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Uppalavanna
Utpalavarṇā (; Pali: ''Uppalavannā''; Chinese: 蓮華色, pinyin: Liánhuásè) was a Buddhist ''bhikkhuni'', or nun, who was considered one of the top female disciples of the Buddha. She is considered the second of the Buddha's two chief female disciples, along with Khema. She was given the name Uppalavanna, meaning "color of a blue water lily", at birth due to the bluish color of her skin. According to the Theravada tradition, Uppalavanna was born the daughter of a wealthy merchant. Due to her beauty, numerous wealthy and powerful suitors came to her father to ask for her hand in marriage. Instead of marrying, she entered the monastic life under the Buddha as a ''bhikkhuni.'' According to the Mulasarvastivada tradition, Utpalavarṇā had a tumultuous life as a wife and courtesan before converting to Buddhism and becoming a ''bhikkhuni''. Uppalavanna attained enlightenment while using a fire '' kasina'' as her object of meditation less than two weeks after her ordinat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Khema
Khema (Pali: Khemā; Sanskrit: Kṣemā) was a Buddhist ''bhikkhuni'', or nun, who was one of the top female disciples of the Buddha. She is considered the first of the Buddha's two chief female disciples, along with Uppalavanna. Khema 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 enlightenment as a laywoman while listening to one of the Buddha's sermons, considered 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. Her male counterpart was Sariputta. Background In Buddhist belief, when a fully enlightened Buddha appears in the world, he always has a set of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maudgalyayana
Maudgalyāyana (), also known as Mahāmaudgalyāyana or by his birth name Kolita, was one of Gautama Buddha, the Buddha's closest disciples. Described as a contemporary of disciples such as Subhuti, Śāriputra ('), and Mahākāśyapa (), he is considered the second of the Buddha's two foremost male disciples, together with Śāriputra. Traditional accounts relate that Maudgalyāyana and Śāriputra become spiritual wanderers in their youth. After having searched for spiritual truth for a while, they come into contact with the Buddhist teaching through verses that have become widely known in the Buddhist world. Eventually they meet the Buddha himself and upasampada, ordain as monks under him. Maudgalyāyana attains Enlightenment in Buddhism, enlightenment shortly after that. Maudgalyayana and Śāriputra have a deep spiritual friendship. They are depicted in Buddhist art as the two disciples that accompany the Buddha, and they have complementing roles as teachers. As a teacher, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mahamoggallana
Maudgalyāyana (), also known as Mahāmaudgalyāyana or by his birth name Kolita, was one of the Buddha's closest disciples. Described as a contemporary of disciples such as Subhuti, Śāriputra ('), and Mahākāśyapa (), he is considered the second of the Buddha's two foremost male disciples, together with Śāriputra. Traditional accounts relate that Maudgalyāyana and Śāriputra become spiritual wanderers in their youth. After having searched for spiritual truth for a while, they come into contact with the Buddhist teaching through verses that have become widely known in the Buddhist world. Eventually they meet the Buddha himself and ordain as monks under him. Maudgalyāyana attains enlightenment shortly after that. Maudgalyayana and Śāriputra have a deep spiritual friendship. They are depicted in Buddhist art as the two disciples that accompany the Buddha, and they have complementing roles as teachers. As a teacher, Maudgalyayana is known for his psychic powers, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Śrāvaka
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 (for example see Sarak and Sarawagi). 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.". In Buddhism, the term is sometimes reserved for distinguished disciples of the Buddha. Buddhism Early Buddhism In early Buddhism, a śrāvaka or śrāvikā is a disciple who accepts: * the Buddha as their teacher * the Buddha's teaching (the Dharma), including understanding the Four Noble Truths, ridding oneself of the unreality of the phenomenal, and pursuing nirvana. See, for instance, the '' Anguttara Nikaya''s seco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sankassa
