Casual Conversation w/ Zen Master, UCLA

Dogen (zeninlondon.org)

Ever dream of having a casual conversation with a real-life Zen master? Here's a talk is about life, love, success, and happiness with Korean Zen Buddhist monk Ven. Pomnyun Sunim.

ABOUT: Zen Master Pomnyun is a peace activist, humanitarian assistance expert, and an environmentalist, speaking about four topics and taking questions on all topics.

• TALK 1: Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, 7:00 pm
• Bauer Center South - Pickford Auditorium
• Claremont McKenna College
• 500 E. Ninth Street Claremont, CA 91711

• TALK 2: Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024, 7:00 pm
• Orchard Conference Center
• Matador Bookstore Complex
• 18111 Nordhoff Street Northridge, CA 91330
• RSVP and more info: JungtoSociety.org

See flyer with all details: Casual Conversation with a Zen Master (ucla.edu).  To view Master Pomnyun's past Q&A session, visit youtube.com/@VenPomnyunSunim

• UCLA Center for Buddhist Studies
• 11385 Bunche Hall, Box 951487
• Los Angeles, CA 90095-1487
• Tel: (310) 825-2089 • Fax: (310) 206-3555
• Email: buddhist@international.ucla.edu
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• TALK CANCELED: How Japanese Buddhists Tried to Make Bad Kids Good (ucla.edu)
• In memoriam: Diego Loukota, 38, specialist in Buddhism and ‘once-in-a-generation’ intellect | UCLA

Beautiful Buddhist courtesan Ambapali

Āmrapālī (also known as "Ambapālikaka," "Ambapali," or "Amra") was a celebrated nagarvadhu (royal courtesan) of the Republic of Vaishali (located in present-day state of Bihar, India) in ancient proto-India around 500 BC [1, 2, 3].

Ambapali also won the title of rajnartaki (court dancer) [4]. Following the Buddha's Teachings, or Buddha-Dharma, she became an arahant, a fully enlightened disciple.

She is mentioned in the ancient Pali language texts and Buddhist traditions (āgama sutras), particularly in conjunction with the Buddha staying at her mango (amba) grove, Ambapali-vana, which she later donated to the Sangha (Monastic Order), where the Buddha taught the famous Ambapalika Sutra [5, 6, 7, 8].

The legend of Ambapali originated in the Buddhist Rebirth (Jataka) Tales some 1,500 years ago.

• VIDEO: How Buddhism started: Afghanistan

Early life

I can help it: I was born this way [by past karma]

Ambapali was born around 600-500 BCE, to Mahanama and an unknown mother.

Etymologically, the variants of her name derive from a combination of two Sanskrit words, amra (Pali amba), meaning "mango," and pallawa, meaning "young leaves or sprouts" [9].

It is said that she was spontaneously born at the foot of a mango tree in one of the royal gardens in Vaishali — which resulted in her name [10].

Even as a young maiden, Ambapali was exceptionally beautiful and ethereal. It is said that a feudal lord by the name of Mahanaman was so enchanted by the young Ambapali's beauty that he abandoned his kingdom and moved to Ambara Village, a small hamlet in Vaishali in present-day Muzaffarpur [11].

As a courtesan

I will dance to please the royals.

Vaishali was the capital city of the Licchavi tribe, one of the eight warrior (Pali khattiya, Sanskrit kshatriya) clans that had united to form the Vajjian confederacy [12].

The king was elected by an electoral college consisting of princes and nobles from the kshatriya clans. It was customary that the most beautiful women in the land, rather than marrying one man, dedicated themselves to the pleasure of many [13].

Ambapali grew up to be a lady of extraordinary charm and grace and was talented in many art forms [Geisha-girl style, a well education companion rather than someone simply providing sexual services][13].

Many young nobles desired her company. When King Manudev of Vaishali, saw Ambapali perform a dance in the city, he plotted to "own" her as a possession. He murdered Ambapali's childhood love and would-be-groom, Pushpakumar, on the day of their wedding.

Afterwards he made an official announcement declaring Ambapali as the "bride" of Vaishali — that is, the nagarvadhu ("royal courtesan"). She was also bestowed with the title of Vaishali Janpad Kalayani (Pali janapada kalyani "the belle of the land" of Vaisali), given to the most beautiful and talented girl of the kingdom for a period of seven years.

Ambapali had the right to choose her lovers, but according to the aforementioned custom, she could not be committed to any one man.

