Sariputtathera

พระสารีบตุ รเถระ

Sariputtathera

By
Sukrita Wisesjung M.5/15 No. 29

Content 1
2
Prefaced 6
Introductory Story 7
To profess Buddhism 9
Sariputtathera work on Buddhism 11
Virtues as good model for leading a life
Reference

Prefaced

Regarding to the relationship between him and other
personas it indicated that he had relationship with the Buddha as
a right hand disciple, with bhikkhus and bhikkhunis as their
good friend and supervisor and with Upasakas and Upasikas as
their preacher. Consequently he became great preacher of
Dhamma (Dhammasenapati) who played the key role of
unifying the Buddhist company.

With regard to his role in propagation of Buddhism he
was a great preacher with the excellent techniques of
Supervision, Suggestion, consulting, Teaching and preaching. He
was named the Dhammasenapati as he was able to spread the
doctrine with the methods of narration, explanation and
comparison so that he was trusted by the Buddha in this regard.
He was able to increase the numbers of disciples and also able
to establish understanding among various groups of faith.
Therefore, he regarded as the model of present preachers.

On the role in preserving the Dhamma he did by deeply
learning and following the footsteps of the Blessed One. He
proposed to the Buddha to revise the Dhamma, but it was not
right time to do so. He had compiled the Dhamma arranging it
into groups easy to learn. And this caused the Convocation and
rehearsal of the Dhamma happen after the passing away of the
Buddha.

1

Introductory Story

Sariputta (also known by the name Upatissa) was the
Buddha's leading follower, particularly praised for his wisdom.
These verses, containing eight syllables per line, have been
extracted from a longer poem of thirty seven verses preserved in
the Theragatha. They describe a man who continues to spend
his time in solitary meditation in the forest, even after having
attained the full awakening of the arahant. The elder keeps the
dharma wheel of the Buddha's teaching rolling by such
dedication to meditation practice, and by exemplifying the
attitude of non-attachment in all that he does. The phrase may
also refer to Sariputta's pivotal role in the development of the
Abhidhamma tradition.

The story of Sāriputta's conversion and the account of
his past lives, which prepared him for his eminent position as
the Buddha's Chief Disciple, have been given under Mahā
Moggallāna. Sāriputta had a very quick intuition, and he became
a sotāpanna immediately after hearing the first two lines of the
stanza spoken by Assaji. After his attainment of sotāpatti, Kolita
(Moggallāna) wished to go with him to Veluvana to see the
Buddha, but Sāriputta, always grateful to his teachers, suggested
that they should first seek their teacher, Sañjaya, to give him the
good news and go with him to the Buddha. But Sañjaya refused
to fall in with this plan. Moggallāna attained arahantship on the
seventh day after his ordination, but it was not till a fortnight
later that Sāriputta became an arahant. He was staying, at the
time, with the Buddha, in the Sūkarakhatalena in Rājagaha, and
he reached his goal as a result of hearing the Buddha preach the
Vedānapariggaha Sutta to Dīghanakha.

2

The Venerable Sariputta was born of brahmin parents
of Upatissa village; that was why he was named Upatissa. His
mother was Sari. His very close friend was Kolita, another
brahmin youth, son of Moggali. Both the youths were searching
for the right doctrine, which would lead them to liberation from
the round of rebirths, and both of them had a great desire to
enter a religious Order. First, they went to Sancaya, but they
were not satisfied with his teaching. Then they wandered all over
Jambudipa looking for a teacher who would show them the way
to the Deathless, but their search was fruitless. After some time,
they parted company but with the understanding that the one
who found the true dhamma first should inform the other.

