List of Buddhist saints

[odysseus]

This is my personal list of earthly Buddhist saints, in no particular order:

Shariputra
Ananda
Mogallana
Katyayana
Subuthi
Purna
Mahakasyapa
Aniruddha
Upali
Rahula
Nagasena
Angulimala
Padmasambhava
Milarepa
Akshobya
Amitabha
Vairocana
Amogasiddhi
Ratnasambhava
Ludwig V. Beethoven

Any additions or omissions, thanks?

[underthetree]

Do the 84 Mahasiddhas count?

[Indrajala]

Ludwig V. Beethoven

[odysseus]

Do the 84 Mahasiddhas count?

Not sure, I understand this as a matter of personal preference. Wikipedia says the Mahasiddhas are associated with Hinduism but I don´t know what that means. It takes more than supernatural powers to become a saint even if you are realised, but it´s the people (or maybe Dharma) who gives the acknowledgement.

[plwk]

...earthly Buddhist saints...
Akshobya
Amitabha
Vairocana
Amogasiddhi
Ratnasambhava

You sure about the above?

Mahasiddhas 1 2

[odysseus]

...earthly Buddhist saints...
Akshobya
Amitabha
Vairocana
Amogasiddhi
Ratnasambhava

You sure about the above?

No, I´m not sure but something says these are saints. Maybe they were in secret training without exposing themselves and I´m not trying to create another myth .

And I forgot Nagarjuna and Shantideva , sorry! The figure 22 sounds fine to me...

[underthetree]

Wikipedia says the Mahasiddhas are associated with Hinduism

Perhaps you were thinking of the Mahavidyas?

[odysseus]

Wikipedia says the Mahasiddhas are associated with Hinduism

Perhaps you were thinking of the Mahavidyas?

No, I looked up the article about 84 Mahasiddhas on Wikipedia. The articles there are usually good, but I try to be skeptic when I read them so that association with Hinduism may be wrong. I think they mean that the Mahasiddhas were alternating between Buddhism and Hinduism. Never heard of them being called saints, but surely revered people.

[underthetree]

What is the definition of saint in Buddhism anyway? Is there an equivalent to the Judeo-Christian model? Which, presumably, would be any earthly being who has gone beyond but continues to intercede on behalf of his/her supplicants...

[dharmagoat]

From the Illuminator Dictionary:

འཛམ་གླིང་མཛེས་པའི་རྒྱན་དྲུག་ - "Six Ornaments Who Beautified Jambudvīpa"
These are six particularly great masters of the Buddhist tradition taken from among all of the masters who appeared while Buddhism flourished in India. The six are:
ཀླུ་སྒྲུབ་ - skt: Nāgārjuna
འཕགས་པ་ལྷ་ - skt: Āryadeva
ཐོགས་མེད་ - skt: Asaṅga
དབྱིག་གཉེན་ - skt: Vasubhandu
ཕྱོགས་གླང་ - skt: Dignāga
ཆོས་གྲགས་ - skt: Dharmakīrti

[dharmagoat]

From the Mahāvyutpatti:

