Sankalp: (Huen Tsang page 3). In the second paragraph of page three; Huen Tsang writes, “By the side of the house of ‘Sudatta’ is a great stupa. This is the place where the Angulimalya (Yang-kiu-li-mo-lo) gave up his heresy. The Angulimalya’s are the unlucky cast of Sravasti. They kill everything that lives, and maddening themselves, they murder men in the towns and country, and make chaplets from the head of their fingers. The man in question wanted to kill his mother to complete the number of fingers, when the lord of the world (Buddha), moved by pity, went to him to convert him. Beholding the Lord from far, the Angulimalya rejoicing said, “Now I shall be born in heaven; our former teacher declared that whoever injures a Buddha or kills his mother, ought to be born in the Brahma heaven.”
Addressing his mother, he said, “Old woman, I will leave you for a time till I have killed that great Shraman.” Then taking a knife, he went to kill the lord. On this Tathagat stepped slowly as he went, whilst the Angulimalya rushed at him without slackening his pace.
The lord of the world addressing him said, “Why do you persevere in your evil purpose and give up the better feelings of your nature, and foster the source of evil?” The Angulimalya, on hearing these words, understood the wickedness of his conduct, and on that paid reverence to Buddha, and sought permission to enter the law (i.e. The religious profession of Buddha), and having persevered with diligence in his religious progress, he obtained the fruit of an arhat.
The above quote is the story of the interaction that took place between Daku Angulimalya and the Buddha. The first line of the quote, “By the side of the house of Sudatta is a great stupa,” gives us the position of Angulimalyas stupa. It is beside Sudatta’s house. That means it is beside Parsohana village. This is certainly Sankalpa village cum stupa as it is beside Parsohana village. Sankalpa means to make a promise. Daku Angulimalya made a promise to the Buddha he would never commit a crime again. The last line, “And having persevered with diligence in his religious progress,”
Just as Huen Tsang describes when giving bearings of Angulimalyas stupa, east of ‘Parsohana’ village, which was the house of ‘Sudatta’, is the village of ‘Sankalpa’ on a huge stupa. Huen Tsang further goes on to tell the story of Daku Angulimalya. A former Shaivite preacher had stated that whoever kills his mother or a Buddha will be given Brahmas heaven. That means the Shaivite heaven. So this man wanted to kill his mother to add her finger to the beed of fingers he had as a necklace. The Buddha goes to change him so Angulimalya leaves his mother for the time being and attacks the Buddha. The latter moves cautiously towards the murderer and asks him why he persisted in murdering. He then preaches the law to Angulimalya who accepts it and on the spot realizes his wicked deeds and repents. He makes a promise never to hurt anyone again. That is the exact meaning of ‘Sankalp’ which is the name given to him and the stupa. Because the killer promised to never kill again and be diligent in his promise he was named ‘Sankalp’ which means promise. Poor people settled on top of Sankalp stupa and kept the name alive. The Buddhist world will be happy to realize this stupa is big and is sparsely populated.
Buddha, Buddhism. Angulimal.