SUMEDHA AND SUMITTA RECEIVING A PROPHETIC DECLARATION

Hermit Sumedha, the Future Buddha, had attained the six High Powers. While traveling by air he saw the townsfolk of Ramma clearing the pathway and came down to the ground, and asked to be permitted to clear a portion of the track on which the Buddha Dipankara was to travel. He was given a portion of it, and before he had cleared it, the Buddha Dipankara came along that way with a retinue of arahants. Sumedha spread himself out upon the mud with his face downwards, his body serving as a bridge so that the Buddha and the disciples following Him could tread on him. At that moment a lady by the name of "Sumitta" arrived with eight bunches of lotus flowers. She handed over to the hermit five of those bunches to be offered to the Buddha. The Buddha, with minds eye of Buddha, saw what was in store for these two persons in future, and made this prophetic declaration: "This hermit will become Gotama Buddha, and this lady will become his help-mate to help him fulfill the Perfections (Paramitas)".