About Sravasti
Twenty-Five Rainy Seasons
Buddha spent more monsoon retreats at Sravasti than at any other single location — twenty-five in all, by the most common account. The generous merchant Anathapindika purchased Jetavana grove from Prince Jeta at enormous expense and gave it to the Sangha, and it became Buddha’s primary residence during his long years of teaching. The texts record hundreds of discourses delivered from here.
Sravasti was also associated, in the tradition, with a series of miraculous events — including the “Great Miracle” in which Buddha is said to have multiplied his form and simultaneously displayed fire and water from his body, in response to a challenge by rival teachers. The Mahayana tradition has elaborated these accounts considerably.
