The 10 Great Disciples of the Buddha are:
01. Anna Kodanna, Katyayana
02. Sariputta, Sariputra, Upatissa,
03. Maha Moggallana, Maudgalyagana
04. Maha Kassapa, Maha Kasyapa
05. Anuruddha, Aniruddha
06. Purna, Punnamantaniputra, Puramqitrayaniputra
07. Subhuti,
08. Rahula,
09. Ananda,
10. Upali,
Katyayana was extremely enthusiastic about spreading the Dharma. He realized the 10 qualities a propagator of the Dharma must possess: knowing the Dharma, ability to explain the Dharma, public speaking ability, persuasiveness, skillful means, ability to follow what is preached, of pleasant appearance and personality, possessing right energy, tired-less, and commands respect. When propagating the Dharma, he perfected the 4 qualities of skillful means, using the right medicine for the right sickness, knowing the right time, and completeness of the Dharma. With the help of Katyayana, Buddhism spread quickly and widely during Buddha's time. The Buddha praised Katyayana as the foremost among his disciples in spread the Dharma.
There are many illuminating stories about Katyayana. Katyayana was in the first council meeting.
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Anna Kodanna, Katyayana, Ref: Dong Zen Temple, Jenjarom, Selangor. File: 01disciple-a.jpg |
Sariputra attained Enlightenment 7 days after following Buddha. He became the chief disciple of Buddha. In the early days, Sariputra was always standing on the right of Buddha while Mogallana on the left. His wisdom was beyond all others except Buddha. He supervised the construction of the first Monastery in Jeta Grove. This construction was plagued with many intellectual challenges from other religions, but Sariputra out debated them all.
Sariputra frequently appeared in many sutras. Among the Mahayana sutras are The Sutra on the Western Paradise, and The Heart Sutra.
Sariputra passed away peacefully, at his home town, a few months before Buddha. When his ashes was taken to Buddha, Buddha praised that Sariputra as the foremost in wisdom among his disciples.
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Sariputta, Ref: Dong Zen Temple, Jenjarom, Selangor. File: 02disciple-a.jpg |
Supernatural powers were quite common among Buddha's disciples. However the display of it was always discouraged by the Buddha, all except for Mogallana, he was even praised for using supernatural powers in propagating the Dharma. There were many interesting stories, including one giving rise to the Buddhist festival of Ullambana. However I shall mention one that is less heard of.
There was once where Kapilavastu was to be attacked by King Virudhara from the Kingdom of Kosala King. Buddha tried to prevent the war by sitting at the pathway leading to Kapilavastu on 3 separate occasions. King Virudhara always retreated whenever he saw Buddha. However King Virudhara's revenge and hatred could not be subdued. Buddha knew that there was no way to prevent the Karma further, thus he left them alone.
Mogallana had been successful in all his supernatural powered deeds. Hence he thought that more could be done in this case. Buddha explained to him that this was due to the past bad Karma of the people in Kapilavastu. The people remained arrogant, non-rependent, deceitful, and did not amend their ways, hence there was no way of substituting the fruits of Karma. Mogallana was unconvinced. The army surrounded Kapilavastu such that no one could escape. Mogallana used his supernatural powers to fly into the city, found 500 great men, transform them into his alms bowl, and flew out of the city to a safe spot. However when he opened the bowl to recover the men, he found a bow of blood water instead! Mogallana realized that supernatural powers cannot overcome Karma. (Check out here for more details: http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Courtyard/1652/Massacre.html.)
This was a lesson for Mogallana. Finally one day Mogallana was ambushed by some Jain followers. They pushed rocks from a hill onto Mogallana. Mogallana knew this was his Karma and he did not use supernatural powers to overcome it. He died under the rocks. This was before Buddha's final Nirvana.
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Maha Moggallana, Maha Maudgalyagana, Ref: Dong Zen Temple, Jenjarom, Selangor. File: 03disciple-a.jpg, Date: 02 November 2008 |
Mahakasyapa did not do much on giving sermons or debates for spreading the Dharma. He felt that he was not good enough at speaking, hence he preferred to exemplify the Dharma by perfectly following the life of an Buddhist ascetic. This shows that asceticism is a very important form of practice in Buddhism, and is still widely practiced among the Theravada. He was extremely respected for his practice.
Asceticism includes 5 rules: select an isolated place for practice, a life of begging for alms, always staying at the same place, one meal a day, and no alms choice between the rich and the poor.
It was a hard life. When he was old, Buddha advised that he stopped asceticism, but he did not, due to his dedication. He felt that Asceticism was the strictest form of disciplined lifestyle, and a disciplined lifestyle was essential for the preservation of the Sangha. He chose to live as a perfect example of this lifestyle to encourage generations of future Sangha.
