The Buddha's Chief Disciples

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From Buddhist Encyclopedia

It begins at two brahmanical villages in India, called Upatissa and Kolita, which lay not far from the city Rajagaha. Before Gautama Buddha appeared in our world a brahman lady named Sari, living in Upatissa village, conceived; and also, on the same day at Kolita village, did another brahman lady whose name was Moggalli. The two families were closely connected, having been friends with one another for seven generations. From the first day of their pregnancy the families gave due care to the mothers-to-be, and after ten months both women gave birth to boys, on the same day. On the name-giving day the child of the brahman lady Sari received the name Upatissa, as he was a son of the foremost family of that village; and for the same reason Moggalli's son was named Kolita.

When the boys grew up they were educated, and acquired mastery of all the sciences. Each of them had a following of five hundred brahman youths, and when they went to the river or park for sport and recreation, Upatissa used to go with five hundred palanquins, and Kolita with five hundred carriages.

Now at Rajagaha there was an annual event called the Hilltop Festival. Seats were arranged for both youths and they sat together to witness the celebrations. When there was occasion for laughter, they laughed; when the spectacles were exciting, they became excited; and they paid their fees for the extra shows. In this manner they enjoyed the festival for a second day; but on the third day their understanding was awakened and they could no longer laugh or get excited, nor did they feel inclined to pay for extra shows as they had done on the first days. Each of them had the same thought:

"What is there to look at here? Before these people have reached a hundred years they will all have come to death. What we ought to do is to seek for a teaching of deliverance."

It was with such thoughts in mind that they took their seats at the festival. Then Kolita said to Upatissa:

"How is this, my dear Upatissa? You are not as happy and joyous as you were on the other days. You seem now to be in a discontented mood, What is on your mind?"

"My dear Kolita, to look at these things here is of no benefit at all. it is utterly worthless! I ought to seek a teaching of deliverance for myself. That, my Kolita, is what I was thinking, seated here. But you, Kolita, seem to be discontented, too."

And Kolita replied:

"Just as you have said, I also feel."

When he knew that his friend had the same inclinations, Upatissa said:

"That was a good thought of ours. But for those who seek a teaching of deliverance there is only one thing to do: to leave home and become ascetics. But under whom shall we live the ascetic life?"

At that time, there lived at Rajagaha an ascetic of the Sect of the Wanderers (Pali: paribbajaka), called Sañjaya, who had a great following of pupils. Deciding to get ordination under him, Upatissa and Kolita went there, each with his own following of five hundred Brahman youths and all of them received ordination from Sañjaya. And from the time of their ordination under him, Sañjaya's reputation and support increased abundantly.

Within a short time the two friends had learned Sañjaya's entire doctrine and they asked him :

"Master, does your doctrine go so far only, or is there something beyond?"

Sañjaya replied:

"So far only it goes. You know all."

Hearing this, they thought to themselves:

"If that is the case, it is useless to continue the holy life under him. We have gone forth from home to seek a teaching of deliverance. Under him we cannot find it. But India is vast; if we wander through villages, towns and cities we shall certainly find a master who can show us the teaching of deliverance."

And after that, whenever they heard that there were wise ascetics or brahmans at this or that place, they went and discussed with them. But there was none who was able to answer their questions, while they were able to reply to those who questioned them.

Having thus traveled they turned back, and arriving at their old place they agreed between them that he who should attain to the deathless state first, should inform the other. It was a pact of brotherhood, born of the deep friendship between the two young men.

Some time after they had made that agreement, the Buddha, came to Rajagaha. It was when he had delivered the Fire Sermon at Gaya Peak that he remembered his promise, given before his enlightenment to King Bimbisara, that he would come to Rajagaha again when he had attained his goal. So in stages the Buddha journeyed from Gaya to Rajagaha, and having received from King Bimbisara the Bamboo Grove Monastery (Veluvana) he resided there.

Among the sixty-one Arahants whom the Buddha had sent forth to proclaim to the world the virtues of the Triple Gem, there was the Elder Assaji, who had returned to Rajagaha from his wanderings, and when one morning he was going for alms in the city he was seen by Upatissa, who was on his way to the Paribbajaka ascetic's monastery. Struck by Assaji's dignified and serene appearance, Upatissa thought:

"Never before have I seen such a monk. He must be one of those who are Arahants, or on the way to Arahantship. Should I not approach him and ask, 'Under whom have you been ordained? Who is your teacher and whose teaching do you profess?'"

But then he thought:

"It is not the proper time now for putting questions to this monk, as he is going for alms through the streets. I had better follow behind him, after the manner of supplicants."

