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目犍連

Pronunciations

Basic Meaning: Maudgalyāyana

Senses:

  • One of the ten chief disciples of Śākyamuni 十大弟子, specially noted for his miraculous powers. Explained by Mudga 胡豆 lentil, kidney-bean. Maudgalyāyana was his motherʼs surname, and he is also sometimes referred to as Kolita 拘栗, his fatherʼs surname. His father was a Brahmin in Kolita village near Rājagṛha 王舍城. He was killed by a Brahman before the Buddha died. Originally an ascetic, he agreed with Śāriputra that whichever first found the truth would reveal it to the other. Śāriputra found the Buddha and brought Maudgalyāyana to him; the former is placed on the Buddhaʼs right, the latter on his left. When reborn as Buddha his title is to be Tamāla-patra-candana-gandha. In China Mahāsthāmaprāpta is accounted a canonization of Maudgalyāyana. Several centuries afterwards there were two other great leaders of the Buddhist saṃgha bearing the same name. Also written 目連, 目連尊者, 摩訶目犍連, 目揵連, 目揵蘭, 目犍蘭, 摩訶羅夜那; 大目犍連, 大目乾連; 沒特伽羅子, 沒力伽羅子. (Skt. Mahāmaudgalyāyana; Pāli Moggallāna; Tib. Mo'u dga la gyi bu) 〔五分律 T 1421.22.1b12〕 [Charles Muller; source(s): Ui, Soothill, JEBD, Hirakawa, Iwanami]
  • The protagonist of the Ullambana Sūtra 盂蘭盆經, an apocryphal text that provided a scriptural basis for the mid-summer ghost festival, which became popular in medieval China and is still celebrated all over East Asia. According to the sutra, Maudgalyāyana was one of Śākyamuni Buddhaʼs ten great disciples, a monk who was known for his magical power. Being a good filial son, he made the usual ancestral offerings of food to his deceased parents and assumed that all was well with them. One day, however, he decided to use his magical powers to check up on them in the afterlife. Maudgalyāyana saw that his father had achieved a favorable rebirth as a Brahmin, but was shocked and distressed to discover that his mother had become an emaciated hungry ghost. She could not eat the ancestral offerings that he gave to her because, due to her bad karma, the food burst into flames every time she brought it to her mouth. In despair, Maudgalyāyana asked Buddha for help but was told that his mother had accumulated so much bad karma that she could not be saved by the actions of just one person. Buddha recommended that on the fifteenth of the seventh month, when the three-month-long monastic retreat is over and the monks are replete with good karma, Maudgalyāyana should make offerings of food to them. The merit from that good deed, which tapped into the vast merit created by the Buddhist saṃgha (monastic order) itself, could then be successfully dedicated to his mother. The spiritual power of the saṃgha, in short, could ensure that the traditional offerings of nourishment got through without bursting into flames. Moreover, the sutra argues, offerings to the saṃgha at the end of the summer retreat is the best way to save oneʼs parents and ancestors for seven generations from the three worst of the six rebirths. After Maudgalyāyana followed these instructions, his mother was reborn out of the path of hungry ghosts. This basic story of Maudgalyāyana was further elaborated in folklore and drama in China, where it informed the assembly for feeding hungry ghosts 施餓鬼會, also known as 'saving the burning mouths.' The Maudgalyāyana story, ghost-feeding rituals, and associated beliefs and practices all found their way to Japan by the eighth century. They survive today in the context of the Bon festival. [Griffith Foulk]
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    [Dictionary References]

    Bukkyō jiten (Ui) 1055

    Bulgyo sajeon 211a

    Zengaku daijiten (Komazawa U.) 1228a

    Iwanami bukkyō jiten 798

    Japanese-English Buddhist Dictionary (Daitō shuppansha) 198b/222

    Fo Guang Dictionary 2108

    Ding Fubao

    Buddhist Chinese-Sanskrit Dictionary (Hirakawa) 0869

    Bukkyō daijiten (Mochizuki) (v.1-6)4628a,4732b

    Bukkyō daijiten (Oda) 922-3-8*1737-3

    (Soothill's) Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms 199

    Copyright provisions

    The rights to textual segments (nodes) of the DDB are owned by the author indicated in the brackets next to each segment. For rights regarding the compilation as a whole, please contact Charles Muller. Please do not reproduce without permission. And please do not copy into Wikipedia without proper citation!

    Entry created: 1993-09-01

    Updated: 2016-06-21