Who is your favorite great disciple?

[convivium]

Who is your favorite disciple of the Buddha'?

[Goofaholix]

Who is your favorite disciple of the Buddha'?

Me!

[cooran]

Hello all,

Without the slightest doubt, the Great Disciple of the Buddha whom I most revere is:

Ananda ~ Guardian of the Dhamma

Contents
1. Ananda's Personal Path
2. Ananda's Renown
3. Ananda as the Buddha's Attendant
4. Ananda as the Guardian of the Dhamma
5. Ananda's Attitude Toward Women
6. Ananda and His Fellow Monks
7. Ananda's Conversations with the Buddha
8. Ananda's Former Lives
9. The Last Days of Gotama the Buddha
10. After the Death of the Buddha

82,000 Teachings from the Buddha
I have received;
2,000 more from his disciples;
Now, 84,000 are familiar to me.[1]

Who nothing has heard[2] and nothing understood,
He ages only oxen-like:
His stomach only grows and grows,
But his insight deepens not.

Who has much heard and learned,
But does despise him who is poor in learning,
Is like one blind who holds a lamp.
So must I think of such a one.

Thou follow him who has heard much,
Then what is heard shall not decline.
This is the tap-root of the holy life;
Hence a Dhamma-guardian [3] thou should'st be!

Knowing what comes first and last,
Knowing well the meaning, too,
Skilful in grammar and in other items,[4]
The well-grasped meaning he examines.

Keen in his patient application,
He strives to weigh the meaning well.
At the right time he makes his effort,
And inwardly collects his mind.— the Venerable Ananda,
in Thag 17.3 (vv. 1024-29)

The one disciple of the Buddha most often mentioned in his discourses is Ananda. Amongst all those great monks around the Buddha he occupies a unique position, and this in many respects, as will be mentioned in these pages.
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/auth ... el273.html

We have the Suttas and the Bhikkhuni Sangha due to this wonderful, diligent, compassionate person.

with metta
Chris

[Wind]

That's easy. Ananda. His hard work gave us the Suttas.

[mikenz66]

Who is your favorite disciple of the Buddha'?

Me!

Hmm, Goofaholix beat me to it...

Taking the question as it might have been intended, the disciple who's words I enjoy most is Maha Kaccana http://www.accesstoinsight.org/index-names.html#k
As it says there: "Praised by the Buddha for his mastery in analysing the Dhamma and explaining it to others."

Unfortunately Access to Insight doesn't have some of his discourses, in particular MN133 http://awake.kiev.ua/dhamma/tipitaka/2Sutta-Pitaka/2Majjhima-Nikaya/Majjhima3/133-mahakaccana-bhaddekaratta-e.html, which I found the most useful of the "Single Excellent Night" (the Nanamoli/Bodhi title) series (MN131-134). http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .than.html

Some may regard the Suttas as just a summary of the Buddha's ideas, and that putting some discourses in the mouths of various disciples is merely an expositional device. However, my impression is that the discourses by Maha Kaccana (or Sariputta, Ananda, etc) do have a "feel" that seem to me to reflect their particular way of understanding things. Just as Dhamma talks by modern teacher have their own "feel".

Mike

[Reductor]

Kassapa!

His acceptance into the Sangha was very unique, and his approach to the asceticism was unmatched. I admire that in my great disciples.

[Goofaholix]

Who is your favorite disciple of the Buddha'?

Me!

Hmm, Goofaholix beat me to it...

Actually I didn't notice the word "great" in the question.

[retrofuturist]

Sariputta

[Mukunda]

Angulamala. If HE can achieve liberation, there's definitely hope for me!

[jcsuperstar]

ananda

[Virgo]

Bahiya-- Quckest to attain attain Arahantship through wisdom alone, just by hearing an address by the Blessed One.

kevin

[bodom]

Sariputta, Angulimala and Anathapindinka because the most important of the Buddha's discourses to the laity were given to him.

[Stephen K]

Ajahn Brahm.

[plwk]

Ananda

[Modus.Ponens]

Angulimala

[Sobeh]

The unnamed monk The Elder, about whom there are a few stanzas in the Samyutta, as a signpost of all the other unnamed monks who didn't have history on their side, but who nevertheless Did What Had To Be Done.

[David N. Snyder]

Too many good ones, but in the interest of some female representation:

Khema

Khema was one of the wives of King Bimbisara and was very beautiful. One day the Buddha explained to her impermanence in a way to show her that the beauty would not last. Khema practiced and became enlightened and then decided to become a nun. She penetrated to the truth very quickly and was the chief nun during the time of Buddha.

Dhammadinna

Dhammadinna was the wife of a merchant. She and her husband became Buddhists and she decided to ordain as a bhikkhuni (nun). Shortly thereafter she became enlightened (arahant). Her husband progressed well, but to the stage of non-returner, which is not yet enlightened. She surpassed her husband, which became one of many examples of where women exceeded either their husbands or their teachers in spiritual progress, once again showing the gender equality in the teachings of the Buddha. On one occasion Ven. Dhammadinna was giving a Dhamma talk and the Buddha sat silently and listened. After the talk, the Buddha said that he could not have said (the teachings) it any better and praised her vigorously.

[SDC]

Kassapa!

His acceptance into the Sangha was very unique, and his approach to the asceticism was unmatched. I admire that in my great disciples.

Seconded.

[Khalil Bodhi]

Mahakassapa!

[Strive]

Sariputta

I admire Sariputta too, he is my ideal disciple with with great wisdom.

"Indeed, friend, we did not know that we were talking with the venerable Sariputta, the disciple who is like the Teacher himself."-- Venerable Punna mantaniputta.

"Sariputta has reached the peak in virtue, peace, and wisdom's way; Any bhikkhu who has gone beyond at best can only match him." -- Anathapindika