Udayana
Udayana
[優塡王] (Skt; Pali Udena; Jpn Uden-o)
A king of the city of Kaushambiin north-central India and a patron of Shakyamuni Buddha. He converted to the Buddha's teaching at the urging of his wife. Udayana is mentioned in a number of Buddhist sutras. According to the King Udayana Sutra, Udayana, influenced by one of his consorts, attempted to shoot his wife with an arrow. The arrow circled his wife three times, however, and came back to him. There upon, she revealed to him that she was a follower of Shakyamuni Buddha and urged him to follow the Buddha as well. Udayana went to see the Buddha, who was then staying in Kaushambi, and received instruction from him. According to the Increasing by One Agama Sutra, when Shakyamuni ascended to the Heaven of the Thirty-three Gods for a considerable time to preach to his mother, Mayag Udayana lamented that he could no longer see the Buddha and fell ill. Concerned for their king, his retainers expressed their desire to make an image of the Buddha. Udayana, moved by their resolve, had a five-foot image of the Buddha fashioned out of ox-head sandal-wood, and this contributed to his recovery. The sutra regards this as the first image of the Buddha ever made.
