Ep.14 : The Two Chief Disciples | The Life of the Buddha

Ep.14 "The Two Chief Disciples" During the Buddha's stay near Rajagaha, there were Upatissa and Kolita. These two students were best friends. They wanted to find the teacher who teaches about life and death . Upatissa met a monk who looked very peaceful and seemed to be free from all fear. The monk said his teacher is the Buddha. This monk was the arahant Assaji, one of the five former ascetics. Then Upatissa asked Venerable Assaji: "What is the teaching of the Buddha?" Assaji replied: "I will tell you the meaning of the Buddha's teaching very briefly. The Buddha said that there is a cause for everything and he also taught how things decay." Upatissa was so clever that when he heard this he understood that whatever comes into existence will also decay, and he attained the first stage of enlightenment. He told Kolita what the noble monk Assaji had told him. Instantly, Kolita also understood the Buddha's teaching and attained the first stage of enlightenment too. Two friends asked the Buddha to ordain them as monks and the Buddha agreed. After practicing diligently, they both attained arahantship. Later, they became the Buddha's chief disciples and were known under their monks' names as Sariputta and Moggallana. When the Buddha was living at Rajagaha, a conference was held at Veluvana on the full moon of the third month of the year. One thousand two hundred and fifty monks attended the meeting. They were all arahants and all of them arrived on the same day. On this special occasion, the Buddha told his disciples to practice and teach following the same basic principles. The essence of this teaching was: do not do anything bad, do good and purify your mind When King Suddhodana learned that his son had become a Buddha and was staying at Rajagaha, he sent an officer to invite the Buddha to Kapilavatthu. The Buddha promised to visit his family. So one day the Buddha took his disciples to Kapilavatthu. They arrived in the evening and stayed in a garden outside the city. The next morning, the Buddha and his disciples went to the city to beg for alms food.