It was the sixth year after His Enlightenment that the Buddha first returned to His home city of Kapilavastu where He taught and liberated His younger brother, Nanda. Nanda would love to follow his elder brother to renounce the house-hold life and became a monk, yet he could not bear to be separated from his beautiful wife at home at the same time. One day, the Buddha went to the palace (the palace was in Kapilavastu) to beg for alms at a time when the Nanda couple were having a meal together. Having heard that the Buddha was coming to beg for food, Nanda went readily to add food in the Buddha’s alms bowl. As soon as he was about to take the food to the Buddha, Sundari said, “I now spit a mouthful of water on the ground and you must be back before the water dries up. Otherwise, I’m going to punish you.” Nanda answered, “Sure.” When Nanda was walking out of the doorway of his home, Janapadakalyani (Sundari) was braiding her hair. Braiding her plait halfway, Sundari rushed to the window just to see the view of Nanda’s back. She made a loud yell, “My darling! Hurry back please! Beloved!” Though Nanda had difficulty in taking the steps to leave, he managed to walk away from home without looking back. Meanwhile, the Buddha employed miraculous power to retreat backward whilst Nanda went forward. They walked and walked in such a way until they reached Jetavana Vihara (The distance between the palace and Jetavana Vihara was more than five miles). The Buddha then told Nanda to shave his hair to become a Buddhist monk immediately. Nanda would really love to follow his brother to become a monk, but he was reluctant to part with his beautiful wife at home. However, the fact that the Buddha was his elder brother, he dared not refuse to leave home life and became a monk. After a certain struggle, Nanda received the alms bowl from the Buddha but he thought, “I shave my hair today, I’ll run back (home) on another day though.”

Nanda had always been biding his time (to escape). However, having waited one day and then the next one, there was no chance at all day after day because the Buddha, as well as the Arhats, was all staying at Jetavana Vihara constantly. Thus, he was very worried. One day, the Buddha and the Arhats all went outside to receive offerings, leaving only Nanda behind to look after the place. He thought, “It’s my opportunity today.” Nevertheless, the Buddha had instructed Nanda to sweep the floor before He left. When he had just finished sweeping the litter in a heap, a gust of wind blew across and scattered the litter around the floor again. He then closed the windows but as this window was closed, that window opened again. Sweeping the floor and closing the windows repeatedly, Nanda spent nearly two to three hours on such work. Realising that the Buddha would be back very soon, he thought, “Regardless of whether the Buddha is coming back, I must run off.” He then considered, “The Buddha never takes side streets, He walks on big roads only. Therefore, I should escape by taking alleys.” Having run for a distance of one to two miles, Nanda saw the Buddha walking towards him from an opposite pathway. He hid himself behind a big tree right away and waited until the Buddha had passed before he could continue (to escape). Who knew that when Nanda walked from this way, the Buddha came along from the other direction at once. The Buddha asked Nanda as soon as He saw him, “What’re you doing here? Why aren’t you guarding the door instead?” Nanda thought, “I can’t say that I’m escaping.” He then answered, “I’ve been waiting for Your return for a long time. Seeing that You haven’t been back yet, I come here to pick You up for fear that Your alms bowl is too heavy to carry.” The Buddha said, “My younger brother is really good.” As a result, the Buddha took Nanda back to Jetavana Vihara again. Later, Nanda followed the Buddha to wander about everywhere. They arrived in Sravasti where they finally settled down.

 “My darling! Hurry back please! Beloved!” The exclamation of Janapadakalyani at the time of his departure kept lingering on Nanda’s mind which turned him into a lovelorn patient. He was filled with pain and depression and was gradually getting haggard as well as emaciated. Later on, the arteries and veins all over his body protruded and exposed on the surface of the skin. Nanda, who was completely wrapped by blue veins, was as pitiful as the poor little mites that got entangled in cobwebs since he was bound tightly by the fond remembrances of ladies’ beauty and charm.

Hearing people’s description on the situation of Nanda, the Buddha went purposely to the small room where Nanda slept and asked, “Nanda, are you pleasant under my teaching?” Nanda answered, “The World-Honoured One! I feel unpleasant because I’m still deeply in love with Janapadakalyani!”

The Buddha took Nanda’s hand and said, “Let me bring you out for a walk. Shall we go up a hill to have a look?” Nanda replied, “That’s nice!” and he thought, “Going up a hill this time, it’s really a good chance for me to run away.” There were a lot of monkeys on the hill and the number was as many as five to six hundred. The Buddha asked Nanda, “Nanda! Making a comparison between your wife and the monkeys: is your wife more beautiful? Or are the monkeys more beautiful?” Nanda answered without much thought, “Sundari is certainly more beautiful. The Buddha, how can the monkeys be comparable with Sundari?” The Buddha said, “Nanda! You’re so smart to know that Sundari is more beautiful than the monkeys.”

