Uppalavanna – The Chief Female Disciple of Buddha Shakyamuni
Uppalavanna statue (Click to enlarge)
Buddha Shakyamuni had 10 great disciples who are widely known for carrying his teachings and spreading Buddhism far and wide. All of them are male. However, Buddha also had several female disciples who attained Arhatship and exhibited astonishing qualities, such as paranormal powers and impenetrable states of mind that did not waver to temptations.
Uppalavanna was one of two chief female disciples of Buddha Shakyamuni. She was famous for her ability to show supernatural powers, like the ability to adopt forms. It is said that when born, she was named for her complexion: “Uppalavanna,” meaning “one with the hue of the blue lotus.” In the life story of Uppalavanna, there are at least two variations, according to the Theravada and Mahayana traditions.
Theravada tradition
Uppalavanna was born to a wealthy family in Savatthi. She was a beautiful woman, and her beauty was so remarkable that all the Kings and merchants asked her father for her hand in marriage. In order not to offend any of the men, Uppalavanna’s father asked her if she preferred monastic life, to which she answered, “yes.”
It is said that seven days after she was ordained, while cleaning the temple, Uppalavanna sat down and meditated on a lamp and attained Arhatship soon after. Later, she went into the forest to live a solitary life. Uppalavanna had a male cousin, Nanda, who was attracted her very much. Having a malicious, evil intention, he went to the forest in search of her. After locating Uppalavanna’s retreat hut, Nanda hid under her bed. When Uppalavanna returned, he jumped out and then raped her without mercy. After committing his crime, Nanda tried to leave quickly, but as soon as he stepped foot on the earth, the ground opened and he was swallowed into the Avici Hell.
Uppalavanna was instructed by Buddha Shakyamuni to perform supernatural power, after which Buddha Shakyamuni placed her as the principal female disciple who had this phenomenal power. Her position was on par with that of Maudgalyayana’s.
Mahayana Tradition
In the Mahayana tradition, Uppalavanna’s life story was intriguing and, perhaps, shocking to some.
When Uppalavanna was born, she had three distinctive characteristics. Like the colour of a blue lotus stamen, her skin was golden and tender, her eyes were blue, and her body smelled precisely like the blue lotus. When she grew to a certain age, she was married to a merchant.
Uppalavanna’s tragic life started after she conceived. After her daughter’s birth, she caught her husband sleeping with her mother, a widow. She felt betrayed, wounded, and vehement from experiencing adultery by someone she loved dearly. Before she left her marriage, she accidentally injured her baby daughter by angrily throwing her to the unfaithful father. The baby’s head hit a block of wood and began to bleed when the husband failed to catch his daughter. Seeing this, Uppalavanna felt immediate regret. Yet, still, her anger consumed her emotions, and she left her husband and daughter.
Uppalavanna didn’t know where to go—all she desired was to leave her village. As she stepped out of the neighbourhood, she became frightened and began crying at the thought of her husband’s betrayal. At that very moment, a merchant passed by and heard Uppalavanna’s crying. After hearing her tragic story, the merchant became sympathetic. Attracted to her beauty, he proposed marriage to her, which she accepted.
Several years passed and, one day, the husband had to go to Uppalavanna’s home village for business. Without her knowledge, her husband found himself a young mistress in the village who resembled her. When Uppalavanna found out, she was extremely upset, yet, she told her husband to bring the mistress back to live with them. At that time in India, it was accepted for a man to have multiple wives. Even though the women may not have liked it, they couldn’t do anything but accept their situation, because their status in society was inferior to men’s.
The two women got along amicably, and Uppalavanna treated the mistress like her daughter, while the latter treated the former like a mother. One day, while combing the hair of the mistress, Uppalavanna saw a scar on her head, which reminded her of her biological daughter. She began to get nervous and asked about the mistress’ family background. Indeed, the mistress turned out to be the daughter she abandoned as a child. This was a blow to Uppalavanna’s heart. She shared her first husband with her own mother and, now, she was sharing her second husband with her own daughter.
