Let's look at the ways doubt can be a hindrance to our progress along the path to enlightenment and liberation, as well as a steppingstone to advancement.
Consider that there are ways that doubt can be overcome, noting two key examples of this in the Early Buddhist texts.
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It will happen this weekend -- as it has happened every year Coachella has convened for a weekend of sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll in the desert -- that two friends will grow weary of the worldly life and seek something more spiritual and meaningful to make an end of all further suffering.
Getting high, one can distract and delude oneself that one is being "spiritual," or that one's friends are on the right track and on the verge of a breakthrough in insight or understanding. But continued asinine behavior when they return to the suburbs and the big city proves that was just a "pipe dream," of the sort for which Alice in Wonderland was famous.
One parties, one explores hedonism with great zeal, one claims to be a "seeker," an atheist or agnostic, but something eats away at one, and it can't just be what parents and society inculcated.
Humans have an innate drive to make sense of things: Who am I? What am I? What is my purpose? WTF is the meaning of it all? Inquiring minds want to know.
Another year, another giant West Coast Woodstock festival
As has been pointed out in the past, we are neither Faith Quarterly nor Easy Answers Digest. We are on a quest, as many readers must be, to know things directly: What's the meaning of all this? Why do things happen? What's really going on in the human world? We know the mainstream media has been lying and filling our heads full of BS, and it's been going on our whole lives.
As members of The Empire, we have a far better chance of figuring things out than the victims of our American imperialism and its hegemony. It, therefore, behooves us to speak out, to protest, to speak truth to power, to stand up for the powerless, to point out our own U.S. hypocrisy and not just comfort ourselves at others' expense. That reminds us to say, the emperor has no clothes. He's totally naked and no one has said anything about it. The nominal left (our side) is little better than the nominal right (their side). We prefer Purple in the Red vs. Blue, Bloods vs. Crips Battle that is our sorry excuse for a political system. We oppose the wars of our endless war economy. ("Fight war, not wars.")
What d'you like most? The beat, the beat, the beat
So, living in luxury, we get to go to music festivals and enjoy a lot of leisure time, eat well and exercise, do yoga and meditate. We're spoiled. And this kind of privilege leads to a kind of pre-awakening the motivated Siddhartha to leave the palace and find reality. It's not just psychonauts who are searching and seeking, questioning and questing.
We're on a quest. Who else was on an ancient quest? Two friends who became the Buddha's chief male disciples foremost in wisdom and psychic powers, respectively. This "sutra," more a portion of their life stories than a discourse, speaks of what happened when two young guys and all their friends went to ancient multiday music festival to see performers, enjoy art, meet new people, date, eat, and above all be entertained!
Nevertheless, what in the Avici does Coachella have to do with Buddhism?
What if we could go back to the Hill Festival?
By a strange synchronicity, I was traveling through Buddhist India, on the circuit, in search of a teacher or temple really following the Buddha's ancient path.
I came to the royal city of Rajgir, thinking this ancient citadel more important than world-famous "Enlightenment Grove" (Bodh Gaya, Bihar) because so many things had happened here. Not the least of which, this is the site of Vulture's Peak and Pipphali Cave and even the Squirrel's Feeding Ground at Bamboo Grove (Veluvana). It's unclear that this is the exact location of the squirrels, but there is a large pond (tank).
I stayed at a monastery run by an Asian Buddhist monk (Japanese, Korean, it's unclear), who seemed devoid of any spiritual motivations and was just running a hostel in the pre-season. It was nice except for the noise. What was that noise? Day and night, I could not sleep. Finally, upset and wanting to get to the bottom of it, I set out in the direction of the racket. Imagine my surprise that the 24-hour disturbance was The Hill Festival!
It still happens. I was offered a couch, but I recoiled. Who would waste time on such worldly distractions in the most spiritual place on the face of the planet? There really are seven big hills ringing this ancient capital on the Gangetic plains.
