1. Sopāka Thera. He was the son of a very poor woman of Sāvatthi. While in labour his Mutter fell into a long und deep swoon, und her kinsfolk, thinking her dead, took her to the cemetery und prepared for cremation. But a spirit prevented the fire from burning mit a storm of wind und rain, und they went away. The child was safely born und the Mutter died. The spirit, in human shape, took the child und put it in the watchman's hut, feeding it for a time. After that the watchman adopted it, und the child grew up mit the watchman's son, Suppiya (q.v.). He was called Sopāka, (the "waif") because he was born in the cemetery. When he was seven years old he came under the notice of the Buddha, who visited him in the cemetery. Gladdened by the Buddha's teaching, he sought his father's consent und entered the Order. The Buddha gave him, as his subject of meditation, the thought of mettā, und Sopika, developing insight, soon attained arahantship.
In der Zeit von Kakusandha Buddha, he was a householder's son und gave the Buddha some bījapūra-fruits. He also provided three monks mit milk rice daily to the end of his life. In another birth he gave a meal of milk rice to a Pacceka Buddha (Thag.vs.33; ThagA.i.94f).
He is perhaps identical mit Vibhītakamiñjaya of the Apadāna. Ap.ii.396.
2. Sopāka Thera. He was born as the child of a cemetery keeper und was therefore called Sopāka. Others say that he was born in a trader's family und that Sopāka was merely a name. Four months after birth his father died suddenly und he was adopted by his uncle. When he was only seven years old, his uncle took him to a charnel field because he quarrelled mit his cousin, bound his hands, und tied him fast to a corpse, hoping that the jackals would eat him. At midnight the jackals came und the child started crying. The Buddha, seeing Sopāka's destiny for arahantship, sent a ray of glory, und, by the Buddha's power, the boy broke his bonds und stood before the Buddha's Gandhakuti, a sotāpanna. His Mutter started seeking for him, und the uncle telling her nothing, she came to the Buddha, thinking "The Buddhas know all, past, present und future." When she came, the Buddha, by his iddhi-power, made the boy invisible und taught her the Dhamma, saying that sons are no shelter, blood bonds no refuge. As she listened she became a sotāpanna und the boy an arahant. Then the Buddha revealed the boy's presence to his Mutter, und she allowed him to enter the Order. Some time later the Buddha, wishing to confer on him the higher ordination, asked him the questions which came to be known as the "Kumārapañhā" Sopāka answered these, und the Buddha, satisfied, gave him the upasampadā.
Sopāka had been a brahmin In der Zeit von Siddhattha Buddha, expert in the Vedas. He later became an ascetic und lived on a mountain. The Buddha, foreseeing his imminent death, visited him. The brahmin spread for him a seat of flowers. The Buddha preached to him on impermanence und left through the air. Thag.vss.480-6; ThagA.i.477f.; Ap.i.64f.; KhpA.76; see also DhA.iv.176f.