Upagupta is not widely known in the Buddhist world. He, however, is the fourth Patriarch who preserved all the teachings, after Buddha Shakyamuni passed away. Here is his story.
Upagupta’s Prophecy
One brahmin mendicant approached the Buddha and asked, “If I can be of equal vigor and wisdom to Sariputra, ordain me. If not, I will return home.”
The Buddha said no. So, the man did not take ordination and went home. Later on, the Buddha told his assembly, “100 years after I pass away, this man will be reborn. If he becomes a monk in that life, he will be of great wisdom, possess the six supernatural powers, and will greatly benefit the teachings.” This was the prophecy for Upagupta.
Before the Buddha passed into Nirvana, he told Ananda, “Memorize all the teachings. I will entrust you with all the teachings.”
When Ananda was about to pass away, he asked Yasa the same thing. He added, “When you are about to pass away in Nirvana, at Benares, there is a householder named Gupta who has a son named Upagupta. Bring him to the monastic order, train him, and you will entrust all the teachings to him.”
The Search for Upagupta
When Yasa became the holder of the Buddha’s teachings, he went to Benares and made friends with a wealthy householder. This household had a son. Yasa asked if he would send this son to become a monk. The householder refused. He will only send him if another son is born to him.
Later, a second son was born. Yasa again asked if he would give his son to the monastic order. The householder said, “The elder son is doing the outside work while the younger son is doing the inside work. So both of them cannot become monks.”
Yasa used his clairvoyance and realized that none of the two boys had the potential that he was seeking. So, he stopped asking.
Years later, a third son was born. This son was handsome and intelligent. When he has come of age, he was given money to start a business. Yasa also taught this man the Dharma. At first, he was doing a lot of non-virtue. So, Yasa told him to collect black and white pebbles. For every non-virtue he did, he would place a black pebble on the table and so on.
Soon, the white pebbles on the table were more than the black. Later on, only white pebbles remained. Upagupta attained the first fruits of the Dharma.
Upagupta Showed Signs of Promise
One day, a prostitute asked her servant to buy flowers. This servant went to Upagupta’s shop. Upagupta gave the servant more flowers than she paid for. When the servant went back to her master, she said, “You would love to meet this man. He is handsome and intelligent. He is very unusual and there was no haggling with this merchant.”
The prostitute then invited Upagupta. He refused the invitation. This happened many times but Upagupta still refused to see her.
One day, the prostitute was in bed with a prince. Jealous of his jewelries, she murdered him and stole the jewelries. The King, father of the murdered prince, ordered a search for his son. When the prince’s dead body was found, he ordered that the prostitute’s limbs, ears, nose cut. She was also impaled on the stake. Upagupta then came to her side.
The prostitute asked, “Before, when I was beautiful, I invited you to come. Now that I am ugly, you came. Why is this?”
Upagupta then answered, “Before I was attached to you. Now, I have come out of compassion.”
He then taught the prostitute the four kinds of impermanence.
“This body is foul and filthy.
Its true nature is suffering.
It is empty and without a self.
Even if one searches, one finds no refuge there.
The body is insentient.
Only the stupid are attached to it.”
Hearing this, the woman obtained the Dharma. Upagupta meanwhile attained the state of a Non-returner. Later, Yasa then got permission from the father for Upagupta to become a monk.
Mara’s Distractions
Through practice, Upagupta became a Foe Destroyer, perfect in the three knowledges and six spiritual powers. He attained unequalled ability in speech. He attracted many people and taught them Dharma.
To distract the listeners, Mara made many apparitions. He showered gold coins from the sky. He made a beautiful woman appear in the crowds. He displayed an elephant where spring water spurted from the six direction.
The listeners were distracted from hearing the Dharma. However, Upagupta reversed all these distractions every time and made even more people believe in the Dharma.
Winning Over Mara
One day, Mara placed a diamond crown on Upagupta’s head as a joke. When Upagupta arose from Samadhi, he checked the source of this crown. Seeing that it was Mara, he returned the crown on Mara’s head.
When Mara realized this, he found a dead dog as a crown on his head. He could not remove it. Indra, the god of gods, could not remove it. So, Mara went to Upagupta for him to remove it.
Mara complained, “The Buddha was always compassionate. Why are you Sravakas terrible? I did surround the Bodhisattva Prince Siddhartha with temptations, but he never held this against me. He was always compassionate. Why do you do something terrible to me in return for my small joke?”
To this Upagupta replied, “You are right that we, Sravakas, cannot compare the Buddha to ourselves. How can you compare sand to Mount Meru? How can you compare a puddle to the great ocean? King Mara, if you will bring forth a compassionate mind, the dead dog will become a jewelled necklace.”
When Mara heard this, he brought forth a mind of virtue. He stopped pestering Upagupta afterwards.
The Story of Taming Beings
Because his teachings were unobstructed, he brought uncountable beings to the fruits of the Dharma. Many people praised him, saying, “You tamed many minds that cannot be tamed.”
Upagupta replied, “Even when I was an animal, I already tamed beings.”
The people asked how this happened. Upagupta told this story.
“In times long past, there were 500 Pratyekabuddhas who lived on the mountain called Many Rishis in Benares. Each day, a monkey would make offerings to them. Later on, the 500 Pratyekabuddhas moved out of the mountain. 500 mendicants replaced them. But these mendicants worshipped the sun, moon and fire.
“So, once, when they were making a fire, the monkey pushed the sun worshippers to the fire. This extinguished the fire. The monkey then sat upright in meditation. The 500 mendicants slowly followed the monkey’s way. As a result, their minds were tamed.
“They understood the nature of things and became Pratyekabuddhas. At that time, I was the monkey.”
The Cause of Becoming a Monkey
“Lord, what causes made you a monkey?”, the audience asked.
“Long ago, 91 eons ago, when the Buddha Vipasyin resided on earth, the monks resided on the mountain called Many Rishis. One day, a monk who had attained the fruit was running up the mountain. Another monk said, ‘You run like a monkey!’. I was that monk. For that reason, I was reborn as a monkey for 500 lives.”
Thereupon, many in the assembly attained the Four Fruits. Many attained the Stream-enterer, the Once-Returner, the Never-Returner, and Arhats. Some wished to become Enlightened and became fearless. Everyone in the assembly believed and rejoiced.
When Upagupta was about to pass into Nirvana, he passed on all of the Buddha’s teachings to Dhitika.
Adapted from the Sutra of the Wise and Foolish. Translated by Stanley Frye.