Another of the Buddha's cousins, Devadatta, became a monk when the Buddha was fifty-five years old, but he was very jealous of the Buddha's achievements. He finally left the sangha and went to Rajagrha to see Prince Ajatasatru, the son of King Bimbisara. Devadatta flattered the prince built a splendid monastery for him. Many years later, when the Buddha went to Rajagrha, Devadatta visited him and requested his permission to establish his own sangha. The Buddha turned down his request, explaining that anything that divided the sangha could not have good results. This, of course, made Devadatta furious.

He then began plotting ways of acquiring more power. He urged Prince Ajatasatru to overthrow his father and become the new king. The prince put his father in prison, gave him no food, and thus starved him to death.

Now Devadatta had enough courage to make his second move-killing the Buddha. He did above a road near the Buddha's residence on Grdhrakuta Mountain. One evening, just as the Buddha was walking by, Devadatta pushed a huge stone down the hillside. But the stone suddenly broke into many small pieces. Only one fragment hit the Buddha's foot. Devadatta's terrible plot failed.

He then tried another vicious scheme. This time his plan was to set loose a wild elephant on the road the Buddha often took when he went begging for food, hoping the elephant would trample the Buddha, instead of going wild and killing him, it became as calm as a little kitten. Thereafter, Devadatta stopped plotting to murder the Buddha.

As the Buddha became more popular and the number of his disciples grew, more people became jealous of him and wanted to destroy him and the sangha. Members of the Brahman caste especially heated him, because the Buddha's new teachings threatened their old religious authority and drew believers away from them.

Some of them bought a beautiful woman by the name of Cinca-manavika to tempt and destroy the Buddha. Elegantly dressed, she wandered around the place where the Buddha and his disciples were staying. When other people were leaving the place, she instead went towards it; and when they were walking towards the place to hear the Buddha's lectures, she instead walked away. Slowly, a rumor arose that she was having an affair with the Buddha.

One day she tied a wooden basin in front of her belly and put on a red dress to cover it. She went to the place where the Buddha was lecturing and shouted at him,"How dare you just sit there and pretend that nothing has happened? I'm pregnant with your child..."

Suddenly, the basin slipped and fell to the ground. Without saying a word, she dashed out the gate. The Buddha continued lecturing as though nothing had happened.