasrika Prajnaparamita.
The Śaivala-Jātaka
Thus Che-p’o-lo (Śaivala), enjoyed happiness from lifetime to lifetime and became an arhat for having offered a bottle of cream to the saṃgha: he is foremost among those who have found happiness (sukhalābhināṃ agrya).
Notes on the Śaivala-jātaka:
For Śaivala (in Pāli, Sīvali), see above, p. 1546F, n. 1 and 1547, n. 1. The Ekottara places Śaivala among the physically and mentally happy men, always availing themselves of the four pūjāpariṣkāra, – clothing, food, drink, bed and seat, medicine – and never falling into the three bad destinies. The Mahāvibhāṣā, T 1545, k. 18, p. 90b23–25; k. 101, p. 523a22–24, stresses his precocity during his successive lifetimes: as soon as he came into the world, he asked his parents if there was anything to give as alms.