Ānanda

Now, at the beginning of the Latter Day of the Law, I, Nichiren, am the first to embark on propagating throughout Jambudvipa the five characters of Myoho-renge-kyo, which are the heart of the Lotus Sutra and the eye of all Buddhas.

During the 2220 or more years since the Buddha's passing, not even Mahakashyapa, Ananda, Asvaghosa, Nagarjuna, Nanyue, Tiantai, Miaolo, or Dengyo has propagated them.

My disciples, form your ranks and follow me, and surpass even Mahakashyapa and Ananda, Tiantai or Dengyo.

If you quail before the threats of the ruler of this little island country and abandon your faith, how will you face the even more terrible anger of Yama, the lord of hell? If, while calling yourself the Buddha's messengers, you give way to fear, you will be the most despicable of persons.

While the regent's government could not come to any conclusion, the priests of the Nembutsu, the observers of the precepts, and the true Word priests, who realized they could not rival me in wisdom, sent petitions to the government.

I don't want to be here any longer.

Please come and help me." And then the Buddha used his spiritual power, and Ananda, the Buddha's disciple, appeared in the prison.

All the enlightened beings have spiritual power.

They can be anywhere very quickly.

A monument dating from 543 A.D. illustrates this tendency of Buddhism to represent its own superiority in Chinese religious life.

At the top of the monument is Brahma, lower down is Sakyamuni, with his disciples Ananda and Kassapa on one face, and on the other Sakyamuni again, conversing with Buddha Prabatiratna and worshipped by monks and bodhisattvas.

On the pedestal are Confucian and Taoist deities, ten in number.

Thus Buddhism sought to rank itself clearly above the other two religions.

And who's this?

Ananda.

Ananda.

Who's Ananda?

The Buddha's attendant.

The Buddha's attendant, the Buddha's disciple, and he's very handsome-

Uh, well, yeah, but, like, in the sangha, what is he known of, um, as in his ability? The foremost in spiritual power.

Okay.

And, uh, Keizan Zenji put together this story of, well, you know, as a religious institution, we consider it, uh, historical, b- but I, I do have some reasonable doubts of the historicity of the document.

But it's, it chronicles the transmission of the Dharma from teacher to student, uh, beginning from, uh, Shakyamuni Buddha to Mahakasyapa, and then Mahakasyapa to Ananda, and so forth and so on, all the way up until, uh, the transmission of the Dharma unto Master Dogen.

And I th- I, I'm gonna have to admit that I haven't read as far as...

I don't know if the story of how Keizan got the Dharma is written in there, but it might be.

the oogly googlies post- posthumously, so we gotta do something for them.

I mean, that's the birth of the, the segaki, feeding of the hungry ghosts anyway.

You know? Uh, was it Ananda who panicked? Was it Ananda? I feel like it was Ananda.

I always-

Old Path, White Clouds.

When day broke, Venerable Aniruddha said to Venerable Ananda, "Brother, go into Kusinara and inform the authorities that our master has passed away so they may begin the necessary arrangements." Venerable Ananda put on his outer robe and entered town.

The Malla officials were holding a meeting to discuss local matters.

When they learned the Buddha had passed away, they expressed deep sorrow and regret.

And the Mallas in both Kushinara and Pava.

After the delegations returned to their own countries, all the bhikkhus returned to their own locales to preach and teach.

Venerables Mahakasyapa, Anuruddha, and Ananda brought the Buddha's begging bowl back to the bamboo forest.

A month later, Mahakasyapa organized an assembly of bhikkhus at Rajgir with the purpose of compiling all the sutras and precepts that the Buddha had given them.

Kolita, Upatisia too, These shall his chief disciples be, Both undepraved, both passion-free, And tranquil and serene of mind.

Ananda shall be servitor, And on the Conqueror attend.

Kim and Uppalavanna Shall female chief disciples be, Both undepraved, both passion-free, And tranquil and serene of mind.

The bowery of this Blessed One Shall be the tree Asatha called." Thus spake the unequaled, mighty sage; And all when they had heard his speech, Both men and gods rejoiced and said: "Behold! a Buddha's yon here!" Now shouts were heard on every side, The people clapped their arms and laughed.

Chapter 6.

The Death of the Buddha.

Then the Blessed One addressed the Venerable Ananda.

Let us go hence, Ananda, to the further bank of the Hiranavat River, and to the city of Kusinir and the salt tree grove Upavattana of the Mallas we will draw near.

And they're standing outside in their shredded robes and their dusty heads and their bleeding, you know, blistered, bleeding feet wailing.

They're wailing because, you know, they've been told no, they can't join the holy life they s- they wanna jo-- And Ananda, who is the Buddha's attendant, Ananda's one of my great heroes.

[clears throat] He is w- also one of the overlooked figures in the canon.

Ananda hears them, and he comes out and says, "What's going on?" And they say, "We want to join the holy life, but the Buddha said no." And then Ananda, who's the Buddha's attendant, goes and pushes the Buddha into a corner and gets him to recant.

Imagine you go to your parent or your boss or whoever it is and he says, "Aren't women equally able to, uh, attain awakening?" And the Buddha's like, "Yep." And now he's shaming him.

He says, "And didn't Pajapati raise you, you know, as her own son?" And the Buddha's like, "Yeah." Well, and so the Buddha says yes.

And then she watches him go, right? Not only was she kind, she was also fiercely determined, right? Incredibly resilient, and she becomes one of the great leaders in what's called the Fourfold Sangha.

Mm.