The Buddha and his main 10 disciples with description of Anand and Mahakashyap (net)

A very common Man who made bridge himself among man and God : the Man who is the " Father of Spirituality ", who gives new dimension to religion , who gives preaches in easy and popular language Pali in society that time , to understand actual religion to very common men .... because Sanskrit was Only approachable for Pandits to understand Religion . he was the root cause to start give Diksha of Women of that era . Otherwise women role was very different and limited within house in society . Buddha make possible enlightenment to them.

He was Gautam Budhha , Sidhharth and The Budhha .our humble salute to Divine Soul .... and little effort to get merged with his enlightenment.... the way he get start his journey and the way he get approached to life and facts . 

QUICK FACTS

NAME: Buddha

OCCUPATION: Religious Leader

BIRTH DATE: c. 600 BCE

DEATH DATE: c. 300 BCE

PLACE OF BIRTH: Lumbini, Nepal

PLACE OF DEATH: India

ORIGINALLY: Siddhartha Gautama

AKA: Shakyamuni

AKA: Buddha

Synopsis

Siddhartha Gautama, who would one day become known as Buddha ("enlightened one" or "the awakened"), lived in Nepal during the 6th to 4th century B.C. While scholars agree that he did in fact live, the events of his life are still debated. According to the most widely known story of his life, after experimenting with different teachings for years, and finding none of them acceptable, Gautama spent a fateful night in deep meditation. During his meditation,all of the answers he had been seeking became clear, and achieved full awareness, thereby becoming Buddha.

Early Years

The Buddha, or "enlightened one," was born Siddhartha (which means "he who achieves his aim") Gautama, a prince in India in the 6th century B.C. His father was a king who ruled an Indian tribe called the Shakyas. His mother died seven days after giving birth to him, but a holy man prophesized great things for the young Siddhartha: He would either be a great king or military leader or he would be a great spiritual leader. To keep his son from witnessing the miseries and suffering of the world, Siddhartha's father raised him in opulence in a palace built just for the boy and sheltered him from knowledge of religion and human hardship. According to custom, he married at the age of 16, but his life of total seclusion continued for another 13 years.

Beyond the Palace Walls

The prince reached his late 20s with little experience of the world outside the walls of his opulent palaces, but one day he ventured out beyond the palace walls and was quickly confronted with the realities of human frailty: He saw a very old man, and Siddhartha's charioteer explained that all people grow old. Questions about all he had not experienced led him to take more journeys of exploration, and on these subsequent trips he encountered a diseased man, a decaying corpse and an ascetic. The charioteer explained that the ascetic had renounced the world to seek release from the human fear of death and suffering. Siddhartha was overcome by these sights, and the next day, at age 29, he left his kingdom, wife and son to lead an ascetic life, and determine a way to relieve the universal suffering that he now understood to be one of the defining traits of humanity.

The Ascetic Life and Enlightenment

For the next six years, Siddhartha lived an ascetic life and partook in its practices, studying and meditating using the words of various religious teachers as his guide. He practiced his new way of life with a group of five ascetics, and his dedication to his quest was so stunning that the five ascetics became Siddhartha's followers. When answers to his questions did not appear, however, he redoubled his efforts, enduring pain, fasting nearly to starvation, and refusing water.

Whatever he tried, Siddhartha could not reach the level of satisfaction he sought, until one day when a young girl offered him a bowl of rice. As he accepted it, he suddenly realized that corporeal austerity was not the means to achieve inner liberation, and that living under harsh physical constraints was not helping him achieve spiritual release.So he had his rice, drank water and bathed in the river. The five ascetics decided that Siddhartha had given up the ascetic life and would now follow the ways of the flesh, and they promptly left him. From then on, however, Siddhartha encouraged people to follow a path of balance instead of one characterized by extremism. He called this path the Middle Way.

The Buddha Emerges
That night, Siddhartha sat under the Bodhi tree, vowing to not get up until the truths he sought came to him, and he meditated until the sun came up the next day. He remained there for several days, purifying his mind, seeing his entire life, and previous lives, in his thoughts. During this time, he had to overcome the threats of Mara, an evil demon, who challenged his right to become the Buddha. When Mara attempted to claim the enlightened state as his own, Siddhartha touched his hand to the ground and asked the Earth to bear witness to his enlightenment, which it did, banishing Mara. And soon a picture began to form in his mind of all that occurred in the universe, and Siddhartha finally saw the answer to the questions of suffering that he had been seeking for so many years. In that moment of pure enlightenment, Siddhartha Gautama became the Buddha ("he who is awake").

