A brahmin of Kosala who was converted at the presentation of Jetavana and entered a village vihāra. As he became irritated when monks visited the vihāra they desisted, and he became sole master of the vihāra. When this was reported to the Buddha by a layman, the Buddha sent for him and taught him the Rukkhadhamma Jātaka, showing that in the past, too, he had been guilty of similar conduct. Dhammika concentrated on the verses of the Jātaka and, developing insight, became an Arahant.

In the time of Sikhī Buddha he had been a hunter and had listened to the Buddha teaching an assembly of the gods in a forest.

Thag.303-6; ThagA.i.396 ff. According to A.iii.366 ff. Dhammika had to leave seven lodgings, one after the other, because the lay supporters of the lodgings could not tolerate his insulting ways. He therefore sought the Buddha and complained to him. The Rukkhadhamma Jātaka mentioned here is evidently not the story of the same name mentioned in the Jātaka Commentary (i.327 ff.). The story is given in full in the Aṅguttaranikāya (loc. cit.) There the Buddha is said to have related to him stories of several past teachers, showing the evil effects of reviling others.

He may be identical with Ghosasaññaka of the Apadāna (Ap.ii.451).