Angulimal daku biography books

He ran here and there, and within a week he had killed people. Everyone ran away in order to protect themselves, so he could not find one last person in order to make 1, During these seven days, Angulimala did not take any food or drink. His mother was overwhelmed with great compassion at the thought that her son hadn't eaten anything, so she started to take him some food and drink.

He saw her coming from a distance and thought, "There isn't anyone else around, so maybe I should kill my mother. She said, "Son, you should serve and honor your mother. It is not right to kill your mother. It is a heinous crime which will cause you to be reborn in the hell realm. Isn't that right? That will create the cause for me to be reborn in the Brahma realm.

Now I am missing one finger, so for that I must kill you. Is that possible? In a moment, Buddha emanated as a monk just walking near Angulimala. Immediately when Angulimala saw this monk and he thought, "Instead of killing my mother I should kill him. No matter how fast Angulimala ran, he could not catch up with him. Rather, the monk kept going farther away.

Noticing that, Angulimala said, " O you monk! Please wait for me. I always abide in peaceful states. Due to your master's evil instructions, your mind is completely confused and deceived and, so, it isn't stable. Day and night, you are rushing to take life and create inconceivable nonvirtue. He threw the sword down on the ground and did prostrations from a distance, saying, "I take refuge in you.

So Angulimala had the chance to see Buddha directly. At that moment, he developed such confidence and devotion that he regretted his deeds from the bottom of his heart. He confessed all his nonvirtuous deeds. There were differences of course. I had made forest monastic seclusion my choice and as I had sat with myself in those remote places I had had at my disposal an armoury of meditation techniques as well as the guidance, the example, the wisdom and the support of those who taught me.

I had also been purposefully seeking to understand my life. There were differences but there were similarities. I too had been uncomfortable and it was my sense of unease that had led me to look beyond the then narrow confines that restricted me for answers. Yes, I realised, I did understand something about imprisonment. It was my belief then, as it is now, that Buddhist techniques equip us with the means to escape that imprisonment and enjoy a secure and lasting peace.

Thinking along these lines, I decided that I did have something to offer those in prison. This I believe should be the Buddhist attitude. To those who accuse me of embracing Buddhist social action, I reply that what I do in the prisons is more or less what I do in the monastery. The difference is that while for most people they can come to the temple, for prisoners we have to take the temple to them.

But the reality is that prisons do exist, society does demand something from those who offend against its interests and many thousands of human beings now and in the future will spend portions of their lives in prison. To me it is shameful that that time should be wasted. Ashgate Publishing. In Neville, Robert Cummings ed. Anthony In Queen, Christopher S.

Engaged Buddhism in the West. Wisdom Publications. Snow Lion Publications. Philosophy East and West. Journal of Buddhist Ethics. ISSN Archived PDF from the original on 5 May Encyclopaedia of Buddhism. Government of Sri Lanka. OCLC The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Violence. Oxford University Press. In McDonald, Joseph ed. Exploring Moral Injury in Sacred Texts.

Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Canada Foundation for Nepal. Archived from the original on 7 May Retrieved 4 May The American Journal of Jurisprudence. The South Asianist. ISSN X. Retrieved 7 May Bangkok Post. Archived from the original on Retrieved 2 May — via Bangkok Post Learning. Angulimala, the Buddhist Prison Chaplaincy. Archived from the original on 27 July Retrieved 3 May Asia Africa Intelligence Wire.

Archived from the original on 4 April Angulimala, XXXV. Lautere Spende, XL. Im Krishnahain German. Bibliography [ edit ]. For a second and a third time those people warned him. Still the Blessed One went on in silence. Angulimala, from his look-out, saw first his mother approaching. Though recognizing her, still the thought arose in him to complete the thousand fingers by killing her.

So steeped was his mind in the habit of killing without scruples. At that moment the Buddha appeared on the road between Angulimala and his mother. Seeing him, Angulimala thought: "Why should I kill my mother for the sake of one finger when there is someone else? Let her live. To forsake getting his mother's finger was, of course, made easier for him when he saw another figure, that of a monk, approach.

He did not know, however, that it was a similar offense against the most sacred in life to kill an ascetic, a monk. He was only concerned with completing his thousand fingers. Now Angulimala took up his sword and shield and buckled on his bow and quiver and he followed behind the Blessed One. Then the Blessed One performed such a feat of supernormal power that the bandit Angulimala, going as fast as he could, was unable to catch up with the Blessed One, who was walking at his normal pace.

Then he thought: "It is marvelous! Formerly I caught up with even a galloping elephant and seized it; I caught up with even a galloping horse and seized it; I caught up with even a galloping chariot and seized it; I caught up with even a galloping deer and seized it. But yet, though I am going as fast as I can, I am unable to catch up with this monk who is walking at his normal pace.