I sat atop Vulture's Peak. There's a redstone deck for viewing, just as the Buddha once looked upon the forested valley below. One can see Isigili Hill (Eater of Seers, Swallower of Sages), where the Buddha questioned Jains (Niganthas) about severe asceticism (Isigili Sutra), where Maha Moggallana was killed, where many pacceka buddhas gathered. There have never been any vultures here. The peak gets its name from the shape of the stones, which resemble eagles and vultures (like we have in LA, where California condors and bald velociraptors share the skies) in the morning and evening. To the side of the platform Tibetan Buddhists place or discard hundreds of white scarves. Under the platform is a small cave in which to meditate, as someone famously did at the time of the Buddha. It is even the setting of a very famous apocryphal Mahayana discourse (the Heart Sutra).
Vulture's peak platform looking at Isigili Hill
I entered the small cave where the First Buddhist Council was held. (There's no way 500 could ever have fit in it, but "500" only means "a large number" in the ancient Pali vernacular).
There's a gondola to a peak where a Japanese Buddhist temple sits. This was off season, so there were no crowds. But one could see where the crowds must be. There's another Japanese temple with "Zen" drawings of the great disciples down in the valley by the river (which has leeches).
Sacred Buddhist pilgrimage sites in Rajgir, India
There are in Rajgir natural hot springs and mini ghats to walk down and bathe in them. I must have wandered here in past lives. It's just a sense. What proof could one evince of that being the case other than testifying about resonating with the place so powerfully that nothing else makes sense to explain why, as an American, I would gravitate to the Dharmic traditions and recognize Buddhism as the ultimate?
Some of the nicer ancient temples are set high near the entrance of the city next to the Bamboo Grove. I could not help but admire the meticulous of the ancient Buddhist artisans who built them, carving beautiful sculptures of the naked Buddha, only to find those were Jain buildings and sculptures of Mahavira, the founding Jina, a great spiritual contemporary of the Buddha.
Showing up at the Hill Festival is not so different than taking a trip to Coachella, which was originally billed as a "Woodstock" for California.
Coachella is seductive. Coachella is an ordeal. Coachella is a vacuum that often sucks: walking around on lawns (polo grounds) and dirt in the heat, dust blowing, a mad crush all around the stage, a dusty, sweaty, unruly mosh pit and, worst of all, an early curfew. It's an expensive disappointment, but the people-watching and all the circus tents with different shows going on, providing little darkness for midday EDM in the desert. It's a mixed bag, and it's overkill.
That time at the ancient art and music festival
Hellmuth Hecker and Ven. Nyanaponika Thera, edited and updated by Wisdom Quarterly
Those old legends and folk comedies will make great fodder for art festival entertainments.
Upatissa (the future Ven. Sariputta) was a pioneer type, daring and enterprising, while Kolita (the future Ven. Maha Moggallana) had a different way, which was to preserve, cultivate, and enrich what he had gained.
Their places within their rich and privileged families were different. Kolita was an only child, but Upatissa had three brothers and three sisters.
For both, their friendship meant so much that it filled their daily lives. It filled it to such an extent that as young males, they had little interest in girls compared to other boys. They were not quite free from the indulgences of their youthful age and its lightheartedness.
Each led a group of friends with whom they undertook many kinds of sport and play in high spirits.
Lifestyles of the rich and famous Brahmins
When they visited the river, Kolita's companions galloped in on horseback and those of Upatissa arrived in rich, fancy vehicles like celebrity royals.
It was similar with Francis of Assisi (the future San Francisco): He, too, had been the leader of a group of playboys, and like him, both friends, too, had been enamored by the intoxications of youth, health and life.
In Rajagaha (now Rajgir, India, a royal city encircled by seven hills where "Buddhism" was born with the First Council), the capital of the ancient Kingdom of Magadha, there was a great festival with popular entertainments and amusements called "the Hill Festival."
Partying for days at the Hill Festival
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Dance like there's no tomorrow because one day...
