People

The Buddha's father

The Buddha's son; Sāriputta was his preceptor and Moggallāna his teacher

The Buddha's mother

The Buddha's wife before his going forth; mother of Rāhula

The charioteer when the prince left the city; after the Buddha's death subjected to the supreme penalty (brahmadaṇḍa)

Elder brother of Anuruddha; male lay disciple of Kapilavatthu

The Buddha's cousin; the Buddha's attendant

One of the two chief disciples; foremost in wisdom; his mother was Sārī (Rūpasārī)

One of the two chief disciples; foremost in supernormal powers

Foremost in ascetic practices; presided over the First Council; his wife was Bhaddā Kapilānī

The Buddha's cousin; younger brother of Mahānāma; foremost in the divine eye

Foremost in the fire-element absorption; subdued a nāga

Son of a householder of Bārāṇasī; the first to go forth after the five monks

Eldest of the three Kassapas; five hundred disciples

Foremost in inspiring the Buddha to teach (eloquence); the attendant Rādha of Saṃyutta Nikāya 23 and of Saṃyukta Āgama 111 to 129

Son of a householder of Kalanda village; the occasion for the first pārājika rule

One of the group of six monks, usually named together with Upananda

One of the five monks

One of the five monks

Yasa's lay friend

The Buddha's attendant (Aṅguttara Nikāya 9.3)

The Buddha's attendant; fanned the Buddha as he was about to pass away

Initiator of the Council of Seven Hundred at Vesālī a hundred years after the Buddha's death

Saṃyutta Nikāya 9.9 and Aṅguttara Nikāya 3.83 of the Southern tradition, among others

Barber of the Sakyan princes; foremost in the Vinaya

Leader of the five monks; the first to gain the eye of the Dhamma

One of the five monks; spoke the verse on dependent arising to Sāriputta

Yasa's lay friend; foremost among those who dwell in the heavens (the Ekottarika Āgama calls him “Ox-Track”)

Second of the three Kassapas; three hundred (or two hundred and fifty) disciples

Youngest of the three Kassapas; two hundred (or two hundred and fifty) disciples

Foremost in explaining in detail; of Avanti

The Buddha's attendant (Udāna 8.7)

One of the six Sakyans (in some versions)

One of the six Sakyans (Pali Vinaya)

One of the five monks

Yasa's lay friend

Yasa's lay friend

Nephew of Uruvela Kassapa (in the lists of the Fo benxing ji jing and the Mahāsāṃghika Vinaya)

Younger brother of Sāriputta (Pali commentaries); foremost in all-round gracefulness

Youngest brother of Sāriputta; foremost among forest dwellers

Foremost in the lion's roar

Foremost in teaching the Dhamma; nephew of Koṇḍañña (Pali commentaries)

Saṃyutta Nikāya 35.88 and Majjhima Nikāya 145 of the Southern tradition; went west to spread the Dhamma in Sunāparanta

Foremost in dwelling without conflict; younger brother of Anāthapiṇḍika (Pali commentaries)

Foremost in eloquence (composing verses)

Foremost in the four analytical knowledges

Envoy sent by Suddhodana to invite the Buddha; born on the same day as the Bodhisatta; foremost in winning over families (Pali)

Interlocutor in Majjhima Nikāya 59 and 66, the Aṅguttara Nikāya and elsewhere in the Southern tradition

Foremost in exhorting the monks; formerly king of a frontier country

Killed nine hundred and ninety-nine people; converted by the Buddha and went forth

In Majjhima Nikāya 8 of the Southern tradition, among others

The Buddha's attendant (Aṅguttara Nikāya 5.30)

The last disciple converted by the Buddha

One of the group of six monks

Asita's nephew; the episode of the nāga king Erakapatta in the Dharmaguptaka and Mahīśāsaka Vinayas

Sutta Nipāta 1.4 and Saṃyutta Nikāya 7.11 of the Southern tradition

Majjhima Nikāya 144 and Saṃyutta Nikāya 35.87 of the Southern tradition: the gravely ill monk who took his own life with a knife; visited by Sāriputta and Mahācunda

