Shāriputra (Śāriputra), Skt. (Pali, Sāriputta) ; a principal student of the Buddha. Shāriputra came from a brahmin family. Shortly after the awakening (bodhi) of the Buddha he entered the Buddhist order together with his childhood friend Mahāmaudgalyāyana and was soon renowned on account of his wisdom. He is supposed to have died a few months before the Buddha. Images of Shāriputra and Mahāmaudgalyāyana are often found in monasteries next to that of the Buddha. Shāriputra is one of the ten great disciples of the Buddha.
According to the scriptures, the conversion of Shāriputra, who initially advocated a kind of agnostic scepticism, followed upon his meeting with the monk Assaji. Shāriputra questioned him concerning his beliefs and Assaji answered with the following verse (trans. from Schumann 1976, p. 37):
Of dhammas arising from causes
The Perfect One has explained the cause.
And also how to bring them to extinction
Is taught by the great samanna [shramana].
Shāriputra, who immediately grasped the meaning of these lines, told his friend Mahāmaudgalyāyana of the incident, and together they requested the Buddha to accept them into the sangha.
Source: The Encyclopedia of Eastern Philosophy and Religion: Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Zen. Shambhala Publications, Inc.
Shāriputra documents
Books on Shāriputra
External links