restrict its discussion to those presented by the Indian
Buddhist tradition as personal disciples of the histori-
cal Buddha. Even so, the discussion will be selective.
Traditionally, discipleship is classified in two cate-
gories: (1) specialists, who relinquish most of their so-
cial privileges and duties and become full-time
practitioners of the Buddha’s teachings, who observe
a number of regulatory rules (VINAYA), and who are
usually described as MONKS and NUNS(bhiksu and
bhiksunl); and (2) people who express faith in the Bud-
dha, offer material support, and receive simplified
teachings that emphasize generosity, and who are de-
scribed as laymen and laywomen (upasakaand up-
asika). These two categories of discipleship were open
only to human beings (there is a special question in
the monastic ordination intended to exclude disguised
serpent deities). Nevertheless, the interaction of the
Buddha with DIVINITIESis a prominent feature of his
biography and an important factor in the development
of the community of disciples. Key disciples of all kinds
also appear as coprotagonists in stories of former lives
of the Buddha (JATAKA), thus extending their relation-
ship into previous lives and the distant past.
The Buddha is depicted recruiting followers from
all classes of society: brahmins, ksatriyas (warrior
class), and members of the lower classes, including un-
touchables. He eventually admitted women as per-
sonal disciples, and he freely interacted with and
taught divine beings, including S ́akra (see “The Ques-
tions of Sakka” in Davids and Davids, pp. 299–321).
The Buddha also interacted with practitioners of other
religious traditions, in some cases acquiring them as
disciples, in others failing to convert them to his fol-
lowing. The Buddha is also depicted in some accounts
of the period after his enlightenment as visiting the
heavens of Buddhist COSMOLOGYand teaching there,
most famously to his mother (indicating the signifi-
cance of the child–mother relationship in Buddhist
culture). In most of the countries of South and South-
east Asia there are also local traditions that the Bud-
dha magically visited, often leaving an indelible
footprint as evidence of his presence, and thus initiat-
ing the transmission of Buddhism in each region
through a tradition beginning with personal disciple-
ship. Throughout history and into the modern period,
many monastic traditions regard themselves as the
continuing manifestation of a lineage that springs
from one of the personal disciples of the Buddha.
Our knowledge of the Buddha’s disciples is pri-
marily derived from scriptural sources, and the
growth of the initial body of disciples is documented
in the first part of an important VINAYAtext of the
THERAVADAtradition called the Mahavagga.This text
includes a fascinating account of the first of the Bud-
dha’s personal disciples. In the early weeks of his post-
enlightened life, the Buddha is portrayed passing the
time seated beneath various trees in the vicinity of
BODHGAYAand gradually interacting with other be-
ings, interactions through which his following is ini-
tiated and grows. Curiously, these interactions are not
always positive or fruitful, and the text indicates that
the creation of a community of disciples was not a
foregone conclusion.
Significantly, the Buddha is first approached by
what is described as an arrogant brahmin. They ex-
change greetings and in response to a question the
Buddha explains the nature of true spiritual excel-
lence. No outcome to the encounter is recorded, per-
haps reflecting the ambiguous relationship that
existed between the Buddhist community and the
highest-ranking class in brahmanical society. The sec-
ond encounter occurs during a great storm, when the
king of the serpent deities, Mucalinda, reverentially
winds his body around the Buddha to protect him.
When the storm is over the serpent takes the form of
a young man and worships the Buddha, but the Bud-
dha does not teach him. The third encounter involves
two passing merchants, Tapussa and Bhallika, who of-
fer the Buddha food. The Buddha accepts this offer-
ing, and the merchants take refuge in him and are thus
recognized as his first disciples. Significantly, they re-
ceive no teaching from him and continue with their
trade. It is clear from both textual and archaeological
sources that the early Buddhist community benefited
enormously from recruitment among the merchant
class and was spread geographically along the major
trade routes of ancient India and beyond.
At this point in the account the Buddha undergoes
a crisis of indecision. Reflecting on the difficulty with
which he himself had achieved BODHI(AWAKENING),
he thinks that it would be impossible to teach other
people to do the same. He is, however, importuned
by a deity called Sahampati, who convinces him
through argument that some people “with little dust
in their eyes” would be capable of responding to the
advice the Buddha could offer, and thus the Buddha
decides to teach. He begins a process of reflection on
who might be suited to become a disciple. He con-
siders previous teachers, who turn out to be dead, and
finally fixes on his fellow ascetics with whom he had
lived immediately before his enlightenment. He setsDISCIPLES OF THEBUDDHA