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ĀNANDA |
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Ānanda
was the son of the Buddha's uncle Amitodana. For the last 35 years
of the Buddha’s he was his personal attendant and was also the
most widely loved of all his disciples. If Sāriputta
personified wisdom and Moggallāna personified psychic
ability, then Ānanda certainly personified kindness,
gentleness, warmth and love. The Buddha praised him for his 'acts of love through body, through speech and through mind'
(D.II,144), meaning that he was always ready to lend a helping hand,
that he always spoke kindly to people and that he always thought well
of others. The Buddha even said that he shared some of the very
qualities that he himself had - that people were delighted to see
him, that they were delighted when he taught the Dhamma and they were
disappointed when he finished speaking (D.II,145). Ānanda had a
crucial role in the First Council. Having spent so many years
close to the Buddha and remembering many of his discourses, he
recited them during the council so that the other participants could
commit them to memory and pass them down. It is with Ānanda's words, 'Thus have I heard' (Evaṃ me sutaṃ...), that most suttas
begin.
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