Overview

A common name in the canonical literature, and a word with a range of literal meanings: full, fulfilled, complete, whole, abundant, accomplished, rich, contented, etc.

At least five of the Buddha Śākyamuni’s disciples with this name are mentioned in the Kangyur.

Pūrṇa Maitrāyaṇīputra

Pūrṇa Maitrāyaṇīputra, a brahmin from Kapilavastu; his mother, Maitrāyanī, was the sister of Kauṇḍinya, and Pūrṇa was ordained by his uncle when the latter (by then known as Ājñātakauṇḍinya) returned to Kapilavastu soon after the Buddha’s first teaching; Pūrṇa attained the state of arhat in Kapilavastu and only met the Buddha himself later, in Śrāvastī. This is the Pūrṇa who was “foremost in teaching” among the ten principal disciples, and is mentioned in many sūtras including The Questions of Pūrṇa (Toh 61), The Teaching of Vimalakīrti (Toh 176), and The Ratnaketu Dhāraṇī (Toh 138).          

The “five friends”

The Pūrṇa who was one of the second group of five monks ordained by the Buddha, the “five friends” (nye lnga sde), all Vārāṇasī merchants’ sons (headed by Yaśas and, following his lead, Pūrṇa, Vimala, Gavāṃpati, and Subāhu). First, the Buddha’s former companions in asceticism (pañcaka, lnga sde), followed by these five, together constituted the first ten bhikṣus to receive ordination. This Pūrṇa is the one mentioned in The Chapter on Going Forth, and in many of the lists of śrāvaka disciples that figure in the scene-setting introductions (nidāna, gleng gzhi) of sūtras.

The Deeds of Pūrṇa (Pūrṇāvadāna)

The Pūrṇa of The Deeds of Pūrṇa (Pūrṇāvadāna), found in Tibetan in The Chapter on Medicines, ch. 6 of the Vinayavastu (Toh 1), starting at 2.91.¹ This Pūrṇa was the son of a wealthy merchant and his slave girl in the Aparāntaka (Western India) seaport of Sūrpāraka. He was a successful maritime expedition leader and heard of the Buddha from some merchants from Śrāvasti whom he accompanied on a sea voyage. He then went to meet the Buddha, went forth as a monk, and later returned to the south-west, building a sandalwood temple near Sūrpāraka to which he invited the Buddha; the Buddha and his monks arrive flying through the sky. This Pūrṇa is almost certainly also the protagonist in The Precious Discourse on the Blessed One’s Extensive Wisdom That Leads to Infinite Certainty (Toh 99); he is known as Puṇṇa Suppāraka in the Pali texts.

Elder Pūrṇa from Kuṇḍopadāna

An older Pūrṇa, the “Elder Pūrṇa from Kuṇḍopadāna,” is mentioned in a much less prominent role not only in in the versions of The Deeds of Pūrṇa (Pūrṇāvadāna)—including the one in The Chapter on Medicines (see above)—as one of the monks in the Buddha’s airborne entourage coming to visit the other Pūrṇa (3), but also (in a similar role) in The Exemplary Tale of Sumāgadhā (Sumāgadhāvadāna, Toh 346), 1.29.

The Story of Pūrṇa

A very rich and generous brahmin called Pūrṇa from the Mountains of the South who invites the Buddha and receives a prediction of enlightenment, but is not ordained; he is the subject of the first story in The Hundred Accounts of Noble Deeds, Beginning with That of Pūrṇa (Pūrṇa­pramukhāvadāna­śataka, Toh 343), which is more widely known in the Sanskrit literature simply as the Avadānaśātaka;² and also of “The Story of Pūrṇa,” a section in Part Eight of The Hundred Deeds (Karmaśataka, Toh 340). This Pūrṇa will become a buddha also named Pūrṇa, according to the prediction.

Pūraṇa of Śrāvasti

Another disciple is sometimes called Pūrṇa but this should probably more correctly be Pūraṇa, since the Tibetan of his name is rdzogs byed and not gang po, He is the sickly and short-lived Pūraṇa of Śrāvasti, attendant of Aniruddha, who became an arhat just before he died and is the subject of “The Story of Pūraṇa” in Part One of The Hundred Deeds (Karmaśataka, Toh 340).

There are other individuals named Pūrṇa in the Kangyur, including attendants and relatives of other buddhas, some yakṣas, and in the Karuṇāpuṇḍarīka (Toh 112) both a māra and a future tathāgata.

Bibliography

Appleton, Naomi. Many Buddhas, One Buddha: A Study and Translation of Avadānaśataka 1–40. Sheffield: Equinox Publishing, 2020.                                    

Rotman, Andy (tr.). “The Story of Pūrṇa,” in Divine Stories: Divyāvadāna Part I. Somerville: Wisdom Publications (2008), pp. 71–118.                                    

————. Hungry Ghosts. Somerville: Wisdom Publications, 2021.                                    

Vaidya, L (ed.). Divyāvadāna [Sanskrit edition]. Buddhist Sanskrit Texts 20. Mithila Institute (1959). Also online at GRETIL.                                    

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