Armed with his new knowledge, the Buddha was initially hesitant to teach, because what he now knew could not be communicated to others in words. According to legend, it was then the king of gods, Brahma, who convinced Buddha to teach, and he got up from his spot under the Bodhi tree and set out to do just that.

About 100 miles away, he came across the five ascetics he had practiced with for so long, who had abandoned him on the eve of his enlightenment. To them and others who had gathered, he preached his first sermon (henceforth known as Setting in Motion the Wheel of the Dharma), in which he explained the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path, which became the pillars of Buddhism. The ascetics then became his first disciples and formed the foundation of the Sangha, or community of monks. Women were admitted to the Sangha, and all barriers of class, race, sex and previous background were ignored, with only the desire to reach enlightenment through the banishment of suffering and spiritual emptiness considered.

For the remainder of his 80 years, Buddha traveled, preaching the Dharma (the name given to the teachings of the Buddha) in an effort to lead others to and along the path of enlightenment. When he died, it is said that he told his disciples that they should follow no leader.

The Buddha is undoubtedly one of the most influential figures in world history, and his teachings have affected everything from a variety of other faiths (as many find their origins in the words of the Buddha) to literature to philosophy, both within India and to the farthest reaches of the Western world.

The ten principal disciples were the main disciples of Shakyamuni Buddha. Depending on the scripture, the disciples included in this group vary. Vimalakirti Sutra includes;

1-* Śāriputra
Śāriputra (Sanskrit), or Sāriputta (Pāli), is a top master of Wisdom. In Heart Sutra, the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara Avalokitesvara preaches to him.

2-*Maudgalyayana

Maudgalyāyana (Sk.) or Moggallāna(Pl.), also known as Mahāmaudgalyāyana or Mahāmoggallāna. He is a top master of supernatural powers. Maudgalyayana and Śāriputra were once disciples of Sañjaya Belaṭṭhaputta, the skeptic, but they became disciples of the Buddha. In Chinese Buddhism, the Mass that Maudgalyayana held to save his mother who had gone to the Hungry Ghost realm (one of the Six realms) is the foundation of ullambana (Ghost Festival).

3-*Mahākāśyapa

Mahākāśyapa (Sk.) or Mahākassapa (Pl.). He was a top master of ascetic training. After the death of Shakyamuni Buddha, he assumes the leadership of the sangha, compiled the Buddha's sayings (suttas) with 500 other disciples (First Buddhist councils), and became the first man who preached the Buddha's teachings directly.

4-*Subhuti

Subhūti (Sk. & Pl.) understood the potency of emptiness. He appears in several Sutras of Mahāyāna Buddhism which teach Śūnyatā (Emptiness or Voidness).

5-*Purna Maitrayani-putra

Pūrṇa Maitrāyaniputra (Sk.) or Puṇṇa Mantānīputta (Pl.). He was also called Purna for short. He was the greatest teacher of the Law out of all the disciples. He was the top master of preaching.

6-*Katyayana

Kātyāyana or Mahākātyāyana (Sk.) or Mahākaccāna (Pl.). He understood Shakyamuni Buddha's lecture the best. Although he had only five master in the rural areas, he was permitted to learn Vinaya by the Buddha.

7-*Aniruddha

Aniruddha (Sk.) or Anuruddha (Pl.) was a top master of clairvoyance. Aniruddha was a cousin of Shakyamuni Buddha. He and Ananda became monks at the same time. He once slept in front of the Buddha, so he was rebuked by the Buddha sharply. He swore an oath that he would never sleep again. Although he lost his sight as a result, he got another pair of eyes that could see the truth.

8-*Upali

Upāli (Sk. & Pl.) was a top master of Vinaya. He was born in the Shudra class and worked as a barber. Buddha had denied the class system, he ranked his disciples according to the order in which they joined. So Upali was ranked ahead of the ex-princes. In the First Buddhist council, the Vinaya was compiled based on his memory.

9-*Rāhula

Rāhula (Sk. & Pl.) was the only son of the Buddha (when he was still Prince Siddartha) and his wife Princess Yasodhara. He was a scrupulous, strict and shrewd person. When the Buddha went to his hometown, he became the first Sāmanera (novice monk).

10-*Ananda

Ānanda (Sk. & Pl.) listened to the Buddha's teachings the most among the disciples. He was a cousin of the Buddha. Ananda means great delight. After he became a monk, he took care of the Buddha for 25 years, until the Buddha died. In the First Buddhist council, the suttas/sutras were compiled based on his memory. He lived to 120 years old.

