THERAVĀDA

THERAVĀDA

Great arahant monk disciples

Th.212 Foremost monk disciples and their qualities

This list of foremost monks gives a good panorama of the kind of qualities found in Buddhist monks at the time of the Buddha.⁶⁶³

Monks, the foremost of my monk disciples in seniority is Aññā-koṇḍañña. The other foremost of my monk disciples are: among those with great wisdom, Sāriputta; among those with great psychic potency, Mahā-moggallāna; among those who expound the ascetic practices, Mahā-kassapa; among those with the divine eye, Anuruddha; among those of eminent families, Bhaddiya Kāḷigodhāyaputta; among those with a sweet voice, Bhaddiya the dwarf; among those with the lion’s roar (of fearless teaching), Piṇḍola Bhāradvāja; among those who speak on the Dhamma, Puṇṇa Mantāṇuputta; among those who explain in detail the meaning of what has been stated in brief, Mahā-kaccāna.

The foremost of my monk disciples are: among those who create the mind-made body, Culla-panthaka; among those skilled in mental transformation, Culla-panthaka; among those skilled in the transformation of perception, Mahā-panthaka; among those who dwell without conflict, Subhūti; among those worthy of gifts, Subhūti; among forest dwellers, Revata Khadiravaniya; among those who practise meditative absorption, Kaṅkhā-revata; among those who arouse vigour, Soṇa Koḷivīsa; among those who are excellent speakers, Soṇa Kuṭikaṇṇa; among those who gain (offerings), Sīvalī; amongst those resolved through faith, Vakkali.

The foremost of my monk disciples are: among those who desire training, Rāhula (the Buddha’s son); among those who have gone forth out of faith, Raṭṭhapāla; among those who are first to take meal tickets (chosen by lot), Kuṇḍadhāna; among those who compose inspired verses, Vaṅgīsa; among those who inspire confidence in all respects, Upasena Vaṅgantaputta; among those who assign lodgings, Dabba Mallaputta; among those pleasing and agreeable to the deities, Piḷindavaccha; among those who quickly attain higher knowledge, Bāhiya Dārucīriya; among those with variegated speech (illustrated with many similes and reasons), Kumāra-kassapa; among those who have attained the analytical knowledges, Mahā-koṭṭhita.

The foremost of my monk disciples are: among those who are learned, Ānanda; among those with a quick grasp, Ānanda; among those who are resolute, Ānanda; among those who are personal attendants, Ānanda; among those with a large retinue, Uruvela-kassapa; among those who inspire confidence in families, Kāludāyi; among those with good health, Bakkula; among those who recollect past lives, Sobhita; among the upholders of monastic discipline, Upāli; among those who exhort nuns, Nandaka; among those who guard the doors of the sense faculties, Nanda;⁶⁶⁴ among those who exhort monks, Mahā-kappina; among those with skill in the fire element (by meditative power), Sāgata; among those who receive eloquent discourses, Rādha; among those who wear coarse robes, Mogharāja.

Etad–agga-vagga: Aṅguttara-nikāya I.23–25, trans. P.H.

Th.213 The attainments of five hundred arahant monks, especially Sāriputta

On one occasion the Blessed One was dwelling at Sāvatthī, in the eastern park in the mansion of Migāra’s mother, together with a large community of monks, with five hundred monks, all of them arahants. Now on the holy day of the fifteenth (of the month), the Blessed One was sitting in the open surrounded by the community of monks in order to hold the Pavāranā.⁶⁶⁵

Then, having surveyed the silent community of monks, the Blessed One addressed the monks thus: ‘Monks, come now, let me invite you: Is there any deed of mine, either bodily or verbal, which you would censure?’ When this was said, Venerable Sāriputta rose from his seat, arranged his upper robe over one shoulder, and, raising his joined hands in reverential salutation towards the Blessed One, said to him: ‘Venerable sir, there is no deed of the Blessed One, either bodily or verbal, that we censure. Venerable sir, for the Blessed One is the originator of the path unarisen before, the producer of the path unproduced before, the declarer of the path undeclared before. He is the knower of the path, the discoverer of the path, the one skilled in the path. And his disciples now dwell following that path and become possessed of it afterwards. Venerable sir, I invite the Blessed One: Is there any deed of mine, either bodily or verbal, which the Blessed One would censure?’

‘Sāriputta, there is no deed of yours, either bodily or verbal, that I censure. Sāriputta, for you are wise, one of great wisdom, of wide wisdom, of joyous wisdom, of swift wisdom, of sharp wisdom, of penetrative wisdom. Just as the eldest son of a Wheel-turning monarch properly keeps in motion the wheel of sovereignty set in motion by his father, so do you, Sāriputta, properly keep in motion the wheel of the Dhamma set in motion by me.’