The realisation made Uppalavanna miserable, so she left her house quietly and travelled to another village. She was furious with the luckless chain of events she had experienced, as well as how women were treated poorly while men were acting out of evil and deception. She decided to teach men a lesson by fooling around with them and playing with their emotions. She was so seductive that many men visited her instead of the brothel. Some prostitutes came to Uppalavanna and challenged her to seduce a young practitioner. She made the young practitioner break his commitment to his practice, and the prostitutes made Uppalavanna their leader.
Uppalavanna Theri statue in Fo Guang Shan Temple in Taiwan
Subsequently, Uppalavanna became pregnant twice. She had a boy but abandoned the baby at the east gate of the village, after which the baby was adopted by the east gatekeeper. She later had a girl, but abandoned the baby at the west gate, after which this baby was adopted by the west gatekeeper. Unfortunately, both gatekeepers had previously made an agreement that when their children would marry once grown. So, both of Uppalavanna’s children would grow up to be husband and wife in an incestuous relationship.
Many years passed. The son of the east gatekeeper came to the brothel and was overwhelmed by his attraction to the beauty of Uppalavanna. He, her son, eventually married her. At the same time, he also married the daughter of the west gatekeeper to fulfil the promise of the two families. At this point, no one knew about the incestuous relationship between the three of them. To make thing worse, Uppalavanna was impregnated by her own son and gave birth to a baby boy.
One day, when the second wife of Uppalavana’s husband was outside the house with Uppalavana’s baby, Maudgalyayana passed by and told the dark secret to her: “Your husband’s first wife is your birth mother; your husband is your brother. Hence, there should not be jealousy between you and the first wife.” Later, when Uppalavanna learned of the absurd exchange, she was struck with fear and sorrow, wondering what she had done in her past lives to make her experience such deranged and disappointing relationships. She could no longer stay in the family, so she left her home once again. Without any skill sets, she could only return to prostitution.
Statue of Maudgalyayana at Malambe Amawatura Mahamevnawa Buddhist Monastery
With his clairvoyance, Maudgalyayana saw the negative karma Uppalavana had created in her past lives and present life. He perceived that it was the right time for her to receive Dharma teachings, so he went to her when she was entertaining 500 men. When he got there, she tried to seduce him, but he had already attained Arhatship and had no sexual desire. Before Uppalavanna could approach him more closely, he lifted himself in midair and gave a short Dharma teaching about how craving beauty and sexual desire trap us in samsara and create suffering. Uppalavanna was in awe when she saw the supernatural power performed by Maudgalyayana. She reflected about her actions and gained realisations, becoming regretful of what she had done in the past. Immediately, she requested to be ordained. Maudgalyayana took her to Buddha Shakyamuni, who referred her to Mahapajapati Gotami for ordination.
Uppalavanna was a diligent and sincere practitioner, and not long after her ordination, she attained Arhatship. Her supernatural power was on par with that of Maudgalyayana, a recognition given officially by Buddha Shakyamuni. Uppalavanna was also appointed as one of Buddha Shakyamuni’s chief female disciples.
Many disciples of Buddha Shakyamuni were very curious about Uppalavanna. They knew of her previous occupation and the absurdity of her relationships with her mother, husbands, and children. They also wondered how Uppalavanna could attain Arhatship and supernatural power, despite all the negative karma she had created. Buddha Shakyamuni explained that it was the deeds Uppalavanna did in her previous lives that led her on her path to eventually gain enlightenment in this life.
Uppalavanna’s Previous Lives
In one of Uppalavanna’s previous lives, she was married to a merchant, but her husband was always away, which made her feel very lonely and long for physical intimacy. When she was told by an old lady that making offerings to a holy person would result in all her wishes being granted, Uppalavanna quickly made a food offering and a blue lotus flower offering to the pratyekabuddha. After the pratyekabuddha received the offerings, he showed his supernatural power to Uppalavanna by lifting himself in midair. Uppalavanna was dazzled by what she saw. She made wishes that no men would be able to resist her—that she would be physically attractive and as beautiful as the blue lotus. She also wished that she could have supernatural power like the pratyekabuddha.
