Such personal qualities as gratitude, kindness, helpfulness, and patience won for the Venerable Sāriputta many deep friendships which endured throughout his life as a monk. With Moggallāna, the friend and companion of his youth, he maintained intimate ties until death separated them in the very last year of the Buddha’s life. But Sāriputta’s friendships were in no way exclusive.

According to the commentary to the Mahāgosiṅga Sutta there was also a bond of mutual affection between Sāriputta and the Elder Ānanda. On Sāriputta’s part it was because he thought: “He is attending on the Master—a duty which should have been performed by me”; and Ānanda’s affection was due to the fact that Sāriputta had been declared by the Buddha as his foremost disciple.

When Ānanda gave novice ordination to young pupils, he used to take them to Sāriputta to obtain higher ordination under him. Sāriputta did the same in regard to Ānanda, and in that way they had five hundred pupils in common.

Whenever Ānanda received choice robes or other requisites he would offer them to Sāriputta, and in the same way, Sāriputta passed on to Ānanda any special offerings that were made to him.

Once Ānanda received from a certain brahmin a very valuable robe, and with the Master’s permission he kept it for ten days, awaiting Sāriputta’s return. The subcommentary says that later teachers commented on this: “There may be those who say: ‘We can well understand that Ānanda, who had not yet attained to arahantship, felt such affection. But how is it in the case of Sāriputta, who was a canker- free arahant?’ To this we answer: ‘Sāriputta’s affection was not one of worldly attachment, but a love for Ānanda’s virtues (guṇa-bhatti).’”

The Buddha once asked Ānanda: “Do you, too, approve of Sāriputta?”

And Ānanda replied: “Who, Lord, would not approve of Sāriputta, unless he were childish, corrupt, stupid, or of perverted mind! Sāriputta is wise, of great wisdom, of broad, bright, quick, keen, and penetrative wisdom. Sāriputta is of few wants and contented, inclined to seclusion, not fond of company, energetic, eloquent, willing to listen, an exhorter who censures what is evil”

In the Theragāthā   we find Ānanda describing his emotion at the time of Sāriputta’s death.

 “When the noble friend (Sāriputta) had gone,” he declares, “the world was plunged in darkness for me.” But he adds that after the companion had left him behind, and the Master had also passed away, there was no other friend like mindfulness directed to the body. Ānanda’s sorrow on learning of Sāriputta’s death is also described very movingly in the Cunda Sutta.

Sāriputta was a true friend in the fullest sense of the word. He well understood how to bring out the best in others, and in doing so did not hesitate sometimes to speak straightforwardly and critically, like the ideal friend described by the Buddha, who points out his friend’s faults. It was through such honest criticism that he helped the Venerable Anuruddha in his final breakthrough to arahantship, as recorded in the Aṅguttara Nikāya:

   Once the Venerable Anuruddha went to see the Venerable Sāriputta. When they had exchanged courteous greetings, he sat down and said to the Venerable Sāriputta:

“Friend Sāriputta, with the divine eye that is purified, transcending human sight, I can see the thousandfold world-system. Firm is my energy, unremitting; my mindfulness is alert and unconfused; my body is tranquil and unperturbed; my mind is concentrated and one-pointed. An

is concentrated and one-pointed. And yet, my mind is not freed from the cankers, not freed from clinging.”

“Friend Anuruddha,” said the Venerable Sāriputta,

“That you think thus of your divine eye, this is conceit in you. That you think thus of your firm energy, your alert mindfulness, your unperturbed body, and your concentrated mind, this is restlessness in you. That you think of your mind not being freed from the cankers, this is worrying in you. It would be good, indeed, if you would abandon these three states of mind and, paying no attention to them, direct your mind to the deathless element.”

The Venerable Anuruddha followed Sāriputta’s advice and in a short time he attained the destruction of the cankers.

Sāriputta must have been stimulating company, as he was sought after by many. What attracted people of quite different temperaments to him and his conversation can be well understood from the incident described in the Mahāgosiṅga Sutta.

One evening the Elders Mahāmoggallāna, Mahākassapa, Anuruddha, Revata, and Ānanda went to Sāriputta to listen to the Dhamma. Sāriputta welcomed them, saying:

“Delightful is this Gosiṅga sāla-tree forest, it is a clear moonlit night, the sāla trees are in full bloom, and it seems as if celestial scents are being wafted around. What kind of monk, do you think, Ānanda, will lend more lustre to this Gosiṅga sāla-tree forest?”

The same question was put to the others as well, and each replied according to his personal temperament. Finally, Sāriputta gave his own answer, which was as follows:

There is a monk who has control over his mind, who is not under the control of his mind. In whatever (mental) abiding or attainment he wishes to dwell in the forenoon, he can dwell in it at that time. In whatever (mental) abiding or attainment he wishes to dwell at noon, he can dwell in it at that time. In whatever (mental) abiding or attainment he wishes to dwell in the evening, he can dwell in it at that time. It is as though a king’s or royal minister’s cloth chest were full of many-colored garments, so that whatever pair of garments he wishes to wear in the morning, or at noon, or in the evening, he can wear it at will at those times. Similarly it is with a monk who has control over his mind, who is not under the control of his mind; in whatever (mental) abiding or attainment he wishes to dwell in the morning, or at noon, or in the evening, he can do so at will at those times.