‘Venerable sir, if the Blessed One does not censure any deed of mine, bodily or verbal, does he censure any deed, bodily or verbal, of these five hundred monks?’ ‘Sāriputta, there is no deed, bodily or verbal, of these five hundred monks that I censure as of these five hundred monks, sixty monks are triple-knowledge bearers, sixty monks are bearers of the six-fold supernormal knowledges, sixty monks are liberated in both ways, while the rest are liberated by wisdom.⁶⁶⁶

Pavārana Sutta: Saṃyutta-nikāya I.410–414, trans. G.A.S.

Th.214 Chief disciples Sāriputta and Moggallāna

These two were friends in lay life and had been disciples of a skeptic teacher before becoming disciples of the Buddha. They promised to tell each other if either found a way to the deathless (Vinaya I.39).

My two chief disciples are named Sāriputta and Moggallāna.

Vepulla-pabbatam Sutta: Saṃyutta-nikāya II.192, trans. P.H.

Monks a monk endowed with faith, rightly aspiring, should aspire thus: ‘May I become like Sāriputta and Moggallāna!’ This is the standard and criterion for my monk disciples, Sāriputta and Moggallāna.

Āyācana-vagga 12, Sutta 1: Aṅguttara-nikāya I.88, trans. P.H.

Cultivate the friendship of Sāriputta and Moggallāna, monks, associate with Sāriputta and Moggallāna. They are wise and helpful to their companions in the holy life. ‘Monks, like a mother is Sāriputta; like nurse is Moggallāna. Sāriputta, monks, trains others for the fruit that is stream-entry; Moggallāna for the highest goal (arahantship). Sāriputta, monks, is able to proclaim, teach, describe, establish, reveal, analyse and make plain the four Truths of the Noble Ones.

Sacca-vibhaṅga Sūtta: Majjhima-nikāya III.248, trans. P.H.

Th.215 Sāriputta

Here we see some of the qualities of Sāriputta, who was also known as Upatissa. While extremely wise and discerning, he could let go of the process of thinking once in the second meditative absorption, and his calm and equanimity was such that, to undiscerning people, he might seem as having a dull mind, rather than a sharp one. He was noted, for example, for being able to analytically identify the ingredient processes of any experience.

Forests are delightful, where (ordinary) people find no delight. Those rid of desire will delight there; they are not seekers after sensual pleasures.

If one should see a seer of faults, a teller of one’s errors, a prudent man, one should associate with such a clever man like a revealer of treasure. It fares better, not worse, for one who associates with such a one. …

Near the foot of a tree, with shaven head, clad in outer robe, the elder Upatissa, supreme in wisdom, meditates.

Having attained to non-thinking (in the second meditative absorption), the disciple of the fully enlightened one is straightway possessed of noble silence.

Just as a rocky mountain is unmoving, well-founded, so a monk, like a mountain, does not tremble after the destruction of delusion. …

Calm, quiet, speaking in moderation, not conceited, he shakes off evil qualities as the wind shakes off the leaves of a tree. …

Having attained the perfection of wisdom, having great discernment, a great sage, not stupid but seeming stupid (to the undiscerning), he always wanders, (with the fires of the defilements) quenched.

Sāriputta’s verses: Theragāthā 992-993, 998-1000, 1006 and 1015, trans. P.H.

Th.216 Mahā-moggallāna

(Mahā-) Moggallāna reports that at the time of a past Buddha, he had been a Māra named Dūsī (Majjhima-nikāya I.333), yet was now awakened under Gotama Buddha.

Let us live in the forest, living on alms-food, delighting in whatever scraps come into our alms-bowl, tearing apart the army of death, being well-composed inwardly. …

(To Māra:) For whoever would think of painting the sky with yellow or any other colour, that is only a source of trouble.

This mind, well-composed inside, is like the sky. Evil-minded one, do not attack me as a moth attacks a bonfire. …

Urged on by the self-developed one, who was bearing his last body, I shook with my big toe the palace of Migāra’s mother (to quieten some lax and noisy monks⁶⁶⁷). ….

The flashes of lightning fall upon the cleft of Vebhāra and Paṇḍavas, but one gone to the cleft in the mountain, the son of the incomparable venerable one, meditates. …

By whom the thousandfold world, over the eon of Brahmā, is known in a moment, that monk, having mastery in the strands of supernormal power and in (knowledge) of passing away and rebirth, sees the deities in time.

Sāriputta, indeed, the monk who has reached the far shore, may be so supreme by reason of his wisdom, ethical discipline, and calm.

In a moment I can fashion the bodily form of 100,000 times 10,000,000 (people); I am skilled in (supernormal) transformations; I am master of supernormal powers.

