Ananda was one of the first disciples and was a devoted follower of the Buddha. Amongst the Buddha's many followers he had the most retentive memory and most of the early writings are down to his recollection of the Buddha's teachings during the First Buddhist Council. He is for that reason known as the Guardian of the Dharma.
He was the Buddha’s first cousin and was hugely devoted to him. In the 20th year after the Buddha’s enlightenment he became the Buddha's personal companion, accompanying him on his journeys and taking an active part in the discussions that were to become the message and teachings of the Buddha.
Read more about him over at Wikipedia.
the Buddhist disciple should avoid dangerous areas, unstable kingdoms, countries ruled by evil kings, precipitous terrains, remote wilderness, regions inhabited by bandits, thieves, or lions, tigers, wolves, poisonous snakes, or areas subject to hurricane, flood or fire, the disciple should avoid all these areas when practicing the austerities
Ananda was one of the closest buddhist disciples among all the foremost disciples of Lord Buddha. He was even more closer than Sariputra and MahaMoggallana, who were considered as the chief disciples of Lord Buddha. Both Sariputra and Maha Moggallana sits right and left side of the Lord Buddha and Anandasits even closer than these two disciples.
ReplyDeleteThe importance of Ananda cannot be explained simply by mentioning Ananda as the closest disciples of Buddha.
ReplyDeleteAnd I don't Ananda was one of the first disciples. But he can be considered as one of the first disciples among his birth family i.e. shakya clan.