Nanda (half-brother of Buddha)
Prince Nanda, also known as Sundarananda( handsome Nanda), was the younger half- brother of the Buddha.
He shared the same father as the Buddha, King Śuddhodana, and his mother, Mahapajapati Gotami, was the Buddha's mother's younger sister.
The Buddha's biological mother died 7 days after Prince Siddhartha, the person who would become the Buddha, was born.
It was seven years after his Enlightenment that the Buddha, at the request of his father, who missed him dearly, returned to his home city of Kapilavatthu.
On the third day of his return, the Buddha, after partaking of his meal, silently handed his bowl to Nanda, rose and exited.
Thinking that the Buddha would take his bowl back, Nanda followed him until he reached the Park of Nigrodha, where the Buddha was staying.
This was the Buddha's silent demonstration of the Dhamma to his younger brother: a scene which is often represented in Greco- Buddhist art.
When they arrived at the Park, the Buddha questioned Nanda regarding whether he might become a monk.
Although Nanda had just wedded the beautiful Janapada Kalyāni, that same day, he took ordination and joined the community of Monks.
However, Nanda enjoyed no spiritual happiness.
His thoughts were constantly directed towards to Janapada Kalyāni and his heart pined for her.
Learning of this, the Buddha took Nanda on a journey to Tavatimsa Heaven or.
On the way Nanda saw a she-monkey that had lost her ears, nose and tail in a fire, clinging to a charred stump.
When they reached the heaven abode, Nanda saw beautiful celestial nymphs and the Buddha asked Nanda:" Which do you consider more beautiful?
Those nymphs or Janapada Kalyāni?"
Nanda replied:
" Venerable Sir, Janapada Kalyāni looks like the scalded she- monkey, compared to those nymphs."
The Buddha said:" Nanda, can you see that what you thought to be exceedingly beautiful now pales in comparison to greater beauty?"
Upon hearing this, Nanda practiced diligently with the object of winning the celestial nymphs.
However, when the other monks learned of Nanda's wish they ridiculed him and he eventually saw his motive as base, and renouncing desire, attained Arhatship.
There is a poem in Theragatha collection of verses believed to have been authored by Nanda praising the Buddha for having become an arahant.
Abeysekera writes:" On realizing the exquisite happiness of Nibbana, Nanda approached the Buddha and thanked Him respectfully by saying," Lord I release you from your promise of celestial bliss."
The Buddha then informed Nanda that He had been released from the promise the moment he had reached the supreme bliss of Nibbana, because the bliss of Nibbana was greater and transcended any celestial bliss."
Peter Levin
Peter Levin is an American director of film, television and theatre.
Ānanda
Ānanda( 5th4th century BCE) was the primary attendant of the Buddha and one of his ten principal disciples.
Among the Buddha's many disciples, Ānanda stood out for having the best memory.
Most of the texts of the early Buddhist" Sutta- Piṭaka"( Pāli) are attributed to his recollection of the Buddha's teachings during the First Buddhist Council.
For that reason, he is known as the Treasurer of the Dhamma, with" Dhamma" referring to the Buddha's teaching.
In Early Buddhist Texts, Ānanda was the first cousin of the Buddha.
Although the early texts do not agree on many parts of Ānanda's early life, they do agree that Ānanda was ordained as a monk and that Puṇṇa Mantāniputta became his teacher.
Twenty years in the Buddha's ministry, Ānanda became the attendant of the Buddha, when the Buddha selected him for this task.
Ānanda performed his duties with great devotion and care, and acted as an intermediary between the Buddha and the laypeople, as well as the" saṅgha".
He accompanied the Buddha for the rest of his life, acting not only as an assistant, but also a secretary and a mouthpiece.
Scholars are skeptical about the historicity of many events in Ānanda's life, especially the First Council, and consensus about this has yet to be established.
A traditional account can be drawn from early texts, commentaries, and post-canonical chronicles.