Mahā-moggallāna’s verses: Theragāthā 1146, 1155–56, 1164, 1167 and 1181–1183, trans. P.H.

Th.217 Mahā-kassapa and Ānanda prepare for the first communal recitation of the Buddha’s teachings

This passage concerns the time soon after the death of the Buddha. The most senior and influential arahant disciple still alive was Mahā-kassapa, an austere and nature-loving monk who convened a group of arahants to recite the Buddha’s teachings to ensure their proper memory and transmission (this being generally known as the ‘first council’). The monk Ānanda, the Buddha’s personal attendant for many years (see *L.65 and *Th.212), had an excellent memory and knowledge of what the Buddha had taught, but he was not yet an arahant, though still a noble one on the path to this, being a stream-enterer. On the night before the assembly to chant the teachings, he made a special effort to become an arahant by meditating all night. At the point where he had just given up his efforts, which must have been too forceful, and was lying down to sleep for a short while, he attains arahantship.

(Mahā-kassapa:) ‘Come let us, friends, chant Dhamma and Vinaya (the monastic discipline) before what is not Dhamma shines out and Dhamma is withheld, before what is not vinaya shines out and vinaya is withheld, before those who speak what is not-Dhamma become strong and those who speak Dhamma become feeble, before those who speak what is not-vinaya become strong and those who speak vinaya become feeble.’ ‘Well then, honoured sir, let the elder select monks.’

Then Venerable Mahā-kassapa selected five hundred arahants, less one. Monks spoke to Venerable Mahā-kassapa: ‘Honoured sir, this Ānanda, although he is still a learner, could not be one to follow a false course through desire, hatred, delusion or fear; and he has mastered much Dhamma and Vinaya under the Blessed One. Well now, honoured sir, let the elder select Ānanda as well.’ Then Venerable Mahā-kassapa selected Venerable Ānanda as well. …

Then the monks who were elders went to Rājagaha to chant Dhamma and Vinaya. … Then Venerable Ānanda, thinking, ‘Tomorrow is the assembly. Now it is not suitable in me that I, being (only) a learner, should go to the assembly.’ And having spent much of that night in mindfulness in regard to the body, when the night was nearly spent, thinking ‘I will lie down’, he inclined his body, but (before) his head had touched the mattress and as his feet became free from the ground, in that interval his mind was freed from the intoxicating inclinations without grasping. Then Venerable Ānanda, being an arahant, went to the assembly.

Cullavagga XI.1–6: Vinaya II.285–286, trans. P.H.

Th.218 Ānanda

Of great learning, a brilliant speaker, attendant of the Buddha, having laid down his burden, unfettered, (Ānanda) Gotama lies down to sleep. …

82,000 (teachings) I received from the Buddha, 2,000 from the monks. These 84,000 are current teachings.

The man of little learning grows old like an ox; his flesh increases, but his wisdom does not increase.

The man of great learning who despises the man of little learning because of his learning, seems to me like a blind lamp-bearer….

For 25 years I served the Blessed One with deeds … words … and thoughts, of loving kindness, like a shadow that never leaves.

I paced up and down behind the Buddha while he paced up and down. While the Dhamma was being taught, knowledge arose in me.

Ānanda’s verses: Theragāthā 1021, 1024-1026 and 1041–1044, trans. P.H.

Th.219 A dwarf, but an arahant of great power

This passage makes clear that physical deformity can go hand-in-hand with great spiritual accomplishment. Then Venerable Bhaddiya the Dwarf approached the Blessed One. The Blessed One saw him coming in the distance and addressed the monks thus, ‘Monks, do you see that monk coming, ugly, unsightly, deformed, despised among the monks?’ ‘Yes, venerable sir.’ ‘Monks, that monk is of great spiritual power and might. It is not easy to find an attainment which that monk has not already attained. …

Geese, herons, and peacocks, elephants, and spotted deer, all are frightened of the lion regardless of their bodies’ size.

In the same way, among human beings the small one endowed with wisdom – he is the one that is truly great, not the fool with a well-built body.

Bhaddi Sutta: Saṃyutta-nikāya II.279, trans. G.A.S.

Great arahant nun disciples

The order of nuns with higher ordination (as bhikkhunī/bhikṣuṇīs) has survived into the present day in China, Taiwan, Korea and Vietnam, though in the Tibetan region women have only been able to take the lower ordination. Both forms of ordination for women died out in Theravāda lands around the thirteenth century, though women with a form of semi-ordained life have continued to exist there. The late twentieth century saw great efforts to revive the Theravāda order of full nuns, with the help of nuns from East Asia. The 1990s saw the order re-established in Sri Lanka, though it will take time before it is accepted by senior monks in all Theravāda countries, as there is debate over whether a revival is possible.

Th.220 The origin of the nuns’ monastic order

This passage recounts how the Buddha first allowed women to ordain as nuns, the request for this coming from Mahā-pajāpatī, his mother’s sister, who had brought him up after his mother died soon after his birth, and she had married his father. There is scholarly debate over the meaning, implications, and historicity of this passage. The ordination of women as Buddhist nuns helped raise the status of women in India.

Then Venerable Ānanda spoke to the Blessed One: ‘Venerable sir, are women competent, if they retire from home life to the homeless one, under the Dhamma and discipline announced by the Tathāgata, to attain the fruit that is stream-entry, to attain to the fruit that is once returning, to attain to the fruit that is non-returning, to attain to arahantship?’

‘Ānanda, women are competent, if they retire from home life to the homeless one, under the Dhamma and discipline announced by the Tathāgata, to attain the fruit that is stream-entry, to attain to the fruit that is once returning, to attain to the fruit that is non-returning, to attain to arahantship.’ ‘Venerable sir, since the women are thus competent, (also) consider, venerable sir, how great a benefactress Mahā-Pajāpatī Gotamī has been. She is the sister of the mother of the Blessed One, and as step-mother, nurse, and giver of milk, she suckled the Blessed One on the death of his mother. Venerable sir, let women retire from the home life to the homeless one, under the Dhamma and discipline announced by the Tathāgata.’

‘Ānanda, if Mahā-Pajāpatī Gotamī will accept eight weighty regulations, let it be reckoned to her as her ordination: (1) A nun of even a hundred years’ standing shall greet respectfully, rise to meet, entreat humbly, and perform all respectful offices for a monk, even if he be but that day admitted to the Sangha. This regulation shall be honoured, esteemed, revered, and worshiped, and is not to be transgressed as long as life shall last. (2) A nun shall not keep residence in a district where there are no monks. This regulation shall be honoured, esteemed, revered, and worshiped, and is not to be transgressed as long as life shall last. (3) On each half-month a nun shall await from the congregation of the monks the appointing of the day for reciting the monastic rules and someone to come and administer the admonition. This regulation shall be honoured, esteemed, revered, and worshiped, and is not to be transgressed as long as life shall last. (4) At the end of residence a nun shall invite criticism in both congregations in regard to what has been seen, or heard, or suspected. This regulation shall be honoured, esteemed, revered, and worshiped, and is not to be transgressed as long as life shall last. (5) If a nun has offended against a weighty rule, she shall undergo penance of half a month toward both the congregations. This regulation shall be honoured, esteemed, revered, and worshiped, and is not to be transgressed as long as life shall last. (6) When a female novice has spent her two years in the practice of the six rules, she shall seek ordination from both the congregations. This regulation shall be honoured, esteemed, revered, and worshiped, and is not to be transgressed as long as life shall last. (7) A nun shall not revile or abuse a monk in any manner. This regulation shall be honoured, esteemed, revered, and worshiped, and is not to be transgressed as long as life shall last. (8) From this day on the nuns shall not be allowed to reprove the monks officially, but the monks shall be allowed to reprove the nuns officially. This regulation shall be honoured, esteemed, revered, and worshiped, and is not to be transgressed as long as life shall last. Ānanda, if Mahā-Pajāpatī Gotamī will accept these eight weighty regulations, let it be reckoned to her as her ordination.’

Then Ānanda … approached Mahā-Pajāpatī Gotamī, having approached, he spoke thus to her: ‘Gotamī, if now you will accept these eight weighty regulations, it shall be reckoned to you as your ordination.’ ‘Venerable Ānanda, just as a woman or a man, youthful, young, and fond of ornament, having bathed his head, and obtained a wreath of blue lotuses, or a wreath of jasmine flowers, or a wreath of atimuttaka flowers, would take it up with both hands, and place it on the head, the noblest part of the body; Venerable Ānanda, in exactly the same way I do take up these eight weighty regulations, not to be transgressed as long as life shall last.’

Then Venerable Ānanda approached the Blessed One; and having approached and greeted the Blessed One, he sat down respectfully at one side. Seated respectfully at one side, Venerable Ānanda spoke thus to the Blessed One: ‘Venerable sir, Mahā-Pajāpatī Gotamī has accepted the eight weighty regulations; the sister of the mother of the Blessed One has been ordained.’

Cullavagga X.3–5: Vinaya II.254–255, trans. G.A.S.

Th.221 Foremost nun disciples and their qualities

Monks, a nun endowed with faith, rightly aspiring, should aspire thus: ‘May I become like the nuns Khemā and Uppalavaṇṇā!’ This is the standard and criterion for my nun disciples, Khemā and Uppalavaṇṇā.

Āyācana-vagga 12, sutta 2: Aṅguttara-nikāya I.88, trans. P.H.

Monks, the foremost of my nun disciples in seniority is Mahā-pajāpatī Gotamī. The other foremost of my nun disciples are: among those with great wisdom, Khemā; among those with psychic potency, Uppalavaṇṇā; among those who uphold the monastic discipline, Paṭācārā; among speakers on Dhamma, Dhammadinnā; among those who practise meditative absorption, Nandā; among those who arouse vigour, Soṇā; among those with the divine eye, Sakulā; among those who quickly attain higher knowledge, Bhaddā Kuṇḍalakesā; among those who recollect past lives, Bhaddā Kāpilānī; among those who attain great supernormal knowledge, Bhaddā Kaccāna;⁶⁶⁸ among those who wear coarse robes, Kisāgotamī; among those resolved through faith, Sigālamātā.

Etad–agga-vagga: Aṅguttara-nikāya I.25, trans. P.H.

Th.222 Khemā

In this passage, King Pasenadi wishes to visit a renunciant or brahmin, and is in time directed to the nun Khemā:⁶⁶⁹

‘Now a good report concerning this revered lady has spread about thus: “She is wise, competent, intelligent, learned, a splendid speaker, ingenious.” Let your majesty visit her.’

… [The king goes to her and asks her if it can be said of a Tathāgata that he ‘is’, ‘is not’, ‘both is and is not’ or neither is nor is no’ after death, but she does not accept any of these (see *Th.10 and 20).] ‘What now, revered lady, is the cause and reason why this has not been declared by the Blessed One?’

‘Well, then, Great king, I will question you about this same matter. Answer as you see fit. What do you think, great king … do you have an accountant or calculator or mathematician who can count the water in the great ocean thus: “There are so many gallons of water”, or … “There are so many hundreds of thousands of gallons of water”?’ ‘No, revered lady. For what reason? Because the great ocean is deep, immeasurable, hard to fathom.’

‘So too, great king, that material form by which one describing the Tathāgata might describe him has been abandoned by the Tathāgata, cut off at the root, made like a palm stump, obliterated so that it is no more subject to future arising. The Tathāgata, great king, is liberated from reckoning in terms of material form; he is deep, immeasurable, hard to fathom like the great ocean. [Hence the four above options on the Tathāgata after death do not apply; the same is then said replacing ‘material form’ by each of feeling, perception, the volitional activities, and consciousness. The king later asks the same question of the Buddha and receives exactly the same reply, as in *Th.10].

Khemā Sutta: Saṃyutta-nikāya IV.374–377, trans. P.H.

Th.223 Uppalavaṇṇā

Uppalavaṇṇā was very beautiful and sought in marriage by many before her ordination.

‘Having seen the peril in sensual pleasures, and renunciation as a form security, I myself went forth at Rājagaha from the house into the homeless state.

I know that I have lived before, the divine eye has been purified; and there is knowledge of the state of mind (of others); the (divine) ear-element has been purified;

Spernormal power too has been realized by me; I have attained destruction of the intoxicating inclinations: (these) six supernormal knowledges have been realized by me; the Buddha’s teaching has been done.

Having fashioned a four-horse chariot by supernormal power, having paid homage at the Buddha’s feet, the glorious protector of the word, I (stood on one side).’

(Māra:) … ‘you stand there alone at the foot of the tree; you have not even any companion; O child, are you not afraid of rogues?’

‘Even if 100,000 rogues like you were to come together, I should not move a hair’s breadth, I should not even shake. What will you alone do to me, Māra?’

Uppalavaṇṇā’s verses: Therīgāthā, 226–231, trans. P.H.

Th.224 A woman goes beyond her grief for her dead daughter and becomes an arahant

In these verses, a now awakened nun recalls how she had grieved at the death of her daughter, but the Buddha had said that she had grieved for many daughters in past lives, helping her to remove the ‘dart’ of grief and turn to the path of Buddhist practice.

‘In the wood you cry out: “O Jīva”. Ubbirī, understand yourself. 84,000 (daughters), all with the name Jīva, have been burned in this funeral fire. Which of these do you grieve for?’

‘Truly he has plucked out my dart, hard to see, nestling in my heart, which grief for my daughter he has thrust away for me, overcome by grief.

Today that (same) I have my dart plucked out; I am without hunger, quenched. I go to the awakened sage, the Dhamma and the Sangha as a refuge.’

Ubbirī’s verses: Therīgāthā 51–53,trans. G.A.S.

Th.225 A woman rejected by three husbands becomes a nun, and then an arahant

These verses paint a graphic picture of a woman rejected by three husbands and then ordaining as a nun who becomes awakened. In verses continuing from the ones below, she attributes her difficulties with her husbands to karma from a bad action seven lives ago: as a man, he had sex with the wife of another man. The karmic results of this were: rebirth in hell, then in turn as three animals who were castrated – a monkey, a goat and a calf – then as a hermaphrodite human slave, then as a poor girl taken as a second wife, then her final life as a woman rejected by her husbands. The verses thus illustrate the working of karma, sex-change across rebirths, and the ability to go beyond karmic limitations.

In the flower-named city, Pāṭaliputta, in the best part of the earth, there were two nuns, members of the Sakya clan, possessed of good qualities.

One of them called Isidāsī, the other called Bodhī, both possessed of ethical discipline, delighting in meditation and study, having great learning, with defilements shaken off.

Having wandered for alms, having made their meals, with washed bowls, seated happily in a lonely place, they uttered these words:

‘Noble Isidāsī, you are lovely, your youth has not yet faded. Having seen what fault are you then intent on renunciation?’

Thus being asked, Isidāsī in the lonely place, proficient in teaching the Dhamma, spoke this utterance: ‘Bodhī, listen to how I went forth.

In Ujjenī, best of cities, my father was a merchant, restrained by virtuous conduct. I was his only daughter, dear, and charming, and beloved.

Then from Sāketa came men, belonging to a most noble family, to woo me; a merchant with many jewels sent them. To him my father gave me as a daughter-in-law.

Approaching morning and evening I did obeisance with my head to my father-in-law and mother-in-law. I paid homage at their feet, as I had been instructed.

Having seen my husband’s sisters, or his brothers, or his retinue, even my one and only beloved, I trembled and gave them a seat.

I gratified them with food and drink and hard food and what was stored there. I brought it forth and gave what was fitting to each.

Arising in good time I went to my lord’s house. Having washed my hands and feet, upon the threshold I approached my husband, with cupped hands.

Taking a comb, decorations, collyrium, and a mirror, I myself adorned my lord, like a servant-girl.

I myself prepared the rice-gruel. I myself washed the bowl. As a mother her only son, so I looked after my husband.

My husband offended against me, who in this way had shown him devotion, an affectionate servant, with humbled pride, an early riser, not lazy, virtuous.

He said this to his mother and father: “Having taken leave I shall go. I shall not be able to live together with Isidāsī in one house.”

“Son, do not speak thus. Isidāsī is learned, clever, an early riser, not lazy. Son, why does she not please you?”

“She does me no harm, but I shall not live with Isidāsī; to me she is just odious. I have had enough; having taken leave, I shall go.”

Hearing his utterance my father-in-law and mother-in-law asked me: “What offence has been committed by you? Speak confidently how it really was.”

“I have not offended at all. I have not harmed him. I have not said any evil utterance. What can be done when my husband hates me?”

Downcast, overcome by suffering, they led me back to my father’s house, saying: “While keeping our son safe, we have lost the goddess of beauty incarnate.”

Then my father gave me to the household of a second rich man, belonging to a noble family, for half the bride-price for which the merchant had taken me.

In his house too I lived a month, then he too rejected me, although serving him like a slave-girl, not harming him, possessed of ethical discipline.

And my father spoke to one wandering for alms, a tamer of others and self-tamed: “Be my son-in-law; throw down your cloth and pot.”

He too, having lived with me for a fortnight, then said to my father: “Give me my cloth and pot and cup; I shall beg for alms again.”

Then my father, mother, and all the group of my relatives said to him: “What has not been done for you here? Say quickly, what may be done for you.”

Thus spoken to, he said: “Even if I myself were honoured, I have had enough; I shall not be able to live together with Isidāsī in one house.”

Allowed to go, he departed. I for my part, all alone, thought: “Having asked leave, I shall go to die, or I shall go forth (as a nun).”

Then the noble lady Jinadattā, expert in the discipline, having great learning, possessed of ethical discipline, on her begging round, came to my father’s house. ...

Having completely satisfied her with food and drink and hard food and what was stored there, I said: “Noble lady, I wish to go forth.”

Then my father said to me: “Child, practise the Dhamma in this very place; with food and drink satisfy renunciants and twice-born brahmins.”

Then I said to my father, lamenting, having cupped my hands: “Evil indeed was the action (of a past life) done by me. I shall destroy it”

Then my father said to me: “Attain awakening and the highest state, and obtain nirvana, which the best of humans realized.”

Having saluted my mother and father, and all the group of my relatives, when I had gone forth for seven days I attained the three knowledges.

Isidāsī’s verses: Therīgāthā 400–433, trans. G.A.S.

Great laymen and laywomen disciples

Th.226 Can laypeople be arahants?