The rich and privileged friends, living in luxury, went to enjoy it. They had great seats reserved, where they could easily see the entertainments. [When the music was good, one imagines they must have tapped their feet, sang along, danced, and enjoyed the sight of provocatively dressed dancing girls]. When there was something to laugh at, they joined in the laughter. When there was something fascinating, they got excited.
They enjoyed the entertainments so much, they returned for a second day. They were keen to watch the dramatic performances, a mixture of folk comedies and great legends. However, attend as much as they did, the heightening of their mood that they expected failed to come.
Kolita (Ven. Maha Moggallana) had very dark skin
However, they reserved a third day, too, with a new program of entertainers announced in glowing terms. They slept poorly at night as the impressions of the day haunted their minds.
Suffering insomnia, Kolita thought: "What's the use of all this for us? Is any of this really worthwhile? What benefit does it give? After a few years, these glamorous performers will be old, frail, and feeble; they will leave the stage of life and carry on their wanderings through samsara existence after existence, driven by their cravings. It's the same with us. These actors cannot help themselves to solve the problem of existence. How, then, can they help us? We're just wasting our time here instead of working out our spiritual liberation!"
Upatissa also had a restless night, and similar thoughts occurred to him. He reflected on how the ancient legends and myths dramatized in these performances actually concerned the reality of rebirth. The jokes and frolicking that overlay the ideas in the plays pretended that there was only this present life one needed be concerned with. Was this not an artificial suppression and habitual repression of the truth with vain illusions?
When, on the morning of the third day, they got to the festival, Kolita asked his friend Upatissa, "What's the matter with you? You are not as merry as you have been. What depresses you?"
His friend Upatissa replied, "Tell me, what is the use to us of all these pleasures of eye and ear? It is absolutely useless and worthless! I would rather seek a way to escape from the devastating law of impermanence, a way to find liberation from the fleeting illusions of life that are alluringly and haunting and just leave us empty. That is what went through my mind and made me think.
Hey, c'mon, why don't you enjoy the party?
"You, friend Kolita, look anything but cheerful!"
Kolita replied: "I have felt the same as you. Why should we stay any longer in this vanity show? We ought to seek a way to real freedom!"
When Upatissa heard his friend had the same wish, he happily exclaimed: "That is a good thought that came to us independent from one another! We've wasted our lives and time long enough with all these unprofitable things. But if one earnestly seeks a teaching of freedom, one has to give up one's home and possessions and go forth into the left-home life as a seeker, free of worldly and sensual bonds, rising above them like a feathered bird."
What got into them as they grew disillusioned and dispassionate towards these frivolous sensual pursuits? A "sense of urgency" called samvega
The two friends decided to adopt the life of yogis and wandering ascetics who at that time, like now, wander in large numbers along the roads of Asia in search of a spiritual teacher, a guru or guide, who can show them the path to freedom.
When they announced their decision to their friends, the other young men were so impressed that most of them joined in this spiritual quest. All of them gave up home life, removed the sacred Brahmin's thread, cut their hair and beard and put on the pale earth-colored garments of religious wanderers. Discarding all distinguishing marks and privileges of their caste, they entered the classless society of ascetics. More: The Life of Maha-Moggallana
From birth to attainment of enlightenment
Ven. Sariputta became "foremost in wisdom"
The story begins at two ancient Brahmin villages in Magadha, near Rajagaha, where Upatissa and Kolita were born. Before the Buddha appeared in the world, a wealthy Brahmin lady named Sari, living in Upatissa Village [1] conceived. On the same day, in Kolita Village, another rich Brahmin lady named Moggalli did, too.
The two families were connected, friends with one another for seven generations. From the first day of their pregnancies, the families gave due care to the mothers-to-be. After ten [lunar] months, the women gave birth to boys on the very same day.
On the name-giving day, Sari's son (Sari-putta or -putra meaning "Sari's son") received the name Upatissa, as he was a son of the foremost family of the village. For the same reason, Moggalli's son (Moggallana) was named Kolita.
