External links
 | This Buddhist biography-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
Samavati was one of the queens of King Udena of Kosambi. Her servant Khujjuttara became a foremost female lay disciple when she sent her to hear the Buddha's teachings and tell her about the teachings. Samavati became so gladdened by Khujjuttara's discourse, she invited Buddha and his monks regularly to the palace to preach the Dharma to her and her 500 ladies in waiting. She became the foremost disciple in loving kindness and compassion.
| | This Buddhist biography-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
Ānanda was the primary attendant of the Buddha and one of his ten principal disciples. Among the Buddha's many disciples, Ānanda stood out for having the best memory. Most of the texts of the early Buddhist Sutta-Piṭaka are attributed to his recollection of the Buddha's teachings during the First Buddhist Council. For that reason, he is known as the Treasurer of the Dhamma, with Dhamma referring to the Buddha's teaching. In Early Buddhist Texts, Ānanda was the first cousin of the Buddha. Although the early texts do not agree on many parts of Ānanda's early life, they do agree that Ānanda was ordained as a monk and that Puṇṇa Mantāniputta became his teacher. Twenty years in the Buddha's ministry, Ānanda became the attendant of the Buddha, when the Buddha selected him for this task. Ānanda performed his duties with great devotion and care, and acted as an intermediary between the Buddha and the laypeople, as well as the saṅgha. He accompanied the Buddha for the rest of his life, acting not only as an assistant, but also a secretary and a mouthpiece.
Rāhula was the only son of Siddhārtha Gautama, and his wife and princess Yaśodharā. He is mentioned in numerous Buddhist texts, from the early period onward. Accounts about Rāhula indicate a mutual impact between Prince Siddhārtha's life and the lives of his family members. According to the Pāli tradition, Rāhula was born on the day of Prince Siddhārta's renunciation, and was therefore named Rāhula, meaning a fetter on the path to enlightenment. According to the Mūlasarvāstivāda tradition, and numerous other later sources, however, Rāhula was only conceived on the day of Prince Siddhartha's renunciation, and was born six years later, when Prince Siddhārtha became enlightened as the Buddha. This long gestation period was explained by bad karma from previous lives of both Yaśodharā and of Rāhula himself, although more naturalistic reasons are also given. As a result of the late birth, Yaśodharā needed to prove that Rāhula was really Prince Siddhārtha's son, which she eventually did successfully by an act of truth. Historian H.W. Schumann has argued that Prince Siddhārtha conceived Rāhula and waited for his birth, to be able to leave the palace with the king and queen's permission, but Orientalist Noël Péri considered it more likely that Rāhula was born after Prince Siddhārtha left his palace.
Mahā Kāśyapa or Mahākāśyapa was one of the principal disciples of Gautama Buddha. He is regarded in Buddhism as an enlightened disciple, being foremost in ascetic practice. Mahākāśyapa assumed leadership of the monastic community following the paranirvāṇa (death) of the Buddha, presiding over the First Buddhist Council. He was considered to be the first patriarch in a number of early Buddhist schools and continued to have an important role as patriarch in the Chan and Zen traditions. In Buddhist texts, he assumed many identities, that of a renunciant saint, a lawgiver, an anti-establishment figure, but also a "guarantor of future justice" in the time of Maitreya, the future Buddha—he has been described as "both the anchorite and the friend of mankind, even of the outcast".
Śrāvaka (Sanskrit) or Sāvaka (Pali) means "hearer" or, more generally, "disciple". This term is used in Buddhism and Jainism. In Jainism, a śrāvaka is any lay Jain so the term śrāvaka has been used for the Jain community itself. Śrāvakācāras are the lay conduct outlined within the treaties by Śvetāmbara or Digambara mendicants. "In parallel to the prescriptive texts, Jain religious teachers have written a number of stories to illustrate vows in practice and produced a rich répertoire of characters.".
Śāriputra ; born Upatiṣya ; was one of the top disciples of the Buddha. He is considered the first of the Buddha's two chief disciples, together with Maudgalyāyana. Śāriputra had a key leadership role in the ministry of the Buddha and is considered in many Buddhist schools to have been important in the development of the Buddhist Abhidharma. He appears in several Mahayana sutras, and in some sutras, is used as a counterpoint to represent the Hinayana school of Buddhism.