Sankissa (also ''Sankasia'', ''Sankassa'' and ''Sankasya'') is an ancient city in India renown for the descent of Gautama Buddha from the Tushita heavens where he taught his mother before landing at Sankissa. Considered among the eight great pilgrimage sites, it was thirty leagues from Sravasti.''Dhammapadatthakathā'', iii, 224 Around 300 years after the Gautama Buddha's Mahaparinirvana, king Ashoka visited and built a Pillar of Ashoka of which the elephant capital survives. He also built a stupa and a temple commemorating the Buddha's descent from the heavens. The ruins of the stupa are still present, as is a temple of Vishari Devi and an ancient staircase. Sankissa has ruins of ancient Buddhist monasteries, and other monuments from Buddhist and Hindu traditions. The Briton Alexander Cunningham explored the site in 1842. Sankissa is now identified with Sankisa Basantapura on the north bank of the Ikkhumati river (Kalinadi), between Kampil and Kannauj. It is twenty- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pāli Canon
The Pāḷi Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhism, Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pāli language. It is the most complete extant Early Buddhist texts, early Buddhist canon. It derives mainly from the Tamrashatiya school. According to Buddhist tradition, during the First Buddhist Council, three months after the parinibbana of Gautama Buddha in Rajgir, Ananda recited the Sutta Piṭaka, Sutta Pitaka, and Upali recited the Vinaya Piṭaka, Vinaya Pitaka. The Arhats present accepted the recitations, and henceforth, the teachings were preserved orally by the Sangha. The Tipitaka that was transmitted to Sri Lanka during the reign of King Asoka was initially preserved orally and later written down on palm leaves during the Fourth Buddhist Council in 29 BC, approximately 454 years after the death of Gautama Buddha. The claim that the texts were "spoken by the Buddha" is meant in this non-literal sense. The existence of the Bhāṇaka tradi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saṃyutta Nikāya
The ''Saṃyutta Nikāya'' ("Connected Discourses" or "Kindred Sayings") is a Buddhist scriptures collection, the third of the five Nikāyas, or collections, in the Sutta Pitaka, which is one of the "three baskets" that compose the Pali Tipitaka of Theravada Buddhism. Because of the abbreviated way parts of the text are written, the total number of suttas/sūtras is unclear. The editor of the Pali Text Society edition of the text made it 2889, Bodhi in his translation has 2904, while the commentaries give 7762. A study by Rupert Gethin gives the totals for the Burmese and Sinhalese editions as 2854 and 7656, respectively, and his own calculation as 6696; he also says the total in the Thai edition is unclear. The suttas/sūtras are grouped into five ''vargas/vaggas'', or sections. Each ''varga/vagga'' is further divided into samyuttas/saṃyuktas, or chapters, each of which in turn contains a group of suttas/sūtras on a related topic. History Dating Bhante Sujato, a con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aṅguttara Nikāya
The ''Aṅguttara Nikāya'' ('; , also translated "Gradual Collection" or "Numerical Discourses") is a Buddhist scriptures collection, the fourth of the five Nikāyas, or collections, in the Sutta Pitaka, which is one of the "three baskets" that comprise the Pali Tipitaka of Theravada Buddhism. This nikaya consists of several thousand discourses ascribed to The Buddha and his chief disciples arranged in eleven "books", according to the number of Dhamma items referenced in them. Overview Translator Bhikkhu Bodhi wrote: "In Anguttara Nikaya, persons are as a rule not reduced to mere collections of aggregates, elements, and sense-bases, but are treated as real centers of living experience engaged in a heartfelt quest for happiness and freedom from suffering." (from Intro to Samyutta Nikaya) Parallel The Anguttara Nikaya corresponds to the ''Ekottara Āgama'' ("Increased by One Discourses") found in the Sutra Pitikas of various Sanskritic early Buddhists schools, fragmen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apadāna
The ''Apadāna'' is a collection of biographical stories found in the Khuddaka Nikaya of the Pāli Canon, the scriptures of Theravada Buddhism. G.P. Malalasekera describes it as 'a Buddhist Vitae Sanctorum' of Buddhist monks and nuns who lived during the lifetime of the Buddha. It is thought to be one of the latest additions to the canon.Oskar von Hinüber, ''Handbook of Pali Literature'', New Delhi 1996: 61. The exact meaning of the title ''Apadāna'' is not known. Perhaps it means 'life history' or 'legend'. In Pāli it has the additional, older meaning of advice or moral instruction. Dr Sally Cutler has suggested the word originally meant 'reapings', i.e. of the results of karma.Cutler, Sally Mellick (1994)The Pali Apadana Collection Journal of the Pali Text Society, volume XX The title is sometimes translated as the ''Biographical Stories'', or simply as ''The Stories''. The ''Apadāna'' consists of about 600 poems (between 589 and 603 in different editions), mostly biograph ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
