Sinners, Courtesans, and Innate Saintliness Quiz

Answer: Sinner To Religious Figure

Jetsun Milarepa is considered one of Tibet's most famous and beloved saints, yogis, and poets. His sinner to saint journey started after his father's death when greedy relatives stole his family's inheritance, leaving Milarepa and his mother in poverty. At his mother's urging, he learned black magic to seek revenge, ultimately causing the deaths of many people.

He suffered crushing feelings of remorse, however, and it led him to study under a guru named Marpa Lotsawa. In one of his lessons he was made to build and dismantle a series of massive stone towers with his bare hands alone. He lived in total seclusion in the mountains where he survived on almost nothing but spiritual meditation. When he passed away at 84, he left behind profound teachings as well as a collection of spirtual poems and songs.

Answer: Sinner To Religious Figure

Valmiki was a legendary saint and poet from India. His sinner to saint journey began when he was known as Agni Sharma, a highway robber who supported his family by plundering travelers. He would attack people in the forests and steal their belongings. One day, he encountered the sage Narada, who asked if his family would share the burden of his sins. His family refused and he felt spirtual isolation. As a penance, he chanted the name of Rama for years with such stillness that a massive anthill, or valmiki, formed over his body before he emerged.

Legend has it, that upon seeing a hunter kill a bird, Valmiki's spontaneous cry of sorrow took the form of a perfectly rhythmic verse (sloka). He then used this verse to create the "Ramayana", an epic poem consisting of 24,000 verses which became one of his primary legacies to the world. The epic chronicles Prince Rama and is considered a guide to an ethical life, duty, and devotion. Valmiki also represents social dignity and the power of spiritual awakening regardless of one's past.

Answer: Sinner To Religious Figure

Originally named Ahimsaka, he was a star pupil under the tutelage of Acharya Mantani. However, Acharya became very jealous of his student. He tricked Ahimsaka into believing that the only way to reach spiritual liberation was to kill a thousand people and collect a finger from each one. He became a feared outlaw, wearing a gruesome necklace of fingers - hence the name Angulimala, which translates to "Finger Garland."

He was on his 999th victim when he was intercepted by the Buddha. As Angulimala chased the Buddha with a sword, he found that no matter how fast he ran, he could not catch the walking monk. When he shouted for the Buddha to stop, the Buddha famously replied, "I have stopped; it is you who have not stopped." This made Angulimala realize the error of his ways. He went from sinner to saint by renouncing his ways and becoming a monk. His story of redemption also includes him becoming the being invoked to protect new life during childbirth.

Answer: Sinner To Religious Figure

Ashoka the Great was not formally canonized as a "saint" in the theological sense of the word, but he is widely regarded as a model, saintly Buddhist ruler. He was the third emperor of the Mauryan Dynasty and was transformed from a ruthless conqueror into a compassionate and religious ruler. During the beginning of his reign, he was bloodthirsty and the Kalinga War was his most violent act, with over 100,000 deaths and many deportations.

Standing on the battlefield of Kalinga, he was suddenly struck with the horror he had caused. Overcome with remorse, he suddenly embraced Buddhism and dedicated his vast empire-which covered nearly the entire Indian subcontinent-to the principles of righteousness, non-violence, and social welfare. He is often credited for turning Buddhism from a local Indian sect into a major world religion. He proved that spirituality can be applied to the governance of the people.

Answer: Courtesan To Religious Figure

Ambapali was a woman of extraordinary beauty and was the state dancer and a highly influential courtesan in the republic of Vaishali (north eastern India). Her life reached a turning point when the Buddha visited Vaishali during his final years. After hearing him preach, she invited him to her mango grove for a meal. She secured his acceptance before the local princes could even ask, much to their frustration.

Very much moved by his teachings on the impermanence of beauty and life, Ambapali donated her vast and valuable orchard to the monastic community to serve as a place of meditation and retreat. She also renounced her worldly life and joined an order of nuns, eventually attaining enlightenment. Not only was her legacy the material wealth she donated, but also the ideas that the path to spiritual liberation is open to all, regardless of past labels or social status. She also stressed the importance of detaching oneself from physical vanity.

Answer: Courtesan To Religious Figure

Vimala was a beautiful woman who lived as a high-status courtesan in the city of Vesali (north eastern India). She took pride in her appearance and delighted in seducing and charming various men. One day, she saw one of the Buddha's chief disciples, a monk named Moggallana and went to try to seduce him. Instead, she got a lesson from him on the fleetness of looks and the nature of lust.

