The son of a rich brahmin of Rājagaha; he joined the Order, impressed by the majesty of the Buddha’s visit to Bimbisāra. Soon after, he attained Arahantship and, devoted to detachment, dwelt in the woods hence his name. When he went to Rājagaha his kinsmen asked him to live near them, but he said he preferred the lonely life of the forest (Thag.113).

In the time of Vipassī Buddha he was a labourer, and, having committed a crime, while fleeing from justice he saw a Bodhi tree. Pleased with the look of the tree, he gathered masses of asoka flowers and heaped them up round the tree. When his pursuers reached him, he remained as he was, looking at them, with no hatred in his heart. They hurled him into a precipice, and he died with the thought of the Bodhi tree in his heart. Three world-cycles ago he was a king named Santusita (ThagA.i.222). He is perhaps identical with Tambapupphiya Thera of the Apadāna. Ap.i.176.