Introduction
1. King Pasenadi and the Jetavana vihāra
2. Traditions telling of King Pasenadi's devotion to Buddhism
3. King Pasenadi as he appears in the "Kosala Samyutta" of the Samyutta nikaya.
4. The Buddhist faith of King Pasenadi
5. The wedding of King Pasenadi and Mallika
Conclusion

Questions such as when King Pasenadi, who was the same age as Sakyamuni, became a devotee of Buddhism, and what form his Buddhist devotion took, were studied using points such as the building of the Jetavana vihāra, traditions related to the king's devotion to Buddhism, the "Kosala Samyutta" of the Samyutta nikaya, and the wedding of the king to one of his wives, Mallika. The conclusions are sketched below.

Some additions have been made concerning the time when the king became a believer and his later religious activities.

It is thought that Pasenadi, like King Bimbisara of Magadha, became a fervent supporter of the Samgha very early and contributed greatly to it as a patron. However, it has become clear that in fact he became a devotee at a relatively later time and that he was not particularly enthusiastic for a long time.

To summarise the main historical points, if Pasenadi and Sakyamuni were the same age, we can say as follows:

The Jetavana vihāra was built in Sāvatthī in the fourteenth year of Sakyamuni's enlightenment, that is when the Buddha was 49. That was the first occasion for him to visit Sāvatthī. Since Buddhism had not been taught previously in Kosala, this represents its first appearance there. Three or four years later, when Pasenadi was about 53, he took Mallika as consort. At that time, Mallika did not know Sakyamuni, but she later became a fervent devotee of Buddhism, and it was through her influence that Pasenadi formally accepted Buddhism. Eventually a daughter called Vajīrī was born to them.

Pasenadi remained a not very fervent Buddhist. When he was around 72, Ajatasattu of Magadha usurped the throne from his father Bimbisara and murdered him. This led to the outbreak of war between Kosala and Magadha. The conflict went first to one side and then the other, but eventually peace was restored and Vajīrī became a wife of Ajatasattu. About the same time, Mallika gave birth to a daughter at quite an advanced age, and she may have lost her life as a result. Pasenadi was then over 70. Realizing the impermanence of life, he seems to have developed a deep belief in Buddhism. Eighty was the Buddha's age when he died, and it was when Pasenadi also turned 80 that he came to revere the Buddha deeply. The king's building of the Rājakārāma vihāra probably does not go very much back from this time.

These points make us think that Pasenadi was not such a fervent Buddhist and that as a consequence Buddhism did not flourish all that much in Kosala. This being so, it is strange that so many sutras were set in Kosala and Sāvatthī. We can do no more than guess the reason, but the following suggestions may provide an answer.

First, the sutras were all transmitted orally, but we can recognize as an historical fact that they were confirmed at the First Council. Since to begin with the disciples who were still living at the time of the Buddha's death attended the Council, direct disciples who did not take part must already have died. This is perhaps why the traces of the first five disciples who were present at the first discourse are so pale in the extant early Buddhist scriptural sources. We can surmise that this is also why a large number of scriptures contain mention of the Buddha's comparatively later exploits rather than his earlier ones.

In the latter part of the Buddha's life, a change of government occurred in Magadha, until then one of the bailiwicks of the Saṃgha, as the devout King Bimbisara was ousted, and his son Ajatasattu, under the influence of Devadatta, who had turned traitor against Sakyamuni, seized the throne. It was at that very time that Pasenadi began to show a great understanding of Buddhism, and immediately Buddhism's centre moved from Magadha to Kosala. Of course there was already strong support of Buddhism in Sāvatthī among the merchant class, for example, Anathapindika and Visākhā Migāramātā.

Furthermore, even when the records of Sakyamuni's words and actions were verified at the First Council, there were some where the places they occurred were not known; in such cases the terms "six great cities" (referring to Campā, Sāvatthi, Vesalī, Rājagaha, Bāraāasī, Kapilavatthu) or "eight great cities" (referring to the previous six, plus Sāketa and Kosambī) were used.1) Very probably many of them were said to have taken place in Sāvatthī, at that time a thriving Buddhist centre, and as a result a large number of sutras have Sāvatthī as their stage. If we follow this line of thinking, it is difficult to consider that Kosala or Sāvatthī were the large centres of Buddhism that the number of sutras set there suggests. This is shown symbolically by the fact that the First Council took place in Rājagaha, because Rājagaha was the only place where most of the five hundred bhikkhus would have spent the three month rainy season retreat. 2)

1) The Vinaya in Ten Recitations (Shisong lü), T 23, p. 288 middle; Mula-Sarvastivadin Vinaya (Genben shuoyiqie youbu lü), T 24, p. 328 bottom; the Vinaya of the Mahāsaṃghika School (Mohesengqi lü), T 22, p. 497 top.
2) Vinaya vol. II, p. 284; Vinaya in Four Divisions (Sifen lü), T 22, p. 967 top; Vinaya in Five Divisions (Wufen lü), T. 22, p. 190 bottom; Vinaya in Ten Recitations (Shisong lü), T 23, p. 447 bottom;, the Vinaya of the Mahāsaṃghika School (Mohesengqi lü), T 22, p. 490 bottom.

This essay appeared in Hokkaido Journal of Indological and Buddhist Studies No. 21 (October 30, 2006), published by the Hokkaido Indo Tetsugaku Bukkyogakkai. It appears here with the permission of the editor. I wish to express my gratitude here. The form has been altered for this publication, and so please refer to the original article for references and quotations.