Upāli

A BARBER WHO BECAME THE AUTHORITY ON MONASTIC LAW. The tradition makes him the reciter of the Vinaya at the first council, which is the point of the detail about his trade, and the retrieved treatment gives the trade and the precedence without the council.

Relations

• disciple of: Siddhārtha Gautama

Sources

• Reference treatment of the Buddha and his disciples: Sariputta and Moggallana are the two Chief Disciples, Sariputta foremost among disciples of great wisdom and Maha Moggallana foremost among those of great supernatural powers; the ten great disciples are Sariputra, Moggallana, Mahakasyapa, Subhuti, Purna, Katyayana, Anuradha, Upali, Rahula and Ananda; Ananda was called the Treasurer of the Dhamma for his retentiveness of memory; Upali worked as a barber before he joined the Buddha, was foremost in observing the precepts, and became a disciple while cutting the Buddha's hair; Anuruddha was a cousin of Shakyamuni who became a disciple at the same time as Ananda.