Ānanda had an important role in establishing the order of" bhikkhunīs", when he requested the Buddha on behalf of the latter's foster- mother Mahāpajāpati Gotam ī to allow her to be ordained.
Ānanda also accompanied the Buddha in the last year of his life, and therefore was witness to many tenets and principles that the Buddha conveyed before his death, including the well- known principle that the Buddhist community should take his teaching and discipline as their refuge, and that he would not appoint a new leader.
The final period of the Buddha's life also shows that Ānanda was very much attached to the Buddha's person, and he saw the Buddha's passing with great sorrow.
Shortly after the Buddha's death, the First Council was convened, and Ānanda managed to attain enlightenment just before the council started, which was a requirement.
He had a historical role during the council as the living memory of the Buddha, reciting many of the Buddha's discourses and checking them for accuracy.
During the same council, however, he was chastised by Mahākassapa and the rest of the" saṅgha" for allowing women to be ordained and failing to understand or respect the Buddha at several crucial moments.
Ānanda continued to teach until the end of his life, passing on his spiritual heritage to his pupils Sāṇavāsī and Majjhantika, among others, who later assumed leading roles in the Second and Third Councils.
Ānanda died 20 years after the Buddha, and" stūpas"( monuments) were erected at the river where he died.
Ānanda is one of the most loved figures in Buddhism.
He was known for his memory, erudition and compassion, and was often praised by the Buddha for these matters.
He functioned as a foil to the Buddha, however, in that he still had worldly attachments and was not yet enlightened, as opposed to the Buddha.
In the Sanskrit textual traditions, Ānanda is considered the patriarch of the Dhamma, who stood in a spiritual lineage, receiving the teaching from Mahākassapa and passing them on to his own pupils.
Ānanda has been honored by" bhikkhunīs" since early medieval times for his merits in establishing the nun's order.
In recent times, the composer Richard Wagner and Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore were inspired by stories about Ānanda in their work.
Alfred Charles Auguste Foucher
Alfred Charles Auguste Foucher (1865–1952), a French scholar, identified the Buddha image as having Greek origins.
He has been called the "father of Gandhara studies", and is a much cited scholar on ancient Buddhism in northwest Indian subcontinent and the Hindu Kush region.
He made his first trip to northeastern India in 1895.
In 1922 he was asked by the governments of France and Afghanistan to organize an archeological co-operative which became the "Délégation archéologique française en Afghanistan".
Foucher's most famous work was "L'Art Gréco-Bouddhique du Gandhara" in which he described how Buddhist art prior to Pan-Hellenism was principally aniconic, representing the Buddha by depicting elements of the Buddha's life instead of depicting the Buddha himself.
Foucher argued that the first sculpted images of the Buddha were heavily influenced by Greek artists.
He coined the term "Greco-Buddhist art".
Foucher especially considered Hellenistic free-standing Buddhas as "the most beautiful, and probably the most ancient of the Buddhas", assigning them to the 1st century BCE, and making them the starting point of the anthropomorphic representations of the Buddha ("The Buddhist art of Gandhara", Marshall, p101).
Following the mid-20th century discovery of Roman trading posts in Southern India, Foucher's argument was revised in favour of Roman influence, as opposed to Greek.
New archeological discoveries in Central Asia however (such as the Hellenistic city of Ai-Khanoum and the excavation of Sirkap in modern Pakistan), have been pointing to rich Greco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek civilizations in these areas, reviving the Hellenistic thesis.
Nonetheless, his central thesis that the Buddha was of Classical origin has become established.
For a compelling counter-argument to Foucher's essay, see Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, "The Origin of the Buddha Image".
Suddhipanthaka
Suddhipanthaka (Chn: 周利槃陀伽) was a disciple of the Buddha.
He was known for being the most dim-witted of the Buddha's disciples, unable to understand the Buddha's teachings, and almost completely forgetting everything the Buddha said.
