Kauṇḍinya

Buddha teaches Kaundinya and his four companions

Kauṇḍinya (P. Koṇḍañña; T. ko'u di nya ཀོའུ་དི་ཉ་) also known as Ājñātakauṇḍinya ( P. Aññātakoṇḍañña; T. kun shes ko 'un di nya C. Aruojaiochenru), was one of the five ascetics who became the first five disciples of the Gautama Buddha.

After the birth of Gautama, Kauṇḍinya was one of the eight brāhmaṇas invited by King Śuddhodana to predict the future of the newborn child. The other brāhmaṇas predicted that Gautama would become either a chakravartin or a buddha. Kauṇḍinya was the only one to predict that Gautama would definitely become a buddha.

After the Buddha attained enlightenment under the Bodhi tree, he gave his first teaching, known as the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, to Kauṇḍinya and the other four ascetics. At the end of this teaching, the Buddha realized that Kauṇḍinya had fully understood his words. In the sutra, it says:

Then the Blessed One uttered the pronouncement: “It is Kauṇḍinya who has seen deeply! Kauṇḍinya who has seen deeply.” And so it was that the name of Venerable Kauṇḍinya became “Kauṇḍinya the deep seer.”

Kauṇḍinya was also the first to take ordination as a monk.

Sources

• Ajahn Sucitto (2010), Turning the Wheel of Truth: Commentary on the Buddha's First Teaching, Shambhala 
• Buswell, Robert E.; Lopez, Donald S. (2014), The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, Princeton University