Uppalavannāwas considered to be amongst the two chief female disciples

Sravaka

Shravaka or Śrāvaka or Sāvaka means "hearer" or, more generally, "disciple".This term is used by both Buddhists and Jains. In Jainism, a shravaka is any lay Jain...

 of the Buddha

Gautama Buddha

Siddhārtha Gautama was a spiritual teacher from the Indian subcontinent, on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. In most Buddhist traditions, he is regarded as the Supreme Buddha Siddhārtha Gautama (Sanskrit: सिद्धार्थ गौतम; Pali: Siddhattha Gotama) was a spiritual teacher from the Indian...

, the other being Khema

Khema

Khema was one of the two chief female disciples of Buddha .The name Khema means well-composed and she was quite beautiful. The nun belonged to the royal family of Magadha and was one of the chief queens of King Bimbisara....

.

She was the daughter of a wealthy merchant and was known for her great beauty. Her name means "one with the hue of the blue lotus".

Family life and renunciation

She was the daughter of a businessman from Savatthi (Shravasti). She was named Uppalavanna because her complexion was that of a blue lotus. She was so beautiful that when she came of age, powerful and wealthy suitors sent messengers to her father asking for her hand. Not wanting to displease so many people, he suggested that she become a bhikkhuni. She agreed and became a nun. She quickly progressed in meditation and became an Arahant (fully liberated).

Life as a nun

Buddha declared her to be the foremost in supernormal powers

Abhijna

Abhijñā has been translated generally as "knowing," "direct knowing" and "direct knowledge" or, at times more technically, as "higher knowledge" and "supernormal knowledge." In Buddhism, such knowing and knowledge is obtained through virtuous living and meditation...

 among the nuns.

Samyutta Nikaya

Samyutta Nikaya

The Samyutta Nikaya is a Buddhist scripture, the third of the five nikayas, or collections, in the Sutta Pitaka, which is one of the "three baskets" that compose the Pali Tipitaka of Theravada Buddhism. Because of the abbreviated way parts of the text are written, the total number of suttas is...

 V.5, the Uppalavanna Sutta, is attributed to her:

Then the bhikkhuni

Bhikkhuni

A bhikkhuni or bhikṣuṇī is a fully ordained female Buddhist monastic. Male monastics are called bhikkhus. Both bhikkhunis and bhikkhus live by the vinaya...

 Uppalavanna, having understood, "This is Mara the Evil One

Mara (demon)

In Buddhism, Māra is the demon that tempted Gautama Buddha by trying to seduce him with the vision of beautiful women who, in various legends, are often said to be Mara's daughters. In Buddhist cosmology, Mara personifies unwholesome impulses, unskillfulness, the "death" of the spiritual life...

," replied to him in verses:

Though a hundred thousand rogues

Just like you might come here,

I stir not a hair, I feel no terror;

Even alone, Mara, I don't fear you.

I can make myself disappear

Or I can enter inside your belly.

I can stand between your eyebrows

Yet you won't catch a glimpse of me.

I am the master of my own mind,

The bases of power are well developed;

I am freed from every kind of bondage,

Therefore I don't fear you, friend.

Then Mara the Evil One, realizing, "The bhikkhuni Uppalavanna knows me," sad and disappointed, disappeared right there.

Sources

• Bodhi, Bhikkhu
  Bhikkhu Bodhi
  Bhikkhu Bodhi , born Jeffrey Block, is an American Theravada Buddhist monk, ordained in Sri Lanka and currently teaching in the New York/New Jersey area...
  
   (trans.) (1997). Uppalavanna Sutta: Uppalavanna (SN
  Samyutta Nikaya
  The Samyutta Nikaya is a Buddhist scripture, the third of the five nikayas, or collections, in the Sutta Pitaka, which is one of the "three baskets" that compose the Pali Tipitaka of Theravada Buddhism. Because of the abbreviated way parts of the text are written, the total number of suttas is...
  
   5.5). Retrieved 2007-10-19 from "Access to Insight" at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn05/sn05.005.bodh.html.
• Paw Dhamma Center (n.d.). The Chief Disciple Uppalavanna Theri. Retrieved from Paw Dhamma Center at http://home.earthlink.net/~mpaw1235/id11.html.
• Upalavanna, Sister (trans.) (n.d.). Etadaggavagga: These are the foremost (AN
  Anguttara Nikaya
  The Anguttara Nikaya is a Buddhist scripture, the fourth of the five nikayas, or collections, in the Sutta Pitaka, which is one of the "three baskets" that comprise the Pali Tipitaka of Theravada Buddhism...
  
   1:14). Retrieved 2007-10-19 from "MettaNet" at http://www.metta.lk/tipitaka/2Sutta-Pitaka/4Anguttara-Nikaya/Anguttara1/1-ekanipata/014-Etadaggapali-e.html.

External links

• Bodhi, Bhikkhu (ed., trans.) (1997). Discourses of the Ancient Nuns (Bhikkhuni-samyutta) (Bodhi Leaves Publication No. 143). Kandy, Sri Lanka: Buddhist Publication Society
  Buddhist Publication Society
  The Buddhist Publication Society is a charity whose goal is to explain and spread the doctrine of the Buddha. It was founded in Sri Lanka in 1958 by two Sri Lankan Buddhist laymen, A.S. Karunaratna and Richard Abeyasekera, and a European-born Buddhist monk, Nyanaponika Thera...
  
  . Retrieved 2007-10-19 from "Access to Insight" at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/bodhi/bl143.html.
• Nibbana.com (n.d.). "Life Histories of Bhikkhuni Arahats: The story of Uppalavanna Theri". Retrieved from "Nibbana.com" at http://www.triplegem.plus.com/gcobbkn1.htm#3.