The Budhha and his disciples ; Mahskashyap :

Mahakshyapa (sometimes spelled "Mahakasyapa"), the Golden-Hued Ascetic, is one of the Buddha's Ten Disciples. The exact dates of his life are unknown, but he died some time around 360 BCE as an old man.

The Buddha’s main two disciples called the Agrasravakas, who are always portrayed standing at his two sides - Maudgalyayana and Sariputra, were both Brahmins. 

Another very famous disciple Mahakashyap, already possessed miraculous powers even before he met the Buddha, and already had one thousand disciples even before he met the Buddha. He too was a Brahmin as his name Kashyap implies. The Buddha defeated him both in philosophical debate and display of miraculous powers and he became a disciple of the Buddha, along with his one thousand Brahmin disciples.

Mahakashyapa was born to a brahmin family in Mahatitta, the capital of Magadha (what is now Bihar, India). He was originally called Pippala, because (according to legend) his mother either gave birth while resting under a pipal (bodhi tree) or prayed to the spirit of a pipal for a son, but as a member of the Kashyapa tribe, later in life he became known as Mahakashyapa (Great Kashyapa). By the age of eight, he had mastered the Brahman precepts and was talented in all areas of art and learning. However, in contrast to the life of luxury he was raised in, Mahakashyapa wanted to search for spiritual enlightenment and live as an ascetic, but his parents continually pestered him to marry. To satisfy them, he agreed to wed but had a statue commissioned that was his epitome of a perfectly beautiful woman, and told his parents that the woman they choose as his wife should look just like the statue, thinking that they would never find such a woman. His parents managed to find Bhadra Kapilani, who not only looked just like the statue but shared Mahakashyapa's desire to abandon the material home life — the two had spent previous lifetimes with each other, seeking enlightenment and virtue. The couple vowed to live pure, chaste lives and continue their quests for enlightenment.

Maha kashyap was Mahatma Budha's very dedicated disciple . He always listened and followed his masters words diligently and with utter faith . Maha kashyap always wanted to completely surrender unto his masters feet . He always thought that for his masters word and his divine affinity he could leave any kind of attraction and comforts . His devotion and surrender was utmost onto the words and faith of his master......All this was watched by Mahatma Budha 's another close disciple Anand . He asked Mahatma Budh that Maha Kashyap came only that day and he experienced that blissful ecstatic state while I have been so close to you and still I have not experienced that bliss . To this Mahatma Budh answered that you are stuck in your ego , in your love and authority of a closest disciple. You are bound in the image of' I ' , feeling you are the most close and near to your Guru's heart . While Maha kashyap surrendered himself completely unto my will .Whether I bless him or I reject him , he prayed with out any reward . His surrender and faith on me is unbound by any return.

Twelve years after Mahakashyapa's parents passed away, Mahakashyapa decided to leave his secular life and find a good spiritual teacher, promising to inform his wife when he found one (that very day, legend says, Shakyamuni attained enlightenment under a bodhi tree). During Mahakashyapa's search, he spotted the Buddha surrounded by disciples (legend says he was emitting rays of light), and he approached the Buddha and said he would be his disciple. The Buddha replied with a brief teaching and accepted him. As a show of gratitude, Mahakashyapa folded up his outer robe and offered it as a cushion to sit on, and the Buddha offered his robe to Mahakashyapa who happily accepted it. It was the only time the Buddha exchanged robes with a disciple.

Upon following the Buddha, Mahakashyapa followed dhuta, the Buddha's teachings designed for those who wish to live as simply as possible, and became one of the strictest and most achieved in this practice, abiding by the Twelvefold Practices to remove all forms of attachment. He was known for cherishing the offerings of the poor, as the giving of their hard-earned scraps of food was a great deed. So highly regarded was Mahakashyapa that children would sometimes rush up to offer their alms to him instead of to the Buddha. As an old man, he even turned down the Buddha's suggestions to wear lighter robes, accept invitations to the meals of believers and sleep in the warm temples, instead saying that the ascetic life and the example it made gave him more happiness than any other thing possibly could. It is because of this that he was known as "the Golden-Hued Ascetic."

Near Kushinagar, upon hearing of the Buddha's impending death, Mahakashyapa was stricken with grief but immediately began arranging the compilation and preservation of the Buddha's many teachings and precepts. It is thanks to his efforts (and Ánanda's strong memory and constant presence at the Buddha's side) that we have much of the information about the Buddha and his teachings today, and it is said that without his work Buddhism would never have fully developed. He also gathered the elders among the Buddha's followers into what was known as the First Council, and became the leader of the group.