According to legend, one day the Buddha assigned him to sweep the ground.
After a long time, Suddhipanthaka said "The ground is clean, but is my mind-ground clean?
" Thereupon he attained enlightenment.
Yasa
Yasa was a bhikkhu during the time of Gautama Buddha.
He was the sixth bhikkhu in the Buddha's sangha and was the sixth to achieve arahanthood.
Yasa lived in the 6th century BCE in what is now Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in northern India.
Yasa was raised in Varanasi in a life of luxury.
His father was a millionaire.
The family home was full of servants, musicians and dancers who catered for the family's needs and entertainment.
One day, when he had become a young man, Yasa awoke early and saw his female servants and entertainers asleep in a repulsive state.
Disgusted by the spectacle, Yasa realised the vanity of worldly life, and left the family home muttering “ Distressed am I, oppressed am I ” and journeyed in the direction of Isipatana where the Buddha was temporarily residing after his first five bhikkhus had attained arahantship.
This was five days after all of the first five bhikkhus had attained arahantship.
The Buddha was pacing up and down in an open space near where Yasa was muttering “ Distressed am I, oppressed am I ”, and called Yasa over to him, inviting him to sit down.
Yasa took off his golden sandals, saluted and sat down.
The Buddha gave a dharma discourse, and Yasa achieved the first stage of arahanthood, sotapanna.
At first, the Buddha spoke about generosity( Dana), morality( sila), celestial states( sagga), the evils of sensual pleasure( kamadinava), blessing of renunciation( nekkhammanisamsa), before teaching the Four Noble Truths.
Yasa's mother had noticed her son's absence, and notified her husband, who sent horsemen in four directions to search for Yasa.
Yasa's father headed in the direction of Isipatana, following the trail left by the golden slippers.
When the millionaire saw the Buddha and asked him if he had seen Yasa, the Buddha asked him to sit down, and then delivered a dharma talk.
After this Yasa's father became the first to take refuge in the Triple Gems, the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.
Yasa, who was in the vicinity and had heard the talk given to his father, became an arahant.
After father and son were reunited, the father invited the Buddha and the Sangha to his home for alms on the following day.
The Buddha then ordained Yasa.
The Buddha and his six arahants visited the home of Yasa the following day.
Yasa's mother and his former wife thus became the first two female lay disciples.
Upon hearing of Yasa's ordination, four of his closest friends, Vimala, Subahu, Punnaji and Gavampati followed him into the sangha and they too became arahants.
Within two months, a further fifty of Yasa's friends had joined the Sangha and attained arahantship, bringing the total number of arahants to sixty.
Ian Barry (director)
Ian Barry is an Australian director of film and TV.
David Grubin
David Grubin (born 1944) is an American documentary filmmaker, who has produced and directed numerous films, many of which are best known from airing on PBS.
The Buddha (2010 film)
The Buddha is a 2010 PBS documentary directed by David Grubin and narrated by Richard Gere.
The film follows the story of the Gautama Buddha's life and discusses the history and teachings of Buddhism.
Khema
Khema( Pali: Khemā; Sanskrit: Kṣemā) was a Buddhist" bhikkhuni", or nun, who was considered one of the foremost female disciples of the Buddha.
She was born into a noble family in the ancient Kingdom of Madra, and was the wife of King Bimbisara of the ancient Indian kingdom of Magadha.
Khema was convinced to visit the Buddha by her husband, who hired poets to sing about the beauty of the monastery he was staying at to her.
She attained arahantship, or the final stage of enlightenment, as a layperson while listening to one of the Buddha's sermons.
Following her attainment, Khema entered the monastic life under the Buddha as a" bhikkhuni".
The Buddha declared her his female disciple foremost in wisdom.
Khema is considered the first of the Buddha's two chief female disciples, along with Uppalavanna.
Her male counterpart was Sariputta.

Question: Which country the director of film The Buddha (2010 Film) is from?
Answer: American