18 Arhat of the Buddha -
Buddha's Enlightened Students
Click on the Pictures below to learn more about each Arhat
Pindola Bharadvaja
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Kanaka Vatsa
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Kanaka Bharadvaja
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Subinda
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Nakula
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Bhadra
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Kalika
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Vajraputra
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Jivaka
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Panthaka
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Rahula
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Nagasena
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Angida
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Vanavasa
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Asita
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Cudapanthaka
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Namdimitra
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Pharmatrata
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The 18 Arhats
An oft-seen group of "hearers" of the Buddha
James Baquet "Temple Tales"
Jun 08, 2020
As we enter a temple's main hall, we may see on either side of us 18 odd-looking characters, nine to a side. With a little imagination, we can picture them listening to the Buddha teaching from the main altar.
And indeed, these 18 belong to a much larger group of shravakas or "hearers," a term that describes anyone who has taken refuge in the Triple Gem: the Buddha, the Dharma (his teachings), and the Sangha (the community of his followers). Let's start meeting them one by one in this episode of TEMPLE TALES!
These fellows are not just any old shravakas; they are the 18 Arhats (Chinese si ba luohan, Japanese ju hachi rakkan), enlightened disciples of the Buddha.
What, Exactly, is an Arhat?An Arhat (this is Pali; the Sanskrit is arahant) is, in simplest terms, a follower of the Buddha who has attained her or his own Enlightenment. In Southern Buddhism, this was the Ideal. There is only one Buddha in any given Age, according to the Theravadans, and the best that anyone else could hope for is Arhatship. This is attained through intense meditation.
When we come to Mahayana Buddhism, a shift in the Ideal takes place: one should strive to become a Bodhisattva, for the benefit of all.
In one scheme, portrayed in the Lankavatara Sutra, there are "Ten Stages on the Way to Bodhisattvahood." But there is a danger at Stage Six of becoming "enchanted by the bliss of the Samadhis" and thus "passing to Nirvana" without completing the Way--thus being always an Arhat, never a Bodhisattva.
However, both Mahayana and Theravada Buddhism recognize that the Path of the Arhat is essential; even Bodhisattvas must go through these first six stages, cultivating Wisdom, before moving on to Stages Seven, Eight, Nine, and Ten. So the Arhats have been a common motif in Chinese art from the earliest days.
An ancient tradition holds that the Buddha appointed four Arhats--the "Four Great Shravakas," namely, Mahakashyapa, Kundopadhaniya, Pindola, and Rahula--to remain in the world and not achieve final Nirvana until the arrival of Maitreya, the next Buddha (the one often called "The Laughing Buddha";. They were to guard the Dharma (much like the Temple Guardians we met in ). The list was later expanded to sixteen, eliminating Mahakasyapa and Kundopadhaniya, but retaining Pindola and Rahula as well as fourteen other, unnamed, Arhats. These were subsequently identified in an Indian text translated in 654 CE by the great monk, traveler, and scholar Xuanzang. This gave the Arhats the names that are still mostly used today.
Okay, so now we're up to sixteen. In fact, sets of sixteen can still be found, especially in Tibet and Japan. But where did the other two come from? They're late additions, which might explain why they keep changing names! Whatever the name, though, these two have consistent attributes: they are always "[Someone] with a Dragon" and "[Someone] with a Tiger." Sometimes they are "taming" or "subduing" the beast, sometimes "riding" it, but they are virtually always in its company. (Some have seen in them a "Buddhist answer" to the Daoist imagery of the Dragon and the Tiger representing Yang and Yin.)
Still, why did the artists expand to the number 18 in particular? There is no one answer, but there have been many suggestions. One of the most interesting came from nineteenth-century scholar and traveler T. Watters. He suggests that the number 18 came from a political model: In the year 621 Emperor Taizong selected 18 Imperial Scholars who came to be known as the "18 Cabinet Ministers." Watters suggests that this may have stimulated the artists to "enhance" the number. The 18 Cabinet Ministers served in groups of three; the Arhats are often portrayed in groups of three. Portraits were made of the 18 Cabinet Ministers, with brief biographies appended; the same was done for the Arhats. And so on.
Others have suggested that the number 18 reflects Daoist influence, it being two nines, and nine being auspicious as three threes; many important numbers in Chinese lore are multiples of nine, such as 72, 108, 180, and 360.
Aside from the addition of these two Arhats, there are also minor confusions within the main sixteen: for example, sometimes it is Asita riding a deer, and sometimes Pindola. A tradition that developed across a wide area in pre-modern times is bound to exhibit some variation; it's a wonder it's as consistent as it is. But there's a good reason for this.
The standard images we see of the Arhats today are based on a dream. In the year 891, a monk named Guan Xiu dreamed that the Arhats revealed their true appearance, and asked him to paint them. Centuries later, the Emperor Qianlong visited these portraits at Shengyin Temple in Hangzhou, and was so impressed that he ordered them to be reproduced and distributed to other temples. (Good thing, as the originals were later destroyed.) That may be one reason there's such consistency from place to place.
The group of Arhats is often called "The Assembly at Vulture Peak." The Mahayana tradition teaches that the Buddha often met on Mount Gridhrakrta in central India--the peak of which is shaped like a vulture's head--with an astonishing assembly of natural and supernatural beings: "monks and Arhats, Bodhisattvas of foreign lands, incalculable numbers of gods, dragons, yakshas, asuras, and other sentient beings." Here he would deliver his sermons, later to become sutras. So the Arhats were key attendants of the Buddha's teachings, and only later came to be seen as guardians.
