Ayya Tathaloka: Reflections on Sujātā

(Dhammadharini) It was Sujata who offered rice milk to the Buddha after his extreme austerities which included living on one grain of rice a day. Sujata, a laywoman, is remembered and commemorated in the Theravada tradition as ‘The First Disciple of the Buddha,’ there even directly before his awakening. Talk given at Aloka Vihara Forest Monastery’s International Bhikkhuni Day celebration in 2015.