When Buddha attained final Nirvana, both Sariputra and Mogallana had already passed away. Hence Mahakasyapa became clearly the eldest. He shed his isolation life, and took on the leadership of the Sangha. Mahakasyapa presided over the first council which was held at Rajagriha, 90 days after Buddha's final Nirvana. He began by questioning Upali on the rules governing the life of the monastic community. Based on Upali's answers, the content of the Discipline (Vinaya) was agreed upon. Similarly, Mahakasyapa questioned Ananda on the sermons taught by the Buddha. Based upon his answers, the Teaching (Dharma) was established.
When Mahakasyapa was beyond a hundred years old, he passed the leadership to Ananda. Legend has it that he then went to the Himalayas. He would meditate inside a mountain till the coming of the next Buddha, which is 6.7 billion years later. He would then pass on the Buddha's robes and alms bowl to the next Buddha.
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Maha Kassapa, Maha Kasyapa,, Ref: Dong Zen Temple, Jenjarom, Selangor. File: 04disciple-a.jpg, Date: 02 November 2008 |
There was once Aniruddha dozed off when Buddha was delivering a sermon. Buddha reprimanded that "Those who delight sleeping, like snails sleeping in their shells, who overslept for a thousand years, and missed the words of the Buddha." The person beside Aniruddha woke him up. Aniruddha was shocked, and regretted tremendously. Since then he promised never to sleep again. After a few days, his eyes began to sore. The Buddha advised that him to get some sleep but he wouldn't. Eventually he became blind.
After he became blind, he could not sew his own robes anymore. It came a day that his robes became so torn that he could not wear it anymore. When the Buddha knew about this, the Buddha personally went to his lodging and sew him new robes. Both Ananda and Mogallana helped, so did other disciples.
Through his diligent practice, Aniruddha gained Enlightenment and obtained the powers of the Heavenly Eye. Legend has it that not only could he see again, he could even see into the heavens.
There are many stories about Aniruddha preaching the Dharma to individuals and groups as well. There was once when Aniruddha asked the Buddha how laymen and monks involved in guiding the laymen could practice the Dharma. To this question, the Buddha spoke the Sutra on the Eight Great Realizations of Great Beings to Aniruddha.
Finally when Buddha was going into final Nirvana, the Buddha asked the monks whether there were any final questions. After three askings, it was Aniruddha who answered Buddha that there were no further questions.
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Anuruddha, Aniruddha, Ref: Dong Zen Temple, Jenjarom, Selangor. File: 05disciple-a.jpg, Date: 02 November 2008 |
Purna learned a lot from Asita. Asita, in his last days, built a house at Lumbini and ordered Purna to seek out Buddha when he would give his first sermon in Lumbini. However Purna was arrogant and forgot about it. Eventually he remembered Buddha after he met with a problem which he could not solve. He became a disciple of Buddha.
Purna preferred individual guidance to giving public sermons. There were many stories about him debating the Dharma with great monks of other religions, often winning them over to Buddhism.
There was once a powerful King whose most beloved wife died. The king was so sad that he neglected ruling the country. His officials were too afraid to advise the King to snap out of his sadness, so they recommended him to visit Purna, claiming that Purna could revive the dead. When the king met Purna, Purna broke a branch from the tree. Purna asked, "Dear King, could you bring this branch back to the palace and keep it ever green?" "This is impossible, the branch is detached from its roots, it cannot live again." "Your wife's has exhausted her present life time Karma, hence how is it possible for her to come back alive?" The king realized the truth of impermanence. Purna further advised, "Dear King, you as the king belong to all your citizens, not just your wife. You should love your citizens as you had loved your wife, convert your personal love to broad loving kindness and compassion, then your country will prosper and your citizens will support you."
The king gained wisdom, returned to the palace and buried his wife, reorganized his country, and loved his citizens as if his wife. All the citizens were grateful to Purna.
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Purna, Punnamantaniputra, Puramqitrayaniputra, Ref: Dong Zen Temple, Jenjarom, Selangor. File: 06disciple-a.jpg, Date: 02 November 2008 |
Subhuti was born to a rich family. At a young age, he was learned in the Brahmin philosophy. He felt that he knew everything, but yet his heart felt nothingness. After his parents became Buddhists, he was encouraged by his father to meet the Buddha. Subhuti was impressed by the Buddha, and hence became his disciple.