After being declared a nagarvadhu [14], her talent and beauty attracted so many men that the glory of Vaishali during this period is often attributed to Ambapali's fame [13]. The price to see Ambapali's art form was 50 karshapanas (Pali kahapanas, Bactrian gold from Afghanistan/Gandhara) per night, and her treasury grew much larger than the treasuries of some kings [13].

Who would objectify and judge kids' beauty?

It is said that Ambapali was declared the "most beautiful" girl at the age of 11 and was later made nagarvadhu. She also is a celebrated rajnartaki (court dancer) in the ancient Vaishali. Ambapali was also proficient in music, dance, hunting, archery, horse handling, and so on. She had great love for classical songs and dance [4, 15].

Legends associated with Ambapali

Ambapali and King Bimbisara

Carving of the Buddha and Ambapali

Stories of her beauty travelled to the ears of famous Buddhist King Bimbisara, ruler of the hostile neighboring kingdom of Magadha, where the Buddha often stays. The king attacked Vaishali and took refuge in Ambapali's house.

King Bimbisara was a good musician. Before long, Ambapali and King Bimbisara fell in love. When she learned his true identity, Ambapali asked King Bimbisara to leave and cease his war. 

King Bimbisara, smitten with love, did as she asked. In the eyes of the people of Vaishali, this incident made him a coward. Later, Ambapali bore him a son named Vimala Kondanna.

Ajatashatru (patricidal Prince Ajatasattu), King Bimbisara's son by Queen Chellana (according to Jain tradition) or Queen Kosala Devi (according to Buddhist tradition), later invaded Vaishali due to a dispute with his brothers.

He was so moved by her beauty that when Ambapali was imprisoned, he burned the whole of Vaishali. Almost everyone died in the massacre, except his beloved Ambapali, but when she saw the condition of her motherland, she renounced her love for him.

Ambapali and the Buddha

(We're not really Ambapali. We just play her in
a Wisdom Quarterly play about her life).

In Buddhist texts, Ambapali is noted as having had the opportunity to serve food to the Buddha during his last visit to Vaishali, shortly before his passing into final nirvana [16].

Ambapali attended his sermon at a nearby grove and was so deeply moved by it that she invited him for a meal at her quarters [17]. In other accounts, it is stated that the Buddha himself took shelter in her mango grove and was visited by Ambapali, who paid her obeisance to him and then extended the invitation [18].

The Buddha consented to her proposal of offering him a meal with silence, as was his custom [17]. On her way back, her chariot came face to face with that of the princely nobles of Vaishali who were also rushing to invite the Buddha to accept their offer of a meal with them.

The Buddha towering in neighboring Kapilavatthu

They berated her by calling her a "mango-woman" and asked her, as a woman of ill repute (a courtesan), to move her vehicle aside and let her social superiors pass on the single lane road.

It is then that she announced that the Buddha had already accepted her invitation and was coming to her house for a meal offering. The princes were upset and offered her gold in return for the privilege of hosting the Buddha, but she refused [18, 19].

The Buddha also turned them down when they asked him to accept their offer, having already committed to Ambapali's charitable donation.

The Buddha recognized her beauty and advised his disciples to be mindful in her presence because they easily become infatuated with her if they did not remain mindful [19]. [The Buddha advised monastics to imagine beautiful members of the other sex to be thought of as daughters or mothers, sons or fathers, so as not to succumb to their physical allure or beyond-physical charm.]

Ambapali received the Buddha with her retinue in her grand residence, which had been specially decorated for the occasion [20]. It was no less than the palace of any king [20], such was the wealth she had amassed.

At the conclusion of the meal offering, she offered to the Buddha and his spiritual community (Sangha) her entire property, including her mango groves, which became the venue for several sutras on mindfulness [20].

Awakened lay Buddhist

Why is the Buddha so famous throughout Asia?

Soon thereafter, she renounced her position as courtesan and court dancer, accepted the Buddhist way, and remained an active supporter of the Buddha's Sangha. She dedicated her life to the service of the poor and the destitute [20].

On growing up, Ambapali's son, Vimala Kondanna, also became a Buddhist monk and a renowned Buddhist elder (thera) [16].For having followed the Buddha's Teachings, the Dharma, she had become a fully enlightened disciple. More

• Ambapālī (Dictionary of Pali Proper Nouns, palikanon.com)
• Amber Larson and Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit

What is the Buddhist ideal? (Is it SUMMER yet?)

