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8. Moggallana's Previous Lives

From Tibetan Buddhist Encyclopedia
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About his recollection of his own former existences, Moggallana spoke only once, in the 50th Discourse of the Middle Length Discourses (Majjhima Nikaya). With that text we shall deal in the following chapter.

In the Jatakas, the stories about the Buddha's former existences, it is reported that the Buddha-to-be and Moggallana had lived together quite often. In no less than thirty-one lives the Buddha and Moggallana had met, and in thirty of them Moggallana and Sariputta had lived together. So strong was the bond that already in previous lives had connected these three. To be sure, the thirty-one which have been recorded, is a very small number compared with the infinity of lives through which every being in Samsara has passed. Yet some general conclusions concerning Moggallana can be drawn from them. It is, of course, not possible to reproduce here these thirty-one Jatakas, with all their details and embellishments. Only some general points can be mentioned here, which are important for understanding Moggallana's life and personality.

The first thing we find from the Jatakas is his close relationship to the Bodhisatta. Moggallana and Sariputta were often his brothers (Jat. 488, 509, 543), his friends (Jat. 326), or his Ministers (J. 401). Sometimes they were his disciples as ascetics (J. 432, 522), or even his teachers (J. 539). Sometimes Sariputta is the son and Moggallana the general of the royal Bodhisatta (J. 525). When the Buddha was Sakka, King of Gods, they were the moon- and the sun-god respectively (J. 450).

The second point worth to be noticed is the relationship of Sariputta to Moggallana. When, in the Jataka stories, both are seen to traverse all the heights and depths of Samsara, they sometimes play quite inferior parts in relation to the main figures of the respective stories. There appears a certain lawfulness in the stories in so far, as in most cases the difference between them (e.g., in status) is larger to the degree in which their level of rebirth is lower and there is less difference when their rebirth is on a higher level. When reborn as animals, they rarely were equals (only as swans, in J. 160, 187, 215, 476) and mostly Sariputta was born in a higher species of animals. Thus they were snake and rat (J. 37), snake and jackal (J. 315), man and jackal (J. 490). When born as human beings in worldly careers, Sariputta was always in a higher position than Moggallana: as a royal prince and royal minister (J. 525), royal minister and son of a slave (J. 544), charioteer of the royal Bodhisatta and charioteer of king Ananda (J. 151). Once Moggallana was the moon god and Sariputta the wise ascetic Narada (J. 535). But when both are ascetics or deities, they are mostly of equal states. But once it happened that Sariputta was only the moon god and Moggallana the superior sun god (J. 450); once Sariputta was the king of the Nagas (serpent deities) and Moggallana the king of their foes, the Supannas (mythical birds of deity status) (J. 545).

The only time when Moggallana appears in the Jatakas without Sariputta, is a life in which he holds the office of Sakka, King of Gods. In Majjh. 37, he admonishes one of his successors to that office. At that time, as Sakka, he also appeared on earth to a miser in order to urge on him the virtue of giving and thus to lead him to a better rebirth (J.78). But another time, when Sariputta and Moggallana lived on earth, they were stingy merchants who had buried much money. After death, they were reborn close to their buried treasure, but as a snake and a rat. (J. 73).

There is also a story in which Moggallana was reborn as a jackal. Seeing a dead elephant, he was so greedy for its flesh that he crept through an intestinal aperture right into the elephant's belly, ate as much as he could, but was then unable to get out again, suffering mortal fear — an impressive symbol of the perils of sensual enjoyment. (J. 490).

In the famous Jataka about the Law of the Kuru people (J. 276), Moggallana is a keeper of grain stores and Sariputta a merchant. Both were very careful in observing the law of not-stealing.

Source

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