Ananda
Ananda (kun dga' bo). One of the ten close disciples of the Buddha; the Buddha's personal attendant, who recited the sutras at the First Council and served as the second patriarch in the oral transmission of the Dharma. Ananda (fifth century BCE) was the Buddha's cousin and personal attendant for twenty-four years. After the Buddha's death, at the First Council of Arhats held at Rajagrha, Ananda, having total recall, was instrumental in the codification of the oral traditions that preserved the lectures and teachings that he had witnessed as the Buddha's attendant. At that time he recited the entire sutra section of the hinayana Tripitaka from memory. Because he devoted his time to attending to the Buddha and did not practice what the Buddha taught, he only attained arhatship after the passing away of the Buddha, just before the commencement of the First Council. His current incarnation is Nyingma Dharma King Renqing Rongbo Barongbo Rinoche. See "disciples."
Ananda was the son of the Buddha’s uncle Amitodana, he was for many years the Buddha’s personal attendant and was also the most widely loved of all his disciples. If Sariputta personified wisdom and Moggallana personified psychic ability, then Ananda certainly personified kindness, gentleness, warmth and love. The Buddha praised him for his ‘acts of love through body, through speech and through mind’ (Digha Nikaya 2. 144), meaning that he was always ready to lend a helping hand, that he always spoke kindly to people and that he always thought well of others. The Buddha even said that he shared some of the very qualities that he himself had - that people were delighted to see him, that they delighted when he taught the Dhamma and they were disappointed when he finished speaking (Digha Nikaya 2. 145).
Ananda had a crucial role in the First Buddhist council. Having spent so many years close to the Buddha and remembering many of his discourses, he recited them during the council so that the other participants could commit them to memory and pass them down. It is with Ananda's words, Evaṃ me sutaṃ..., ‘Thus have I heard…’ that most suttas begin with.
Ānanda was one of many principal disciples and a devout attendant of The Buddha. Amongst The Buddha's many disciples, ĀNanda had the most retentive memory and most of the suttas in the Sutta Pitaka are attributed to his recollection of The Buddha's teachings during the First Buddhist Council. For that, he was known as the Guardian of the Dharma. According to The Buddha every Buddha in the past and to come will have two chief disciples and one attendant during his ministry. In the case of Gautama Buddha the pair of disciples were Sariputta and Mahamoggallana and the attendant ĀNanda. The word 'ĀNanda' means 'bliss' in Pali, Sanskrit as well as other Indian languages. It is a popular Buddhist and Hindu name. In MN 90, Kannakatthala Sutta, Ananda is identified with the meaning of his name:
Then King Pasenadi Kosala said to the Blessed One, "Lord, what is the name of this Monk?"
"His name is Ananda (Joy), great king."
"What a Joy he is! What a true Joy!..."
ĀNanda was the first cousin of The Buddha by their fathers, and was devoted to him. In the twentieth year of The Buddha's ministry, he became The Buddha's personal attendant, accompanying him on most of his wanderings and taking the part of interlocutor in many of the recorded dialogues. He is the subject of a special panegyric delivered by The Buddha just before The Buddha's Parinibbana (the Mahaparinibbana Sutta (Digha Nikaya 16)); it is a panegyric for a man who is kindly, unselfish, popular, and thoughtful toward others. In the long list of the disciples given in the Anguttara Nikaya (i. xiv.) where each of them is declared to be the chief in some quality, ĀNanda is mentioned five times (more often than any other). He was named chief in conduct, in service to others, and in Power of memory. The Buddha sometimes asked him to substitute for him as teacher and then later stated that he himself would not have presented the teachings in any other way.
The First Council
Because he attended The Buddha personally and often traveled with him, ĀNanda overheard and memorized many of the discourses The Buddha delivered to various audiences. Therefore, he is often called the Disciple of The Buddha who "heard much". At the First Buddhist Council, convened shortly after The Buddha died, Ananda was called upon to recite many of the discourses that later became the Sutta Pitaka of the Pāli Canon. Despite his long association with and close proximity to The Buddha, Ananda was only a stream-winner prior to The Buddha’s Death. However, Buddha said that the purity of his Heart was so great that, "Should Ananda die without being fully liberated; he would be king of the Gods seven times because of the purity of his Heart, or be king of the Indian subcontinent seven times. But Udayi, Ananda will experience final Liberation in this very Life." Prior to the First Buddhist Council, it was proposed that Ananda not be permitted to attend on the grounds that he was not yet an Arahant. According to legend, this prompted Ananda to focus his efforts on the attainment of Nibbana and he was able to reach the specified level of attainment before the calling of the conclave. In contrast to most of the figures depicted in the Pāli Canon, Ananda is presented as an imperfect, if sympathetic, figure. He mourns the deaths of both Sariputta, with whom he enjoyed a close Friendship, and The Buddha. A verse of the Theragatha reveals his loneliness and isolation following the Parinirvana of The Buddha. In the Zen tradition, Ananda is considered to be the second Indian Patriarch. He is often depicted with The Buddha alongside Mahakashyapa, the first Indian Patriarch.