In another life, Uppalavanna was a matchmaker. On one occasion, she matchmade individuals with a blood relationship, causing incest in the family. Hence, in this life, even though she had a beautiful appearance, she had to suffer gruelling pain caused by those she loved. Whatever actions and aspirations she had made in prior lives became the causes of what she experienced in this life.
Conclusion
The story of Uppalavanna is intriguing and, in some sense, unexpected. Who would have thought that a woman like her— indulging in sexual desires, full of anger, and causing pain to others—would one day be enlightened? Apart from being an inspiration for female practitioners, she also gives hope to people who have wreaked havoc in their past lives, showing that it is possible to change one’s destiny.
Because of the aspiration she made in her previous life and the offerings she made to the Buddhas, she was able to meet a qualified guru, Buddha Shakyamuni, to receive teachings from him and eventually gain enlightenment.
By recognising that her attainment was as high as Maudgalyayana, Buddha Shakyamuni showed us that it is possible for anyone to gain enlightenment, regardless of gender. In order to walk on the spiritual path for higher attainment, we must make aspirations to create the cause for our destiny. Making offerings to the enlightened ones create the cause for us to meet a qualified teacher and be guided to achieve enlightenment.
Sources:
- 圣严法师, “莲花色：化淫欲为智慧(图)”, 30 June 2013, https://www.secretchina.com/news/gb/2013/06/30/502443.html (accessed: 5 June 2019)
- “神通第一的比丘尼”, http://www.charity.idv.tw/kamma/kamma64.htm, (accessed: 5 June 2019)
- “3. The story of Uppalavanna Theri”, https://web.archive.org/web/20060719091131/http://www.triplegem.plus.com/gcobbkn1.htm#3 (accessed: 5 June 2019)
- “Uppalavanna”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uppalavanna (accessed: 5 June 2019)
- Ye’ Thu Aung, “Female Arahat Uppalavanna Bhikkhuni Theri”, 10th September 2016, https://buddhismforbeginnersgroup.wordpress.com/2016/09/10/title-female-arahat-uppalavanna-bhikkhuni-theri/ (accessed: 6 June 2019)
For more interesting informations:
- The Practice of Sangha
- Bangkok Monks and Why Make Offerings
- Vows: The Roots of All Attainments
- Dana Offerings For Tsem Ladrang
- Community Vows
- Kechara at the Global Buddhist Congregation
- For those who hold vows
- Magadha Sangmo | 须摩提女
- Offerings to the Sangha in India
- Why I Left Everything to Become A Buddhist Monk
- Nagaloka Centre: Buddhist Training and International Conference Centre
- Excellent Guidelines For Students
- Inspiring Nuns and female practitioners
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Life story of Uppalavanna is indeed intriguing. Upon her threatening tragic life, Uppalavanna had never giving up on searching true faithful relationship. Though, she was a devoted, loving lady it sad see Uppalavanna turn into a nasty woman. Fortunately she had good merits to meet Maudgalyayana and Buddha Syakyamuni that eventually leading her attain Arhatship.
Uppalavanna’s story tells me more of our deluded mind transformation especially we are living in this life with full of desire and attachment. No other medicine could cure our deluded mind other than practicing Dharma. If we practice sincerely, consistently, focus out and put into action automatically our mind will transform.
Inspiring and tragic story of how a woman Uppalavanna who is one of the two chief female disciples of the Buddha Shakyamuni gained enlightenment . She was known for her great beauty. Instead of marrying, she entered the monastic life under the Buddha. She took residence in a nunnery in the remote Sri Lankan countryside to lead a tranquil, disciplined and moral life. Even choosing a spiritual life does not always provide escape from the troubles of the outside world and practical concerns. Many interesting stories of her past life was told by different individuals. But it important that we should remember Buddha’s compassion, forgiveness and Buddha’s teachings, that Dharma is for all. Interesting and inspiring read of Uppalavanna ‘s previous life, and the negative karma she created resulted in all the misfortune in the present life.
Thank you Rinpoche for this sharing.
Dear Rinpoche,
The story of Chief Disciple of Buddha-Uppalavanna reminds me the law of cause and effect , where:
1. Karma is fixed. Once the karma is created, it will surely comes into fruition, be it positive ( Eg: the cause for her Enlightenment was the aspiration prayer in her previous life) or negative (Eg: The cause for her troubles was the wrong matchmaking that caused incest in that family).
