The Life Stories of the Monks – 1936
discourse on this subject goes by the title of the Advice to Rāhula given in
Ambalaṭṭhika Park (
Ambalaṭṭhika-rāhulovāda-sutta
, MN 61), see chapter 20a.
When Rāhula was eighteen, the Buddha taught him a discourse entitled the Long
Discourse giving Advice to Rāhula (
Mahā-rāhulovāda-sutta
, MN 62), see
chapter 31.
To give practical lessons in insight-meditation, 22 suttas were directed at Rāhula,
compiled in the Collection of the Thematic Discourses (
Saṁyutta-nikāya
),
forming the chapter entitled the Thematic Discourses connected with Rāhula
(
Rāhula-saṁyutta
, SN 18); and there is also another discourse entitled the
Discourse concerning Rāhula (
Rāhula-sutta
, AN 4.177).
As Rāhula became spiritually more mature, when he had just been admitted into
the Saṅgha as a full-fledged monastic, the Buddha taught him another discourse
entitled the Short Discourse giving Advice to Rāhula (
Cūḷa-rāhulovāda-sutta
,
MN 147), see chapter 31.
Foremost Title Achieved
On one occasion, in the congregation of monastics where the Buddha named
outstanding monastics, he declared:
Etad-aggaṁ bhikkhave mama sāvakānaṁ bhikkhūnaṁ
Sikkhā-kāmānaṁ yad-idaṁ Rāhulo.
Monastics, among the monastics who welcome admonition concerning the
threefold training, Rāhula is the foremost (
etad-agga
).
Ven. Rāhula was designated as the foremost among those monastics who
welcomed admonition concerning the threefold training because from the
day he became a novice he always had a most keen desire to be instructed.
Every morning, he awaited admonition and advice from the Buddha or
from his preceptor. He wanted as many words of advice as they would give,
even as many as the grains of sand he used to hold in his hand every
morning.
Raṭṭhapāla’s Monastic Life
In his tour of the kingdom of Kuru, the Buddha arrived at the market town of
[1282]
Thullakoṭṭhika, which means the town where all households have their
granaries full of paddy. On hearing the Buddha’s discourse, Raṭṭhapāla, the