Pindola Bharadvaja (Piṇḍola Bhāradvāja) is an Arhat in Buddhism. According to the earliest Indian Buddhist

sutra ''Sutra'' ( sa, सूत्र, translit=sūtra, translit-std=IAST, translation=string, thread)Monier Williams, ''Sanskrit English Dictionary'', Oxford University Press, Entry fo''sutra'' page 1241 in Indian literary traditions refers to an aph ...

s, Pindola Bharadvaja was one of four

Arhats In Buddhism, an ''arhat'' (Sanskrit: अर्हत्) or ''arahant'' (Pali: अरहन्त्, 𑀅𑀭𑀳𑀦𑁆𑀢𑁆) is one who has gained insight into the true nature of existence and has achieved ''Nirvana'' and liberated ...

asked by the Buddha to remain in the world (Chinese: 住世) to propagate Buddhist law (

Dharma Dharma (; sa, धर्म, dharma, ; pi, dhamma, italic=yes) is a key concept with multiple meanings in Indian religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and others. Although there is no direct single-word translation for '' ...

). Each of the four was associated with one of the four compass directions. Pindola is said to have excelled in the mastery of occult and psychic powers. He was once remonstrated by the Buddha for misusing his powers to impress simple, ignorant people. Along with Ananda, Pindola preached to the women of Udena's palace at

Kosambi Kosambi (Pali) or Kaushambi (Sanskrit) was an important city in ancient India. It was the capital of the Vatsa kingdom, one of the sixteen mahajanapadas. It was located on the Yamuna River about southwest of its confluence with the Ganges at ...

on two occasions.Vin.ii.290f; SNA.ii.514; J.iv.375 In later centuries, the number of Arhats increases from four to

Sixteen Arhats The Sixteen Arhats (Chinese language, Chinese: 十六羅漢, pinyin: ''Shíliù Luóhàn'', Romanization of Japanese, Rōmaji: ''Jūroku Rakan''; Classical Tibetan, Tibetan: གནས་བརྟན་བཅུ་དྲུག, "Neten Chudrug") are ...

, then later on to 18. In Tibetan

Thangka A ''thangka'', variously spelled as ''thangka'', ''tangka'', ''thanka'', or ''tanka'' (; Tibetan: ཐང་ཀ་; Nepal Bhasa: पौभा), is a Tibetan Buddhist painting on cotton, silk appliqué, usually depicting a Buddhist deity, scene, ...

paintings depicting the 18 Arhats, Pindola Bharadvaja is usually depicted holding a book and begging bowl.

Regional Influence

Japan

In Japan, Pindola is called , a short form of , and is arguably the most popular of all the Arhats. The monastery refectory near

Tōdai-ji is a Buddhist temple complex that was once one of the powerful Nanto Shichi Daiji, Seven Great Temples, located in the city of Nara, Nara, Nara, Japan. Though it was originally founded in the year 738 CE, Tōdai-ji was not opened until the year ...

Temple at

Nara The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an " independent federal agency of the United States government within the executive branch", charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It i ...

has a large wooden statue of Binzuru, depicting him seated in the

lotus position Lotus position or Padmasana ( sa, पद्मासन, translit=padmāsana) is a cross-legged sitting meditation pose from ancient India, in which each foot is placed on the opposite thigh. It is an ancient asana in yoga, predating hatha ...

. Statues of him are usually well worn, since the faithful follow the custom of rubbing a part of the effigy corresponding to the sick parts of their bodies, as he is reputed to have the gift of healing.

Nagano Nagano may refer to: Places * Nagano Prefecture, a prefecture in Japan ** Nagano (city), the capital city of the same prefecture *** Nagano 1998, the 1998 Winter Olympics *** Nagano Olympic Stadium, a baseball stadium in Nagano *** Nagano Universi ...

, whose Zenkoji temple also hosts a well-worn Binzuru statue, stages a yearly Binzuru festival. He is also very frequently offered red and white bibs and children's caps to watch over the health of babies, so that his statue is often decked in rags. He is represented in painting as an old man seated on a rock, holding in his hand a sort of sceptre (a Japanese ''

shaku Shaku may refer to: * Shaku (unit) * Shaku (ritual baton) * Buddhist surname In East Asian Buddhism, monks and nuns usually adopt a Buddhist surname and a Dharma name, which are combined in the surname-first East-Asian naming order. Since the 4th c ...

)'', or a sutra box and a feather fan. All the other Arahants are usually worshipped in Japan in his person.

Chinese Buddhism

In Chinese community, Pindola is usually called Bīntóulú ( zh, t=賓頭盧, s=宾头卢), who is regarded as the "First in Blessings" (福田第一) disciple of Sakyamuni Buddha. His image is sometimes placed in a prominent position during any gatherings of monastics who share a vegetarian feast.

Tibetan Buddhism

Pindola Bharadvaja (Skt. Piṇḍolabhāradvāja; Tib. པིཎྜོ་ལ་བྷཱ་ར་དྭཱ་ཛཿ བྷ་ར་དྷྭ་ཛ་བསོད་སྙོམས་ལེན་, Bharadodza Sönyom Le; Wyl. bha ra dhwa dza bsod snyoms len) — one of the Sixteen Arhats. Born into a family of royal chaplains, he found no meaning in this life. Seeing the gifts and favours that were bestowed on the Buddha's disciples he had decided to become a monk. At first he was very greedy, and went about with a large alms bowl, however, following the Buddha's personal advice he conquered his greed and lived strictly on whatever he received and soon became an arhat. He constantly showed his gratitude to the Buddha by obeying his words and working only for the benefit of others. Pindola Bharadvaja lives in a mountain cave on the eastern continent (Purvavideha) with 1,000 arhats. He carries a scripture in his right hand and an alms bowl in his left which he uses to aid those in the lower realms, conferring wisdom and granting wishes, protecting from misfortune

India

Notes

{{authority control Disciples of Gautama Buddha Arhats