25 Facts About Kaundinya

Kaundinya first came to prominence as a royal court scholar of King Suddhodana of the Sakyas in Kapilavastu.

Kaundinya was the first to comprehend the teaching and thus became the first bhikkhu and arahant.

Kaundinya was aware as the foremost of the five initial disciples of the Buddha and later travelled around India spreading the dharma.

Kaundinya was born before the time of Siddhartha to a wealthy Brahmin family in a town named in Donavatthu, near Kapilavastu, and was known by his family name.

Kaundinya became a young vishwakarma Brahmin scholar in Kapilavastu in the Sakya kingdom of King Suddhodana.

Kaundinya was one among the group of scholars who were invited to the royal court to predict the destiny of Crown Prince Siddhartha at his naming ceremony.

Kaundinya was the only one that explicitly predicted that Siddhartha would renounce the world to become a Buddha, raising one finger and stating his prediction.

Kaundinya thereafter vowed that he would follow when Siddhartha became an ascetic to learn from the future Buddha's findings.

Kaundinya reached the sotapanna stage of arahanthood upon hearing this, becoming the first human to comprehend the teachings.

Five days later, hearing the subsequent Anattalakkhana Sutta regarding anatta, Kaundinya gained full arahantship.

Kaundinya thus became the first bhikkhu in the Buddha's dispensation, known as the sangha.

Kaundinya helped to convert many followers to the Buddha's Dispensation, the foremost being his nephew Punna, born to his sister Mantani.

In other verses, Kaundinya is shown admonishing monks who had fallen into ways contrary to Buddhist teaching.

Kaundinya acknowledged his own struggles against Mara, the demon who attempted to prevent the enlightenment of the Buddha.

Kaundinya was praised in the Udana by the Buddha, who observed his deliverance from the destructiveness of craving.

The first reason was that Kaundinya considered his presence to be a source of inconvenience for Sariputra and Moggallana, the two chief disciples of The Buddha.

The other reason to which Kaundinya's leave is attributed was to spend more quiet time in religious practice, which was rendered difficult due to the attention that the sangha gained from the public.

Kaundinya kissed the Buddha's feet and stroked them with his hands.

Kaundinya advised his disciples not to mourn him before returning to the forest to pass away the following morning.

Kaundinya was cremated on a large sandalwood pyre which was constructed with the help of the elephants, and the ceremony was presided over by Anuruddha, one of the ten chief disciples and five hundred other monks.

In line with the Buddhist doctrine of rebirth, the previous existences of Kaundinya are described in Buddhist texts.

In Pali language Theravada literature, Kaundinya is said to have begun striving for enlightenment in the time of Padumuttara Buddha, the 13th Buddha.

The son of a wealthy householder at Hamsavati, Kaundinya saw the monk who was the first disciple of Padmuttara Buddha.

The Mahavastu cites a previous birth in which Kaundinya was a seafaring merchant who had lost all his wealth after a mid-ocean shipwreck.

Kaundinya then went in search of the king of Kosala, who had a widely known reputation for philanthropy.