Tremendously moved, Vimala gave up her profession and joined an order of Buddhist nuns. She became a dedicated practitioner of meditation, focusing on the very thing that had previously been her source of pride: the body. She achieved a state of enlightenment. She also left behind verses in which she reflects on her past with brutal honesty, teaching others that joy comes in many forms.

Answer: Courtesan To Religious Figure

Pingala was a beautiful courtesan who lived in the city of Videha in northern India. One night, she dressed herself in her finest jewels and clothes and waited for a wealthy lover. As the night wore on and he did not show up, greed for his gifts gave way to worry. Then worry turned to horrific sadness. In the midst of this grief she suddenly realized she had spent her life seeking external love from mortal men while ignoring the Divine Love that resided within her own heart.

She immediately stopped pacing and felt herself fill with a deep, inner stillness. She quickly discarded her jewels and fine silks, symbols of her former trade, and embraced a life of simplicity. She famously declared, "Now I shall sleep in peace". She lived out her days by giving up all worldly pleasures and was honored as a Guru.

Answer: Courtesan To Religious Figure

Vasavadatta was a sought-after courtesan in Mathura, in northern India. She was known for both her wealthy, beauty, and extreme vanity. Her spiritual story began with her infatuation with Upagupta, a young Buddhist monk. When she asked him over he declined and mysteriously said "The time for me to visit you has not yet come". Years later, she was accused of murder, and as punishment, had her hands, feet, nose, and ears cut off her body.

Hearing of this horror, Upagupta came to visit her. Despite her now physical deformities and pain, she was taught by him of the impermanence of the flesh and she had a spiritual awakening. She realized the truth of the Buddha's teachings and achieved a state of deep mental purity and peace before she died. Her life came to show that spiritual growth often happens when the ego is most broken.

Answer: Innate Enlightened Beings

Adi Shankara was an Indian philosopher and theologian who practiced the doctrine of non-dualism. This states that the individual self and the ultimate, unchanging reality are identical, creating a unity of all existence. Born in Kerala, he was a child prodigy who mastered the Hindu scriptures by age eight. His only struggle with his mother was trying to convince her that he wanted to become a monk.

He traveled extensively across the Indian subcontinent on foot, engaging in intellectual debates with scholars of various schools. He authored works on his philosophy. He established four principal monasteries in the cardinal directions of India. And he did all this before his untimely death at age thirty-two.

Answer: Innate Enlightened Beings

Atisha was born around 980 AD as Prince Chandragarbha into a royal family in modern-day Bangladesh. He felt an instinctive distaste for palace life. As a young man, the goddess Tara appeared in a dream to warn him against the "quagmire of worldly life," and compared his princely life to an elephant stuck in the mud. He then renounced his royal inheritance and desired to seek monastic ordination.

Atisha spent decades traveling across Asia, including a 12-year journey to Sumatra to study under a theological master. He became an abbot at the renowned Vikramsila University in India. While reforming monastic systems, he emphasized compassion without rebellion. He is remembered in Tibet as a saint who literally gave years of his life to bring the "Lamp for the Path to the Land of Snows".

Answer: Innate Enlightened Beings

Ramana Maharshi was a famous 20th century Hindu sage and teacher. He was an ordinary schoolboy in India until age sixteen. His life was changed then by a spontaneous "death-experience". While sitting alone, he was seized by a sudden, intense fear of dying. He did not succumb to panic, though. He realized that while the body could die, the inner spirit remained untouched and eternal.

This event caused him to abandon his home for the sacred hill of Arunachala, where he remained for the next 54 years. When he first arrived at the mountain he spent time alone in a dark basement at a temple where he deeply meditated. He then moved to the caves in the mountains. He would walk long journeys and experience intense visions. He never preached through conflict. Instead, his teaching through the years was about the power of silence.

Answer: Innate Enlightened Beings

Je Tsongkhapa, whose ordained name was Lobsang Drakpa, was a significant philosopher and reformer in the history of Tibetan Buddhism. He showed such great spiritual inclination as a toddler that he even took vows at age three. As a child prodigy at sixteen, he traveled to Central Tibet to study under the greatest masters of the 1400s. It is said he never experienced a "dark night of the soul" or a period of any wrongdoing.

His life was a steady stream of hard study and meditation. He produced a giant work called "The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment" which provided a guide for someone entering Buddhahood. He was also the founder of the Gelug school, which eventually became the lineage in Tibet led by the Dalai Lamas. He is traditionally depicted holding a sword and a book atop lotus flowers.