Saṃyutta Nikāya 22.89 of the Southern tradition; Saṃyukta Āgama 103

The Buddha's aunt and foster mother; queen of Suddhodana; mother of Nanda; the first nun

The nun foremost in supernormal powers

Wife of Mahākassapa before his going forth; the nun foremost in recollecting past lives

Householder of Sāvatthī; bought Jeta's grove and built the Jetavana; foremost in giving

Former husband of Dhammadinnā; Majjhima Nikāya 44

One of the two merchants who were the first to take the twofold refuge after the Awakening

Offered the Buddha his last meal at Pāvā

Physician to King Bimbisāra; donated his mango grove

The rains retreat at Verañjā recorded in the Pali Vinaya; Aṅguttara Nikāya 8.11

Yasa's father; the first male lay disciple to take the threefold refuge

One of the two merchants who were the first to take the twofold refuge after the Awakening; brother of Bhallika

Prince of Āḷavī; the male lay disciple foremost in the four means of winning over others

Disciple of the Nigaṇṭhas at Vesālī, who later took refuge

Offered robes of cloth of gold on the last journey

A Malla of Kusinārā; Dharmaguptaka Vinaya

The male lay disciple foremost in teaching the Dhamma; of Macchikāsaṇḍa

Donor of Ghosita's Park at Kosambī

Famous courtesan of Vesālī; donated her mango grove

Sāriputta's mother; attained the first fruit before her death (commentary on the Dīgha Nikāya)

Saṅghabhedavastu of the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya: the two daughters of the headman of Senānigama, who took refuge after the Awakening

Offered milk-rice before the Awakening (in the various sources); the first female lay disciple (Aṅguttara Nikāya 1.258)

Yasa's mother; one of the first female lay disciples to take the threefold refuge

Yasa's wife before his going forth; one of the first female lay disciples to take the threefold refuge

Father of Ajātasattu; donor of the Bamboo Grove

Son of Bimbisāra; killed his father and took the throne; later took refuge

King of Sāvatthī; Saṃyutta Nikāya 3, the Kosala Saṃyutta

Minister of Ajātasattu; asked about the seven conditions for non-decline during the last journey

Son of King Pasenadi; donor of Jeta's grove

King of Kosambī; Saṃyutta Nikāya 35.127

Queen of Bimbisāra; mother of Ajātasattu (Chinese sources)

Built the city of Pāṭaliputta together with Vassakāra

Son of King Udena; Majjhima Nikāya 85

The Bodhisatta's first teacher in his quest; the sphere of nothingness

The Bodhisatta's second teacher in his quest; the sphere of neither perception nor non-perception

Former teacher of Sāriputta and Moggallāna

Said by the Pali commentaries to be Sāriputta's nephew; Majjhima Nikāya 74

Met the Buddha on the road after the Awakening; not converted

Read the signs at the prince's birth

Entreated the Buddha to teach

In Dīgha Nikāya 21 of the Southern tradition, among others

Saṃyutta Nikāya 10.12 and Sutta Nipāta 1.10 of the Southern tradition

Dharmaguptaka and Mahīśāsaka Vinayas: asked about a verse; the first animal to take the threefold refuge (Dharmaguptaka Vinaya)

Sheltered the Buddha in the third week after the Awakening; the “nāga king Wenlin” of the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya, who took the twofold refuge

Dīgha Nikāya 32 of the Southern tradition

Aṅguttara Nikāya 8.19 of the Southern tradition, Ekottarika Āgama 42.4

The Buddha's cousin (brother of Yasodharā, according to the Pali commentaries); the one who split the Sangha

Partisan of Devadatta; slandered Sāriputta and Moggallāna

Son of Pasenadi; destroyed the Sakyans

The defeat of Māra; Saṃyutta Nikāya 4, the Māra Saṃyutta