XXVIII (167) སྔོན་གྱི་མཁན་པོའི་མིང་། Names of ancient learned men (Upādhyāya: principal, professor, teacher) :-
1. Nagārjuna ཀླུ་སྒྲུབ་ he who prepares the Nāgas
2. Nagāhvaya ཀླུས་བོད་ called on by a Nāga
3. Ārya-deva འཕགས་པ་ལྷ་ the excellent or honourable lord
4. Ārya-Asaṅga འཕགས་པ་ཐོགས་མེད་ the excellent or honourable lord
5. Vasubandhu དབྱིག་གཉེན་ a kinsman of wealth or riches
6. Āryaśūra འཕགས་པ་དཔའ་བོ་ the excellent champion
7. Aśvaghoṣa རྟ་སྐད་ with a horse's voice
8. Dignāga ཕྱོགས་གླང་ an elephant of the ten corners of the world
9. Dharmapāla ཆོས་སྐྱོང་ a defender of the faith
10. Dharmakīrti ཆོས་གྲགས་ of renowned virtue or piety
11. Sthiramati བློ་བརྟན་ with a firm or steady mind
12. Saṅghabhadra འདུས་བཟང་ the good union or collection
13. Guṇaprabha ཡོན་ཏན་འོད་ a splendour of good qualities
14. Vasumitra དབྱིག་བཤེས་ a friend of riches
15. Guṇamati ཡོན་ཏན་བློ་གྲོས་ good qualities and prudence
16. Śākyabuddhi ཤཱཀྱ་བློ་ with the understanding of Śākya
17. Devendrabuddhi ལྷ་དབང་བློ་ having an understanding like that of the ruler of the gods (Indra)
18. Jñānagarbha ཡེ་ཤེས་སྙིང་པོ་ essence of wisdom
19. Śāntarakṣita ཞི་བ་འཚོ་ keeping the tranquility (of his mind)
20. Candragomi བཙུན་པ་ཟླ་བ་ the venerable moon
21. Buddhapālita སངས་རྒྱས་སྐྱངས་ defended by Buddha (god)
22. Bhāgya (or Bhavya) སྐལ་ལྡན་ the fortunate
23. Vararuci མཆོག་སྲེད་ chief desire (or delight)
24. Pāṇini པཱ་ཎི་ནི་ Panini
25. Patañjali ཆུར་ལྷུང་ fallen into water
26. Candrakīrti ཟླ་གྲགས་ the celebrated moon
27. Vinītadeva དུལ་བ་ལྷ་ the mild lord
28. Nanda དགའ་བོ་ joy, delight
29. Dharmottara ཆོས་མཆོག་ the chief of morality (or chief virtue)
30. Śākyamitra ཤཱཀྱ་བཤེས་གཉེན་ a friend and acquaintance of Śākya
31. Jñānadatta ཡེ་ཤེས་བྱིན་ a gift of wisdom (or given by wisdom)
32. Prabhākarasiddhi འོད་བྱེད་གྲུབ་ a perfect light maker (sun)
33. Śīlabhadra ངང་ཚུལ་བཟང་པོ་ good moral conduct
34. Daṃṣṭrasena མཆེ་བའི་སྡེ་ an army of the tusky <ones>
35. Dharmatrāta ཆོས་སྐྱོངས་ defended by virtue
36. Viśeṣamitra ཁྱད་པར་བཤེས་གཉེན་ a particular friend
37. Ravigupta ཉི་མ་སྦས་པ་ a hidden sun
38. Vābhaṭa ཕ་ཁོལ་ the enemy's (or a father's) slave

(Some of these may not be Buddhist scholars.)

[dharmagoat]

Also from the Mahāvyutpatti:

