Reply To: Sutta about Bimbisara

#35482
DanielSt
Participant

So, in the Sutta:
“This is the seventh time I have been reborn in the company of the Great King Vessavaṇa. After passing away from there, I am now able to become a king of non-humans.

Idaṁ sattamaṁ kho ahaṁ, bhante, vessavaṇassa mahārājassa sahabyataṁ upapajjāmi, so tato cuto manussarājā bhavituṁ pahomi.

Seven from here, seven from there—
Ito satta tato satta,
fourteen transmigrations in all.
saṁsārāni catuddasa;
That’s how many past lives
Nivāsamabhijānāmi
I can recollect.
yattha me vusitaṁ pure.


Here he refers to 7 lives together with King Vessavana, and 7 lives before that, in your interpretation?

Since all these 14 births are occuring in maximally the amount of a few decades (considering the fact that the Buddha was still alive) we can assume the lives were rather short.