#04. Kuṇāla

Cave No. 9

Identification: Schlingloff 2013.—

Once, there was a king of the glossy cuckoos, named Kuṇāla, who despised the female sex. His friend, a king of the speckled cuckoos, fell ill and was abandoned by his female entourage. After his recovery, Kuṇāla delivered to him a sermon while seated on a stone form under a Śāla tree in the Himalayas. Nārada and the king of the vultures also attended the sermon with their retinues. In the sermon, Kuṇāla explained about the depravity of the female sex by citing many examples.— Kuṇāla, the cuckoo, was none other than the Buddha in his former existence.

—Source: Singh 2019, 31-33; Schlingloff 2013, I, 26

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