The brahmavihārās are a series of four Buddhist virtues and the meditation practices made to cultivate them. They are also known as the four immeasurables or four infinite minds. The Brahma-viharas are:
Khema was a Buddhist bhikkhuni, or nun, who was considered one of the top female disciples of the Buddha. She was born into the royal family of the ancient Kingdom of Madra, and was the wife of King Bimbisara of the ancient Indian kingdom of Magadha. Khema was convinced to visit the Buddha by her husband, who hired poets to sing about the beauty of the monastery he was staying at to her. She attained arahantship, the final stage of enlightenment, as a layperson while listening to one of the Buddha's sermons, a rare feat in Buddhist texts. Following her attainment, Khema entered the monastic life under the Buddha as a bhikkhuni. According to Buddhist tradition, the Buddha declared her his female disciple foremost in wisdom. Khema is considered the first of the Buddha's two chief female disciples, along with Uppalavanna. Her male counterpart was Sariputta.
Uppalavanna was a Buddhist bhikkhuni, or nun, who was considered one of the foremost female disciples of the Buddha. She was given the name Uppalavanna, meaning "color of a blue water lily", at birth due to the bluish color of her skin.
Visakha, also known as Migāramāta, was a wealthy aristocratic woman who lived during the time of Gautama Buddha. She is considered to have been the chief female lay disciple of the Buddha. Visakha founded the temple Migāramātupāsāda in Savatthi, considered one of the two most important temples in the time of the historic Buddha, the other being Jetavana Monastery.
Khujjuttarā was one of the Buddha's foremost female lay disciples.
Velukandakiya is considered one of the two standard-bearer lay female disciples of the Buddha, the other being Khujjuttara. She is known as the mother of Nanda. She is praised as the standard bearer lay female disciple in Samyutta Nikaya17.24, Only daughter.
Hastaka Āṭavaka, also known as Hastaka of Āṭavī, was one of the foremost lay male disciples of the Buddha..
Pūrṇa Maitrāyanīputra, also simply known as Pūrṇa, was an arhat and one of the ten principal disciples of Gautama Buddha, foremost in preaching the dharma.
Kaundinya, Kauṇḍinya, or Koṇḍañña (Pali), also known as Ājñātakauṇḍinya, Pali: Añña Koṇḍañña, was a Buddhist monk follower of Gautama Buddha and the first to become an arhat. He lived during the 6th century BCE in what are now Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, India. According to traditional accounts, at the time of Gautama Buddha's birth, he predicted his future destination as an enlightened teacher.
The Itivuttaka is a Buddhist scripture, part of the Pali Canon of Theravada Buddhism and is attributed to Khujjuttara's recollection of Buddha's discourses. It is included there in the Sutta Pitaka's Khuddaka Nikaya. It comprises 112 short teachings ascribed in the text to the Buddha, each consisting of a prose portion followed by a verse portion. The latter may be a paraphrase of the former, or complementary. Some scholars consider it one of the earliest of all Buddhist scriptures, while others consider it somewhat later. Latest translation by Anagarika Mahendra has been published in 2018.
Women in Buddhism is a topic that can be approached from varied perspectives including those of theology, history, anthropology, and feminism. Topical interests include the theological status of women, the treatment of women in Buddhist societies at home and in public, the history of women in Buddhism, and a comparison of the experiences of women across different forms of Buddhism. As in other religions, the experiences of Buddhist women have varied considerably.
Sundarī Nandā, also known simply a Sundarī, was the half-sister of Siddhartha Gautama, who later became Gautama Buddha. She became a nun after the enlightenment of her half-brother and became the foremost bhikkhuni in the practise of jhana. She lived during the 6th century BCE in what is now Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in India.
The Buddha was born into a noble family of the kshatriyas in Lumbini in 563 BCE according to Buddhist tradition. He was called Siddhartha Gautama in his childhood. His father was king Suddhodana, leader of the Shakya clan in what was the growing state of Kosala, and his mother was queen Maya Devi. According to Buddhist legend, the baby exhibited the marks of a great man. A prophecy indicated that, if the child stayed at home, he was destined to become a world ruler. If the child left home, however, he would become a universal spiritual leader. To make sure the boy would be a great king and world ruler, his father isolated him in his palace and he was raised by his mother's younger sister, Maha Pajapati, after his mother died just seven days after childbirth.
The ten principal disciples were the main disciples of Gautama Buddha. Depending on the scripture, the disciples included in this group vary. In many Mahāyāna discourses, these ten disciples are mentioned, but in differing order. The ten disciples can be found as an iconographic group in notable places in the Mogao Caves. They are mentioned in Chinese texts from the fourth century BCE until the twelfth century CE, and are the most honored of the groups of disciples, especially so in China and Central Asia. The ten disciples are mentioned in the Mahāyāna text Vimalakīrti-nideśa, among others. In this text, they are called the "Ten Wise Ones", a term which is normally used for the disciples of Confucius.
Mya Thwin, known as Mother Sayamagyi was a Theravada Buddhist teacher who has established centers for vipassana meditation around the world. She was a senior disciple of Ba Khin, a vipassana master, and fulfilled his aspiration to teach Buddhist meditation in the west.