And he did so. Then, when the Elder Assaji had gathered his almsfood, and Upatissa saw him going to another place intending to sit down and take his meal, he prepared for him his own ascetic's seat that he carried with him, and offered it to the Elder. The Elder Assaji took his meal, after which Upatissa served him with water from his own water-container, and in that way performed towards Assaji the duties of a pupil to a teacher.

After they had exchanged the usual courteous greetings. Upatissa said:

"Serene are your features, friend. Pure and bright is your complexion. Under whom, friend, have you gone forth as an ascetic? Who is your teacher and whose doctrine do you profess?"

Assaji replied:

"There is, O friend, the Great Recluse, the scion of the Sakyas, who has gone forth from the Sakya clan. Under that Blessed One I have gone forth. That Blessed One is my teacher and it is his Dharma that I profess."

"What does the venerable one's master teach, what does he proclaim?"

Questioned thus, the Elder Assaji thought to himself:

"These wandering ascetics are opposed to the Buddha's dispensation. I shall show him how profound this dispensation is".

So he said:

"I am but new to the training, friend. It is not long since I went forth from home, and I came but recently to this teaching and discipline. I cannot explain the Dharma in detail to you."

The wanderer replied:

"I am called Upatissa, friend. Please tell me according to your ability, be it much or little. It will be my task to penetrate its meaning by way of a hundred or a thousand methods."

And he added:

"Be it little or much that you can tell,

the meaning only, please proclaim to me!

To know the meaning is my sole desire;

Of no avail to me are many words."

In response, the Elder Assaji uttered this stanza:

"Of all those things that from a cause arise,

Tathagata the cause thereof has told;

And how they cease to be, that too he tells,

This is the doctrine of the Great Recluse."

Upon hearing the first two lines, Upatissa became established in the path of Stream-entry, and to the ending of the last two lines he already listened as a Stream-winner.

When he become a Stream-winner, and before he had achieved the higher attainments, he thought:

"Here will the means of deliverance be found!"

And he said to the Elder Assaji:

"Do not enlarge upon this exposition of the Dharma, Venerable Sir. This will suffice. But where does our Master live?"

"In the Bamboo Grove Monastery, wanderer."

"Then please go on ahead, Venerable Sir. I have a friend with whom I agreed that he who should reach the Deathless State first, should tell the other. I shall inform him, and together we shall follow on the road you went and shall come into the Master's presence."

Upatissa then prostrated himself at the Elder's feet, saluted him and, taking the Elder's leave, went back to the park of the Wandering Ascetics.

Kolita saw him approaching and thought:

"Today my friend's appearance is quite changed. Surely, he must have found the Deathless State!"

And when he asked him about it, Upatissa replied:

"Yes, friend, the Deathless State has been found!"

And he recited to him the stanza he had heard. At the end of the verse, Kolita was established in the Fruition of Stream-entry and he asked:

"Where, my dear, does the Master live?"

"I learned from our teacher, the Elder Assaji, that he lives at the Bamboo Grove Monastery."

"Then let us go, Upatissa, and see the Master."

But Sariputra was one who always respected his teacher, and therefore he said to his friend:

"First, my dear, we shall go to our teacher, the Wanderer Sañjaya, and tell him that we have found the Deathless. If he can grasp it, he will penetrate to the Truth. And even if he does not he may, out of confidence in us, come with us to see the Master; and hearing the Buddha's teaching, he will attain to the penetration of the Path and Fruition."

So both of them went to Sanjaya and said:

"Oh, our teacher! What are you doing? A Buddha has appeared in the world! Well proclaimed is his teaching and in right conduct lives his community of monks. Let us go and see the Master of the Ten Powers!"

"What are you saying, my dear?"

Sanjaya exclaimed. And refusing to go with them he spoke to them of the gain and fame they would enjoy if they would share his, the teacher's, place.

But they said:

"Oh, we should not mind always remaining in the state of pupils! But you, O teacher, you must know whether to go or not!"

Then Sanjaya thought:

"If they know so much, they will not listen to what I say."

And realizing that, he replied:

"You may go then, but I cannot."

"Why not, O teacher?"

"I am a teacher of many. If I were to revert to the state of a disciple, it would be as if a huge water tank were to change into a small pitcher. I cannot live the life of a pupil now."

"Do not think like that, O teacher!"

"Let it be, my dear. You may go, but I cannot."

"Oh teacher! When a Buddha appear in the world, people flock to him in large crowds and pay homage to him, carrying incense and flowers. We too shall go there. And then what will happen to you?"

To which Sañjaya replied:

"What do you think, my pupils: are there more fools in this world, or more wise people?"