As with the Christian apostles, some Arhats have extensive legends, and some have only minor ones.
An oft-seen group of "hearers" of the Buddha
James Baquet "Temple Tales"
Jun 08, 2020
As we enter a temple's main hall, we may see on either side of us 18 odd-looking characters, nine to a side. With a little imagination, we can picture them listening to the Buddha teaching from the main altar.
And indeed, these 18 belong to a much larger group of shravakas or "hearers," a term that describes anyone who has taken refuge in the Triple Gem: the Buddha, the Dharma (his teachings), and the Sangha (the community of his followers). Let's start meeting them one by one in this episode of TEMPLE TALES!
These fellows are not just any old shravakas; they are the 18 Arhats (Chinese si ba luohan, Japanese ju hachi rakkan), enlightened disciples of the Buddha.
What, Exactly, is an Arhat?An Arhat (this is Pali; the Sanskrit is arahant) is, in simplest terms, a follower of the Buddha who has attained her or his own Enlightenment. In Southern Buddhism, this was the Ideal. There is only one Buddha in any given Age, according to the Theravadans, and the best that anyone else could hope for is Arhatship. This is attained through intense meditation.
When we come to Mahayana Buddhism, a shift in the Ideal takes place: one should strive to become a Bodhisattva, for the benefit of all.
In one scheme, portrayed in the Lankavatara Sutra, there are "Ten Stages on the Way to Bodhisattvahood." But there is a danger at Stage Six of becoming "enchanted by the bliss of the Samadhis" and thus "passing to Nirvana" without completing the Way--thus being always an Arhat, never a Bodhisattva.
However, both Mahayana and Theravada Buddhism recognize that the Path of the Arhat is essential; even Bodhisattvas must go through these first six stages, cultivating Wisdom, before moving on to Stages Seven, Eight, Nine, and Ten. So the Arhats have been a common motif in Chinese art from the earliest days.
An ancient tradition holds that the Buddha appointed four Arhats--the "Four Great Shravakas," namely, Mahakashyapa, Kundopadhaniya, Pindola, and Rahula--to remain in the world and not achieve final Nirvana until the arrival of Maitreya, the next Buddha (the one often called "The Laughing Buddha";. They were to guard the Dharma (much like the Temple Guardians we met in ). The list was later expanded to sixteen, eliminating Mahakasyapa and Kundopadhaniya, but retaining Pindola and Rahula as well as fourteen other, unnamed, Arhats. These were subsequently identified in an Indian text translated in 654 CE by the great monk, traveler, and scholar Xuanzang. This gave the Arhats the names that are still mostly used today.
Okay, so now we're up to sixteen. In fact, sets of sixteen can still be found, especially in Tibet and Japan. But where did the other two come from? They're late additions, which might explain why they keep changing names! Whatever the name, though, these two have consistent attributes: they are always "[Someone] with a Dragon" and "[Someone] with a Tiger." Sometimes they are "taming" or "subduing" the beast, sometimes "riding" it, but they are virtually always in its company. (Some have seen in them a "Buddhist answer" to the Daoist imagery of the Dragon and the Tiger representing Yang and Yin.)
Still, why did the artists expand to the number 18 in particular? There is no one answer, but there have been many suggestions. One of the most interesting came from nineteenth-century scholar and traveler T. Watters. He suggests that the number 18 came from a political model: In the year 621 Emperor Taizong selected 18 Imperial Scholars who came to be known as the "18 Cabinet Ministers." Watters suggests that this may have stimulated the artists to "enhance" the number. The 18 Cabinet Ministers served in groups of three; the Arhats are often portrayed in groups of three. Portraits were made of the 18 Cabinet Ministers, with brief biographies appended; the same was done for the Arhats. And so on.
Others have suggested that the number 18 reflects Daoist influence, it being two nines, and nine being auspicious as three threes; many important numbers in Chinese lore are multiples of nine, such as 72, 108, 180, and 360.
Aside from the addition of these two Arhats, there are also minor confusions within the main sixteen: for example, sometimes it is Asita riding a deer, and sometimes Pindola. A tradition that developed across a wide area in pre-modern times is bound to exhibit some variation; it's a wonder it's as consistent as it is. But there's a good reason for this.
The standard images we see of the Arhats today are based on a dream. In the year 891, a monk named Guan Xiu dreamed that the Arhats revealed their true appearance, and asked him to paint them. Centuries later, the Emperor Qianlong visited these portraits at Shengyin Temple in Hangzhou, and was so impressed that he ordered them to be reproduced and distributed to other temples. (Good thing, as the originals were later destroyed.) That may be one reason there's such consistency from place to place.
The group of Arhats is often called "The Assembly at Vulture Peak." The Mahayana tradition teaches that the Buddha often met on Mount Gridhrakrta in central India--the peak of which is shaped like a vulture's head--with an astonishing assembly of natural and supernatural beings: "monks and Arhats, Bodhisattvas of foreign lands, incalculable numbers of gods, dragons, yakshas, asuras, and other sentient beings." Here he would deliver his sermons, later to become sutras. So the Arhats were key attendants of the Buddha's teachings, and only later came to be seen as guardians.
As with the Christian apostles, some Arhats have extensive legends, and some have only minor ones.