XVIII (43) ཉན་ཐོས་སོ་སོའི་མིང་། Names of different hearers or Śrāvakas (or disciples of Śākya) :-
1. Ājñāyakauṇḍinya ཀུན་ཤེས་ཀཽ་ནྜི་ནྱ་ the fully understanding or all knowing Kauṇḍinya
2. Kāśyapa འོད་སྲུང་ the keeper of light
3. Sāri-putra ཤཱ་རི་བུ་ the son of Sāri
4. Maudgalyāyana མོའུ་གལ་གྱི་བུ་ the son of Maudgala
5. Mahākātyāyana ཀཱཏྱཱའི་བུ་ཆེན་པོ་ the great Kātyāyana (the great Scythianus)
6. Subhūti རབ་འབྱོར་ chief (or excellent) wealth
7. Pūrṅamaitrāyaṇīputra བྱམས་མའི་བུ་གང་པོ་ Pūrṅa the son of Maitrāyaṇī
8. Aśvajit རྟ་ཐུལ་ the broken (or subdued) horse [a subduer of horses]
9. Aniruddha མ་འགགས་པ་ the unhindered
10. Rāhula སྒྲ་གཅན་འཛིན་ eclipse (caused) by the (loud-voiced) dragon (Rāhu) : name of Śākya's son, and of others
11. Ānanda ཀུན་དགའ་བོ་ the delight of all men (deliciae generis humani).
12. Nanda དགའ་བོ་ joy or delight
13. Nandaka དགའ་བྱེད་ that makes glad or joyful
14. Nandika དགའ་ཡོད་ that rejoices (himself)
15. Mahānāma མིང་ཆེན་ of great name or reputation, the famous
16. Cunda སྐུལ་བྱེད་ the exhorter
17. Tiṣya འོད་ལྡན་ or སྐར་རྒྱལ་ the shining or bright (name of the eighth Nakṣatra or lunar mansion, in Tib. རྒྱལ་)
18. Upatiṣya ཉེ་རྒྱལ་ shining in a somewhat less degree
19. Kolita གང་ནས་སྐྱེས་ whence born?
20. Uruvilvakāśyapa ལྟེང་རྒྱས་འོད་སྲུང་ Kāśyapa of Uruvilva (a place abounding in tanks or ponds)
21. Nadikāśyapa ཆུ་ཀླུང་འོད་སྲུང་ Nadi kāśyapa (the river Kāśyapa)
22. Gayākāśyapa ག་ཡ་འོད་སྲུང་ Kāśyapa of Gayā
23. Gavāmpati བ་ལང་བདག་ the master or owner of cattle
24. Vāṣpa རླངས་པ་ steam or vapour
25. Upasena ཉེ་སྡེ་ a subaltern, tribune
26. Cūlapanthaka ལམ་ཕྲན་བསྟན་ follower of inferior doctrine or of vulgar principles
27. Mahāpanthaka ལམ་ཆེན་བསྟན་ follower of higher doctrine or principles
28. Śroṇakoṭiviṃśa གྲོ་བཞིན་སྐྱེས་བྱེ་བ་ཉི་ཤུ་བ་ he that was born under the constellation of Śravaṇā, and is worthy of 20 crores
29. Udayin འཆར་ཀ་ the up-rising (or he from the east, or from Oude)
30. Sundarānanda མཛེས་དགའ་ the beautiful merry one (or child)
31. Śroṇakoṭikarṇa  གྲོ་བཞིན་སྐྱེས་རྣ་བ་བྱེ་བ་ born in Śravaṇā with a crore of ears
32. Subāhu ལག་བཟང་ with a good hand or arm
33. Udrāyaṇa ལྷག་སྤྱོད་ཀྱི་བུ་ son of Udra
34. Lavaṇabhadrika མཛེས་བཟང་ the handsome and good
35. Upāli ཉེ་བར་འཁོར་ he that turns near (clings close or almost encompasses)
36. Mahākoṣṭha གསུས་པོ་ཆེ་ the paunch bellied, or glutton
37. Vakula བ་ཀུ་ལ་ Bakula
38. Khadiravanika སེང་ལྡེང་ནགས་པ་ dwelling in the woods, where the ground is turfy
39. Svāgata ལེགས་འོངས་ the welcome one
40. Mahāprajāpati སྐྱེ་དགུའི་བདག་མོ་ཆེན་པོ་ the great lord of men, or all creatures, Brahma
41. [Mahāprajāpati] Gautamī སྐྱེ་དགུའི་བདག་མོ་ཆེན་པོ་ Gautamī the great lord of men, creatures, etc., [(name of) an aunt of Śākya, and his chief nurse; the principal of female religious persons].
42. Mayādevi ལྷ་མོ་སྒྱུ་འཕྲུལ་མ་ the goddess Illusion. The (name of the) mother of Śākya
43. Yaśodharā གྲགས་འཛིན་མ་ the celebrated or renowned woman - (name of the) mother of Śākya
44. Gopā ས་འཚོ་མ་ the cherisher or keeper of the earth - (name of) the wife of Śākya
45. Utpalavarṇā ཨུ་ཏྤ་ལའི་མདོག་ having a colour like that of the Utpala flower
46. Dharmadinnā ཆོས་སྐྱེས་བྱིན་ a gift of virtue

[odysseus]

That was quite a list - thanks. Never heard of most of them, maybe the were saints. My list was kind of personal only!

I used the word saint because it´s the common English word. I could have said "realised masters, liberated, enlightened" or something else. In the West, everybody knows what a saint is so I guess it´s a valid word. These folks are "holy" and everything.

I forgot Tara and Manjushri too.

[dharmagoat]

But wait, there's more...

