Sopaka, Sopāka: 10 definitions
Introduction:
Sopaka means something in Buddhism, Pali, Hinduism, Sanskrit. If you want to know the exact meaning, history, etymology or English translation of this term then check out the descriptions on this page. Add your comment or reference to a book if you want to contribute to this summary article.
In Buddhism
Theravada (major branch of Buddhism)
Source: Pali Kanon: Pali Proper Names1. Sopaka Thera. He was the son of a very poor woman of Savatthi. While in labour his mother fell into a long and deep swoon, and her kinsfolk, thinking her dead, took her to the cemetery and prepared for cremation. But a spirit prevented the fire from burning with a storm of wind and rain, and they went away. The child was safely born and the mother died. The spirit, in human shape, took the child and put it in the watchmans hut, feeding it for a time. After that the watchman adopted it, and the child grew up with the watchmans son, Suppiya (q.v.). He was called Sopaka, (the waif) because he was born in the cemetery. When he was seven years old he came under the notice of the Buddha, who visited him in the cemetery. Gladdened by the Buddhas teaching, he sought his fathers consent and entered the Order. The Buddha gave him, as his subject of meditation, the thought of metta, and Sopika, developing insight, soon attained arahantship.
In the time of Kakusandha Buddha, he was a householders son and gave the Buddha some bijapura fruits. He also provided three monks with milk rice daily to the end of his life. In another birth he gave a meal of milk rice to a Pacceka Buddha (Thag.vs.33; ThagA.i.94f).
He is perhaps identical with Vibhitakaminjaya of the Apadana. Ap.ii.396.
2. Sopaka Thera. He was born as the child of a cemetery keeper and was therefore called Sopaka. Others say that he was born in a traders family and that Sopaka was merely a name. Four months after birth his father died suddenly and he was adopted by his uncle. When he was only seven years old, his uncle took him to a charnel field because he quarrelled with his cousin, bound his hands, and tied him fast to a corpse, hoping that the jackals would eat him. At midnight the jackals came and the child started crying. The Buddha, seeing Sopakas destiny for arahantship, sent a ray of glory, and, by the Buddhas power, the boy broke his bonds and stood before the Buddhas Gandhakuti, a sotapanna. His mother started seeking for him, and the uncle telling her nothing, she came to the Buddha, thinking The Buddhas know all, past, present and future. When she came, the Buddha, by his iddhi power, made the boy invisible and taught her the Dhamma, saying that sons are no shelter, blood bonds no refuge. As she listened she became a sotapanna and the boy an arahant. Then the Buddha revealed the boys presence to his mother, and she allowed him to enter the Order. Some time later the Buddha, wishing to confer on him the higher ordination, asked him the questions which came to be known as the Kumarapanha Sopaka answered these, and the Buddha, satisfied, gave him the upasampada.
Sopaka had been a brahmin in the time of Siddhattha Buddha, expert in the Vedas. He later became an ascetic and lived on a mountain. The Buddha,
Theravāda is a major branch of Buddhism having the the Pali canon (tipitaka) as their canonical literature, which includes the vinaya-pitaka (monastic rules), the sutta-pitaka (Buddhist sermons) and the abhidhamma-pitaka (philosophy and psychology).
Languages of India and abroad
Pali-English dictionary
Source: BuddhaSasana: Concise Pali-English Dictionarysopāka : (m.) an outcast; a low-caste man; a dog-eater
Source: Sutta: The Pali Text Society's Pali-English DictionarySopāka, (=sapāka; śva+pāka) a man of a very low caste, an outcast Sn. 137. See also sapāka. (Page 726)
Pali is the language of the Tipiṭaka, which is the sacred canon of Theravāda Buddhism and contains much of the Buddha’s speech. Closeley related to Sanskrit, both languages are used interchangeably between religions.
Sanskrit dictionary
Source: DDSA: The practical Sanskrit-English dictionarySopāka (सोपाक).—A man of a degraded caste; चण्डालेन तु सोपाको मूलव्यसनवृत्तिमान् । पुक्कस्यां जायते पापः सदा सज्जनगर्हितः (caṇḍālena tu sopāko mūlavyasanavṛttimān | pukkasyāṃ jāyate pāpaḥ sadā sajjanagarhitaḥ) || Manusmṛti 1.38.
Derivable forms: sopākaḥ (सोपाकः).
Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Shabda-Sagara Sanskrit-English DictionarySopāka (सोपाक).—m.
(-kaḥ) A man of a degraded caste, the son of a Chandala by a Pukkasi female, and only to be employed as a public executioner, &c. E. See śvapāka; the sibilants being irregularly transposed, va changed to u, and that to the usual Guna letter.
Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Benfey Sanskrit-English DictionarySopāka (सोपाक).—perhaps an anomal. form of śvapāka, m. The son of a Caṇḍāla by a Pukkasī female, [Mānavadharmaśāstra] 10, 38.
Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Cappeller Sanskrit-English DictionarySopāka (सोपाक).—[masculine] a cert. mixed caste.
Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary1) Sopāka (सोपाक):—m. (perhaps for śva-pāka) a man of a degraded caste (the son of a Caṇḍāla by a Pulkasī, and only to be employed as public executioner etc.), [Manu-smṛti x, 38]
2) a person who sells medicinal roots, [cf. Lexicographers, esp. such as amarasiṃha, halāyudha, hemacandra, etc.]
Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Yates Sanskrit-English DictionarySopāka (सोपाक):—(kaḥ) 1. m. A man of a degraded caste.
[Sanskrit to German]
Sanskrit, also spelled संस्कृतम् (saṃskṛtam), is an ancient language of India commonly seen as the grandmother of the Indo-European language family (even English!). Closely allied with Prakrit and Pali, Sanskrit is more exhaustive in both grammar and terms and has the most extensive collection of literature in the world, greatly surpassing its sister-languages Greek and Latin.
See also (Relevant definitions)
Starts with: Sopakara, Sopakaraka, Sopakarana.
Full-text: Pandusopaka, Sapaka, Saupaka, Sacakka, Vibhitakaminjiya, Catusamanera Vatthu, Dayajjupasampada, Kumarapanha, Pancacchiddageha, Suppiya.
Relevant text
Search found 8 books and stories containing Sopaka, Sopāka; (plurals include: Sopakas, Sopākas). You can also click to the full overview containing English textual excerpts. Below are direct links for the most relevant articles:
Apadana commentary (Atthakatha) (by U Lu Pe Win)
Commentary on the Biography of the thera Sopāka < [Chapter 2 - Sīhāsaniyavagga (lion-throne section)]
The Catu-Bhanavara-Pali (critical study) (by Moumita Dutta Banik)
(3) The Samanerapanha < [Chapter 2 - Subject Matter of the First Bhanavara]
Manusmriti with the Commentary of Medhatithi (by Ganganatha Jha)
Dhammapada (Illustrated) (by Ven. Weagoda Sarada Maha Thero)
Verse 406 - The Story of The Four Novices < [Chapter 26 - Brāhmaṇa Vagga (The Brāhmaṇa)]
The Practice Of The Buddha's Wisdom, Loving Kindness And Compassion (by Ven. Pandit Kurunegoda Piyatissa)
The Buddha and His Teachings (by Narada Thera)