Great Disciples of the Buddha

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Ben
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Great Disciples of the Buddha

Post by Ben »

Speaking of 'Dhammic Stories', I have found the publication Great Disciples of the Buddha: their lives, their works & their legacy by Nyaniponika Thera, Hellmuth Hucker and edited by Bhikkhu Bodhi, very inspiring.
The work includes biographical sketches of:
  • Sariputta
    Mahamoggalana
    Mahakassapa
    Ananda
    Anuruddha
    Mahakaccana
    Great Women disciples inc:
    • Visaka
      Mallika
      Khema
      Bhadda Kundalakesa
      Kisagotami
      Sona
      Nanda
      Queen Samavati
      Patacara
      Ambapali
      Sirima and Uttara
      Isidasi
    Angulimala
    Anathapindika
    Householder Citta
    Bhikkhu Citta
    Father and Mother Nakula
Most, if not all may be available from www.accesstoinsight.org.
I highly recommend them.
Kind regards

Ben
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

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retrofuturist
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Re: Great Disciples of the Buddha

Post by retrofuturist »

Greetings Ben,

Another book I have read along similar lines is "Relatives and Disciples of the Buddha" by Radhika Abeysekera.

It is also available online to read at http://mail.saigon.com/~anson/ebud/rdbud/rdbud-00.htm

I suspect this one is probably aimed at a slightly younger audience than the one you refer to above, but it's still very readable as an adult.

Metta,
Retro. :)
"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
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sherubtse
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Re: Great Disciples of the Buddha

Post by sherubtse »

Ben wrote:Speaking of 'Dhammic Stories', I have found the publication Great Disciples of the Buddha: their lives, their works & their legacy by Nyaniponika Thera, Hellmuth Hucker and edited by Bhikkhu Bodhi, very inspiring.

Ben
Yes, it is great book. I have read it several times and throughly enjoy it each time. There is much in it to help a Buddhist live according to the Dhamma. In other words, it has much practical advice and illustrations about how to live one's life, based upon how the great disciples have lived.

With metta,
Sherubtse
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Nicholas Weeks
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Re: Great Disciples of the Buddha

Post by Nicholas Weeks »

Was dipping into this uplifting book today, so am bumping the thread up into easy view again. It is still in print I assume, also e-book format.
Good and evil have no fixed form. It's as easy to turn from doing bad to doing good as it is to flip over the hand from the back to the palm. It's simply up to us to do it. Master Hsuan Hua.
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Nicholas Weeks
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Re: Great Disciples of the Buddha

Post by Nicholas Weeks »

An excerpt:
Venerable Sāriputta, was second only to the Buddha
in the depth and range of his understanding and in his ability to
teach the doctrine of deliverance. In the Tipitaka there is no connected
account of his life, but it can be pieced together from the various incidents,
scattered throughout the canonical texts and commentaries, in
which he figures. Some of them are more than incidents, for his life is so
closely interwoven with the life and ministry of the Buddha that he plays
an essential part in it, and on a number of occasions it is Sāriputta himself
who takes the leading role—as skilled preceptor and exemplar, as kind and
considerate friend, as guardian of the welfare of the bhikkhus under his
charge, as faithful repository of his Master’s doctrine, the function which
earned him the title of Dhammasenāpati, Marshal of the Dhamma. And
always as himself, a man unique in his patience and steadfastness, modest
and upright in thought, word, and deed, a man to whom one act of kindness
was a thing to be remembered with gratitude so long as life endured.
Even among the arahants, those freed from all defilements of passion and
delusion, he shone like the full moon in a starry sky.
Good and evil have no fixed form. It's as easy to turn from doing bad to doing good as it is to flip over the hand from the back to the palm. It's simply up to us to do it. Master Hsuan Hua.
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Nicholas Weeks
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Re: Great Disciples of the Buddha

Post by Nicholas Weeks »

This sketch is by Helmuth Hecker:
MOGGALLĀNA’S PSYCHIC POWERS

In the eyes of its early Western interpreters, many of whom saw in
Buddhism a rational alternative to Christian dogmatism, Buddhism was
essentially a pragmatic code of psychological ethics free from the traditional
trappings of religion. In their understanding the suprarational side
of Buddhism was dispensable, and the wonders and marvels so conspicuous
in the canon and commentaries, when not overlooked, were explained
away as later interpolations. But while it is true that early Buddhism does
not ascribe the same significance to supernatural events as does
Christianity, to insist on expunging the miraculous altogether from
Buddhism is to tailor the Dhamma to fit external standards rather than to
accept it on its own terms. The Pāli suttas, as a matter of course, frequently
ascribe supernormal powers to the Buddha and his arahant disciples,
and there is little ground apart from personal prejudice for supposing such
passages to be interpolations. Although the Buddha compares the miracle
of psychic powers unfavorably with “the miracle of instruction,” he does
so not to detract from their reality but only to highlight their limited
value. Nevertheless, when the suttas are considered in their totality, the
clear conclusion emerges that the acquisition of paranormal powers was
regarded as a positive good which serves to enhance the stature and completeness
of the spiritually accomplished person.
Good and evil have no fixed form. It's as easy to turn from doing bad to doing good as it is to flip over the hand from the back to the palm. It's simply up to us to do it. Master Hsuan Hua.
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