Kṣitigarbha [Sanskrit क्षितिगर्भ, Chinese 地藏, Pinyin Dìzàng, Japanese 地蔵, Rōmaji Jizō, Korean 지장 (地藏), Romaja Jijang, Vietnamese Địa Tạng (地藏), Standard Tibetan ས་ཡི་སྙིང་པོ་, Wylie sa yi snying po] is a bodhisattva (being bent on supreme buddhahood) primarily revered in East Asian Buddhism and usually depicted as a Mahayana Buddhist monk.
His name may be translated as "Earth Treasury," "Earth Store," "Earth Matrix," or "Earth Womb."
Kṣitigarbha is known for a vow to take responsibility for the instruction of all beings in the six worlds [a condensed grouping of the 31 Planes of Existence the historical Buddha outlined] between the final nirvana of the historical Gautama Buddha and the future rise of Maitreya Buddha, as well as a vow not to achieve buddhahood until all hells are emptied.
He is therefore often regarded as the bodhisattva of hell-beings as well as the guardian of children and patron deity of deceased children and aborted fetuses in Japanese culture.
Usually depicted as a monk with either a halo or a crown bearing images of the Five Tathāgatas around his shaved head, he carries a staff to force open the gates of hell and a wish-fulfilling jewel to light up the darkness. More
STATUE: Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva (Jizō Bosatsu, 地蔵菩薩) is a Japanese wood and bronze statue of about 1175 in the late Heian period, which is now in the permanent Asian collection at the Indianapolis Museum of Art.
The statue depicts Jizō (Sanskrit Ksitigarbha), who in Japanese Buddhism is the bodhisattva of the earth and is considered a protector of children and travelers.
He is also a rescuer of beings in all hells and is considered a guardian of spirits for children who have died before their parents [1].
Description: Jizō is garbed in traditional Buddhist monk's attire, lacking ornate jewelry or adornments typically seen on images of bodhisattvas [2], many of which represent the historical Buddha before his great enlightenment, at which time he became the Buddha, and the Future Buddha Maitreya. More
"Ghost Month" (the Seventh Month of the Chinese Lunisolar Calendar, corresponding to Sept. 6 to Oct. 6, 2025) is the time of the Ghost Festival (Yulanpen). It is observed among the Chinese diaspora population of the world, particularly in Chinatowns, Malaysia, Singapore, and anywhere Mahayana Buddhism dominates. Hungry ghosts or petas (Sanskrit pretas) are miserable being who have been reborn deprived due to unskillful karma (deeds).
If hungry ghosts, demons, and malignant spirits are living beings, and Buddhists cherish all sentient beings, how do we exorcise them when they create obstacles in our lives? Why did Guru Rinpoche (Padmasambhava) convert angry subhuman beings into "protectors of the Dharma" (Dharmapalas)? Why did the great Tibetan sage Milarepa have long conversations with ghosts and demons? How do can humans protect against curses and black magic? What are Buddhism’s Protective Verses (Parittas), and how do we chant them? These questions are answered in this “Buddhist Guide to Exorcism: A Spirit Handler’s Guide” and demonstrate some of the methods. More: Buddha Weekly
The Hungry Ghost Realm: A Buddhist Teaching of Hope in Addiction
(Mythos & Logos) Complete Archives: Mythos & Logos. The Realm of Hungry Ghosts (peta-loka) is a plane of existence in Buddhist cosmology, an unfortunate destination, an afterlife marked by deprivation, suffering, and dependency.
The journey of one of the Buddha's chief disciples, Maha Moggallāna (Sanskrit Maudgalyayana, Chinese Mulian), to this realm provides a first step for how to break the vicious cycle of addiction borne of trauma.