About that time, the Buddha arrived at Rajagaha with a
company of bhikkhus, including Thera Assaji, one of the group
of the first Five Bhikkhus (Pancavaggis). While Thera Assaji was
on an alms-round, Upatissa saw the thera and was very much
impressed by his noble countenance. So Upatissa respectfully
approached the thera and asked who his teacher was, what
doctrine his teacher taught, and also briefly to explain the
doctrine to him. Thera Assaji then told Upatissa about the
arising of the Buddha and about his sojourn at the Veluvana
monastery in Rajagaha. The thera also quoted a short stanza
connected with the Four Noble Truths.

3

The verse runs thus:
Ye dhamma hetuppa bhava
tesam hetum tathagato aha
tesanca yo nirodho
evam vadi maha samano.

It means: The Tathagata has declared the cause and also
the cessation of all phenomena which arise from a cause. This is
the doctrine held by the Great Samana.

When the verse was only half-way through, Upatissa
attained Sotapatti Fruition. As promised, Upatissa went to his
friend Kolita to inform him that he had found the true dhamma.
Then the two friends, accompanied by two hundred and fifty
followers, went to the Buddha who was then at Rajagaha. When
they arrived at the Veluvana monastery, they asked permission
to enter the Buddhist Order, and both Upatissa and Kolita,
together with their two hundred and fifty followers, were
admitted as bhikkhus. Upatissa, son of Sari, and Kolita, son of
Moggali, then came to be known as Sariputta and Moggallana.
Soon after their admission to the Order, the Buddha expounded
to them a dhamma and the two hundred and fifty bhikkhus
attained arahatship; but Moggallana and Sariputta attained
arahatship only at the end of seven days and fifteen days
respectively. The reason for the delay in their attainment of
arahatship was that they had made a wish for Chief Discipleship,
which required much more striving to achieve perfection.

4

The Venerable Sariputta always remembered that he
had been able to meet the Buddha and attain the Deathless
through the Venerable Assaji. So, he always paid obeisance in
the direction where his teacher was and he always went to bed
with his head lying in the same direction. Other bhikkhus who
were staying with him at the Jetavana monastery misinterpreted
his actions and said to the Buddha, "Venerable Sir! The
Venerable Sariputta still worships the various directions, viz., the
East, the South, the West, the North, the Nadir and the Zenith,
as he has done before as a brahmin youth; it seems as if he has
not yet given up his old beliefs." The Buddha sent for the
Venerable Sariputta and Sariputta explained to the Buddha that
he was only paying obeisance to his teacher, the Venerable
Assaji, and that he was not worshipping the various directions.
The Buddha was satisfied with the explanation given by the
Venerable Sariputta and said to the other bhikkhus, "Bhikkhus!
The Venerable Sariputta was not worshipping the various
directions; he was only paying obeisance to his teacher and
benefactor, through whom he had attained the Deathless. It is
quite right and proper for him to pay homage to such a teacher."

5

To profess Buddhism
Śāriputra (Sanskrit) or Sāriputta (Pali) was one of two
chief disciples of Gautama Buddha, along with Maudgalyayana.
"The Buddha declared Śāriputra and Mahāmaudgalyāyana his
chief disciples the day they were ordained, giving as his reason
the fact that both had exerted themselves in religious practice
for countless previous lives. Śāriputra was declared chief among
the Buddha’s disciples in wisdom, while Mahāmaudgalyāyana
was chief in mastery of supranormal powers (Ṛddhi)."
The Buddha referred to Shariptra as his dharmasenāpati,
“dharma general”, in recognition of Shariputra's knowledge of
the dharma and his skill as a teacher. Shariputra was regarded as
"second only to the Buddha in the depth and range of his
understanding, and his ability to teach the Doctrine of
Deliverance."

6

His/her work on Buddhism

Sāriputta Thera and his analytical knowledge
1. Atthapaṭisambhidā: Analytical understanding of the
significance, essence and meaning of things.

2. Dhammapaṭisambhidā: Analytical understanding of the
nature of the Dhamma, of the causation law, by means
of language.

3. Niruttipaṭisambhidā: Analytical understanding within a
philological approach of the Dhamma. Deep
understanding of the mode of language expression that
is being utilised in connection with reality (grammar,
etymology, gathering of sentences, etc.)