Bhikkhu Bodhi (BPS.lk/ATI); Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, Crystal Quintero, Wisdom Quarterly

The best part about summer in California is the abundance of fruit (meetup.com/Fruitluck)

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Summer won't officially begin for another month (June 21, 2017), when we celebrate the summer solstice. But Nature doesn't know that. It's balmy in Los Angeles with so much sunshine that it's hard to frown. Today at the Rose Bowl, home of big time corporate football games and concerts, it was a day of vegan food and drink. And I got to thinking about the competing ideals in the two Buddhisms (traditional Theravada and modern Mahayana).

Enlightened disciples, Wayfarers, and Supreme Teachers

Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi "Arahants, Bodhisattvas, and Buddhas" edited by Wisdom Quarterly

The Buddha reclining into parinirvana,  Ayutthaya (MistyTree Adventures/Haluzman/flickr)

 

I. Competing Buddhist Ideals

The arhat ideal [to gain enlightenment using a buddha's teaching] and the bodhisattva ideal [trying to become a buddha and suffer as a martyr/savior (Messiah/Maitreya) for aeons trying to rediscover the path the Buddha has now made known long after it is lost to the world] are often considered the respective guiding ideals of Theravāda Buddhism and Mahāyāna Buddhism.

But this assumption is not entirely correct, for the Theravāda tradition has absorbed the bodhisattva ideal into its framework and so recognizes the validity of both arhatship (the path of discipleship) and buddhahood (making vows and pretending for one lifetime to be on a quest for enlightenment with the ability to teach a path eventually discovered) as objects of aspiration.

It would therefore be more accurate to say that the arhat ideal and the bodhisattva ideal are the respective guiding ideals of Early Buddhism and later Mahāyāna Buddhism.

"Early Buddhism" does not mean the same thing as Theravāda Buddhism, which exists today in the countries of Southern Asia (Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and elsewhere in small pockets such as India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, and Vietnam).

The Buddha's final reclining into nirvana or Maha-parinirvana, Gandhara 2-3rd century.

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"Early" means the type of Buddhism embodied in the archaic Nikāyas ("Volumes," ancient sacred Buddhist texts) of Theravāda Buddhism and in the corresponding texts of other schools of Indian Buddhism that did not survive the general destruction of Buddhism in India [by Islam from without and Brahmins from within].

It is important to recognize that these ideals, in the forms that they have come down to us, originate from different bodies of literature stemming from different periods in the historical development of Buddhism.

If we fail to take this fact into account and simply compare these two ideals as described in Buddhist canonical texts, we might assume that the two were originally expounded by the historical Buddha himself -- which they were not.

And we might then suppose that the Buddha -- living and teaching in Scythia and the Ganges Plain in the 5^th century BCE -- offered his followers a choice between them, as if to say: "This is the arhat ideal, which has such and such features, and that is the bodhisattva ideal, which has such and such features. Choose whichever one you like."

• [NOTE 1: There is also a third model of the Buddhist spiritual life, that of the nonteaching buddha or paccekabuddha. This is similar in many respects to the disciple arhat, except that the disciple arhat attains enlightenment under the guidance of a buddha, whereas the nonteaching buddha gains enlightenment without any outside guidance. Otherwise, the qualities that constitute this type is essentially the same as a teaching buddha. In the literature of the Buddhist systems, one often comes across three types of "enlightened ones" -- sāvakas, paccekabuddhas, and sammā-sambuddhas (Sanskrit śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, and samyak-sambuddhas) -- and of the three vehicles (yānas) that lead to these attainments.]

American scholar-monk Bhikkhu Bodhi

The apocryphal Mahāyāna sūtras, such as the "Great Perfection of Wisdom Discourse" (Mahāprajñā-pāramitā Sūtra) and the  "Lotus Sutra" (Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra), give the impression that the Buddha did teach both ideals.

Such "sūtras," however, certainly are modern writings, not ancient archaic records of the Buddha's words. To the contrary, they are relatively late attempts to schematize the different types of Buddhist practice that had evolved over a period of roughly 400 years after the Buddha's final passing into nirvana (parinirvāṇa).
 
The most ancient Buddhist texts -- the Pali language Nikāyas [keeping in mind that Sanskrit was strictly the exclusive language of the Brahmin priests and their Vedas or "Knowledge Books," which the Buddha rejected and therefore spoke in the language of the people: Magadhi, Prakrit, possibly Pali or certainly some variation of it] and their counterparts from other early schools (some of which have been preserved in the Chinese "scriptures" or Āgamas and the Tibetan "translation of the word" or Kanjur) -- depict the ideal for the Buddhist disciple as the arhat.

