Purna Maitrayaniputra (6th century BCE) - पूर्ण मैत्रायणीपुत्र - Pūrṇa Maitrāyaṇīputra - Puṇṇa Mantānīputta - གང་པོ། gang po gangpo - 富樓那 富楼那, Fùlóunà - 부루나 Buruna - 富楼那 Furuna - Pūrṇa
Purna Maitrayaniputra (पूर्णमैत्रायणीपुत्र - Pūrṇamaitrāyaṇīputra; གང་པོ་བྱམས་མའི་བུ། gang po byams ma'i bu Gangpo Jammay Bu) was one of the ten principal disciples of Shakyamuni Buddha and is celebrated throughout the Buddhist tradition as the disciple foremost in expounding the Dharma. Born into a wealthy Brahmin family in Dronavastu in ancient India during the 6th century BCE, his exact year of birth and year of death are not definitively recorded in historical archives, though he lived and taught through the 5th century BCE. As the nephew of Kaundinya, the very first disciple to achieve awakening, he was inspired early in life to practice renunciation and take refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha. Through diligent meditation, strict ethical conduct, and deep concentration, he purified his mind of the three poisons, realized the Four Noble Truths and dependent origination, and attained complete liberation from karma and the cycles of samsara.
Within the monastic Sangha, Purna Maitrayaniputra became famous for his unmatched eloquence, skillful means, and fearless compassion when spreading the teachings of the Middle Way and the Noble Eightfold Path. After achieving full awakening, he asked the Buddha for permission to return to his turbulent native region of Sunaparanta to teach the Dharma, despite warnings that the local people were fierce and violent. In a renowned dialogue preserved in the Chinese Tripitaka as Taisho Number 99 and in the Tibetan Tripitaka as Toh Number 301, Shakyamuni tested his resolve by asking how he would react if the inhabitants insulted, struck, or even killed him. Purna Maitrayaniputra responded with supreme equanimity and loving-kindness, stating that he would feel grateful that they had freed him from the burdens of the five aggregates and dukkha without needing to end his own life, successfully converting thousands of inhabitants to the path of non-attachment and nirvana.
In Mahayana scriptures, Purna Maitrayaniputra also appears prominently as an interlocutor who engages in profound philosophical exchanges regarding emptiness, emptiness of self, and the nature of a bodhisattva. In the Vimalakirti Sutra, cataloged in the Tibetan Tripitaka as Toh Number 176 and in the Chinese Tripitaka as Taisho Number 475, he initially hesitates to visit the lay bodhisattva Vimalakirti because he had previously been admonished for preaching the lesser vehicle to practitioners capable of generating bodhicitta and realizing their innate Buddha-nature. Similarly, in the Lotus Sutra, cataloged as Toh Number 113 and Taisho Number 262, he receives a prophecy from Shakyamuni confirming his future attainment of supreme Buddha status, cementing his legacy for later Buddhist Masters like Nagarjuna and Vasubandhu before he peacefully passed into parinirvana.