Angulimala

Angulimala
Angulimala chases Gautama Buddha
Religious career
Teacher	Buddha

Angulimala (Pāli: "finger necklace/garland"; Sinhala: අංගුලිමාල, Burmese: အင်္ဂုလိမာလ; Template:Tai-language; Chinese: 央掘魔羅) is an important early figure in Buddhism, particularly within the Theravada suttas. A ruthless serial killer who is redeemed by a sincere conversion to Buddhism, he is seen as an example of the redemptive power of the Buddha's teaching and the universal human potential for spiritual progress, regardless of one's background.

Two texts in the Pali canon concern themselves with Angulimala's initial encounter with the Buddha and his conversion. The first is the Theragatha, verses 866-91, and the second is the Angulimala Sutta in the Majjhima Nikaya. Both offer a fairly short description of Angulimala's encounter with the Buddha, and omit much of the background information later incorporated into the story (such as Angulimala being placed under an oath by a jealous teacher). These later additions- which appear in the sutta commentaries attributed to Buddhaghosa and Dhammapala (the Majjhima Nikaya commentary known as the Papancasudani (Ps) and the Therigatha commentary Paramattha-dipani (Pad), respectively) — may represent attempts by later commentators to "rehabilitate" the character of Angulimala — making him appear as a fundamentally good human being entrapped by circumstance, rather than as a vicious killer. The sutta texts themselves do not provide for any motive for Angulimala's actions, other than pure sadism.

According to the sutta and commentarial texts, omens seen at the time of Angulimala's birth (the flashing of weapons and the appearance of the 'constellation of thieves' in the sky) indicated that Angulimala would become a robber. Angulimala's father, the Brahmin chaplain to the king of Kosala, named him Ahimsaka ("the harmless one" - derived from the Sanskrit and Pali word Ahimsa), as an attempt to deter the dark fate predicted at his birth (Pad indicates that he was initially named Himsaka ("the harmful one"), but that the name was later changed).