Also from the Illuminator Dictionary:

ཉེ་བའི་སྲས་བརྒྱད་ - The Eight Close Sons:
This is the term used to mean the eight heart sons, the bodhisatva mahāsattvas who were the closest bodhisatva sons of the Buddha. [DGT] gives it as:
འཇམ་དབྱངས་ - skt: Mañjushrī
སྤྱན་རས་གཟིགས་ - skt: Avalokiteśvara
ཕྱག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ་ - skt: Vajrapāṇi
ས་ཡི་སྙིང་པོ་ - skt: Kṣitigarbha
སྒྲིབ་པ་རྣམ་པར་སེལ་བ་ - skt: Nirvāraṇa viṣkambī
ནམ་མཁའི་སྙིང་པོ་ - skt: Akaśagarbha
བྱམས་པ་ - skt: Maitreya
ཀུན་ཏུ་བཟང་པོ་ - skt: Samantabhadra

[odysseus]

Stylish, that´s what I can say right now.

A comment: The letters look Tibetan to me and not Devanagari (like in Sanskrit). Was Tibetan script derived from north-India or did the Tibetans invent it themselves, I don´t know...

[dharmagoat]

From the Karma Kagyü Refuge Tree (various sources):

ཏཻ་ལོ་པ་ / ཏི་ལོ་པ་ - skt: Tilopa [988-1069]
ནཱ་རོ་པ་ - skt: Nāropa [1016-1100]
ཇོ་བོ་རྗེ་ - skt: Dipaṅkara Atiśa [982-1054]
པདྨ་འབྱུང་གནས་ - skt: Padmasambhava [CA 810]
ཆོས་རྗེ་འབའ་རམ་པ་ - Chöje Barampa [CA 1100]
མ་གཅིག་ལབ་སྒྲོན་ - Machig Labdrön [1062-1160]
སུཁ་སིདྡྷི་ - skt: Sukhasiddhi
ནི་གུ་མ་ - skt: Niguma
ཁྱུང་པོ་རྣལ་འབྱོར་ - Kyungpo Naljor [1002-1064]

རྡོ་རྗེ་འཆང་ - skt: Vajradhāra
བློ་གྲོས་རིན་ཆེན་ - skt: Ratnamati
ས་ར་ཧ་ - skt: Saraha
ཀླུ་སྒྲུབ་ - skt: Nāgārjuna [CA 645?]
ཤ་བ་རི་ - skt: Śavari [CA 657]
མཻ་ཏྲི་པ་ - skt: Maitripa [CA 1150]
མར་པ་ལོ་ཙ་[བ་] - Marpa Lotsa[wa] [1012-1097]
མི་ལ་རས་པ་ - Milarepa [1052-1135]
སྒམ་པོ་པ་ - Gampopa [1079-1153]
...

(The dates vary depending on the source.)

Also from the Karma Kagyü Refuge Tree:

ཤ་རིའི་བུ་ - skt: Śāriputra
ཀུན་དགའ་བོ་ - skt: Ānanda
མོའུ་འགལ་བུ་ / མཽད་གལ་བུ་ - skt: Maudgalyayana / Maudgalaputra

[dharmagoat]

Was Tibetan script derived from north-India or did the Tibetans invent it themselves, I don´t know...

From Wikipedia:

The creation of the Tibetan alphabet is attributed to Thonmi Sambhota of the mid-7th century. Tradition holds that Thonmi Sambhota, a minister of Songtsen Gampo (569-649), was sent to India to study the art of writing, and upon his return introduced the alphabet. The form of the letters is based on an Indic alphabet of that period.

[odysseus]

Alright, buddha-friend! I have more people to add to the list but I think it will be offensive to some. Either way, thanks for the additions and please note that my little list was personal; not anymore *lol*.

Vajrayana is the saviour of Buddhism..!

[dharmagoat]

Alright, buddha-friend! I have more people to add to the list but I think it will be offensive to some. Either way, thanks for the additions and please note that my little list was personal; not anymore *lol*.

Consider my contributions to be lists of candidates for one's own personal list. They are taken from notes that I compiled back in my Vajrayana days. My own personal list would include some Zen masters too, and would be relatively short.

[odysseus]

back in my Vajrayana days.

No more Vajrayana these days, or something? I´m still exploring.