Ananda

The Venerable Ananda was Buddha's cousin and also a younger brother of the infamous Devadatta. He was very good at memorizing Buddha's teachings, so when Buddha's disciples gathered together for the recitation of his teachings after he passed away, Ananda was invited to recite.

Ananda was born on the same day on which Prince Siddhartha was enlightened and became Buddha. One day when Buddha was seeking a personal attendant, he said to his disciples, "I'm getting old now, and I need someone with me as my attendant at all times. So do you have any suggestion? Besides, he has to remember every word I say, for he needs to pass on my messages."

Buddha's disciple Ajnata-kaundinya, one of the first five disciples, stood up, folded his hands together and said to Buddha, "World-Honoured One, would I be permitted to serve you? Besides, I can remember your every word."

"Ajnata, you are old too," Buddha said to him kindly. "You should have someone else looking after you, so please return to your seat, Ajnata."

Ajnata then prostrated himself before Buddha, stood up and returned to his seat. Buddha's other disciples stood up together and said to Buddha, "World-Honoured One, we are willing to serve you for the rest of our lives." However, Buddha also kindly rejected their offer with the same reason he had given to Ajnata.

Maudgalyayana then entered into meditation to search for someone who was suitable for this job. He found one: Ananda. It seemed that Buddha had already had Ananda in mind, so Maudgalyayana stood up and addressed the other monks in a loud voice. "Venerable Ones, Venerable Ananda is the best choice for Buddha's attendant, because he is young, polite and smart. He can also memorize Buddha's every word. He treats everyone equally and kindly. So why don't we go to see him and ask his opinion?" All the monks agreed, so after they prostrated themselves before Buddha, they got up and went to Ananda's room. When they saw Ananda,they folded their hands together and made a half bow, the greeting among Buddhist monks, and then they sat down in his room. Maudgalyayana said to Ananda, "Venerable Ananda, do you know that Buddha would like to have you as his personal attendant? You are smart and intelligent, so you can memorize what Buddha says. It would be wonderful if you could accept this responsibility to be Buddha's personal attendant."

Ananda replied humbly, "I would be extremely honoured to be Buddha's attendant, but I don't think I'm qualified for it, because it's Buddha that we're talking about here."

Maudgalyayana again addressed Ananda sincerely. "Venerable Ananda, Buddha is like the udumbara flower that only flowers once in every three thousand years. It is extremely rare that anyone has the chance to even meet a buddha. So you must grasp the chance right now to be Buddha's attendant."

"If Buddha agrees to three conditions, then I'll take on the responsibility," Ananda replied. "First, I will not wear any of Buddha's robes, whether new or used. Second, if any devotee wants to invite Buddha to a feast, I will not go along. Third, when it is not the time to visit Buddha, I will not visit him."

Maudgalyayana bade farewell to Ananda and went back to Buddha's residence with all the other monks. Maudgalyayana reported their conversation to Buddha, who then praised Ananda. "Ananda is a person of virtue and high character. He made these three conditions first, because he doesn't want other people to think that he only wants to be my attendant because he desires my robes or good food. I totally agree with his requests."

Ananda was nineteen when he was chosen to he Buddha's attendant, and he followed Buddha for 27 years. He was highly respected by everyone in the assembly because he was polite and humble. He never boasted about his merits, nor did he talk about other people's shortcomings. He always did his best to help other people. When he discussed Buddha's teachings with other religious groups, he never criticised the doctrines of their belief. Instead, he only stated the good points of Buddha's teaching.

Three days after Buddha passed away, Ananda left for the city of Sravasti, where the compilation of Buddha's teachings was to take place. Kasyapa, another disciple, was chosen as the chairperson of the group. He rejected Ananda because Ananda had not yet attained enlightenment.

Ananda was quite upset. He went back to his room and started to work hard for his spiritual formation. Seven days later, he finally attained enlightenment (arhathood) and went back to the meeting room. When he walked onto the stage, there was a stir among the audience. Ananda, Buddha's cousin, resembled Buddha, and the radiance from his enlightenment made him look even more like Buddha, so that many people thought that either Buddha had returned from death, Ananda had become a buddha, or another buddha had arrived on earth.

In order to end the confusion, Ananda began each recitation with the phrase, "Thus I have heard," to indicate that it was still the same Ananda who was repeating Buddha's teachings. He himself was not giving any lecture or sermon, but was merely repeating Buddha's teachings. Thus, the confusion among the audience stopped.

One day when Ananda was 120 years old, he heard a young monk reciting, "I would rather live merely one day in the world to see a snow-goose, than live a hundred years without seeing it." Ananda corrected him by saying, "I would rather live merely one day in the world to perceive the meaning of life and death, than live a hundred years without understanding it." However, when the young monk went back and told his mentor, the old monk said that Ananda was wrong because he was senile and had a bad memory. The young monk came back and told Ananda about it. Ananda was quite upset. He felt that he had recited all the Buddha's teachings, but people were not doing their part in following them. What purpose was there for thim to live?Besides, all the top disciples had passed away, and he as the only one left. he then walked to the Ganges river between the states of Magadha and Vaisali, which were preparing for war. Ananda thought that if he passed away in either state, it would not share hisremains with the other state, which would only result in more fighting. Therefore, he decided to pass away above the river.

When his boat was approaching the middle of the river, the kings from both countries arrived at either side of the river. They shouted at Ananda, asking him to continue living. When the boat reached the middle of the river, Ananda jumped up to the sky and burned himself with a fire coming from inside his body. Because of this, the two states ceased warring against each other. His remains were divided, and each of the two countries kept half of his remains. Because of this, thousands of lives were saved.