It is notable that even the foremost lay disciples are at most described as non-returners, and as celibate but not ordained. While it is seen as possible for a layperson to attain arahantship, it came to be held that their lay status would then have to be changed immediately.

Unequal (to arahantship), sire, are the attributes of a householder. The attributes being unequal, it is owing to the weakness of his attributes that a householder who has attained arahantship either goes forth (as a monastic) or attains final nirvana (at death) that very day. This is not a defect in arahantship, sire, this is a defect in the householder’s attributes, namely their weakness. It is, sire, like the food that guards the life-span and protects the life of all beings, yet carries away the life of him whose stomach is out of order and has a sluggish and weak digestion, because it is not properly digested. This, sire, is not a defect in the food, this is a defect in the stomach, namely a weakness in its heat.

Milindapañha 265, trans. P.H.

Th.227 Foremost laymen disciples and their qualities

Monks, a male lay follower endowed with faith, rightly aspiring, should aspire thus: ‘May I become like Citta the householder and Hatthaka Āḷavī!’ This is the standard and criterion for my laymen disciples, Citta the householder and Hatthaka Āḷavī.

Āyācana-vagga 12, sutta 3: Aṅguttara-nikāya I.88, trans. P.H.

Monks, the foremost of my laymen disciples in being first to go for refuge are the merchants Tapussa and Bhallika. The foremost of my laymen disciples are: among donors, the householder Sudatta Anāthapiṇḍika; among speakers on Dhamma, the householder Citta of Macchikāsaṇḍa; among those who make use of the four means of drawing others together harmoniously and sustaining a retinue, Hatthaka of Āḷavī; among those who give what is excellent, Mahānāma the Sakyan; among those who give what is agreeable, the householder Ugga of Vesālī; among attendants of the Sangha, the householder Uggata; among those with unwavering confidence, Sūra Ambaṭṭha; among those with confidence in persons, Jīvaka Komārabhacca; among those who have trust, the householder Nakulapitā.

Etad–agga-vagga: Aṅguttara-nikāya I.26, trans. P.H.

Th.228 Citta the householder⁶⁷⁰

Citta, one of the two lay disciples that the Buddha urged other lay disciples to emulate, has a section of the Saṃyutta-nikāya dedicated to him (IV.281–304). He is portrayed as often having deep discussions with monks, in which he asks probing questions on deep matters, or is asked such questions by monks. He was a non-returner (IV.301) who, on his death-bed, when gods urged him to become a Wheel-turning monarch in his next life, said he was beyond such impermanent things, and taught the gods to have firm confidence in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha (IV.302–04). In the following passage, he is in conversation with Nigaṇṭha Nāṭaputta, otherwise known as Mahāvīra, the leader of Jainism at the time of the Buddha.

Nigaṇṭha Nāṭaputta then said to him, ‘Householder, do you have faith in the renunciant Gotama when he says, “There is a meditative concentration without thought and examination, there is a cessation of thought and examination.”’ (Citta:) ‘In this matter, venerable sir, I do not go by faith in the Blessed One … .’

When this was said, Nigaṇṭha Nāṭaputta looked up proudly towards his own retinue and said, ‘… One who thinks that thought and examination can be stopped might imagine he could catch the wind in a net or arrest the current of the river Ganges in his own fist.’

(Citta:) ‘What do you think, venerable sir, which is superior: knowledge or faith?’ ‘Knowledge, householder, is superior to faith.’ ‘Well, venerable sir, to whatever extent I wish, secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unwholesome states, I enter and dwell in the first meditative absorption, which is accompanied by thought and examination, with joy and easeful pleasure born of seclusion. Then, to whatever extent I wish, with the subsiding of thought and examination, I enter and dwell in the second meditative absorption … the third meditative absorption … the fourth meditative absorption. Since I know and see this, venerable sir, in what other, renunciant or brahmin, need I place faith regarding the claim that there is a meditative concentration without thought and examination, a cessation of thought and examination?’

Nigaṇṭha Sutta: Saṃyutta-nikāya IV.298, trans. P.H.

Th.229 Hatthaka of Āḷavī

Hatthaka, one of the two lay disciples that the Buddha urged other lay disciples to emulate, ‘could never get enough of seeing the Blessed One, hearing the good Dhamma and attending on the Sangha’, being a non-returner who, when reborn in a heavenly realm, taught Dhamma to many gods (Aṅguttara-nikāya I 279).

On one occasion, the Blessed One was dwelling at Āḷavī at the Aggāḷava shrine. Then Hatthaka of Āḷavī, accompanied by five hundred lay followers, approached the Blessed One, paid respect to him, and sat down to one side. The Blessed One then said, ‘Your retinue is large, Hatthaka. How do you sustain this large retinue?’