2. Karma can increase. Imagine, just a simple aspiration prayer it brought her the eventual Enlightenment during Buddha’s time. On the other hand, just a slight wrong matchmaking, it caused her a lifetime of frustration, emotional and gruelling journey in her marriages.
Hence, by looking at this, we should stop making or engage in negative deeds so that we will not suffer the negative consequences. Try to purify whatever negative deeds that we have made through Dharma practices that we have learnt and stick to it.
At the same time, we can maximise and increase our virtuous deeds so that it will bring eventual happiness for us and others. Why others, because through implanting more positive and virtuous deeds, we will stop harming others and in fact we will influence them to practice virtue.
And then, we will fulfill the prayer that we have been doing; the four immeasurables. Bring them happiness, stop the cause of our suffering, pray that they will never be separated from sorrowless bliss and always come to a state abide in equanimity, free of bias, attachment and danger.
It’s all related.
Thanks Rinpoche and I will keep this story of Uppalavanna in mind. May her story continue to encourage all of us in our own spiritual path.
Reading Uppalavanna story is just like reading Milarepa story, they are very alike as both of them went through tremendous sufferings in their life, Milarepa being physically tortured and Uppalavanna being mentally tortured, but despite with such hardship, they can still gained attainment within that very lifetime.
This story told us that never under estimate the little connection we made with the 3 Jewels, because sometimes the aspiration and merits we collected by making offering the the 3 Jewels alone can bring us to enlightenment.
This story also told us that never under estimate any little negative karma we commit, because these karma we created, even though it is very small, will 1 day come back to us with great suffering.
So never thought that we have very heavy karma and there is no way to achieve Buddhahood, as long as we don’t give up, we continue to practice Dharma the best we can, we will definitely gained full liberation from the sufferings.
Uppalavanna’s story illustrates the terrible sufferings one can experience as a result of being bound by karma and delusions. In samsara, unexpected things happen to us because of karma. Karma can be very complex and difficult to understand and explain. Only the Buddha is able to explain karma fully, clearly and without error.
Uppalavanna’s story also shows us that karma is not fixed. When she met Maudgalyayana and the Buddha, her life changed. Her positive karmic seeds opened; she became a nun and through practice, attained arhatship. The aspiration she had in a previous life to achieve supernatural powers was fulfilled.
For me, Uppalavanna’s story is a teaching on karma. We must realise that we have committed a lot of negative karma in our previous lives. The solution, therefore, is to live our lives with awareness of karma and avoid committing negative actions of body, speech and mind. It is important to understand the workings of karma and modify our behaviour in order to prevent future suffering. At the same time, we must purify our negative karma and accumulate merits and wisdom.
The story of Uppalavanna shows clearly the primary causes that trap sentient beings in samara are ignorance, attachment and aversion. These harmful delusion and endless unsatisfied of possessions led her to create negative karma that bring her more and more sufferings both mentally and physically.
Despite of all the negative karmas Uppalavanna had created, she done good deeds too in her previous life. Her pure motivation and aspirations making offerings to the Buddhas in her previous life led her to be able to meet Buddha Shakyamuni and achieve enlightenment.
Keep in mind that we do not know what karma has prepared for us. Therefore, always practice the dharma no matter how difficult it is. Practice dharma diligently, keep growing and improving. Make offerings to the Three Jewels with pure motivation and aspirations. Just like Uppalavanna, when we make offerings to Buddha it is to create the cause for ourselves to meet qualified Guru who can lead us to enlightenment. _/\_
Interesting article on Uppalavanna first time coming across this , something to add to my knowledge. Uppalavanna was considered to be one of the two chief female disciples of the Buddha. The story on Uppalavanna is not only the longest in this collection, but also the most complicated and fantastical. Many ancient tales, twists and turns about her to date, being the daughter of a wealthy merchant.
Thank you Rinpoche for this interesting sharing.