The Mahāyāna sūtras, composed a few centuries later in a Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit, depict the ideal for the Mahāyāna follower as the bodhisattva.

Now some people argue that because the arhat is the ideal of Early Buddhism, while the bodhisattva is the ideal of later Mahāyāna Buddhism, the Mahāyāna must be a more advanced or highly developed type of Buddhism, a more ultimate teaching compared to the simpler, more basic teaching of the historical Buddha (Shakyamuni) and the Nikāyas.

That is indeed an attitude common among Mahāyānists, which one might well call "Mahāyāna elitism."

An opposing attitude common among conservative advocates of the Nikāyas rejects all later developments in the history of Buddhist thought as deviation and distortion, a fall away from the "pristine purity" of the ancient teaching.

One might call this attitude "Nikāya purism." Taking the arhat ideal alone as valid, Nikāya purists reject the bodhisattva ideal, sometimes forcefully or even aggressively.
 
In seeking a point of view that can do justice to both perspectives, that of the Nikāyas and the early Mahāyāna sūtras, a point of view that can accommodate their respective strengths without falling into a soft and easy syncretism, without blotting out the conflicting conceptual differences between them.

How can this be done without abandoning faithfulness to the historical records in a way that also recognizes that these records are by no means crystal clear or likely to be free of bias.

This task is not easy. It is much simpler to adopt either a standpoint of "Nikāya purism" or one of "Mahāyāna elitism" and hold to it unflinchingly. The problem with these two standpoints, however, is that both are obliged to neglect facts that are discomforting to their respective points of view.
 
Ordained as an American Theravāda Buddhist monk, this paper by Bhikkhu Bodhi is not to defend the opinions of any particular school of Buddhism or trying uphold a sectarian point of view.

For six years, having lived in Chinese Mahāyāna monasteries, with an understanding of Buddhism particularly enriched by contact with the teachings of the Chinese scholar-monk Master Yinshun (1906-2005) and his most senior living pupil, Master Renjun, the founder of Bodhi Monastery in New Jersey [where Bhikkhu Bodhi resided when he returned from Asia] -- Bhikkhu Bodhi's first purpose is to draw out from the texts what they say explicitly, and also what they imply, about these two competing ideals of the Buddhist life.

Compassionate vegan coupons (peta.com)

In the end, when conclusions are drawn, they will be clearly stated as such, and they will be entirely his own. More

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• Masked gunmen attack a bus convoy of Coptic Christians in Egypt, and Egyptian warplanes strike alleged militant camps in Libya in response
• A suicide bombing after an Ariana Grande concert at the Manchester Arena in the UK kills 22 people and injures more than 100 others

The Buddha's relics to go on display (L.A.)

Lu Mountain Temple (MahaStupa.org); Dhr. Seven, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly

(Relics Tour) A larger collection of  Buddhist relics (shariras) than the Tibetan collection that toured the world will go on display in Los Angeles at Lu Mountain Temple.
 

CLICK TO ENLARGE

 

Master YongHua shows relics in crystal containers to devotees in Rosemead, CA (MS)

Ancient stupa with arhat relics protected by devas and devotees, oil candles and Milky Way light, Kamphaeng Phet Park, Thailand (Pakphipat Charoenrach/flickr.com)

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The MahaStupa Project

Wat Phra That Luang, Laos (Bugphai)

The "10,000 Relics Collection" is intended for the benefit of all beings. So Bodhi Light International has launched the Maha Stupa Project to build a stupa (sacred Buddhist reliquary/burial mound) complex for the protection and preservation of these sacred artifacts. The Maha Stupa serves as a major monument to Mahayana Buddhism in Southern California.

Experience the Healing Energy of Buddha’s Relics
The next display of the 10,000 Buddha Relics Collection will take place from Friday, September 2, 2016 through Monday, September 5, 2016 at Lu Mountain Temple in the City of Rosemead, San Gabriel Valley, Los Angeles County. Read more for detailed showing schedule.

Home Showings Relics Gallery Project Press Contribute Contact

Foremost in Wisdom (the Nun Khema)

Hellmuth Hecker (Buddhist Women at the Time of the Buddha) Wisdom Quarterly update

(-William/Flickr.com)

The Buddha had two foremost female disciples, the nuns Khema and Uppalavanna, just as there were two foremost disciples in the Order of Monks, namely Sariputta and Moggallana.