When the boys grew up, they were educated and mastered their lessons. Each had a large following of Brahmin youths. And when they went to a park or to the river for sports and recreation, Upatissa used to be carried their on fancy palanquins (vehicles), whereas Kolita arrived on horse-drawn carriages.
One day Rajagaha was having its annual Hilltop Festival [an ancient version of the Coachella Festival]. Entrance was arranged for the youths who sat together with all their friends.
When there was something funny, they laughed. When the spectacles were exciting, they became excited. They liked it so much that they paid the fees for extra shows.
In this way they enjoyed the festival for a second day. But by the third day, their understanding was awakened, and they could no longer laugh nor get very excited. They didn't feel inclined to pay for extra shows as they had at the beginning of the festival.
They will be my chief male disciples.
Each had the same thought: "What is there to see here? Before any of these people reach a 100-years, they'll all be dead. What we ought to do is to seek for a teaching of liberation [from this Wheel of Birth and Death]."
With such thoughts in mind, they took their seats at the festival. Then Kolita said to Upatissa: "How are you doing, friend Upatissa? You seem not as happy and joyous as on previous days. Your mood seems discontented. What's on your mind?"
"Friend Kolita, to look at these things here is of no benefit at all. Watching this is utterly worthless! I ought to seek a doctrine of deliverance for myself. That, Kolita, is what I was thinking seated here. But you, Kolita, seem to be discontented, too."
Kolita replied: "It is just as you have said. I feel the same way."
When he heard that his friend had the same inclination, Upatissa said: "That was a good thought of ours. For those who seek a teaching for their spiritual liberation, there is only one thing to do: leave home and become wandering ascetics. But under whom shall we live the ascetic life?" More: The Life of Sariputta (accesstoinsight.org)
How the Buddha awakened beautiful Khema
It would be a while before they met the Buddha. They all went and ordained under the Yogi Sañjaya, who taught them all he could. They were not satisfied with his doctrine or dhamma. They scoured the countryside, each promising the other that if he found a real enlightened teacher, he would tell the other. The story of how the Buddha's two extremely beautiful chief female disciples, Ven. Khema and Ven. Uppalavanna, is equally interesting. It was no accident that these four were chosen to help the Buddha awaken a great many hearers.
Anuruddha Master of the Divine Eye The Buddha’s father, King Suddhodana, had a brother who had five children. His name was Prince Amitodana. Among those was Ananda, who later became the Buddha’s faithful attendant who with his super memory preserved the sutras, and Mahanama, heir to the Sakyan throne. A third brother was Anuruddha.
Among those who were pre-eminent in a particular skill was Ven. Anuruddha. He was praised by the Buddha for being "foremost in developing the divine eye." The divine eye (dibba-cakkhu) is the ability to see beyond the range of the physical eye.
In Anuruddha’s case it extended to a thousandfold world system, which might perhaps be [the equivalent of] a galaxy in modern astronomy. This faculty can be obtained by one who has reached the fourth meditative absorption (jhāna) who then takes this [foundation in extreme concentration] as the basis for further development as described in The Path of Purification (Visuddhimagga).
The divine eye is of a mundane or worldly character (the world being the world system not merely this planet). It can be obtained by an unliberated, unenlightened worldling (puthujjana) as well as by those on the four stages of emancipation. Anuruddha attained it before he became fully enlightened. Read (Download)
The Life of Sariputta, compiled and translated from Pali texts by Ven. Nyanaponika
Sariputra, foremost in wisdom, along with Maha Moggallana, foremost in psychic powers, was a great help to the Buddha in teaching male disciples. [Khema and Uppalavanna were the Buddha's chief female disciples who helped with the training of nuns]. Sometimes Sariputra would give both material help and the help of the Dharma together.
It is said that whenever Sariputra gave advice, he showed infinite patience. He would admonish and instruct a hundred or even a thousand times, until his pupil was established in the fruition of stream-entry. Only then did he discharge him and give his advice to others. Very great was the number of those who, after receiving his instruction and following it faithfully, attained enlightenment.
