Reading outline · Later tradition
Cakkhupāla: intention & harm
Mahā Pāla hears the Buddha teach and becomes a monk.
This outline follows the main passages. Open each reading to follow the story in full.
This is a later traditional story. Its narrative source and related scripture are linked separately below.
Hearing the teaching
Mahā Pāla hears the Buddha teach and becomes a monk.
The retreat
The commentary describes strenuous practice, illness and blindness at an unnamed border village.
Unintended harm
At Jetavana, insects die beneath his feet; the Buddha distinguishes this from intentional killing.
A past-life explanation
The commentary recounts a physician’s harmful intention in a past life. This is a traditional narrative explanation, not a medical account.
Places in this story
Sāvatthī / ŚrāvastīSources & reading notes
Introductions and explanations are editorial writing. Quoted text retains its named edition; selections may be shortened with an ellipsis.
Hearing the teaching. External narrative; the linked canonical passage is related material, not the source of this story. Source ↗
The retreat. External narrative; the linked canonical passage is related material, not the source of this story. Source ↗
Unintended harm. External narrative; the linked canonical passage is related material, not the source of this story. Source ↗
A past-life explanation. External narrative; the linked canonical passage is related material, not the source of this story. Source ↗
Original scene outline
Hearing the teaching
Mahā Pāla hears the Buddha teach and becomes a monk.
The retreat
The commentary describes strenuous practice, illness and blindness at an unnamed border village.
Unintended harm
At Jetavana, insects die beneath his feet; the Buddha distinguishes this from intentional killing.
A past-life explanation
The commentary recounts a physician’s harmful intention in a past life. This is a traditional narrative explanation, not a medical account.