4. Paṭibhānapaṭisambhidā: Analytical understanding of
well-structured rhetoric and discourses, perspicuous and
witty, destined to make the Dhamma easily understood
by others.

the Buddha describes the fourfold analytical knowledge
with reference to his disciples such as the venerable Sāriputta,
the venerable Mahākoṭṭhita and others, the detail of which is
described in the following headings. The venerable Sāriputta, the
General of Dhamma (Dhammasenāpati), was approved by the
Buddha of being possessed of the fourfold analytical knowledge.

7

‘Endowed with seven factors, bhikkhus’, the Buddha
said, ‘Sāri­putta, having penetrated, having realized and having
entered the fourfold analytical knowledge with direct knowledge,
abides therein’ (Sattahi bhikkha­ve, dhammehi samannāgato
Sāriputto catasso paṭisambhidā sayaṃ abhiññā sacchikatvā
upasampajja viharati).

8

Virtues as good model for leading a life

Few religious teachers have been so well served by their
immediate disciples as was the Buddha. This you will see as you
read these pages, for they tell the story of one of the two
greatest of them, Sariputta, who was second only to the Buddha
in the depth and range of his understanding, and his ability to
teach the Doctrine of Deliverance. In the Tripitaka there is no
connected account of his life, but it can be pieced together from
the various incidents, scattered throughout the canonical texts
and commentaries, in which he figures. Some of them are more
than incidents, for his life so closely interwoven with the life and
ministry of the Buddha that he plays an essential part in it, and
on a number of occasions it is the Sariputta himself who takes
the leading role -- as skilled preceptor and exemplar, as kind and
considerate friend, as guardian of the welfare of the bhikkhus
under his charge, as faithful repository of his Master's doctrine,
the function which earned him the title of Dhamma-senapati,
Marshal of the Dhamma, and always as himself, a man unique in
his patience and steadfastness, modest and upright in thought,
word and deed, a man to whom one act of kindness was a thing
to be remembered with gratitude so long as life endured. Even
among the Arahats, saints freed from all defilements of passion
and delusion, he shone like the full moon in a starry sky.

9

This then is the man, of profound intellect and sublime
nature, a true disciple of the Great Teacher, whose story we
have set down, to the best of our ability, in the pages that
follow. If you, the reader, can gather from this imperfect record
something of the qualities of man perfected, of man fully
liberated and raised to the highest level of his being; of how
such a man acts and speaks and comports himself towards his
fellows; and if the reading of it gives you strength and faith in
the assurance of what man may become, then our work has
been worthwhile, and is fully rewarded.

10

Reference

https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/thag/thag.17.02.o
len.html

http://www.palikanon.com/english/pali_names/sa/saariputta.h
tm

https://www.dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?t=10422

http://buddhism.lib.ntu.edu.tw/DLMBS/en/search/search_det
ail.jsp?seq=150904&q=Sari&qf=TOPIC&comefrom=searchen
gine

https://www.sariputta.com/dhammapada/819/cerita-the-story-
of-thera-sariputta

https://www.wisdomlib.org/buddhism/book/the-life-of-
sariputta/d/doc3006.html

http://www.dhammasena.org/dhammapada/contents/da26_01
7.htm

https://sites.google.com/site/sawokbuddha/phra-sa-ri-butr

http://dhamma.serichon.us/2015/04/13/%E0%B8%9C%E0
%B8%A5%E0%B8%87%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%99%E0%B9
%81%E0%B8%A5%E0%B8%B0%E0%B8%A5%E0%B8%B1
%E0%B8%81%E0%B8%A9%E0%B8%93%E0%B8%B0%E0
%B9%82%E0%B8%94%E0%B8%94%E0%B9%80%E0%B8
%94%E0%B9%88%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%82/

11