Mahā-Moggallāna

Summary: Mahā-Moggallāna is the Buddha's co-chief disciple alongside Sāriputta, declared foremost among monks in supernormal powers — iddhi (etadaggaṁ iddhimantānaṁ) at AN 1.191 (cited; not yet ingested). He and Sāriputta were brahmin friends from a village near Rājagaha; they trained first under Sañjaya Belaṭṭhaputta, then came to the Buddha together after Sāriputta heard the Dhamma from assaji (page pending). Mahā-Moggallāna attained arahantship within a week of going forth, on the night the Buddha taught him to overcome drowsiness at Kallavāḷaputta-gāma (AN 7.61, Pacalāyamana Sutta (cited; not yet ingested)). His teachings and dialogues are preserved chiefly in the Moggallāna-saṁyutta (SN 40) and his verses at Thag 1146–1208 (both cited; not yet ingested). The Dhammapada-aṭṭhakathā attributes the vatthu of Dhp 137 (dhammapada 10 dandavagga) to his violent death — a commentarial rather than canonical attribution.

(This page draws on canonical references; full ingest of the cited Suttas, Theragāthā verses, and Aṅguttara/Majjhima passages remains pending.)

Life in the canon

Mahā-Moggallāna was born Kolita in a brahmin village near Rājagaha, childhood friend of Upatissa (later Sāriputta). Both were dissatisfied under Sañjaya Belaṭṭhaputta and agreed to seek liberation elsewhere, with whoever found "the deathless" first telling the other. Sāriputta reached the Buddha's teaching first through assaji (page pending) and brought Moggallāna into the Sangha; both were ordained directly by the Buddha and quickly became agga-sāvakā (chief disciples).

His attainment of arahantship within a week of ordination is canonically situated at Kallavāḷaputta-gāma (or Kallavāḷamutta-gāma), where the Buddha came to him while he struggled with drowsiness in meditation. The Pacalāyamana Sutta (AN 7.61 (cited; not yet ingested)) preserves the eight successive antidotes the Buddha taught him for drowsiness, culminating in the instruction na ca taṇhāya udayāya — not to incline toward any clinging. The Vīṇopama Sutta tradition (SN 35.246 (cited; not yet ingested)) is associated with his subsequent guidance to other monks on guarding the sense-doors.

His canonical presence as foremost in iddhi — supernormal powers — is established at AN 1.191 (cited; not yet ingested): etadaggaṁ … iddhimantānaṁ yadidaṁ Mahāmoggallāno. The Moggallāna-saṁyutta (SN 40 (cited; not yet ingested)) preserves nine suttas in which he reports successive concentration states (jhāna and the immaterial attainments) and in each describes a near-failure resolved by the Buddha's instruction — a structurally unusual block in the Saṁyutta in that it shows the path of even a chief disciple as iterative rather than instant. The Cūḷataṇhāsaṅkhaya Sutta (MN 37 (cited; not yet ingested)) records his witness of the Buddha's exchange with Sakka (page pending) on the destruction of craving and his subsequent visit to Tāvatiṁsa, where his shaking of the Vejayanta palace with his toe demonstrates the iddhi for which he is canonically foremost.

Mahā-Moggallāna died a violent death — beaten by hired assailants who returned repeatedly when their first attempts failed against his iddhi, until on the final attempt he set aside his powers and accepted the assault. The narrative is preserved in the Dhammapada-aṭṭhakathā on Dhp 137 (Mahāmoggallānattheravatthu) (commentary — not canonical); the same source attributes the assault to the fruit of a past-life act in which he killed his blind parents. The vatthu's pairing with Dhp 137 (dhammapada 10 dandavagga: "whoever injures the innocent … will quickly experience one of ten misfortunes") is itself a commentarial framing — Dhp 137 is canonical, but its assignment to Mahā-Moggallāna's death is Dhp-a.

