1. Sumana. The fourth of the twenty four Buddhas. He was born in Mekhala, his father being the khattiya Sudatta and his mother Sirimā. For nine thousand years he lived as a householder in three palaces - Canda, Sucanda and Vatamsa (BuA.125 calls them Nārivaddhana, Somavaddhana and Iddhivaddhana) - his wife being Vatamsikā and his son Anupama. He left the world on an elephant, practised austerities for ten months, and attained enlightenment under a nāga tree, being given a meal of milk rice by Anupamā, daughter of Anupama-setthi of Anoma, and grass for his seat by the Ajīvaka Anupama. His first sermon was preached in the Mekhala Park, and among his first disciples were his step brother Sarana and the purohita's son Bhāvitatta. His Twin miracle was performed in Sunandavatī. The Bodhisatta was a Nāga king Atula. One of the Buddha's chief assemblies was on the occasion of his solving the questions of King Arindama on Nirodha.
Sarana and Bhāvitatta were his chief monks and Sonā and Upasenā his chief nuns. Udena was his personal attendant. Varuna and Sarana were his chief lay supporters among men and Cālā and Upacālā among women. His body was ninety cubits in height, and he died at the age of ninety thousand in Angārāma, where a thūpa of four yojanas was erected over his ashes. Bu.v.1ff.; BuA.125f.; J.i.30,34,35, 40.
2. Sumana. Attendant of Padumuttara Buddha (J.i.37; Bu.xi.24). His eminence prompted Ananda (Sumana in that birth) to resolve to be an attendant of some future Buddha. ThagA.ii.122; see also Ap.i.195.
3. Sumana. Step brother of Padumuttara, Buddha. He obtained, as boon from the king, the privilege of waiting on the Buddha for three months. He built in the park of Sobhana a vihāra. The park belonged to the householder Sobhana, and he built the vihāra, on land for which he gave one hundred thousand. There he entertained the Buddha and his monks. Sunanda is identified with Ananda. ThagA.ii.122f.; AA.i.160f.; SA.ii.168f.
4. Sumana. A pupil of Anuruddha. He represented the monks from Pāveyyaka at the Second Council. Vāsabhagāmi was his colleague. See also Sumana (8). Mhv.iv.49, 58; Dpv.iv.48; v.24; Vin.ii.305, etc.
5. Sumana. A garland maker, given as an example of one whose acts bore fruit in this very life (Mil.115, 291, 350; cf. DhSA.426; PSA.498). He was Bimbisāra's gardener, and provided the king daily with eight measures of jasmine flowers, for which he received eight pieces of money, One day, while on his way to the palace, he saw the Buddha, and threw two handfuls of flowers into the air, where they formed a canopy over the Buddha's head. Two handfuls thrown on the right, two on the left and two behind, all remained likewise in the air and accompanied the Buddha as he walked through the city, a distance of three leagues, that all might see the miracle.
When Sumana returned home with his empty basket and told his wife what he had done, she was fearful lest the king should punish him. Going to the palace, she confessed what he had done, and asked for forgiveness for herself as she had had no part in the deed. Bimbisāra visited the Buddha and then sent for Sumana. Sumana confessed that when he offered the flowers to the Buddha he was quite prepared to lose his life. The king gave him the eightfold gift: eight female slaves, eight sets of jewels, eight thousand pieces of money, eight women from the royal harem, and eight villages.
In reply to a question by Ananda, the Buddha said that in the future the garland maker would become a Pacceka Buddha, Sumana. DhA.ii.40f.; KhA.129. According to KhA., the Pacceka Buddha's name will be Sumanissara.
6. Sumana. Chief lay supporter of Kassapa Buddha. DA.ii.424; but see Sumangala (2).
7. Sumana Thera. He belonged to a brahmin family of Kosala. His mother's brother was an arahant, and ordained him as soon as he grew up. Sumana soon acquired the four jhānas and fivefold aññā and, in due course, attained arahantship.
Ninety five kappas ago he gave a harītaka-fruit to a Pacceka Buddha who was ill (Thag.vss.330-4; ThagA.i.411f). He is evidently identical with Harītakadāyaka of the Apadāna. Ap.ii.394; cf. Avadānas ii. 67-70.
