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For more information on Ananda, visit Britannica.com.
One of the Buddha's chief disciples and his first cousin, his father being a brother of Śuddhodana, the Buddha's father. It appears that he entered the Order (Saṃgha) in the second year of the Buddha's ministry and was ordained by the Buddha himself. According to the Pāli accounts, after twenty years in which he did not have the same personal attendant all the time, the Buddha made known his wish for a permanent one. All the great disciples offered their services, but Ānanda, not initially seeking the position, was eventually selected by the Buddha. He agreed to serve the teacher, provided a series of conditions were fulfilled. On one hand Ānanda requested not to receive any extra benefits as a result of his position, such as choice clothes or food, separate lodgings, or the inclusion in the invitations accepted by the Buddha. On the other hand, he asked to be allowed to accept invitations on behalf of the Buddha, to bring to the Buddha those who came to see him from afar, to place before the Buddha all his perplexities, while the Buddha was to repeat to him any doctrine taught in his absence.
Ānanda was highly regarded by his colleagues who often consulted him and it is said that sometimes the monks, having heard a sermon from the Buddha, would ask Ānanda to give them a more detailed exposition since he had a reputation of being able to explain the doctrine clearly. Ānanda's championship of the cause of women is also well known. In particular, he is especially recognized for his role in the establishment of an order of nuns. Ānanda was also revered for his powerful memory. For this reason, when the First Council was called in Rājagṛha (see Council of Rājagṛha), following the Buddha's death, he was chosen by Mahākāśyapa, president of the Council, to recite all of the sermons preached by the Buddha, thus establishing the canonical record known as the Sūtra Piṭaka, or ‘Basket of Discourses’. Ānanda lived to be very old, spending his last years teaching and preaching. The details of his death are not reported in the Pāli Canon.
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Ānanda was one of many principal disciples and a devout attendant of the Buddha. Amongst the Buddha's many disciples Ānanda had the most retentive memory and most of the suttas in the Sutta Pitaka are attributed to his remembering of the Buddha's teachings during the First Buddhist Council. For that, he was known as the Guardian of the Dharma.
According to the Buddha every Buddha in the past and to come will have two chief disciples and one attendant during his ministry. In the case of Gautama Buddha the pair of disciples were Sariputta and Mahamoggallana and the attendant Ānanda.
The word 'Ānanda' means 'bliss' in Pali, Sanskrit as well as other Indian languages. It is a popular Buddhist and Hindu name.
In MN 90, Kannakatthala Sutta, Ananda is identified with the meaning of his name:
Ānanda was the first cousin of the Buddha by their
fathers, and was devoted to him. In the twentieth year of the Buddha's ministry, he became the Buddha's personal attendant,
accompanying him on most of his wanderings and taking the part of interlocutor in many of
the recorded dialogues. He is the subject of a special panegyric delivered by the Buddha just before the Budhha's Paranibbaana (the
Mahaparinibbana Sutta (Digha Nikaya 16)); it
is a panegyric for a man who is kindly, unselfish, popular, and thoughtful toward others.
In view of the abundance of praise, recognition and privileges Ānanda received, mutterings of envy and resentment might have been expected, but this was not the case at all. Ānanda had so occupied subordinating his entire life to the Dhamma that fame had no influence over him. He knew that all that was good in him was due to the influence of the Teaching, and so avoided pride. One who is never proud has no enemies and is not the subject of envy. If someone turns inward completely and keeps away from any social contact, as Ānanda's brother Anuruddha did, then it is also easy to be without enemies. But Ānanda had daily contact with a large number of people with regard to diverse matters, yet he had no enemies or rivals, and his relationships with others were without conflict or tension.
In the long list of the disciples given in the Anguttara (i. xiv.) where each of them is declared to be the chief in some quality, Ānanda is mentioned five times (more often than any other). He was named chief in conduct, in service to others, and in power of memory. The Buddha sometimes asked him to substitute for him as teacher and then later stated that he himself would not have presented the teachings in any other way.
Because he attended the Buddha personally and often traveled with him, Ānanda overheard and memorized many of the discourses the Buddha delivered to various audiences. Therefore, he is often called the disciple of the Buddha who "heard much". At the First Buddhist Council, convened shortly after the Buddha died, Ananda was called upon to recite many of the discourses that later became the Sutta Pitaka of the Pāli Canon.
Despite his long association with and close proximity to the Buddha, Ananda was only a stream-winner prior to the Buddha’s death. However, Buddha said that the purity of his heart was so great that, "Should Ananda die without being fully liberated; he would be king of the gods seven times because of the purity of his heart, or be king of the Indian subcontinent seven times. But Udayi, Ananda will experience final liberation in this very life." (AN 3.80) During the period he was the Buddha's attendant, though he was still a "learner" and "one in the higher training", no thoughts of lust or hate arose in him; this is seen as implying that his close connection with the Buddha and his devotion to him gave no room for these.
Prior to the First Buddhist Council, it was proposed that Ananda not be permitted to attend on the grounds that he was not yet an arahant. According to legend, this prompted Ananda to focus his efforts on the attainment of nibbana and he was able to reach the specified level of attainment before the calling of the conclave.
In contrast to most of the figures depicted in the Pāli Canon, Ananda is presented as an imperfect, if sympathetic, figure. He mourns the deaths of both Sariputta, with whom he enjoyed a close friendship, and the Buddha. A verse of the Theragatha [1] reveals his loneliness and isolation following the parinirvana of the Buddha.
In the Zen tradition, Ananda is considered to be the second Indian patriarch. He is often depicted with the Buddha alongside Mahakashyapa, the first Indian patriarch.
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