A perennial favorite,
Great Disciples of the Buddha is now relaunched in our best-selling
Teachings of the Buddha series.
Twenty-four of the Buddha's most distinguished disciples are brought to life in ten chapters of rich narration. Drawn from a wide range of authentic Pali sources, the material in these stories has never before been assembled in a single volume. Through these engaging tales, we meet all manner of human beings - rich, poor, male, female, young, old - whose unique stories are told with an eye to the details of ordinary human concerns. When read with careful attention, these stories can sharpen our understanding of the Buddhist path by allowing us to contemplate the living portraits of the people who fulfilled the early Buddhist ideals of human perfection. The characters detailed include:
- Sariputta
- Nanda
- Mahamoggallana
- Mahakassapa
- Ananda
- Isidasi
- Anuruddha
- Mahakaccana
- Angulimala
- Visakha
- and many more.
Conveniently annotated with the same system of sutta references used in each of the other series volumes,
Great Disciples of the Buddha allows the reader to easily place each student in the larger picture of Buddha's life. It is a volume that no serious student of Buddhism should miss.
This book is a compilation of twenty-four life stories of the closest and most eminent of the Buddha's personal disciples.
"When three highly accomplished dharma practitioners collaborate to bring their encyclopedic knowledge to bear on a particular topic, the result will be a landmark work like
Great Disciples of the Buddha. It is edited by Bhikkhu Bodhi with his own contributions together with an extremely useful introduction. The authors reveal their ability to see the great spiritual truths behind these stories. They skillfully show how each of the Buddha's great disciples is an individual in his own right with characteristics that distinguish them from the rest: Ananda's gentleness and loyalty, Mahakassapa's seriousness and love of solitude, Sariputta's concern for the well-being of the Sangha, for example.
Great Disciples of the Buddha is not just a collection of biographies. While it can be read by the casual reader, the serious seeker will receive a great deal of Dharma instruction because the writers aspects of the Teachings in a manner appropriate for a modern audience. Monumental."