Twenty years after the Buddha's death, as Mahakashyapa began to sense his own end, he left the Council in the hands of Ánanda and climbed to the top of Mount Kukkutapada-giri. He sat in silent meditation there, next to the Buddha's robe and alms bowl, and peacefully passed away. Legend says that at his passing, the mountains around him crumbled and Mahakashyapa was one with them.

...but what of his wife? She also found the Buddha and achieved great things. Bhadra Kapilani traveled to Shravasti, the capital of Kaushali, and joined of order of nuns that was later initiated into the Buddha's sangha. She soon attained arhatship, free from the cycle of birth and death, and became a popular teacher of the dharma. One of her famed achievements was the memory of many previous lives, during which she seeked enlightenment with Mahakashyapa.

The Budhha and his disciples ; Ananda — The Man Whom Everybody Liked : (excerpt from The Buddhist Studies )

57. The Buddha was always accompanied by an attendant whose job it was to run messages for him, prepare his seat and to attend to his personal needs. For the first twenty years of his ministry, he had several attendants, Nagasamala, Upavana, Nagita, Cunda, Radha and others, but none of them proved to be suitable. One day, when he decided to replace his present attendant, he called all the monks together and addressed them: "I am now getting old and wish to have someone as a permanent attendant who will obey my wishes in every way. Which of you would like to be my attendant?" All the monks enthusiastically offered their services, except Ananda, who modestly sat at the back in silence. Later, when asked why he had not volunteered he replied that the Buddha knew best who to pick. When the Buddha indicated that he would like Ananda to be his personal attendant, Ananda said he would accept the position, but only on several conditions. The first four conditions were that the Buddha should never give him any of the food that he received, nor any of the robes, that he should not be given any special accommodation, and that he would not have to accompany the Buddha when he accepted invitations to people's homes. Ananda insisted on these four conditions because he did not want people to think that he was serving the Buddha out of desire for material gain. The last four conditions were related to Ananda's desire to help in the promotion of the Dharma. These conditions were: that if he was invited to a meal, he could transfer the invitation to the Buddha; that if people came from outlying areas to see the Buddha, he would have the privilege of introducing them; that if he had any doubts about the Dharma, he should be able to talk to the Buddha about them at any time and that if the Buddha gave a discourse in his absence, he would later repeat it in his presence. The Buddha smilingly accepted these conditions and thus began a relationship between the two men that was to last for the next twenty-five years.

58. Ananda was born in Kapilavastu and was the Buddha's cousin, being the son of Amitodana, the brother of the Buddha's father, Suddhodana. It was during the Buddha's first trip back to Kapilavasthu after his enlightenment that Ananda, along with his brother Anuruddha and his cousin Devadatta, became a monk. He proved to be a willing and diligent student and within a year he became a Stream-Winner. The monk's life gave Ananda great happiness and his quiet, unassuming nature meant that he was little noticed by the others until he was selected to be the Buddha's personal attendant. While some people develop the qualities that lead to enlightenment through meditation or study, Ananda did it through the love and concern he had for others. Just before the Buddha attained final Nirvana, Ananda began to cry, saying to himself: "Alas, I am still a learner with much still to do. And the teacher is passing away, he who was so compassionate to me." The Buddha called Ananda into his presence and reassured him that he had developed his mind to a very high degree through his selflessness and love and that if he made just a bit more effort he too would attain enlightenment.

"Enough, Ananda, do not weep and cry. Have I not already told that all things that are pleasant and delightful are also changeable, subject to separateness and impermanence? So how could they not pass away? Ananda, for a long time you have been in my presence, showing loving-kindness with body, speech and mind, helpfully, blessedly, whole-heartedly, and unstingily. You have made much merit, Ananda. Make an effort and very soon you will be free from the defilements."

59. Ananda's selflessness expressed itself in three ways - through his service to the Buddha, through his unstinting kindness to his fellow disciples, both ordained and lay, and also to future generations through the crucial role he had to play in the preservation and transmission of the Dharma.

60. As the Buddha's personal attendant Ananda strived to free the Buddha from as many mundane activities as possible so he could concentrate on teaching the Dharma and helping people. To that end, he washed and mended the Buddha's robe, tidied his living quarters, washed his feet, massaged his back and when he was meditating or talking, stood behind him keeping him cool with a fan. He slept near the Buddha so as to always be at hand and accompanied him when he did his round of the monasteries. He would call monks whom the Buddha wished to see and kept people away when the Buddha wished to rest or to be alone. In his role as servant, secretary, go-between and confidant, Ananda was always patient, tireless and unobtrusive, usually anticipating the Buddha's needs.