Aniruddha

When Buddha returned to his hometown of Kapila for the first time, six years after leaving to search for enlightenment, it was a celebration for all the citizens there. They came out of their houses and lined up along the street where Buddha was going to pass, so that they could have a chance to see and to pay respects to this well-known sage and saviour, who was once their beloved prince.

During Buddha's stay, he preached to his father, members of the royal family, and also the general public. He noticed that his own brother, Nanda, was infatuated with his concubine. When Buddha had left the palace six years before, Nanda had been chosen to be the heir to the throne. Buddha felt that if Nanda took the throne, the nation would go downhill. He also felt that his own son, Rahula, was only a child and could not shoulder the heavy load of governing the nation. Therefore, Buddha wanted to have both of them join the community of monks. The right to the throne could then be shifted to someone more capable, and his hometown could have a brighter future.

Buddha accepted Rahula, Nanda and Ananda as his disciples. When these three young people left their homes to become monks, their families were shocked. In addition, young men from each of the other royal households also left to join the congregation because they were attracted to Buddha's teachings.

The departure of these young princes inspired Buddha's cousin, Aniruddha, to think of leaving home too. He went to visit his older brother Mahanama one day. "Every Sakya family has had one of their sons join the congregation of monks," Mahanama said to him. "No one from our family has done so. Therefore, it should be that either I stay home and look after the family and you become a monk, or that you look after the family and I join the congregation." "You are stronger and wiser than me," Aniruddha replied. "Since you are older, you have the responsibility to both our parents and this household. Therefore, you have to stay home, and I should leave home to join Buddha."

Seven days later, Aniruddha and several other princes left the palace with a servant named Upali. When they reached a forest, they told Upali to cut off their hair. They took off their clothes and donned monks' robes. They also gave the ornaments they were wearing to Upali, because they would not need these ornaments once they became monks, and because they wanted to show their appreciation for Upali's services as a barber in the palace for so many years. When they arrived at the place where Buddha told them to stay in a house for seven days to get rid of their self-identities as princes. After that, they could join the order.

When they came out of the house seven days later, they were officially ordained as monks. To their surprise, they discovered that Upali was among the assembly, dressed up as a monk. "Upali came to me and asked me to accept him," Buddha explained. "I agreed to his request. Since he joined the assembly before you did, he is a senior member, so you should prostrate yourselves before him to show your respect. Remember, becoming a monk means you do not have any trace of egoism." And so they prostrated themselves before Upali most sincerely.

One day, Aniruddha fell asleep during one of Buddha's lectures, and Buddha admonished him for missing a chance to hear one of his precious sermons. Aniruddha felt so embarrassed that he vowed before Buddha never to sleep again as long as he lived. Because he refused to sleep at any time, he slowly developed an eye ailment. Buddha heard about it, so he went to see Aniruddha. "During one's spiritual formation, one must still eat to sustain life, and sleep is the food for your eyes. All creatures need food to stay alive, and we need sleep to stay healthy, so you must sleep to protect your eyes."

"Buddha," Aniruddha replied, "I have vowed never to sleep again and I shall observe that vow." Several days later, he lost his eyesight completely.

Some time later, Aniruddha's robe was so torn that he needed a new one. Since he was blind, he could not do it himself, so he asked Ananda to weave a new robe for him. Ananda then went around and asked other monks to go to Aniruddha's house to help weave a new robe for him. When Buddha heard about it, he asked, "Ananda, why don't you ask me too?"

Ananda replied, "Buddha, you are very honourable, so how dare we ask you to do such work?"

Buddha replied, "Ananda, you shouldn't say that. You have to remember that I'm also a member of the congregation. Now I'm going with you to help Aniruddha, so you don't need to ask anyone else."

Ananda was moved by Buddha's words. They went together to Aniruddha's residence. When they arrived, Buddha said to Aniruddha, "Aniruddha, where are your needles and thread? I'm going to weave a new robe for you."

When Aniruddha heard this, he was touched by Buddha's kindness. His tears flowed, and he simply did not know what to say. Buddha's simple action touched everyone there. It showed that Buddha treated everyone in the assembly equally. Then out of his compassion, Buddha taught Aniruddha the power of the divine eye (a special power that allows one to see anything anywhere in this universe, including heaven, hell, distant universes, the future rebirth of all beings, etc.), so that he was able to see again.

One time, Aniruddha was so happy with this new power that he said to Sariputra, "Sariputra, my magical eyes allow me to see everything in this universe. My body can fly in the sky, and yet my tranquil mind is not tainted."

Sariputra admonished him. "You said that you could see all the worlds with your eyes, which was an indication of arrogance. You mentioned that you could fly, which was an indication of fantasy. You said that your tranquil mind was not tainted, which was an indication of conceit and ignorance. Anyone with these three cannot attain enlightenment."

When Sariputra finished talking, Aniruddha apologized to him for having said those words. After that, he never dared to talk about his enlightenment before other people.

One day, Aniruddha asked Buddha how to attain enlightment, and Buddha gave a sermon on eight ways to do it. The first was to observe the universe and this human world with the concepts of impermanence, suffering, selfishness and impurity. The second way was to observe that greed was the root of all suffering; only without greed could a person be emancipated and free. The third way was to be rid of all craving; one should have a simple life and seek wisdom. The fourth way was to seek blessing and wisdom and overcome all obstacles. The fifth way was to learn all knowledge and contribute one's knowledge to society. The sixth way was to provide material assistance and spiritual counselling to the poor and ignorant, without despising them. The seventh way was to live a simple life without being enslaved by one's five senses of sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch. The eighth way was to vow to redeem all lives, not just oneself, from the suffering of the world.

After Aniruddha heard all this, he constantly pondered what Buddha had said and finally found the path to enlightenment.