Similarly it is with a monk who has control over his mind, who is not under the control of his mind; in whatever (mental) abiding or attainment he wishes to dwell in the morning, or at noon, or in the evening, he can do so at will at those times. Such a monk, friend Moggallāna, can lend lustre to this Gosiṅga sāla-tree forest.

They then went to the Buddha and reported the course of their discussion. The Master approved of all their answers and added his own.

We see from this episode that, despite his powerful intellect and his status in the Sangha, Sāriputta was far from being a domineering type who tried to impose his views on others. He understood well how to stimulate self-expression in his companions in a natural way, conveying to them the pensive mood evoked by the enchanting scenery. His own sensitive nature responded to natural beauty and drew a similar response from his friends.

There are many such conversations recorded between Sāriputta and other monks, not only with Moggallāna, Ānanda, and Anuruddha, but also with Mahākotthita, Upavāṇa, Samiddhi, Savittha, Bhūmija, and many more. Sāriputta was also keen to meet noble monks, particularly those whom the Master had commended.

One such was the Elder Puṇṇa Mantāniputta, whom he had not met before the Buddha praised him before the Sangha. When Sāriputta learned that Puṇṇa had come on a visit he went to meet him and, without revealing his own identity, engaged him in a profound discussion on the successive stages of purification and their relation to Nibbāna.

It seems that the Buddha himself liked to talk to Sāriputta, for he often did so, and many of his discourses were addressed to his ‘Marshal of the Dhamma.’ Once Sāriputta approached the Buddha and repeated some words the Master had spoken to Ānanda on another occasion:

“This is the whole of the holy life (brahmacariya); namely, noble friendship, noble companionship, noble association”. There could be no better exemplification of that teaching than the life of the chief disciple himself.

As we have already seen, Sāriputta was born into a brahmin family of Upatissa village (or Nālaka), near Rājagaha. His father’s name was Vanganta and his mother’s Rūpasārī. No mention is made of his relationship with his father, and we may thus presume that his father died in Sāriputta’s youth. He had three brothers: Cunda, Upasena, and Revata, and three sisters named Cālā, Upacālā, and Sisūpacālā. All six took ordination into the Buddhist Order and attained arahantship.

Cunda was known by the name Samaṇuddesa, meaning “the novice” in the Sangha, even after becoming a bhikkhu; this was to distinguish him from the Elder Mahācunda. At the time of Sāriputta’s death, Cunda was his attendant, and it was he who informed the Buddha of his passing away, bringing with him the chief disciple’s relics. The story is told in the Cunda Sutta, recounted below.

Upasena, who came to be known as Vagantaputta, or “Son of Vaganta,” as Sāriputta is “Son of Sārī,” was said by the Buddha to be foremost among those of all-pleasing deportment. Revata was the youngest of the brothers. Their mother, wishing to prevent him from seeking ordination, had him married when he was a very young boy. But on the wedding day he saw the grandmother of his future wife, an old woman of 120, stricken with all the signs of decrepitude. At once he became disgusted with worldly life. Escaping from the wedding procession by a ruse, he fled to a monastery and was ordained. In later years he was on his way to see the Buddha when he stopped at a forest of acacia trees (khadīravana), and while spending the rainy season there he attained arahantship. After that he became known as Revata Khadīravaniya—“Revata of the Acacia Forest.” The Buddha distinguished him as being the foremost among forest dwellers.

The three sisters, Cālā, Upacālā, and Sisūpacālā, wishing to follow their brothers’ example, became nuns after their marriages. In marriage, each of them had a son who was named after his mother. These three sons were also ordained, being received as novices by Revata Khadīravaniya, and their good conduct was praised by Sāriputta. When Cālā, Upacālā, and Sisūpacālā became nuns they were approached by Māra, who tried to taunt and tempt them. Their excellent replies are recorded in the Therīgāthā and the Bhikkhunī Saṃyutta.

In contrast to all these, Sāriputta’s mother was a staunch brahmin who, throughout the years, remained hostile to the Buddha’s Teaching and his followers. In the commentary to the Dhammapada it is related that once, when the Venerable Sāriputta was in his own village of Nālaka with a large retinue of monks, he came to his mother’s house in the course of his alms round.

His mother gave him a seat and served him with food, but while she did so she uttered abusive words: “Oh, you eater of others’ leavings!” she said. “When you fail to get leavings of sour rice gruel, you go from house to house among strangers, licking the leavings off the backs of ladles! And so it was for this that you gave up eighty crores of wealth and became a monk! You have ruined me! Now go on and eat!”

Likewise, when she was serving food to the monks, she said: “So! You are the men who have made my son your page boy! Go on, eat now!”

Thus, she continued reviling them, but Sāriputta spoke not a word. He took his food, ate it, and in silence returned to the monastery. The Buddha learned of the incident from his son Rāhula, who had been among the monks at the time. All the bhikkhus who heard of it wondered at the elder’s great forbearance, and in the midst of the assembly the Buddha praised him, uttering the stanza:

He that is free from anger, who performs his duties faithfully, He that guards the precepts and is free from lust;

He that has subdued himself, he that wears his last body—

 He it is I call a brahmin.

It was not until the very close of Sāriputta’s life that he was able to convert his mother; that story will be told below. But the incident just related reminds us again of the great elder’s most pleasing characteristics—his humility, patience, and forbearance.