"Fools there are many, O teacher, and the wise are few."

"If that is so, my friends, then the wise ones will go to the wise recluse Gautama, and the fools will come to me, the fool. You may go now, but I shall not."

So the two friends left, saying:

"You will come to understand your mistake, O teacher!"

And after they had gone there was a split among Sanjaya's pupils, and his monastery became almost empty. Seeing his place empty, Sañjaya vomited hot blood. Five hundred of his disciples had left along with Upatissa and Kolita, out of whom two hundred and fifty returned to Sañjaya. With the remaining two hundred and fifty, and their own following, the two friends arrived at the Bamboo Grove Monastery.

There the Gautama Buddha, seated among the fourfold assembly was preaching the Dharma, and when the Blessed One saw the two coming he addressed the monks:

"These two friends, Upatissa and Kolita, who are now coming, will be two excellent disciples to me, a blessed pair."

Having approached, the friends saluted the Blessed One reverentially and sat down at one side. When they were seated they spoke to the Blessed One, saying:

"May we obtain, O Lord, the ordination of the Going Forth under the Blessed One, may we obtain the Higher Ordination!"

And the Blessed One said:

"Come, O bhikkhus! Well proclaimed is the Dharma. Now live the life of purity, to make an end of suffering!"

This alone served as the ordination of these venerable ones.

Then the master continued his sermon, taking the individual temperaments of the listeners into consideration; and with the exception of the two chief disciples all of them attained to Arahantship. But the two chief disciples had not yet completed the task of attaining to the three higher paths of sanctity. The reason for this was the greatness of the "knowledge pertaining to the perfection of a disciple" (Pali: savakaparami-ñana), which they had still to reach.

Upatissa received the name of Sariputra on becoming a disciple of the Buddha, while Kolita became known as Maudgalyayana.

Now the Venerable Maudgalyayana went to live at a village in Magadha called Kallavala, on which he depended for almsfood. On the seventh day after his ordination when he was doing the recluse's work of meditation, fatigue and torpor fell upon him. But spurred on by the Master, he dispelled his fatigue, and while listening to the Master expounding to him the meditation subject of the elements (Pali: dhatu kammatthana), he completed the task of winning to the three higher paths and reached the acme of a disciple's perfections (Pali: savaka parami).

But the Venerable Sariputra continued to stay near the Master, at a cave called the Boar's Shelter (Pali: sukarakhata lena), depending on Rajagaha for his almsfood. Half a month after his ordination the Blessed One gave a discourse on the comprehension of feelings to the Venerable Sariputra's nephew, the wandering ascetic Dighanakha. Venerable Sariputra was standing behind the Master, fanning him. While following with his thoughts the progress of the discourse, as though sharing the food prepared for another, the Venerable Sariputra on that occasion reached the acme of "knowledge pertaining to a disciple's perfection and attained to Arahantship together with the fourfold analytical knowledge (Pali: patisambhida-ñana)." And his nephew, at the end of the sermon, was established in the Fruition of Stream-entry.

Now it may be asked: Did not the Venerable Sariputra possess great wisdom; and if so, why did he attain to the disciple's perfections later than the Venerable Maudgalyayana? The answer is, because of the greatness of the preparations necessary for it. When poor people want to go anywhere they take to the road at once; but in the case of kings, larger preparations are required, as for instance to get ready the elephants and chariots, and so on. Thus it was in this case.

On that same day, when the evening shadows had lengthened, the Master caused his disciples to assemble and bestowed upon the two Elders the rank of Chief Disciples. At this, some monks were displeased and said among themselves:

"The Master should have given the rank of Chief Disciples to those who were ordained first, that is, the Group of Five Fortunate Ones. If not to them, then either to the group of two hundred and fifty Bhikkhus headed by Yasa, or to the thirty of the Auspicious Group (Bhaddavaggiya), or else to the three Kassapa brothers. But passing over all these Great Elders, he has given it to those whose ordination was the very last of all."

The Master inquired about the subject of their talk. When he was told, he said:

"I do not show preference, but give to each what he has aspired to. When, for instance, Ajnata Kaundinya in a previous life gave alms food nine times during a single harvest, he did not aspire to Chief Discipleship; his aspiration was to be the very first to penetrate to the highest state, the Arahantship. And so it came about. But when Sariputra and Maudgalyayana many aeons ago, at the time of the Anomadassi Buddha, were born as the brahman youth Sarada and landowner Sirivaddhaka, they made the aspiration for Chief Discipleship. This, O Bhikkhus, was the aspiration for these my sons at that time. Hence I have given them just what they aspired to, and did not do it out of preference."

See also

• Category:Disciples of the Buddha