One of the most eminent of the Buddha’s immediate disciples. He belonged to a barber’s family in Kapilavatthu and entered the service of the Sakyan princes. When Anuruddha and his cousins left the world and sought ordination from the Buddha at Anupiyā Grove, Upāli accompanied them. They gave him all their valuable ornaments, but, on further consideration, he refused to accept them and wished to become a monk with them. The reason given for his refusal is that he knew the Sākyā were hot-headed, and feared that the kinsmen of the princes might suspect him of having murdered the young men for the sake of their belongings.

At the request of the Sakyan youths, the Buddha ordained Upāli before them all, so that their pride might be humbled.¹ Upāli’s preceptor (upajjhāya) was Kappitaka.² When Upāli went to the Buddha for an exercise for meditation, he asked that he might be allowed to dwell in the forest. However, the Buddha would not agree, for if Upāli went into the forest he would learn only meditation, while, if he remained amongst men, he would have knowledge both of meditation and of the word of the Dhamma. Upāli accepted the Buddha’s advice and, practising insight, in due course won Arahantship. The Buddha himself taught Upāli the whole of the Vinaya Piṭaka.³

In the assembly of the Saṅgha, the Buddha declared him to be the most proficient of those who were learned in the Vinaya (vinayadharānaṃ).⁴ He is often spoken of as having reached the pinnacle of the Vinaya, or as being its chief repository (Vinaye agganikkhitto),⁵ and three particular cases — those of Ajjuka.⁶ the Bhārukacchaka monk ⁷ and Kumāra-Kassapa ⁸ — are frequently mentioned in this connection as instances where Upāli’s decisions on Vinaya rules earned the special commendation of the Buddha. In the Rājagaha Council, Upāli took a leading part, deciding all the questions relative to the Vinaya, in the same way as Ānanda decided questions regarding the Dhamma.⁹

In accordance with this tradition, ascribing to Upāli especial authority regarding the rules of the Order, various instances are given of Upāli questioning the Buddha about the Vinaya regulations. Thus we find him consulting the Buddha as to the legality or otherwise of a complete congregation performing, in the absence of an accused monk, an act at which his presence is required.¹⁰ Again, he wishes to know if, in a matter which has caused altercations and schisms among members of the Order, the Saṅgha declares re-establishment of concord without thorough investigation, could such a declaration be lawful? ¹¹ When a monk intends to take upon himself the conduct of any matter that has to be decided, under what conditions should he do so? What qualities should a monk possess in himself before he takes upon himself to warn others? ¹² In what case can there be an interruption of the probationary period of a monk who has been placed on probation? ¹³

A whole list of questions asked by Upāli and answers given by the Buddha on matters pertaining to the Vinaya rules is found in the chapter called Upāli-Pañcaka in the Parivāra.¹⁴ It is not possible to determine which of these and other questions were actually asked by Upāli, and which were ascribed to him on account of his traditional reputation.

It is said ¹⁵ that even in the Buddha’s lifetime monks considered it a great privilege to learn the Vinaya under Upāli. The monks seem to have regarded Upāli as their particular friend, to whom they could go in their difficulties. Thus, when certain monks had been deprived by thieves of their clothes, it is Upāli’s protection that they seek.¹⁶

The Canon contains few records of any discourses connected with Upāli, apart from his questions on the Vinaya. In the Aṅguttaranikāya ¹⁷ he is mentioned as asking the Buddha for a brief discourse, the Buddha telling him that if there were anything that did not conduce to revulsion and detachment, Upāli could be sure that such things did not form part of the Buddha’s teaching. There is a record of another discourse,¹⁸ which the Buddha is stated to have taught when Upāli expressed the desire to retire into the solitude of the forest. The Buddha tells him that forest-life is not for the man who has not mastered his mind or attained to tranquillity. For other discourses see Upāli Suttaand Ubbāhikā Sutta.

Three verses are ascribed to Upāli in the Theragāthā ¹⁹ where he admonishes the brethren to seek noble friends of unfaltering character, to learn the monks’ code of discipline and to dwell in solitude. In the time of Padumuttara, Upāli was a very rich brahmin named Sujāta. When the Buddha came to his father’s city in order to teach him the Dhamma, Sujāta saw him, and in the assembly be noticed an ascetic named Sunanda, holding over the Buddha for seven days a canopy of flowers. The Buddha declared that Sunanda would, in the time of Gotama Buddha, become famous as the elder Puṇṇa Mantāṇiputta. Sujāta, too, wished to see the future Buddha Gotama, and having heard Padumuttara Buddha praise the monk Pātika as chief of the Vinayadharā, he wished to hear, regarding himself, a similar declaration from Gotama. With this end in view he did many deeds of merit, chief of which was the erection of a monastery named Sobhana, for the Buddha and his monks, at an expense of one hundred thousand.

As a result he was born in heaven for thirty thousand world-cycles and was one thousand times king of the devas. One thousand times, too, he was a Cakkavatti.

Two world-cycles ago there was a warrior (khattiya) named Añjasa, and Upāli was born as his son Sunanda. One day he went to the park riding an elephant named Sirika, and met, on the way, the Pacceka Buddha Devala, whom he insulted in various ways. Sunanda was, thereupon, seized with a sensation of great heat in his body, and it was not until he went with a large following to the Pacceka Buddha and asked his pardon that the sensation left him. It is said that if the Buddha had not forgiven him, the whole country would have been destroyed. This insult paid to the Pacceka Buddha was the cause of Upāli having been born as a barber in his last birth.²⁰

Buddhaghosa says ²¹ that while the Buddha was yet alive Upāli drew up certain instructions according to which future Vinayadharā should interpret Vinaya rules, and that, in conjunction with others, he compiled explanatory notes on matters connected with the Vinaya.

In direct pupillary succession to Upāli as head of the Vinayadharā was Dāsaka, whom Upāli had first met at the Vālikārāma, where Upāli was staying.²² Upāli taught him the whole of the Vinaya. Upāli’s death was in the sixth year of Udāyibhadda’s reign.²³

Footnotes

¹¹ Vin.i.358 f. ¹² Vin.ii.248 f. ¹³ Vin.ii.33 f.

¹⁴ Vin.v.180-206; see also the Upālivagga of the Aṅguttaranikāya v.70 ff.

¹⁵ E.g., Vin.iv.142; Sp.iv.876.

¹⁶ Vin.iii.212; see also the story of Ramanīyavihārī, ThagA.i.116.

¹⁷ A.iv.143 f. ¹⁸ A.v.201 ff.

¹⁹ Thag.vv. 249-51; but see Gotama the Man, p.215; another verse ascribed to Upāli, but so far not traced elsewhere, is found in the Milindapañha p.108.

²⁰ Ap.i.37 ff. ²¹ Sp.i.272, 283. ²² Mhv.v.10. ²³ Dpv.v.7 ff.