In the discourse "The Exposition of the Truths" (MN 141) the Buddha says: "Sariputra is like a mother who brings forth, while Moggallana is like a nurse of that which has been brought forth. Sariputra trains to the fruit of stream-entry, and Moggallana trains to the highest goal."
Explaining this passage, the commentary says: "When Sariputra accepted pupils for training, whether they were ordained by him or by others, he favored them with his material and spiritual help, looked after them in sickness, gave them a subject of meditation, and at last, when he knew that they had become stream-winners and had risen above the dangers of [possible rebirth in] the lower worlds, he dismissed them in the confident knowledge that 'Now they can, by their own energy and effort [viriya], produce the higher stages of sainthood.' Having thus become free from concern about their future, he instructed new groups of pupils. But Maha Moggallana, when training pupils in the same way, did not give up concern for them until they had attained full enlightenment. This was because he felt, as was said by the Buddha: 'As even a little excrement is of a foul smell, I do not praise even the shortest spell of rebirth, be it no longer than a snap of the fingers.'"
Although the commentary to the Middle Length Discourse says that Sariputra used to lead his regular pupils only up to stream-entry, in individual cases he helped monks attain the higher stages of enlightenment. The commentary to the Verses of Uplift (Udana), for example, says that "at that time monks in higher training (sekha) often used to approach the Venerable Sariputra for a subject of meditation that could help them to attain the three higher Paths." It was after taking instruction from Sariputra that the Ven. Lakuntika Bhaddiya ("the Dwarf") attained full enlightenment (Udana VII.1) having been a stream-winner at the time. There is also the case of the Ven. Anuruddha, whom he his final breakthrough to enlightenment, as recorded in the Numerical Discourses (Tika-Nipata No. 128).
It was in this manner that Sariputra gave the help of the Dharma. He was a great leader of men and an outstanding spiritual adviser. To the latter task he brought not only a keen and perceptive understanding of the human mind, but also a warm, human interest in others, which must have been a great encouragement to those under his spiritual guidance. He was able to give generous praise where it was due. He was also keen at all times to meet noble monastics, particularly those whom the Buddha had commended.
One such monk was the Ven. Punna Mantaniputta. When Sariputra learned that he had arrived on a visit, he went to meet him. Without telling him who he was, he listened to Punna's great discourse, the Stage Coach Simile (MN 24). And when it was ended, he gave it high praise.
Ministering to the physical as well as spiritual needs of the monks under his charge, restraining them with kindly admonitions and encouraging them with the praise their efforts deserved, guiding them on the path, and showing in all he did that vital sympathetic interest which draws forth the best from a pupil, Sariputra combined the qualities of a perfect teacher with those of a perfect friend.
He was ready to help in every way, in small things as in great. Filled with the virtue of the supreme life (brahmacharya) himself, he was quick to see virtue in others. He was expert in developing it in those in whom it was latent, and among the first to extol it where it was in full flower. His was no cold, aloof perfection, but the richest intermingling of spiritual exaltation with the qualities that are finest and most endearing in a human being.
Attainment Two stanzas in the Psalms of the Elders (Theragatha 995, 996) relate, in words ascribed to Sariputra himself, the way in which he attained enlightenment. There he tells us: "It was to another that the Blessed One was teaching the Dharma. To the Dharma-preaching I listened intently for my own good. And not in vain, for freed from all defilements, I gained release."
In the next two verses (996, 997) Sariputra declares that he felt no inclination to develop the five supernormal powers (abhiñña). However, elsewhere in the texts (Iddhividha-Katha, Patisambhida Magga) credits him with possessing the intensive degree of meditative concentration called "the power of intervention by concentration" (samadhi-vipphara-iddhi), which is capable of intervening in certain normal physiological processes or other natural events.
