Reading beyond the lessons
Supplemental readings
Meet the lives of the Buddha’s disciples through stories that follow the events as they happened — vivid, absorbing, and letting the Dhamma emerge alongside the characters.
Lives of the Buddha’s disciples
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Lives of the Buddha’s Disciples · Foremost in Energetic Effort
Venerable Soṇa Koḷivisa
From carpet-cushioned feet to a walking-meditation path stained with blood
Raised so gently that his feet barely touched the ground, Soṇa discovered that true effort must be guided by wisdom.
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Lives of the Buddha’s Disciples · The Two Chief Disciples
Sāriputta and Mahāmoggallāna
From a promise between friends to the Buddha’s two chief disciples
Two friends set out in search of the Deathless. When one found the path, he returned for the other—and together they became pillars of the Buddha’s dispensation.
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Lives of the Buddha’s Disciples · The Buddha’s Attendant, Foremost in Five Qualities
Venerable Ānanda
From the one who followed the Buddha like a shadow to the voice that carried the Dhamma across time
He opened the door for countless people to meet the Buddha and preserved a treasury of teachings—yet even the disciple closest to the Teacher still had to walk the final path for himself.
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Lives of the Buddha’s Disciples · Foremost in the Divine Eye
Venerable Anuruddha
From the prince who did not know the word ‘none’ to the eye that saw across a thousand worlds
Even after seeing a thousand worlds, Anuruddha still had to let go of the thought ‘I see.’ His life turns our gaze back toward what lies closest to the heart.
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Lives of the Buddha's Disciples · Foremost in Guarding the Sense Faculties
Venerable Nanda
He ordained because he could not refuse his elder brother, and stayed because he wanted five hundred celestial nymphs
In the middle of the wedding the Buddha placed his bowl in the bridegroom's hands and walked away without taking it back. The man who dared not ask for it carried it out of the palace, and was ordained the same day.
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Lives of the Buddha's Disciples · Foremost in the Love of Training
Venerable Rāhula
The Buddha's son, foremost among the monks in the love of training
The first novice in the Buddha's dispensation, who received noble wealth in place of a kingdom at the age of seven — and who every morning from the day of his ordination took up a handful of sand and wished for as much instruction as there were grains in it.
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ประวัติพุทธสาวก · เอตทัคคะผู้อธิบายความย่อให้พิสดาร
พระมหากัจจายนเถระ
เอตทัคคะผู้อธิบายความย่อให้พิสดาร — ผู้จำแนกพุทธพจน์ได้ตรงกับที่พระศาสดาจะทรงจำแนกเอง
เอตทัคคะในทางผู้จำแนกอรรถแห่งภาษิตที่ตรัสไว้โดยย่อให้พิสดาร · จากปุโรหิตผิวทองแห่งอุชเชนี สู่พระสาวกที่พระศาสดาตรัสรับรองคำอธิบาย
Thai edition only
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