Initially Subhuti had the strange habit of asking for alms only from the rich. This was in exact opposite of what Mahakasyapa did, which was to ask for alms only from the poor. Subhuti reasoned that the poor was too poor, monks should not rob them further of food. Furthermore the rich was enjoying good Karma, hence monks should give them the opportunity to cultivate more good Karma before all their good Karma drained away. Mahakasyapa had an opposite reasoning. He felt that the poor was such because of bad Karma. Hence by asking alms from the poor, he was giving the opportunity to the poor to cultivate good Karma and escape from poverty. The Buddha discouraged both these extreme preferences for alms, Subhuti subsequently mended his ways.
The Buddha praised Subhuti as the foremost in realizing emptiness. Subhuti appeared in most of the sutras explaining the concept of Emptiness, for example the Diamond Sutra. On one occasion, the Buddha asked Subhuti to deliver a sermon on the relation of Bodhisattva and Prajna-Paramita. Subhuti replied that he would deliver the sermon, but he would need Buddha to first define what is called Bodhisattva and what is called Prajna-Paramita. Buddha was happy with Subhuti's words. Buddha replied that indeed there was no absolute Bodhisattva nor Prajna-Paramita, these were just names for the convenience of conversation. The Buddha went on to explain the concept of non-attachment applied in the Prajna-Paramita practice of Bodhisattvas. The question and reply between Subhuti and Buddha transcripted a sutra for the Bodhisattvas on Emptiness.
Subhuti exemplified how an Enlightened person would behave, upon fully realizing Emptiness. The story about his death was not known.
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Subhuti, Ref: Dong Zen Temple, Jenjarom, Selangor. File: 07disciple-a.jpg, Date: 02 November 2008 |
As a young boy, Rahula liked to tell lies. When people asked ``where is the Buddha", he would give them the wrong directions, for fun.
Later Buddha patiently told Rahula a parable about how a war elephant protects his trunk because it is the weakest part of the elephant. Similarly Rahula should take care of his speech because we are vulnerable to bad karma incurred by bad speech. Rahula became a changed person!
Rahula later gained Enlightenment. He was the foremost in esoteric practices and diligence. He died before his mother, who in turned died before the Buddha.
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Rahula, Ref: Dong Zen Temple, Jenjarom, Selangor. File: 08disciple-a.jpg, Date: 02 November 2008 |
Ananda was the younger brother of Devadatta. Ananda was the youngest among the 7 Shakya princes who followed Buddha. Shortly after he was ordained, he helped persuade the Buddha into allowing the setting of the order of nuns. When he was in his twenties, Buddha was 53. Due to Buddha's elderly age, Sariputra and Mogallana invited Ananda to attend to the Buddha. Since then Ananda was always with Buddha.
Ananda did not attain Enlightenment until after Buddha's final Nirvana and shortly before the first council. However his pleasantness in personality attracted others and commanded their respect. There were people who were wary of Buddhism, thus would void Buddha and his disciples. However they were attracted by Ananda's pleasantness and hence gained faith in Buddhism. This is the best case of propagating Buddhism by example.
There were many stories about Ananda. Ananda gained Enlightenment just the day before the first council. In the first council he recited the sutras for compilation. He became the chief monk after Mahakasyapa passed on the authority to him. At age 120, he entered final Nirvana at the River Granges which ran between two cities to pacify a war.
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Ananda, Ref: Dong Zen Temple, Jenjarom, Selangor. File: 09disciple-a.jpg, Date: 02 November 2008 |
When Upali was about 20, the Buddha returned to Kapilavastu to visit his father. The Buddha had a haircut from Upali. Upali was so nervous that he brought his mom along. During the haircut, Upali's mom asked the Buddha, "How is Upali's skill?" The Buddha replied, "the body is too crooked." Upali immediately straightened his body, and attained the first level of mindfulness. After a while, Upali's mother asked again, and the Buddha replied, "Now the body is too straight." Upali relieved his tension and attained the second level of mindfulness. After a while, Upali's mother asked again, and the Buddha replied, "the in breath is too brisk." Upali quickly concentrated his breath on the in breath, and attained the third level of mindfulness. After a while, Upali's mother asked again, and the Buddha replied, "the out breath is too brisk." Upali now conquered all his stray thoughts and attained the fourth level of mindfulness. The Buddha quickly added, "Someone should quickly take the knife away from Upali, he is already in the fourth level of mindfulness, help him so that he will not fall on the floor!"
Upali was ordained before the seven princes. He became the foremost in upkeeping the precepts, never breaking any of them. He was often asked by the Buddha to settle disputes among the Sangha. Upali's impartialness and strictness made him successful in all cases. Upali also consulted the Buddha in many precept doubts and monastic way of life, giving rise to many sutras.
Upali was in his seventies at the first council. He helped with the compilation of the Vinaya.
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Upali, Ref: Dong Zen Temple, Jenjarom, Selangor. File: 10disciple-a.jpg, Date: 02 November 2008 |