Early Monastic Buddhism v1.c12.s2.9

v1.c12.s2.9

The Buddhist leaders in the generation following the immediate disciples of Buddha included likewise prominent characters who might well take their place by the side of his immediate disciples. The names of monks who took a prominent part in the deliberations of the church organization and maintained discipline, moral or otherwise, are many, but the biographical details of only a few of them are found in the Buddhist literature. Among these may be mentioned Siggava whose perseverance in the cause of the conversion of non-Buddhists to Buddhism is found in the description where he is said to have daily visited, with ultimate success, the house of a Brāhmaṇa Moggali to persuade his son with teachings and arguments to embrace the religion;¹ S a m b h ū t a S ā n a v ā s i k a whose zeal in the maintenance of the orthodox system carried him inspite of his old age to Vesālī to suppress the heresies of the Vajjian monks. R e v a t a was vastly learned and free from āsavas while Y a s a was highly energetic in the work of consolidating the Buddhist doctrines for which the second council was convened, and also in eliminating the evils that the Vajjians were trying to introduce into the church organization by modifying its rules;² U d e n a was able to convert Ghoṭamukha Brāhmaṇa after the death of Buddha and have an upaṭṭhānasālā built at Pāṭaliputra by him;³ M o g g a l i p u t t a (or Upagupta according to the Sanskrit tradition) was highly intelligent and by the charm of his character and personality could make Aśoka accept him as his spiritual preceptor and help the Buddhist organization by building monasteries and stūpas in several places and give donations for the maintenance of the monks and the spread of Buddhism.