A Brief Introduction of Uppalavanna, a Buddhist Nun
Among the female disciples of the Buddha, there was one who was omnipotent and was declared ‘the foremost in miraculous powers’. Her name was Uppalavanna. 
In her previous life, Uppalavanna had been a woman who was abandoned by her husband. Feeling desolate in emotion, she went in front of a Pacceka Buddha獨覺尊者(remarks: one who is enlightened by and for himself i.e. one who has attained to supreme and perfect insight, but who dies without proclaiming the truth to the world) and vowed, “With the meritorious virtue I achieve from making offerings (food and a blue lotus) to a Pacceka Buddha, I hope to have a body which is both proper as well as dignified just like a blue lotus (an Utpala) in my next life. In that case, I’ll not only be endowed with colour and aroma, but also be delicate, charming and beautiful! Furthermore, whatever I seek will be anticipated while there is no lack of men as well! What’s more, I can also be like the Pacceka Buddha who is so omnipotent that possesses miraculous powers! Moreover, (I hope) I can come across great spiritual teachers (Kalyanamitra in Sanskrit which refers to a teacher that serves to inspire us along our path to awakening), the Buddha as well as Gurus etc. and approach them to attend and make offerings in person!”
Though she managed to stand firm on guarding her chastity without getting remarried, she specialized in matchmaking for others. Owing to the fact that she did not have a good marriage herself, she tried to match couples-to-be without making distinctions on whether they had been father and daughter, mother and son, brother and younger sister or elder sister and brother etc. which resulted in the consequences of committing adultery and incest. This is exactly what the Chinese always said, “Try not being a matchmaker so that one will enjoy a good fortune for three generations.” (Carrying out matchmaking carelessly at random without considering the causes and effects between the people concerned, one will suffer from evil karma.) In her existing life as Uppalavanna, she was able to encounter a great spiritual teacher who was Venerable Maudgalyayana because of the good roots she had accumulated in her former existences. Having enlightened by Venerable Maudgalyayana, she was piloted to worship Buddha Sakyamuni whom she sincerely requested to be allowed to leave home and became a Buddhist nun. After that, she became kind-hearted and strove resolutely to work so hard that her cultivation practice was increasingly vigorous. Uppalavanna had led an extremely bumpy life with lots of pain. Both her affections and marriages in the life (as Uppalavanna) were filled with even more twists and turns than her previous ones and this made her suffer from all kinds of hardships. Due to the evil karma done in her past lives, Uppalavanna had to endure innumerable sufferings in this present life. She had to go through with a good many men so as to repay the great deal of evil karma she had made. It was only after all the retributions for her evil karma were suffered that Uppalavanna could receive achievement in Buddhism. With the eradication of confusions and the bringing of enlightenment, Uppalavanna did not only attain Arhatship in no time, but also became a figure who was named in parallel with Venerable Maudgalyayana as the foremost in miraculous powers female and male respectively. |