This is illustrated by the anecdote in the Path of Purification (Chp. XII), which records that once when Sariputra was living with Maha Moggallana at Kapotakandara, he was sitting meditating in the open with his hair freshly shaved when he was given a malicious blow on the head by a mischievous spirit. The blow was a very severe one, but at the time it was given "the Elder was absorbed in meditative attainment; consequently he suffered no harm." The source of this story is the Verses of Uplift (Udana, IV.4) which continues the account as follows:
Maha Moggallana saw the incident [with his psychic faculties] and approached Sariputra to ask how he fared. He asked him: "Brother, are you comfortable? Are you doing well? Does nothing trouble you?"
"I am comfortable, brother Moggallana," said the Venerable Sariputra. "I am doing well, brother Moggallana. Only my head troubles me a little."
Whereupon Maha Moggallana said: "O wonderful is it, brother Sariputra! O marvelous is it, brother Sariputra! How great is the psychic power and how great is the might of the Venerable Sariputra! For just now, brother Sariputra, a certain demon gave you a blow on the head. And a mighty blow it was! With such a blow one might fell an elephant seven or seven and a half cubits high, or one might split a mountain peak. But the Venerable Sariputra says only this, 'I am comfortable, brother Moggallana. I am doing well, brother Moggallana. Only my head troubles me a little.'"
Then the Venerable Sariputra replied: "O wonderful is it, brother Moggallana! O marvelous is it, brother Moggallana! How great is the psychic power and how great is the might of the Venerable Moggallana, that he should see any demon at all! As for me, I have not seen so much as a mud-sprite!"
On Right View Maurice O'Connell Walshe (KaccayanagottoSutta, SN 12.15, PTS: S ii 16, CDB i 544)
[Ven. Kaccayana (Ka-cha-yana) is one of the Ten Chief (male) Disciples of the Buddha, deemed "foremost in explaining the Dharma." In the prosperous Indian city of Savatthi, he asked the Buddha:]
"'Right view [1], right view,' it is said, Venerable Sir. In what way is there right view?'"
"The world in general, Kacchayana, inclines to two views, to existence [2] or to non-existence [3]. But for one who, with the highest wisdom, sees the arising of the world as it really is [4] 'non-existence of the world' does not apply. And for one who, with highest wisdom, sees the passing away of the world as it really is, 'existence of the world' does not apply.
"The world in general, Kacchayana, grasps after systems and is imprisoned by dogmas [5]. But one [6] does not go along with that system-grasping, that mental obstinacy and dogmatic bias, does not grasp at it, does not affirm: 'This is my self' [7].
"One knows without doubt or hesitation that whatever arises is merely dukkha ["unsatisfactory," 8], that what passes away is merely dukkha and such knowledge is one's own, not depending on anyone else. This, Kacchayana, is what constitutes right view.
"'Everything exists' [9], this is one extreme [view]. 'Nothing exists,' this is the other extreme. Avoiding both extremes the Tathagata [10] teaches a doctrine of the middle: Conditioned by ignorance are the formations...[as in SN 12.10].
"So there comes about the arising of this entire mass of suffering. But from the complete fading away and cessation of ignorance there comes the cessation of the formations, from the cessation of the formations comes the cessation of consciousness... So there comes about the complete cessation of this entire mass of suffering."
Sarah Swofford reading select passages of the Buddha's profound wisdom
NOTES
Right view: (sammaditthi): the first step of the Noble Eightfold Path, lit. "right seeing." It is also rendered "right understanding," but the connotations of this are too exclusively intellectual. The rendering "right views" (plural) is to be rejected, since it is not a matter of holding "views" (opinions) but of "seeing things as they really are."
Atthita: "is-ness." The theory of "Eternalism" (sassatavada).
Natthita: "is-not-ness." The theory of "Annihilationism" (ucchedavada). All forms of materialism come under this heading. See the discussion in BhikkhuBodhi's translation of DN 1, The All-Embracing Net of Views (BPS 1978), pp. 30-33.