This is an inspiring story of how Uppalavanna overcame her own karma (2nd story) to break out of the cycle of sufferings. Her achievements showed clearly that the female practitioners are just as capable of gaining attainments as their male counterparts and irregardless of their karma, there is a path out. Thank you for sharing this amazing lesson of our potential and understanding that we can be what we wish to be or achieve.
Wow it was a very tragic experience that Uppalavanna have to go through. Never have I thought there is such a dramatic relationship. Nevertheless, through this story I learned that :
1) Karma exist and no one can run away from it. We have are responsible for what we have done, be it in this life and previous lifetimes.
2) Be determined in what we believe in and we will achieve good result. Uppalavanna showed us that although she has done wrong but with confession and right motivation to change, she still gain Arahatship. Hence, we should not give up eventhough we face challenges.
3) Making offering to Buddha with right motivation gain great merits.
4) Buddha do not discriminate. While Uppalavanna may have engaged in prostitution and complicated relationship but as long as she wants to learn and practise dharma, Buddha will not discriminate and reject her.
5) Believe in our Guru in leading us the spiritual path.
Thank you Rinpoche and the blog team for sharing this inspiring story of one of the Chief female disciples of Buddha Shakyamuni, Uppalavanna. She has a very tragic life of chasing beauty, sexual desires and venting out her anger. Her actions brought so much of damage to the people around her and she does not realise it before it is too late.
The story of her previous live of the aspirations she made and the negative karma that she created that resulted in all the mishaps in her life, shows us that everything thing we experience in this life is due to the karma that we created in the past. No matter how hard it is and how ridiculous it is, it is still the fruition of our actions in the past.
Instead of blaming or think why this happened to me, it is better for us to just accept and make the best out of it. Uppalavanna accepted her situation and regret for all the negative deeds that she had done. Hence, she is able to gain realisations and attained Arhatship within that lifetime.
Thank you for this article. Actually this is one of my favorite article also as it reflect what can Karma do to us directly. Even though Uppalavanna was very beautiful, due to her negative Karmas in her past, she have to be in relationship with her own family members.
Its really unexpected about things that happened to Uppalavanna but the she was able to find a right path by being a female disciple to Buddha Shakyamuni. Thank you so much.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing with us the story of Uppalavanna. I like her story because it gives hope to people. It is a story that shows us how karma works and how the aspiration we make may not materialise in the same life time when it was made but it will materialise in our future lives. We can change our destiny if we want to.
In Uppalavanna’s previous lives, she had made offerings to Buddhas and made the aspiration to gain attainment. She had also caused much suffering to people in one of her previous lives. In her life as Uppalavanna, she had to suffer from the bad karma she created. Thus, she had to experience the pain inflicted on her by her beloved ones. But due to the merits she had collected and the aspiration she had made previously, she was able to meet Buddha Shakyamuni and eventually be ordained and attained Arhatship.
Prior to becoming a nun, Uppalavanna was a prostitute. This is the lowest profession of all for a female. However, because she was regretful of what she had done and practised diligently, she was able to change her destiny and people’s perception on her. If we want to change our destiny, we must be regretful of the wrong things we have done and not do that again. With hardwork and internalising the Buddha’s teachings, anyone can become enlightenment and be liberated.
This is a very interesting and inspiring story. As what mentioned in the conclusion, yes, I did have that negative thought about Uppalavanna. Nevertheless,this can be changed if we make aspirations by making offerings to Buddha to create the cause for the journey to Enlightenment.
This remind me of Everyone has Buddha natural
Nothing is impossible as long as we do it with good motivation and wholeheartedly
Thank you for sharing this
Dear Rinpoche,
This is a wonderful story that has many meanings – but the one most apparent teaching is that we in our present life, must make sincere aspirations to become fully enlightened in our future life. We must stop creating negative karma and generate as much merits as possible, follow our Teacher’s instructions fully and always check our minds.
Wonderful teaching.
Humbly yours
Lum Kok Luen
This is another interesting story about Uppalavanna able to attain Arhatship and supernatural power, despite all the negative karma she had created. It was quite shocking to read about her complicated lives she had. Thank you very much Rinpoche and blog team for another enjoyable story ?????