Many of us have a "hungry ghost" (peta, preta) lurking inside of us. If anyone is struggling, please reach out to a professional as there are many great organizations, including @TWLOHA, filled with people trained and willing to help.*
00:31 Bhavachakra at Punakha Dzong, Bhutan, photographed by Bernard Gagnon, licensed under Creative Commons
00:49 The Six Realms of Birth, Edo Period Japan, British Museum
01:13 Ghosts from the Bangkok National Museum
01:26 Hungry Ghost Scroll, Kyoto National Museum
02:06 Unending Hunger
02:09 Hungry Ghost Scroll, Kyoto National Museum
02:50 Haunting Ghosts from the Thirty-Seven Nats
03:15 Dr. Gabor Maté, In The Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction
03:54 Hungry Ghost Scroll, Kyoto National Museum
04:39 Maudgalyayana [Maha Moggallana] Rescuing His Mother, Fo Guang Shan Buddha Museum
05:05 From Darkness
05:08 Ven. Maha Moggallana at Wat Olak Madu, Kedah, photographed by Ven. Anandajoti Bhikkhu, licensed under Creative Commons
05:38 Hungry Ghost Scroll, Kyoto National Museum
06:37 Yulanpen Sutra, Mahayana canon
07:12 Shakyamuni Buddha from the Dazu Rock Carvings, photographed by Michael Gunther, licensed under Creative Commons
07:42 Mulian Saves His Mother, 19th Century China
08:26 Into Light
08:30 Silk Roundel with Endless Knot Symbol, 19th Century China, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
09:00 Rahans Receiving Offerings, 19th Century Burma
09:18 Hungry Ghost Scroll, Kyoto National Museum
09:57 Offering at Hong Kong Ghost Festival, photographed by Rose Tim Wing Mxuiek, licensed under Creative Commons
10:10 Begging monk in Himeji, photographed by Nesnad, licensed under Creative Commons
10:20 Mukaebi of the Bon Festival, photographed by Batholith
10:55 Conclusion
10:59 Homeless man in New York, photographed by CGP Grey, licensed under Creative Commons
11:09 The Drinker by Albert Anker
11:26 Sinhalese manuscript, photographed by Wellcome Images, licensed under Creative Commons
11:51 Floating Lanterns, photographed by San Lie, licensed under Creative Commons
12:25 Hungry Ghost Scroll, Kyoto National Museum Ambient - The Ambient by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license.
ABOUT: Mythos and Logos are two ancient words that can be roughly translated as “Story and Meaning.”
Support the channel by subscribing, liking, and commenting to join the conversation.
Patreon: mythosandlogos. The purpose of this channel is to share the important stories at the foundation of human cultures throughout history. These include mythology, legends, folktales, religious stories, and parables from the dawn of history to the modern day. This channel provides interpretations and insight into these stories, to find and apply their meaning to contemporary life. All stories covered are treated academically. This channel makes no claims regarding the historical, scientific, or religious truth of these tales. Rather, its goal is to find the meanings understood by their authors and apply them to the modern world.
*All channel income from October 31-November 30, 2021, donated to To Write Love On Her Arms (TWLOHA) to help the Hungry Ghosts around us every day. Thanks for supporting an organization that helps those who are struggling.
Quiet Day is observed in the U.S. every year on February 25th. As the name clearly suggests, Quiet Day is about taking a pause and appreciating the magical sound of silence.
Noise is everywhere — on the road, in the sky, in the office, at the bar, in the classroom, even at home. Turn down the TV, Sport, Mama's gardening in the kitchen window! Modern life is noisy; it seems like there is simply no way to get away from it.
Being in the constant presence of talking and noise can be overwhelming. It is important to take a break every once in a while (preferably every day).
We know that quiet is good for body and mind (and the spirit loves the heck out of it). Peace calms us and helps us re-center ourselves, regaining balance and poise, inner peace and insight. More:
Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One (the Buddha) was staying near the City of Sāvatthī at Jeta's Grove in Anāthapiṇḍika's monastery.
There Ven. Mahā Moggallāna [1] addressed the others, "Friend monks!"
"Yes, friend," the meditators replied.
Ven. Mahā Moggallāna then said, "Friends, once as I was withdrawn in seclusion (deep in peaceful meditation), this train of thought occurred to me:
"'Noble silence, noble silence,' it is said, but what is 'noble silence'" [1]? Then this awareness arose in me: 'There is the case where a meditator, with the stilling of directed thoughts and evaluations [1], enters and abides in the second meditative absorption (jhāna) characterized by rapture and pleasure born of stillness (samadhi, coherence, concentration), unification of mind free of directed thought and evaluation -- internal certainty. This is called noble silence.'