‘I do so, venerable sir, by the four means of drawing together harmoniously taught by the Blessed One. When I know, “This one is to be drawn by giving”, I draw him by giving. When I know, “This one is to be drawn by endearing speech”, I draw him by endearing speech. When I know, “This one is to be drawn by helpful conduct”, I draw him by helpful conduct. When I know, “This one is to be drawn by impartiality”, I draw him by impartiality. There is wealth in my family, venerable sir. They don’t think they should listen to me as if I were poor.’ ‘Good, good, Hatthaka! This is the method by which you can sustain a large retinue ….’

… [After the Buddha taught Hatthaka Dhamma, and he had left] the Blessed One addressed the monks, ‘Monks, you should remember Hatthaka of Āḷavī as one endowed with eight astounding and amazing qualities. What eight? He has faith; he has ethical discipline, and has sense of moral integrity and concern for consequences; he is learned, generous and wise; he has few desires (e.g. not wanting his inner good qualities known by others)….’

Hatthaka Sutta: Aṅguttara-nikāya IV.218–220, trans. P.H.

Th.230 Foremost laywomen disciples and their qualities

Monks a female lay follower endowed with faith, rightly aspiring, should aspire thus: ‘May I become like Khujjuttarā and Veḷukaṇṭakī (or Uttarā) Nandamātā!’ This is the standard and criterion for my laywomen disciples, Khujjuttarā and Veḷukaṇṭakī Nandamātā.

Āyācana-vagga 12, Sutta 4: Aṅguttara-nikāya I.88, trans. P.H.

Monks, the foremost of my laywomen disciples in being first to go for refuge is Sujātā, daughter of Senānī. The foremost of my laywomen disciples are: among donors, Visākhā Migāramātā; among those who are learned, Khujjuttarā; among those who dwell in loving kindness, Sāmāvatī; among those who practise meditative absorption, Uttarā Nandamātā; among those who give what is excellent, Suppavāsā the Koliyan daughter; among those who attend on the sick, the laywoman Suppiyā; among those of unwavering confidence, Kātiyānī; among those who are intimate (i.e. an intimate companion with her husband Nakulapitā), the housewife Nakulamātā; among those whose confidence is based on hearsay, the laywoman Kāḷī of Kuraraghara.

Etad–agga-vagga: Aṅguttara-nikāya I.26, trans. P.H.

Th.231 Khujjuttarā and Veḷukaṇṭakī Nandamātā

Of these two laywomen disciples praised by the Buddha, the first is said in the Itivuttaka commentary to have been the person who heard, remembered, and passed on the discourses in this 124 page text, and the Milindapañha (pp.78–79) says she could remember some of her past lives. The second is one who is praised by Sāriputta for being one who converses with gods, one of which praises her for chanting the Pārāyana, a 23-page section of the Sutta-nipāta. She retained her equanimity when her son was wrongly arrested, then executed and when her dead husband appeared to her. She was completely faithful to her husband, even in thought. Her other ‘astounding and amazing’ qualities were that:

Since I declared myself a lay follower, I don’t recall ever intentionally transgressing any training rule (of ethics). … For as much as I want, secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unwholesome states of mind, I enter and dwell in the first … second … third … fourth meditative absorption … . Of the five lower fetters taught by the Blessed One, I do not see any that I have not abandoned (hence, she was a non-returner).

Nandamātā Sutta: Aṅguttara-nikāya IV.66–67, trans. P.H.

663. See Nyanaponika Thera and Hellmuth Hecker, Great Disciples of the Buddha, Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1997, pp.1-244, and search for them by name at: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/ 

664. See *L.33. 

665. The ceremony marking the ending of the three-months ‘rains’ (Vassa) period of monastic retreat, when monks who have lived together for the Vassa ask forgiveness from each other for any offence committed, whether seen, heard or suspected. 

666. All these kinds of monks are arahants: the first have direct knowledge of past lives, of how beings are reborn according to their karma, and of nirvana and the other Truths of the Noble Ones; the second kind have these knowledges plus supernormal powers, mind-reading and the ability to hear at great distances; the third have experienced nirvana, the meditative absorptions and the formless attainments; the fourth have experienced nirvana and some of the meditative absorptions. 

667. Saṃyutta-nikāya V.269–70. 

668. The Aṅguttara-nikāya commentary (I.204–5) identifies her as the Buddha’s ex-wife. 

669. See Nyanaponika Thera and Hellmuth Hecker, Great Disciples of the Buddha, Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1997, pp.263–269. 

670. See Nyanaponika Thera and Hellmuth Hecker, Great Disciples of the Buddha, Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1997, pp.365–372.