Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v1.c7.309

v1.c7.309

Most often his consultations with the Buddha were on matters of doctrine or were connected with it—e.g., on *nirodha* (S. iii. 24); *loka* (S. iv. 53); *suñña* (S. iv. 54; M. iii. 104-24); *vedanā* (S. iv. 219-21); *iddhi* (S. v. 282-4; 286); *ānāpānasati* (S. v. 328-34); *bhava*, etc. (A. i. 223 f.); on the *chalabhijāti* of Pūraṇa Kassapa (*q.v.*); the aims and purposes of *sīla* (A. v. 1 f., repeated in v. 311 f.); the possibilities of *samādhi* (A. v. 7 f., repeated in v. 318 and in A. i. 132 f.); on *saṅghabheda* (A. v. 75 ff.); the qualities requisite to be a counsellor of monks (A. iv. 279 ff.); the power of carrying possessed by a Buddha’s voice (A. i. 226 f.); the conditions necessary for a monk’s happiness (A. iii. 132 f.); the different ways of mastering the elements (M. iii. 62 f.); the birthplace of "noble men" (DhA. iii. 248); and the manner in which previous Buddhas kept the Fast-day (DhA. iii. 246). To these should be added the conversations on numerous topics recorded in the *Mahāparinibbāna Sutta*. Some of these questions—e.g., about earthquakes (D. ii. 107 ff.; A. iv. 312 ff.) and the different kinds of spirits present at the death of the Buddha (D. ii. 139 f.)—seem to have been put into Ānanda's mouth in order that they might be used as pegs on which to hang beliefs connected with them which were current among later-day Buddhists.