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Apadāna is either biography or autobiography, but “Mahāpadānasutta” is only the
Buddha told the mentioned life stories.
The Content of Mahāpadānasutta Translated Version
From studying the content existed in Mahāpadānasutta, it is found out that
the content involving the Buddhas Biography is divided into 2 sections:
Section 1 is the biography of 6 Buddhas in the past by the Buddha. As well,
his own biography was told by the Buddha himself. That makes 7 Buddhas’
biography. The cause made the Buddha explained about the biography because
from His own Divine Ear, what the disciple monks talking about
Pubbenivāsānussatiñāna (Reminiscence of Past or Previous Births) of His biography
with faith. However, they remarked to get empirical evidence by themselves. The
Buddha approached and asked about what they were talking. Those monks told the
issue and requested to hear about the biography. The Buddha, then explained the 6
Past Buddhas’ biography and added another one about His own’s and the 7 Buddhas
biography was the content of the Sutta.
The names of the 7 Buddhas explained in the Sutta are as follows:
1. Vipassī 2. Sikhī
3. Vessabhū 4. Kakusandha
5. Konāgamana 6. Kassapa
7. Gotama
The details of biography of the 7 Buddhas were explained in the same order:
1) The Era of having; 2) The birth; 3) The family; 4) Life span; 5) Enlightenment place;
6) The two Chief Disciples (Aggāsāvaka); 7) Disciples assembly (called
Cāturaṅgasannipāta – means “the Great Assembly of Disciples marked by the union
of four factors during the Principal Teaching (Ovādapāṭimokkha); 8) the Attendant
(Upaṭṭhāka); 9) The Parent; 10) The Hometown. The disquisition cited from
Mahāpadānasutta about the Buddhas’ Biography is partly presented as follows:
Romanized Pāli:
“Ito so bhikkhave ekanavutokappo, yaṃ vipassī bhagavā arahaṃ sammāsam
buddho loke udapādi. Ito so bhikkhave ekatiṃsokappo, yaṃ sikhī bhagavā arahaṃ
sammāsambuddho loke udapādi.