Maudgalyayana

Maudgalyāyana (Pali: Moggallāna), also called Mahāmaudgalyāyana or by his birth name Kolita, was a close disciple of the Buddha. He is regarded as the second of the Buddha’s two foremost male disciples, alongside Śāriputra. Traditional accounts say that Maudgalyāyana and Śāriputra became spiritual seekers as youths. After searching for truth, they encountered Buddhist teachings through widely known verses, then met the Buddha and became monks under him. Maudgalyāyana attained enlightenment soon after.

Maudgalyāyana and Śāriputra shared a deep spiritual friendship. In Buddhist art, they are shown accompanying the Buddha, with complementary roles as teachers. Maudgalyāyana was known for his psychic powers and often used them in his teaching. In many early Buddhist canons, he helped reunite the monastic community after Devadatta caused a schism. He is also linked to accounts of the first Buddha image. Maudgalyāyana died at age eighty-four, killed by a rival sect. Buddhist scriptures describe this violent death as karmic result of his having killed his own parents in a previous life.

Through post-canonical texts, Maudgalyāyana became associated with filial piety, due to a popular story of him transferring merits to his mother. This led to the ghost festival in many Buddhist countries, where people dedicate merits to ancestors. He has also been linked to meditation, Abhidharma texts, and the Dharmaguptaka school. In the nineteenth century, relics attributed to him were found and widely venerated. His female counterpart was Utpalavarṇā (Pali: Uppalavaṇṇā).

In the Pali Canon, Maudgalyāyana’s skin color is described as like a blue lotus or a rain cloud. Sri Lankan oral tradition says this was because he was born in hell in many lifetimes. Scholar Karaluvinna believes the original meaning was dark skin, not blue. The Mahāsāṃghika Canon states he was “beautiful to look at, pleasant, wise, intelligent, full of merits…” In some Chinese accounts, the clan name Maudgalyāyana refers to a legume eaten by an ancestor. Indologist Ernst Windisch linked the figure to Maudgalya from the Mahabharata, suggesting the diviner Maudgalya’s journey to heaven influenced Maudgalyāyana’s story, though author Edward J. Thomas found this improbable. Windisch considered Maudgalyāyana a historical person.

Maudgalyāyana was born in the village of Kolita (also called Kulika, now identified as Juafardih near Nalanda), after which he was named. His mother was Mogallāni, and his father was the village chief. Kolita was born on the same day as Upatiṣya (later Śāriputra), and they were childhood friends. As youths, they felt disenchantment at a festival and sought a spiritual life under the mendicant Sañjaya Vairatiputra. In Theravāda and Mahāsāṃghika canons, Sañjaya was a Sceptic teacher who did not believe in knowledge or logic, and could not satisfy them, so they left. In Mūlasarvāstivāda, Chinese, and Tibetan accounts, Sañjaya had admirable qualities but fell ill and died, or predicted the Buddha’s coming. Kolita and Upatiṣya then split up to search, agreeing to tell each other if they found spiritual “ambrosia.” Upatiṣya met the monk Aśvajit, one of the Buddha’s first five disciples. In the Mūlasarvāstivāda version, the Buddha sent Aśvajit to teach Upatiṣya. Aśvajit’s serene deportment inspired Upatiṣya, and he taught the essence of the Buddha’s teaching: “Of all phenomena sprung from a cause / The Teacher the cause hath told; / And he tells, too, how each shall come to its end, / For such is the word of the Sage.” These words helped Upatiṣya attain the first stage of the path. He told Kolita, who also attained the first stage. The two disciples, along with five hundred of Sañjaya’s students, ordained under the Buddha at Veṇuvana. From then on, Upatiṣya and Kolita were known as Śāriputra and Maudgalyāyana.