8. Sumana Thera. See Cūla Sumana (3). He is probably identical with Sumana (4), and may be identical with Sumana (7) if the uncle mentioned in connection with the latter is Anuruddha.
Thirty one kappas ago he was a garland maker and offered jasmine-flowers to Sikhī Buddha. Twenty six kappas ago he was king four times, under the name of Mahāyasa. Thagg.vss.429-34; ThagA.i.457f.
9. Sumana Thera. He is mentioned as having lived in Andhavana with Khema. Together they visited the Buddha, and, when Khema had gone away, Sumana talked with the Buddha about arahants (A.iii.348f). He is probably identical with Sumana (7) or (8).
10. Sumana. A setthi in the time of Padumuttara Buddha. He was the employer and, later, the friend of Annabhāra (q.v.).
11. Sumana. A householder in the time of Dutthagāmanī Abhaya, in the village of Bhokkanta in South Ceylon. Later he lived in the village Mahāmuni, in the district of Dīghavāpi. Ubbirī was born as his daughter and was named Sumanā. Sumanā married Lakuntaka Atimbara. DhA.iv.50f.
12. Sumana. A setthi of Sāvatthi. He was the father of Anāthapindika and Subhūti Thera. ThagA.i.23; AA.i.125, 208.
13. Sumana. A Pacceka Buddha of thirty one kappas ago, to whom, in a previous birth, Bhalliya (ThagA.i.49) and Bhāradvāja Thera (ThagA.i.303; cf. Ap.ii.416) gave vallikāra-fruit.
14. Sumana. Eldest son of King Bindusāra. He was killed by Asoka. Nigrodha-sāmanera was his son and Sumanā his wife. Mhv.v.38, 41; Sp.i.45.
15. Sumana. Son of Sanghamittā and Aggibrahmā (Mhv.v.170). He joined the Order at the age of seven; even as a sāmanera he was gifted with the sixfold abhiññā and accompanied Mahinda to Ceylon (Mhv.xiii.4,18). Once when he announced that Mahinda was going to preach his voice was heard all over Ceylon (Mhv.xiv.33). In order to get relics for the cetiyas in Ceylon, he went (by air) to Papphapura (Pātaliputta), and from there to Sakka's abode, for the Buddha's right collar bone. He supervised the placing of the relics in the Thūpārāma-cetiya. Mhv.xvii.7, 21; xix.24, 42; see also Dpv.xii.13, 26, 39; xv.5f., 28, 93.
16. Sumana. Governor of Girijanapada in the time of Kākavannatissa. He was a friend of Velusumana’s father. Mhv.xxiii.69.
17. Sumana. A Yakkha chief, to be invoked in time of need by followers of the Buddha. D.iii.205.
18. Sumana. One of the chief lay patrons of Metteyya Buddha. Anāgat.vs.98.
19. Sumana. A Pacceka Buddha of the future. See Sumana (5).
20. Sumana. A gardener of Kosambī. He worked for three setthis: Ghosaka, Kukkuta and Pāvāriya. With their permission, he entertained the Buddha one day, and it was at his house that Khujjuttarā met and heard the Buddha. DhA.i.208f.
21. Sumana. A setthiputta of Rājagaha. Punna (Punnasīha) was his servant, but, later, Punna, as the result of giving alms to Sāriputta, became rich and Sumana married his daughter, Uttarā. Sumana was an unbeliever, and Uttarā, wishing for leisure in which to practise her religion, obtained for him the services of the courtesan Sirimā, paying her with the money obtained from her father. DhA.iii.104, 302f.
22. Sumana. A deity who lived in the fortified chamber over the gate in Jetavana. DhA.i.41.
23. Sumana. See Samiddhisumana.
24. Sumana. An eminent monk, who was present at the Foundation Ceremony of the Mahā Thūpa. Dpv.xix.8; in MT. (524) he is called Mahā Sumana.
25. Sumana. The guardian deity of Samantakūta. See also Cv.lxxxvi.19.
26. Sumana. The personal name of Uggahamāna. MA.ii.709.