The name Khema means well-settled or composed or security. It is a synonym for nirvana. The nun Khema belonged to a royal family from the land of Magadha, India, where the Buddha resided as he spread the Dharma.

When she was of marriageable age, young Khema became one of the chief consorts of King Bimbisara, the ruler of Magadha. As beautiful as her appearance was her life as a princess-in-waiting. King Bimbisara was a great supporter devoted to the Buddha and his message.

When Khema heard about the Buddha from her husband, she became interested. But she was reluctant to become involved with his teaching: She felt that the Dharma of an ascetic teacher might run counter to her life of indulgence in sense-pleasures.

The king, however, knew how he could influence her to listen to the teaching. He described at length the harmony, peace, and beauty of the Buddhist monastery in the Bamboo Grove, where the Buddha frequently resided as he toured the country on foot. She loved beauty, harmony, and peace and was therefore persuaded to visit.

Decked out in her royal splendor, she went to the monastery. The Enlightened One spoke to her and explained the law of impermanence of all conditioned beauty. She penetrated this sutra fully. And still dressed in royal garments, she attained enlightenment.

Just like the Buddhist monk Mahakappina -- a former king -- she likewise became liberated through the power of [her previous karma ripening as] the Buddha spoke. She realized the Truth still dressed in the garments of a lay person.



With her husband's consent, she joined the Order of Nuns. Such an attainment, like lightning, is only possible when the seed of wisdom has long been ripening and virtue is fully matured.

An ordinary person hearing Khema's story marvels at the wonder of the sudden attainment. But it was not the strength of what the Buddha said alone; Khema's attainment had a great deal to do with her own karma (actions).

A supremely enlightened buddha sees beyond appearances. This woman did not come to full liberation accidentally. Rather, it came about like this.

In former times whenever a buddha appeared in the world, then-Khema also appeared nearby, or so it has been said in the texts. Due to her inner attraction towards the highest Truth (dharma or "unchanging Truth" the Dharma, or doctrine, points towards), she always came to birth wherever the bearer and proclaimer of such Truth lived.

It is said that innumerable ages ago she had sold her beautiful hair to give alms to the Buddha Padumuttara. During the time of the Buddha Vipassi, which was 91 aeons ago, she had been a teacher of Dharma. Further it is told, that during the three buddhas of our present and very fortunate aeon prior to the historical Buddha Gautama, Khema (in former lives) was a lay disciple who gained happiness by building abbeys for the community of Buddhist monastics.



While most living beings mill about heavenly or hellish realms during the life of a buddha, Khema always gravitated to the source of wisdom by her inner affinity to such teachings. When there was no supremely enlightened buddha appearing in the world, which is most of the time, she was reborn at the time of non-teaching (pacceka) buddhas or bodhisattvas (beings striving for supreme enlightenment).

In one birth she was the wife of the Bodhisat (the future Buddha), who always exhorted his peaceful family in this way:

According to what you have got, give alms;
Observe the lunar observance days and keep the precepts pure;
Dwell upon the thought of death being mindful of your mortal state.
For in the case of beings death is certain, life is uncertain;
All composite things are transitory and subject to decay.
Therefore, be heedful of your ways day and night.

(theglobalintelligencer.com)

One day Khema's only son was suddenly killed by the bite of a poisonous snake, yet she was able to keep total equanimity:

Death of a Loved One

Uncalled he hither came, without leave departed, too;
Even as he came, he went. What cause is here for woe?
No friend's lament can touch the ashes of the dead:
Why should I grieve? He fares the way he had to tread.
Though I should fast and weep, how would it profit me?
My kith and kin, alas, would more unhappy be.
No friend's lament can touch the ashes of the dead:
Why should I grieve? He fares the way he had to tread.
— Buddhist Birth Tale (Jataka) 354

Another time -- so it is told -- she was she daughter-in-law of the Bodhisat (Jataka 397), many times a great empress who dreamed of receiving teachings from the Bodhisat, and then actually was taught by him (Jatakas 501, 502, 534). It is further recounted that as a queen she was always the wife of the future Sariputra (the Buddha's chief male disciple, "foremost in wisdom"), who said about her:

Of equal status is the wife,
Deferential, speaking only loving words,
With children, beauty, fame, garlanded,
She always listens to my words.
— Jatakas 502, 534

This husband in former lives was a righteous king, who upheld the ten royal virtues: generosity, morality, renunciation, truthfulness, gentleness, patience, amity, harmlessness, humility, and justice. Because of these virtues the king lived in happiness and bliss. Khema, too, lived in accordance with these precepts. (Jataka 534)

It was only because Khema had purified her heart and perfected it in these virtues in many past lives that she was now mature enough to immediately benefit from the Buddha's instruction. She had such pure and tranquil emotions that she could accept the ultimate Truth in the twinkling of an eye.

