Devadatta practised in a similar way and with the same books as common Buddhists, but followed the similar tapas and performed rituals to the past three buddhas and not Śākyamuni. In Cullavagga section VII of the Vinayapiṭaka of the Theravādins which deals with schisms, it is told how Devadatta went forth along with a number of the Buddha’s other relatives and clansmen. In the first year he attained psychic power, but made no supermundane achievement. Looking round to see whom he could convince to honour him he decided to approach Prince Ajātasattu, the heir to the Magadhan throne. Having psychic power
Shinji Takahashi (religious leader) Shinji Takahashi (religious leader) Takahashi was born on September 21, 1927, in Saku, Nagano, Japan, into a farming family. He was the second eldest son among 10 children. At age 13, Takahashi entered the Army Cadet School after dropping out in his second year of a middle school that was run under the old system of education. He then completed his studies and graduated from the Army War College, after which he was assigned to be an aerial navigator. At the end of World War II in 1945, Takahashi returned to his hometown. On moving to Tokyo, he passed a