Yathabhutam: See Note 1.
As we might say today, "ideologies" or "-isms."
I take this to mean the person who sees "with the highest wisdom" mentioned above. Mrs. Rhys Davids [in her translation] seems to have gone slightly astray here.
[Atta me ti:] See SN 3.8, n. 1. Feer's edition of the Sutta Nipata reads here atta na me ti "this is not myself," which would also make sense but is contradicted, not only in SA [the Commentary to SN], but also when the story is repeated at SN 22.90.
The usual translation "suffering," always a makeshift rendering, is inappropriate here. Dukkha in Buddhist usage refers to the inherent unsatisfactoriness and general insecurity of all conditioned existence.
Sabbamatthi: From the Sanskrit form of this expression, sarvamasti (though used in a slightly different sense) the Sarvastivadin school got its name. They held that dharmas [phenomena] existed in "three times" -- past, present, and future. It was mainly to this early school that the label "Hinayana" ("Lesser Career or Vehicle") was applied and later illegitimately transferred to the Theravada school. (See SN 12.22, n. 1).
Tathagata (the Buddha's usual way of referring to himself): Literally, probably either "Thus come" (tatha-agata) or "Thus gone beyond)" (tatha-gata). For other meanings, see BhikkhuBodhi'sThe All-Embracing Net of Views (BPS 1978), pp. 50-53, 331-344.
Śāriputra (Sanskrit: शारिपुत्र) or Sāriputta (Pāli) was one of two principal disciples of the Buddha. He became an Arhat renowned for his wisdom and is depicted in the Theravada tradition as one of the most important disciples of the Buddha.
Biography Śāriputra came from a Brahmin family and had already embarked on life as a spiritual ascetic when he encountered the teachings of the Buddha. Śāriputra had a close friend Mahāmaudgalyāyana (Pāli: Mahā Moggallāna), another wandering ascetic. They both renounced the world on the same day and became disciples of the sceptic Sañjaya Belaṭṭhaputta before converting to Buddhism.
After hearing of the Buddha's teachings from a monk named Assaji (Sanskrit: Asvajit), Śāriputra sought out the Buddha and became an adherent to his teachings (the Dharma). These two are often depicted together with the Buddha, and several sutras regard interactions between Śāriputra and Mahā Moggallāna (who became renowned among the early Buddhists for his mastery of supernatural powers).
Ven. Sariputra being honored by humans and devas (ariaristides.files.wordpress.com) In one somewhat comical scene involving the two friends, a mischievous yakṣha (Pāli: yakkha) decides that it will attempt to irritate Śāriputra by striking him on the head. Mahā Moggallāna sees this occurring with his "divine eye" (a clairvoyant faculty often attributed to South Asian ascetics), and unsuccessfully attempts to warn Śāriputra. However, due to his great spiritual mastery, Śāriputra perceives the terrible blow the yakkha delivers as only a light breeze.
Mahā Moggallāna approaches and expresses his amazement that Sariputra barely noticed the terrible blow; Śāriputra replies in amazement that Mahā Moggallāna was able to perceive the invisible creature that dealt the blow.
Mahayana
While depictions of Śāriputra in the Pali Canon are uniformly positive, showing Śāriputra as a wise and powerful arhat, second only to the Buddha, his depiction in some Mahayana sources has often been much less flattering.
In these sutras, Śāriputra is unable to readily grasp the Mahayana doctrines presented by Vimalakīrti and others. And he is rebuked or defeated in debate by a number of interlocutors, including a female deity (deva) who refutes Śāriputra's "Hinayana" assumptions regarding gender and form.
However, in the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha predicts that Śāriputra will become a fully awakened Buddha one day, named Flower Glow Tathāgata, at which Śāriputra's mind is said to "dance with joy" [Ref].
A dialogue between Śāriputra and Avalokiteśvara is also the context of the Heart Sutra, a brief but essential text in the Mahayana Buddhist tradition.
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