61. Although Ananda's main job was to take care of the Buddha's needs, he always had time to be of service to others as well. He would often give talks on Dharma and indeed such a skilful teacher was he that sometimes the Buddha would ask him to give a talk in his place, or finish a talk that he had begun. We are told that when the Buddha would have his afternoon rests, Ananda would take advantage of the spare time to go and visit those who were sick, to talk to them, cheer them up or try to get medicine for them. Once he heard of a very poor family struggling to bring up two young sons. Knowing that the boys faced a very grim future and feeling that something had to be done to help them, Ananda got permission from the Buddha to ordain them, thus giving them a chance in life.

62. Life in the Sangha was not always easy for nuns. Most monks kept away from them, not wanting to be tempted. Some even discriminated against them. Ananda, on the other hand, was always ready to help them. It was he who encouraged the Buddha to ordain the first nuns, he was always ready to give Dharma talks to nuns and laywomen and encourage them in their practice, and they in turn often sought him out because of his sympathy for them.

63. The Buddha once said that of all his disciples, Ananda was pre-eminent of those who had heard much Dharma, who had a good memory, who had mastered the sequential order of what he had remembered and who was energetic. The Buddha could not write, indeed, although writing was known at the time, it was little used. Both during his life and for several centuries after his final Nirvana, his words were committed to memory and transmitted from one person to another. Ananda's highly developed memory, plus the fact that he was constantly at the Buddha's side, meant that he, more than any other person, was responsible for preserving and transmitting the Buddha's teachings. By this, it is not meant that Ananda remembered the Buddha's words verbatim - this would have been neither possible nor necessary, as understanding the Dharma is not dependent on the arrangement of words and sentences but on the comprehension of the meaning of the words. Rather, Ananda remembered the gist of what the Buddha had said, to whom he said it, particularly important or prominent phrases, similes or parables that were used and also the sequence in which all the ideas were presented. Ananda would repeat what he had heard and remembered to others and gradually a large body of oral teachings developed. This meant that people far from the Buddha's presence could hear his teachings without the aid of books or the necessity of having to travel long distances.

64. After the Buddha's final Nirvana five hundred enlightened monks convened a Council at Rajagaha for the purpose of collecting all the Buddha's teachings and committing them to memory so they could be handed down to future generations. Because he knew so much Dharma it was essential that Ananda be present, but he was not yet enlightened. Now that he no longer had to look after the Buddha's needs, he had more time to meditate and so he began to practise with exceptional diligence, hoping that he could attain enlightenment before the Council started. As the time for the Council's commencement got closer, he practised harder and harder. During the evening before the Council he sat meditating, convinced that he would not be able to attain enlightenment by the next morning. So he gave up and decided to lie down and sleep. As his head touched the pillow he became enlightened. Ananda was warmly welcomed at the Council the next day and over the following months he recited thousands of discourses that he had heard, commencing each recitation with the words: 'Thus have I heard' (Evam me sutam). Because of his enormous contributions to the preservation of the Dharma, Ananda was sometimes known as: 'The Keeper of the Dharma Store' (Dharmabhandagarika). Because of his qualities of kindness, patience and helpfulness, Ananda was one of those rare people who seemed to be able to get along with everybody and whom everybody liked. Just before his final Nirvana, the Buddha praised Ananda in the company of the monks by thanking him for his years of loyal and loving friendship and service. "Monks, all those who were fully enlightened Buddhas in the past had a chief attendant like Ananda, as will all those who will be fully enlightened Buddhas in the future. Ananda is wise. He knows when it is the right time for monks, nuns, laymen, laywomen, kings, ministers, the leaders of other sects or their pupils to come and see me. Ananda has four remarkable and wonderful qualities. What four? If a company of monks comes to see Ananda, they are pleased at the sight of him, and when he teaches Dharma to them they are pleased, and when he finishes they are disappointed. And it is the same for nuns, laymen and laywomen."

65. It is not known when or where Ananda passed away but, according to tradition, he lived to a ripe old age. When Fa Hien, the famous Chinese pilgrim, visited India in the 5th century CE, he reported seeing a stupa containing Ananda's ashes, and that nuns in particular had high regard for his memory.

Buddha Meri Drushti Mein - Osho ( Hindi Discourse - Osho )