[The reason she did not realize the Truth much earlier was that she had wished to be a foremost disciple for a future buddha, which delayed her own attainment of liberation as she developed the perfection (paramis) to make this possible.]

Nearly unknown, the Buddha praised Khema as the Buddhist nun "foremost in wisdom."

Śāriputra

"Sariputta," Burmese antique gilded laquer figurine (asianart.com)

Śāriputra (Pāli, "Sāriputta"; Chinese "Sheli Fu") was, like the female chief disciple of the Buddha, designated "foremost in wisdom." He became an Arhat (fully enlightened) renowned for his wisdom and explaining the Dharma.

He is depicted in the Theravada tradition as one of the most important disciples of the Buddha. 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, Maha Moggallana (Sanskrit "Mahamaudgalyayana"), a Black disciple who was also a wandering ascetic. They both renounced the world on the same day and became disciples of the sceptic Sañjaya Belatthiputta before converting to Buddhism. (Read the story of their conversion).

After hearing of the Dharma from a monk named Assaji, Śāriputra sought out the Buddha and became an adherent to his teachings. The two male chief disciples are often depicted together with the Buddha, and several sutras regard interactions between Śāriputra and Moggallana (who became renowned among the early Buddhists for his mastery of supernatural powers and was designated by the Buddha as "foremost in psychic ability"). Their relics were lost and not recovered until 1851.

Sariputra, Indonesian wall depiction (ariaristides)

In one somewhat comical scene involving the two friends, a mischievous yakkha decides that it will attempt to irritate Śāriputra by striking him on the head. Moggallana sees this occurring with his "divine eye" (a clairvoyant faculty often attributed to powerful Buddhist monks, as well as other South and Southeast Asian ascetics). He unsuccessfully attempts to warn Śāriputra.

However, due to his own great spiritual mastery, Śāriputra perceives the terrible blow that the yakkha delivers as merely a light breeze. Moggallana approaches and expresses his amazement that Śāriputra barely noticed the terrible blow. Śāriputra replies in kind, amazed at the fact that Moggallana was able to perceive the invisible creature that dealt the blow.

Śāriputra was older than the Buddha and died shortly before him, an event that apparently caused great distress to Ananda (the most famous of the Buddha's disciples), the Buddha's cousin and personal attendant, who made Buddhism possible by memorizing every discourse and reciting them after the Buddha's nirvana). The Buddha gave a eulogy, noting his chief disciple for his compassion, patience and humility.

Sariputra drawing, Mexico (www.budismo.com)

Śāriputra often preached with the Buddha's express approval. Thus, he was eventually awarded the title of "Marshal of the Dharma" (Pāli, Dhammasenāpati) for his propagation of Buddhism. Furthermore, he is regarded the founder of the Abhidharma tradition (the higher or abstract-metaphysical teaching).

While depictions of Śāriputra in the Pali Canon are uniformly positive -- showing Śāriputra as a wise and able Arhat, second only to the Buddha -- his depiction in Mahayana ("great vehicle") Buddhist sources has often been much less flattering.

Mahayana "Sheli Fu" (fpmt.org)

In the Vimalakirti-nirdesa Sutra and the Lotus Sutra, Śāriputra is depicted as the voice of the less sophisticated Hinayana or sravaka (ascetic) tradition. He is unable to readily grasp the Mahayana doctrines presented by Vimalakirti and others. And he is rebuked or defeated in debate by a number of interlocutors, including a female deity (deva) who frustrates Śāriputra's Hinayana ("lesser vehicle") assumptions regarding gender and form.

A dialogue between Śāriputra and the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara inspired the Heart Sutra, a brief but essential text in the Mahayana Buddhist tradition as practiced in Tibet, Mongolia, China, Korea, and Japan.

The central figure on these Tibetan thangkas is the historical Gautama Buddha (a.k.a., Shakyamuni), seated center. He is samyak-sambuddha, "enlightened and enlightening." He has an ornate nimbus of animals, and Dharmachakra, topping them, which represent paramitas ("perfections"). Flanking Shakyamuni are his two chief disciples, Sariputra and Maudgalyayana (http://www.exoticindiaart.com/).

• From GLOBAL ONENESS (edited and expanded for WQ)