Sariputra – General Of Dharma

Sariputra, every time this name appear it represents the one who was known by name “General of Dharma“. Ven. Sariputra was one of the two chief disciples of Lord Buddha during his lifetime was foremost in Wisdom among all the important disciples of Lord Buddha. It is said that Sariputra was most capable of teaching Dharma as well as most of the teachings of Buddha and it is also believed that Sariputra came second to Lord Buddha when it comes to capability of teaching. Whenever it comes to Abhidharma i.e. third basket of Tripitaka in Heaven realms, the name of Sariputra always comes in front.

It is said that Lord Buddha mostly teach about Abhidharma to Ven. Sariputra than most of the Buddhist disciples and Ven. Sariputra later passed on this teachings to other junior Buddhist monks by mastering the Buddha abhidharma teachings. According to Pali texts of Buddhism and as mentioned in Buddhist history, Sariputra had a great insight into the Enlightenment. After hearing the Buddha teachings from Assaji, Sariputra was greatly moved and approached Lord Buddha for his great principles and omnipotent insight on the life, death, realm of heaven, hell and rebirth. Ven. Sariputra was mostly known for his exceptional insight into the teachings of Dharma.

“Of all those things that from a cause arise,
Tathagata the cause thereof has told;
And how they cease to be, that too he tells,
This is the doctrine of the Great Recluse.”

Sariputra & His Teachings for 500 monks

This happened on the event when Ven. Devadatta deserted the Lord Buddha and influenced other 500 monks to revolt against Lord Buddha. The main reason behind Devadatta action was his arrogance after Lord Buddha time was almost up. After Lord Buddha refused him being the leader of all the Buddhist monks, he felt ashamed and influenced other 500 junior monks. Then Lord Buddha asked his two chief disciples to bring all 500 monks and asked to help them from going the wrong path, Sariputra and Moggallana gladly accepted.

Then Ven. Sariputra and Ven. Moggallana approached all 500 monks and Ven. Sariputra preached about Dharma. The preaching of Dharma was so exceptional that all 500 monks who left with Devadatta accepted to return back to Lord Buddha. This was possible only with two chief disciples of Buddha i.e. Sariputra’s exceptional teachings on Dharma, and Moggallana’s exceptional demonstration of his supernatural powers that he learnt from Lord Buddha. That’s why Sariputra was given the name “General of Dharma”.

See More : Life of Sariputra

Sutra – Important Doctrines in Buddhism

Introduction

Sutra is basically a type of religious literature that is found in religious countries. The term Sutra is known as the doctrines of any religion such Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, etc. According to religious tradition, Sutra is believed to record important religious practices as well as teachings of important figures in particular religion. Sutra are also known by the term thread which is believed to hold things together or basically it holds all the teachings as well religious practices together. The main purpose of sutra is to record the teachings as well as the religious practices and in order to pass it on later generation so that they can follow the sutra and walk on the path of their previous generation paths.

Sutra in Buddhism

In Buddhism, sutra is basically referred only to the sermons of the Shakyamuni Buddha. In Buddhism, the tradition of written sutra came to exist after the success of First Buddhist Council. According to Buddhist history, Ven. Ananda attained Enlightenment a day before the First Buddhist Council and gave sermon from his memory. And from that sermon, a part of Tripitaka i.e. Sutra-pitaka was collected. In First Buddhist council, Ven. Mahakasyapa and Ven. Upali and other senior Buddhist disciples of Buddha gave sermon and took part in the compilation of various sutras that contains the teachings of Gautama Buddha.

After the First Buddhist Council, two oldest Buddhist traditions were introduced in the world i.e. Theravada Buddhism and Mahayana Buddhism. Even though the sutra containing the basic teachings of Buddha are mostly the same, but the sutras that contains the religious practices are slightly different in both tradition since these two tradition have different principles of attaining final goal of Buddhism i.e. Nirvana. The Mahayana sutras were mostly written and compiled 5 centuries after the death of Lord Buddha. Most of the Mahayana sutra were written in the way that Ven. Ananda preached in the first Buddhist Council.

Some examples of Buddhist Sutras

Now in the present time, there are around uncountable number of Buddhist sutras that are written and compiled in different tradition. Some of the most popular Buddhist sutra that are even known to beginner Buddhist monks are Lotus sutra, Heart sutra, diamond sutra, avatamsaka sutra, prajnaparamita sutra, vimalakirti sutra, etc.

You can find number of Buddhist sutra that are quite important for the training of junior Buddhist monks. In many Buddhist community or Sangha, many young Buddhist monks are taught basic teachings of Buddha through various sutras. So Sutra can be considered very important.