Key teachings given or received

SN 40 (cited; not yet ingested) — Moggallāna-saṁyutta: nine suttas on his concentration states and the near-failure of each, with the Buddha's course-correction
AN 7.61 (cited; not yet ingested) — Pacalāyamana Sutta: the Buddha's eight antidotes to drowsiness, given to him on the night of his arahantship
MN 37 (cited; not yet ingested) — Cūḷataṇhāsaṅkhaya Sutta: he witnesses the Buddha's exchange with Sakka and visits Tāvatiṁsa
MN 15 (cited; not yet ingested) — Anumāna Sutta: his own teaching on self-examination through inferring how one is seen by others
Thag 1146–1208 (cited; not yet ingested) — his verses in the Theragāthā

Verses

Mahā-Moggallāna's verses at Thag 1146–1208 (cited; not yet ingested) form one of the substantial thera-blocks in the Theragāthā. The block includes verses addressed to his former teacher Sañjaya's followers, verses on his independence from women's flattery and gain, and verses on the equanimity of the mind that has uprooted the āsavā (taints). (canonical — pending ingest)

Dhammapada vatthu context

The Dhammapada-aṭṭhakathā (commentary) assigns Dhp 137 (Daṇḍavagga verse on injuring the innocent) to the narrative of Mahā-Moggallāna's death (Mahāmoggallānattheravatthu — commentary — not canonical). The vatthu is part of the commentary; the verse Dhp 137 itself is canonical and stands independent of the attribution. Treat the vatthu as the Dhp-a's pedagogical framing of an unspecified canonical verse, not as canonical biography.

Relationships

Co-chief-disciple with Sāriputta — the canonical pair of agga-sāvakā (e.g. Vin I 38–43 (cited; not yet ingested)); the standard formula at the Buddha's foot is Sāriputta-Moggallāna, never reversed
Childhood friend and co-seeker of Sāriputta from the village of Kolitagāma / Upatissagāma near Rājagaha
Disciple of the Buddha; received personal meditation guidance at Kallavāḷaputta-gāma (AN 7.61 (cited; not yet ingested)) and through the Moggallāna-saṁyutta (SN 40 (cited; not yet ingested))
Foremost in iddhi (supernormal powers); paired in the etadagga lists with Sāriputta who is foremost in wisdom (AN 1.190–191 (cited; not yet ingested))
Senior contemporary of mahakassapa and ananda

Places associated

Kallavāḷaputta-gāma — Magadhan village where his arahantship-night teaching took place (AN 7.61 (cited; not yet ingested)) (page pending)
Veḷuvana — the Bamboo Grove monastery near Rājagaha, his frequent dwelling-place (page pending)
Gijjhakūṭa — Vulture Peak, often the setting for his exchanges with the Buddha and other senior monks (page pending)
Rājagaha — Magadhan capital and the location of the assault that ended his life (page pending)

Textual notes

The canonical Mahā-Moggallāna and the commentarial Mahā-Moggallāna are not identical figures. The canonical record (SN 40, Thag 1146–1208, AN 7.61, MN 37 — all (cited; not yet ingested)) establishes the iddhi foremost-disciple, the meditator with the iterative path, the witness in heaven realms. The commentarial record (Dhp-a on Dhp 137; the past-life parricide story) supplies the death narrative and its kammic backstory. Q&A use should keep these distinct: it is canonical that he died violently and that Dhp 137 is in the Dhammapada; it is commentarial that the verse refers to him and that his death was the vipāka of a past-life act.
The canonical formula for the chief-disciple pair is consistently Sāriputta-Moggallāna in that order. This ordering preserves the canonical asymmetry — Sāriputta is foremost in paññā (wisdom), Mahā-Moggallāna in iddhi — without ranking the two disciples themselves. (see Vin and Nikāya formulae generally; full references pending ingest)

dhammapada 10 dandavagga — Dhp 137 vatthu context
sariputta — co-chief disciple
arahant — his liberation; the Arahantavagga frames his attainment-state
mahakassapa — fellow senior disciple, also foremost in his domain (dhutaṅga)
buddha — his teacher and the source of his arahantship-night instruction
assaji — (page pending); the bridge through whom he and Sāriputta first heard the Dhamma
rajagaha — (page pending); the Magadhan capital that frames his entire canonical biography