Ananda was one of the main disciples of the Buddha. He served as his personal attendant and occupies a similar place in Buddhism that the Apostle John does in Christianity. Both were very close to their Lord in a personal as well as spiritual way. As such, Ananda wielded much influence in the First Buddhist Council, immediately after the death of the Buddha (544 BCE). Because of his close relationship to his teacher, he is the source of many of the stories told in the canon of scripture known as the Sutras (Skt.) or Suttas (Pali). Of all the qualities attributed to him, good memory was one. Service to others was another. His name means “bliss.”
See Also
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Larson, P. (2020). Ananda. In: Leeming, D.A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24348-7_27
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24348-7_27
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-24347-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-24348-7
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences