Great Disciples of the Buddha is a unique book - a collection of biographical profiles of some twenty-four extraordinary men and women whom the Buddha himself named his most outstanding disciples. The stories of their lives presented here, based on the Pali Canon and its commentaries, offer a comprehensive record of the most ancient traditions concerning the Buddha's own direct Dharma heirs.
In these engaging tales, told with an eye to the details of ordinary human concerns, you will meet a fascinating and diverse array of people- thinkers and seekers, princes and queens, merchants and housewives, even a serial killer- whose lives were transformed by their encounter with the Buddha.

In his editor's introduction, Bhikkhu Bodhi encourages you to approach this book "as an exercise in comtemplation rather than as an enterprise of objective scholarship. The Buddha says that contemplation of the noble disciples is an essential part of the meditative life.... To contemplate the noble ones, who broke the bonds of egotism and reached the heights of purity and wisdom, is a great encouragement for those who still find themselves far from deliverance. By their examples, these exalted persons inspire us with confidence in the emancipating power of the Dhamma... The stories of the great disciples are just as much a part of the Buddhist heritage as the formal doctrines and practices of Buddhsim: not mere fragments of ancient history, dead and vapid, but a living and luminous legacy that has come down to us at this critical juncture of human history, when our very survival hinges on the capacity for self transcendence these disciples so vividly demonstrate in their lives."

Great Disciples of the Buddha, Thera and Hecker, Wisdom Publications, Paperback, 411 pages, $21.95

Thera was one of the foremost interpreters of Theravada Buddhism in our time. Born in Germany, he entered the Buddhist Order in Sri Lanka in 1936 under Ven. Nyanatiloka Mahathera, and spent fifty-eight years as a monk until his death in late 1994. He was the founding president and longtime editor of the Buddhist Publication Society in Kandy.

	Preface			ix
	Credits			xi
	Abbreviations			xiii
	Editor's Introduction			xv
		1.	Sariputta: The Marshal of the Dhamma	1
	Prologue			3
	The Quest for the Dhamma			4
	Early Life			4
	The Original Aspiration			11
	Sariputta in the Jatakas			13
	Sariputta the Man			16
	The Chief Disciple			16
	The Helper			21
	The Unresentful			25
	Friendships and Relatives			29
	The Mediator			34
	The Turner of the Wheel			39
	The Suttas			39
	Expository Works			44
	The Abhidhamma			45
	The Further Shore			47
	The Last Debt Paid			47
	Cunda Sutta			55
	Ukkacela Sutta			57
	Discourses of Sariputta			59
	Majjhima Nikaya			59
	Digha Nikaya			61
	Anguttara Nikaya			61
	Samyutta Nikaya			64
		2.	Mahamoggallana: Master of Psychic Powers	67
	Youth			69
	Wandering and Spiritual Search			71
	Finding the Dhamma			75
	The Struggle for Realization of the Teaching			78
	The Most Excellent Pair of Disciples			83
	Moggallana's Psychic Powers			88
	Penetration of Others' Minds (Thought Reading)			92
	The Divine Ear (Clairaudience)			93
	The Divine Eye (Clairvoyance)			93
	Travel by Mind-Made Body (Astral Travel)			94
	Telekinesis (Supernormal Locomotion)			95
	The Power of Transformation			96
	Moggallana's Previous Lives			97
	Moggallana's Verses			98
	The Last Days of Moggallana			100
	Moggallana's Death			101
		3.	Mahakassapa: Father of the Sangha	107
	Kassapa's Early Years			109
	Bhadda Kapilani			112
	The Samsaric Background			114
	How Kassapa Came to the Buddha			117
	Kassapa's Relationship to the Buddha			119
	Encounters with Deities			123
	Relations with Fellow Monks			125
	After the Buddha's Parinibbana			130
	The Verses of Mahakassapa			133
		4.	Ananda: Guardian of the Dhamma	137
	Ananda's Personal Path			139
	Ananda's Renown			141
	The Buddha's Attendant			147
	The Guardian of the Dhamma			150
	Ananda's Attitude Toward Women			154
	Ananda and His Fellow Monks			158
	Conversations with the Buddha			161
	Ananda's Former Lives			163
	Jataka 498			164
	Jataka 421			164
	Jataka 282			165
	The Last Days of the Buddha			166
	After the Buddha's Parinibbana			179
		5.	Anuruddha: Master of the Divine Eye	183
	Early Life and Ordination			185
	The Struggle for Arahantship			188
	Anuruddha's Spiritual Path			191
	Life in the Sangha			194
	Anuruddha and Women			199
	Anuruddha's Earlier Lives			204
	The Buddha's Parinibbana and Afterward			208
		6.	Mahakaccana: Master of Doctrinal Exposition	211
	Introduction			213
	The Samsaric Background			214
	Kaccana's Conversion to the Dhamma			216
	Various Incidents			219
	The Elaborator of Brief Statements			222
	Majjhima Nikaya			224
	Samyutta Nikaya			229
	Anguttara Nikaya			232
	Other Teachings of Mahakaccana			234
	The Theragatha Verses			240
	The Exegetical Treatises			242
		7.	Great Women Disciples of the Buddha	245
	Visakha: The Buddha's Chief Patroness			247
	Mallika: The Flower-girl Queen			255
	Khema of Great Wisdom			263
	Bhadda Kundalakesa: The Debating Ascetic			269
	Kisagotami: The Mother with the Dead Child			273
	Sona with Many Children			279
	Nanda: The Buddha's Half-sister			282
	Queen Samavati: Embodiment of Loving-kindness			285
	Patacara: Preserver of the Vinaya			293
	Ambapali: The Generous Courtesan			300
	Sirima and Uttara			304
	Isidasi: A Journey through Samsara			310
		8.	Angulimala: A Murderer's Road to Sainthood	317
	The Making of a Serial Killer			319
	Angulimala Becomes a Monk			322
	"Born with the Noble Birth"			327
	Angulimala's Verses			330
		9.	Anathapindika: The Buddha's Chief Patron	335
	Anathapindika Becomes a Disciple			337
	The Wealthy Patron			341
	Anathapindika's Family			345
	Anathapindika and His Friends			348
	Discourses by the Blessed One			351
	The Death of Anathapindika			360
		10.	Shorter Lives of the Disciples	363
	The Householder Citta			365
	The Bhikkhu Citta			372
	Father and Mother Nakula			375
	Notes			379
	Bibliography			393
	Contributors			395
	Index			397