Stop, monk! Then the bandit Angulimala thought: "These monks, followers of the Sakya scion, speak truth, assert truth; but though this monk is walking, yet he says 'I have stopped, Angulimala; do you stop, too. I ask you now, O monk what is the meaning of it; How is it you have stopped and I have not? When Angulimala heard these words, a second and greater change of heart came over him.

He felt as if the current of his suppressed nobler and purer urges had broken through the dam of hardened cruelty that had been built up through habituation in all those last years of his life. Angulimala felt now deeply moved by the angulimal daku biography books and the words of the Buddha. So saying, the bandit took his sword and weapons And flung them in a gaping chasm's pit; The bandit worshipped the Sublime One's feet, And then and there asked for the Going-forth.

The Enlightened One, the Sage of Great Compassion, The Teacher of the world with all its gods, Addressed him with these words "Come bhikkhu," And that was how he became to be a bhikkhu. Angulimala, who, as a warning to himself, had kept his notorious name, was now being introduced into the Dhamma and instructed in a monk's conduct. Not long afterwards, the Enlightened One, together with a large number of monks and with Angulimala as his attendant monk, set out to wander to Savatthi, which was Angulimala's home territory, and he arrived there in stages.

The people of Savatthi, however, did not yet know about Angulimala's great transformation, and they complained that the king had hesitated too long in sending out an army detachment to track and capture Angulimala. Now, King Pasenadi himself at the head of a large group of his best soldiers, set out towards Angulimala's haunts, the Jalini forest.

On his way he passed the Jetavana Monastery where the Buddha had just arrived. Since for many years he had been a devoted follower of the Buddha, he stopped on his way to pay his respect to the Master. The Buddha, seeing the angulimal daku biographies books, asked King Pasenadi whether he had been attacked by a neighboring king and was going to war.

The king said that there was no war, but he, at the head of his soldiers, was after a single man, the murderous Angulimala. But, how could such an unvirtuous person of evil character have such virtue and restraint? The king was now greatly alarmed and fearful, and his hair stood on end. He had entirely lost his composure, so terrifying was Angulimala's reputation.

But the Buddha said: "Do not be afraid, great King. There is nothing for you to fear. When the king had regained his composure, he went over to the venerable Angulimala and asked him for the clan name of his father and mother. On hearing that his father was a Gagga by clan and his mother a Mantani, he was greatly surprised to find that this Angulimala was not a person unknown to him: that he had known him as the son of his Royal Chaplain, and he remembered well the strange circumstances of his birth.

It moved him deeply that the Buddha had been able to turn this cruel man into a gentle member of his Order. The king had asked for Angulimala's descent, because he thought it unbefitting to address the monk by the name that was derived from his cruel deeds. The king now offered to support "the noble Gagga Mantaniputta" with all the monk's requisites, that is, robes, food, shelter and medicine.

Angulimal daku biography books

But Angulimala had taken upon himself three of the strict ascetic observances dhutanga : he was a forest dweller, lived on gathered alms-food only, and was a refuse-rag wearer, restricting himself to one set of three robes. Hence he replied: "I have enough, great King, my triple robe is complete. Him whom we could not subdue with punishments and weapons the Blessed One has subdued without punishment and weapon.

But it happened that, as soon as Angulimala had taken up going on alms-round, people fearfully ran from him and closed their doors. So it was in the outskirts of Savatthi where Angulimala had gone first, and it was the same in the city where Angulimala had hoped he would not be conspicuous. He could not get even a spoonful of food or a ladle of gruel during his alms-round.

He who does ordain such a one commits an offense of wrong-doing dukkata. The Buddha knew well that, though he himself was able to perceive any existent potential for good in a criminal, those after him might not have that capacity, nor the authority to carry out whatever they understood. An acceptance of former criminals might also cause problems to the Order, if misused as a safe shelter by unrepenting criminals who wanted to escape arrest and punishment.

In response to that new rule, some people may have changed their attitude and gave alms to Angulimala when he stood before their door. Yet there was still a mood of hostility against him with most of the people, and Angulimala realized the futility of making alms-round in his home town. Still, dutifully, he continued. Once, when going for alms, he saw or heard a woman in travail who was having much difficulty in bringing forth her child.

At that, compassion arose in him and he thought: "How much do beings suffer! How much do they suffer! By that truth may you and the infant be safe! For many living beings have been purposely deprived of life by me. By this truth may you and the infant be safe! Angulimala's noble birth, or spiritual rebirth, began with his ordination as a monk and culminated in his attainment of sainthood.

Angulimala had it announced to that woman that he would be coming. People there put up a curtain in the woman's room, and on the other side of the curtain a chair was placed on which the monk was to sit. Now Angulimala, having arrived at the woman's house, made the asseveration of truth as Buddha had told him, and there was soon a safe delivery for mother and child.