"So with the stilling of directed thoughts and evaluations, I entered and abided in the second absorption that is characterized by rapture and pleasure born of stillness, unification of mind free of directed thought and evaluation -- internal certainty.
"While I remained in that [mental] dwelling, I was assailed by perceptions and [acts of] attention connected with directed thought.
"Then the Blessed One, coming to me through [psychic] power, said: 'Moggallāna, Moggallāna, Brahmin, be not heedless of noble silence. Instead, establish the mind in noble silence. Make the mind unified (single-pointed) in noble silence.
"Still (calmly concentrate) the mind in noble silence.' So at a later time, with the stilling of directed thoughts and evaluations, I entered and abided in the second absorption characterized by rapture and pleasure born of stillness, unification of mind free of directed thought and evaluation -- internal certainty.
"If one, speaking rightly, would say of anyone, '[This is] a disciple attained to greatness in direct knowledge through the assistance of the Teacher,' it is of me that one speaking rightly would say." Source
NOTES
[Kolita is Maha Moggallana's name, and Kolita Sutta translates as a "Discourse by Kolita." The Buddha's two great chief male disciples, the counterparts of his two chief female disciples, Ven. Khema and Ven. Uppalavanna, are the monks Sariputta (Upatissa) and Maha Moggallana (Kolita), who along with Ven. Uppalavanna were designated "foremost in psychic powers" just as Ven. Sariputta and Ven. Khema were called "foremost in wisdom."]
Noble silence (not responding but keeping silent because answering would be misleading, or because the question is wrongly put and full of assumptions, or because there is no way to improve upon silence) should not be confused with the meaning here. Here "noble silence" clearly refers to the silence of the noble ones, the characteristic of mental peace free of words, concepts, thinking, or reckoning, which is replaced by direct knowing not mediated by words. This is how enlightened disciples prefer to abide, with peaceful minds and heart now no longer disturbed by the defilements that gnaw at ordinary, uninstructed worldlings (those of us not yet attained even to the temporary liberations of the jhanas or the permanent liberation of the paths-and-fruits of noble attainments, referring to the stages of enlightenment.]
According to MN 44, directed thought and evaluation constitute verbal fabrication, which is why the second jhāna -- the level of absorption (blissful concentration) in which these fabrications (formations) are stilled -- is called noble silence.
Thus have I heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near Sāvatthī at Jeta’s Grove in Anāthapiṇḍika’s monastery.
There Venerable Mahā Moggallāna addressed the other meditators: “Friends, mendicants!”
“Friend,” they replied. Venerable Mahā Moggallāna then said: “Just now, friends, as I was in private retreat this thought came to mind: ‘They speak of this thing called “noble silence.” What then is this noble silence?’
“It occurred to me: ‘As the placing of the mind and keeping it connected are stilled, a meditator enters and remains in the second absorption, which has rapture (piti) and bliss born of immersion, with internal clarity and mind at one, without [intentionally] placing the mind and keeping it connected. This is called noble silence.’
“And so, as the placing of the mind and keeping it connected were stilled, I was entering and remaining in the second absorption, which has the rapture and bliss born of immersion, with internal clarity and mind at one, without placing the mind and keeping it connected.
“While I was in that meditation, perceptions accompanied by [intentionally] placing the mind beset me due to loss of focus.
“Then the Buddha himself came to me with his psychic power [of projecting himself] and said, ‘Moggallāna, Moggallāna, Brahmin, do not neglect noble silence! Settle the mind in noble silence; unify the mind and bring it to immersion (meditative absorption) in noble silence.’
“So, after some time, as the placing of the mind and keeping it connected were stilled, I entered and remained in the second absorption…
“So if anyone can rightly be called a disciple who attained to great direct knowledge [enlightenment] with help from the Teacher, it is me.” Source
Dhr. Seven and Amber Larson (trans) based on Ven. Sujato ("With Kolita," Linked Discourses, SN 21.1) and Ven. Thanissaro translations of Kolita Sutta: Discourse by Kolita (SN 21.1 PTS: S ii 273 CDB i 713), Wisdom Quarterly
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
.
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.
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