Nine unpleasant events
nine unpleasant events (九惱). During His life the Buddha endured nine unpleasant events:
(1) did ascetic practices for six years;
(2) was slandered by a woman called Sundarī;
(3) was pierced in the foot by a wooden lance;
(4) ate horse’s wheat together with five hundred Arhats during their three months’ stay in Vairañjā, a city in the kingdom of Kauśala, at the invitation of a Brahmin called Agnidatta;
(5) suffered headaches when the Śākya clan was annihilated by King Virūdhaka’s army;
(6) begged for food in a Brahmin village and returned empty-handed;
(7) was slandered by a woman called Ciñcā-Mānavika;
(8) was hit in the toe by a sliver of the rock pushed down at Him by Devadatta;
(9) asked for more clothing while in the woods for eight nights in freezing cold.
Though beyond karma and its requital, to teach sentient beings cause and effect, the Buddha reveals the causes of these nine events by telling stories of His past lives.
