SHARIPUTRA AND MOGGALLANA - Chief Disciples of the Lord Buddha

Two of the greatest saints to have ever existed, Shariputra and Moggallana were by far the most accomplished among the Buddha’s disciples, and also those closest to the Holy One. They are to be seen in numberless representations of the Buddha, standing on either side of Him.

Conceived and born on the same day from prominent families who, although from different castes and different villages, had close ties, the boys grew up side by side and gradually became inseparable. This magnetic relationship was to last throughout their entire lives.

Upatissa and Kolita, as they were then known, were model youths. Having received the best education available, they soon both acquired mastery over all the arts and sciences. Each had a following of five hundred youths of the best families, and together all enjoyed the pleasures of youth to the hilt.

One day, as they did each year, the boys and their retinues attended the traditional three-day Hilltop Festival, the main entertainment event of the year at Rajgir. Over the first two days, the boys were utterly enraptured by the goings-on and thoroughly enjoyed

themselves. By the third day, however, the enchantment began to wear out and both youths, simultaneously, began to question the validity of such trivial pursuits and decided there and then to become wandering ascetics, and to seek a deeper meaning to life and a cure to human suffering.

Their spiritual journey began under the tutelage of one Sañjaya, an ascetic Brahmin with a large following, who ordained the pair and taught them everything he knew. When they realised that he could not offer them the wisdom that they sought, they once again took up their path of wandering ascetics, in search of a higher truth that would thoroughly quench their thirst for complete deliverance.

On their quest, they met a good many wise men, with whom they engaged in philosophical discussions but each time, they were disillusioned as they invariably found that they themselves knew more than these teachers. And so, they decided to go different ways in order to double their chances of meeting a true master, with the understanding that as soon as one found the

right teacher, he would immediately inform the other. This was a time when the Buddha had sent out his first batch of sixty-one disciples to teach His Dharma far and wide. One of these was Assaji, one of the Buddha’s first five disciples. Destiny placed him on Upatissa’s path, who was so impressed by the former’s

countenance that he asked him who his teacher was, and what was the essence of his teaching. Assaji replied with these words: “Of all those things that come from a cause arise, Tathagata the cause therefore has told;

And how they cease to be, that too he tells, This is the doctrine of the Great Recluse.”

Upon hearing these verses, Upatissa became established as a stream-winner and likewise, and the same thing happened to Kolita when his friend recited them to him. And so the two, accompanied a group of two hundred and fifty ascetics, set out for the Bamboo Grove to find the Buddha.

When they arrived there, the Buddha was preaching the Dharma to a large crowd and, when He saw them approaching, He announced: “These two friends, Upatissa and Kolita, who are now coming, will be excellent disciples to me, a blessed pair.” And then to them, the Buddha said: “Come, O bhikkhus! Well proclaimed is the Dharma. Now live the life of purity, to make an end of suffering.” In this way did the Buddha ordain His new disciples, giving them the new names of Shariputra and Moggallana.

The Buddha instructed His new disciples, who withdrew into meditation. Within a week of sustained practice, Moggallana attained sainthood and within two weeks, so did Shariputra. The Buddha remarked that although the two had attained awakening through wisdom and meditation, the aspect of wisdom prevailed in Shariputra, while that of meditation did so in Moggallana.

The Buddha declared them His chief disciples, along with Ananda, adding that several Buddhas of the past had likewise been flanked by three principal disciples. From then on, Shariputra always stood to the Buddha’s right whenever the latter gave a teaching, and Moggallana to His left. Ananda acted as His attendant as well as repository of all His teachings - he could remember each one of them.

The Buddha often delegated His chief disciples to teach in His stead, a task of which they acquitted themselves to perfection. One memorable occasion of this occurrence was when the rebel Devadatta tried to

split from the Buddha’s Sangha, bringing five hundred monks with him to Vulture’s Peak, where he was to preach to them. The Buddha sent Shariputra and Moggallana to bring them back and set them once again upon the right path and so, while the renegade was asleep, the pair preached to the Sangha, who attained stream-entry and returned with them to the Buddha.

But the importance of their positions didn’t arouse pride in either of the two. Having complete control over their minds, they were no longer subject to negative emotions. On the contrary, they were both of great humility and generosity. Although they were

both fully accomplished Bodhisattvas, each one had prevailing qualities. Shariputra was a peerless scholar, who left a body of writing that exposed the Buddha’s teachings with incomparable logic and lucidity. On the other hand, Moggallana was known for his magical powers, second only to those of the Buddha Himself.

Shariputra and Moggallana spent many long years at the Buddha’s side, dedicating every instant of their lives assisting Him in every way conceivable, as their qualities and accomplishment came closer and closer to His. The Buddha was in His eightieth year when He left His body. Aware that the chief disciples of previous Buddhas had not outlived their master, Shariputra and Moggallana both passed away shortly before the Buddha, within a fortnight of each other.

Such were the qualities of Shariputra and Moggallana that the Buddha remarked after their passing that the Sangha now seemed empty, urging its members to always follow their example and cultivate the qualities that the two had so assiduously made theirs.