After that, the Buddha said to Nanda, “Nanda! You haven’t been to the heaven, have you? Let’s go to the heaven with me (now)!” The Buddha then applied miraculous power to bring Nanda to the heaven. They flew to Trayastrimsas (the 33 Heavens) and entered the palace of Sovereign Sakra. Learning that the Buddha was visiting, Sovereign Sakra, who was a disciple of the Buddha, led his devas to approach the Buddha in worship at once. Having made the prostrations to the Buddha, (Sovereign Sakra and his devas) sat down aside. The five hundred pink-skinned apsaras (beautiful, young and elegant celestial female beings) of Sovereign Sakra and his two thousand five hundred pretty maids came also to worship the Buddha. After making their prostrations, they seated on one side as well.

Nanda, who had been tortured by the thinking (of Janapadakalyani) and lust for a long time, could not help himself but kept looking at the five hundred apsaras again and again. He had always believed that Janapadakalyani was the most gorgeous person in the world and so it was out of his expectation that each and every one of the five hundred apsaras was a hundred times more beautiful than Janapadakalyani. Because of the pink-coloured skin, they were so beautiful that even their legs became pink in colour.

The Buddha said, “Nanda! You can see these apsaras, can’t you?” Nanda responded, “Yes, I’ve seen them, the World-Honoured One!” The Buddha asked again, “Comparing apsara with Sundari, who is more beautiful?”

Glimpsing the apsaras who were so absolutely gorgeous that he had never seen before, Nanda brought forth affections right away and thus he answered, “How can Sundari be compared with the apsaras? The beauty of the apsaras is of the utmost that no one else can be more beautiful than the apsaras. Comparing the apsaras to Sundari is just like the case that monkeys can’t compare with Sundari. Making a comparison between Sundari and the apsaras currently, Sundari is exactly like the monkeys.” Nanda went on thinking, “The apsaras are really splendid! What should be done so as to get hold of these apsaras?”

The Buddha knew best of Nanda’s thought and hence He said, “One has to fulfill the responsibilities of a bhiksu (Buddhist monk) before one can get hold of the apsaras.” Then Nanda said to the Buddha, “The World-Honoured One! If the World-Honoured One is willing to guarantee that I can (certainly) get hold of the apsaras as long as I’ve performed the responsibilities of a bhiksu, I’ll thereby fulfill the responsibilities of a bhiksu.” The Buddha simply said, “Well, work hard to fulfill it then! Nanda! I hereby give you the guarantee.”

Then they returned to Jetavana Vihara together where Nanda started to perform the responsibilities of a bhiksu with great efforts. In addition, he practised cultivation diligently as well as meditating (sitting cross-legged) day and night industriously and enthusiastically.

The incident had been known by the senior disciples in the Sangha and all of them felt that it was incredible. Sariputra (one of the Buddha’s ten great disciples who was foremost in wisdom) ran to blame him, “Nanda! I’ve heard that you demanded the World-Honoured One to guarantee that you can hold of the apsaras if you perform the responsibilities of a bhiksu in front of the various devas in the 33 Heavens, is it true? If it’s real, does it mean that your practice of Brahmacharya 清淨梵行(the seeking and understanding of the supreme reality) is entirely for the sake of women as well as having eros? You fulfill the responsibilities of a bhiksu in order to get hold of women (the apsaras), in that case, you’re of no difference from a worker who is employed to work, are you? …”

Nanda was overwhelmed with shame by the criticisms. Having realized that his behaviour was something rather contemptuous, Nanda then braced himself for a difficult task. He practised meditation (to sit in dhyana) from morning to night accordingly. In one of his samadhi, he arrived at a hell where he could see two ghosts heating a pot of oil. The oil was not yet boiled. The two ghosts were very lazy. They were sleeping while they were working and the flame under the pot was flickering. Thinking that the two ghosts had not done their job well enough, Nanda’s curiosity was aroused. When could the pot of oil be boiled under such circumstances? Thus, he asked them, “Hey! You haven’t lit the fire properly. It’s going to go out soon! What exactly are you two doing here?” The two ghosts had their eyes open and said, “It’s none of your business! We aren’t in any hurry at all. The person we’re waiting for hasn’t come yet. There’s still a long time to wait before his arrival here!” Nanda then asked, “Who are you waiting for?” The two ghosts said, “Don’t you want to know who is, do you? We can tell you that. He’s the younger brother of Buddha Sakyamuni, Nanda, who has followed the Buddha to leave the house-hold life and becomes a Buddhist monk so as to practise cultivation. However, he thinks whole-heartedly of enjoying bliss as well as the five hundred apsaras only. He’s going to spend a thousand years in the heaven. Thereafter, he’ll forget all about cultivation but commit a lot of evil karma. As soon as his accumulated evil karma reaches the limit, he’ll fall into hell to suffer from the pain of being fried in this boiling oil.” Nanda thought, “Oh! How can such terrible pain be tolerated?” Arising from samadhi, Nanda did not practise for being born in the heaven any more. He decided to settle life and death instead. Soon after that, he managed to attain Arhatship (remark: Arhat is ‘one who has destroyed the foes of afflictions’).

Afterwards, Nanda went to see the Buddha for a special purpose, “The World-Honoured One! I sincerely hope that You’re no longer constrained to keep the promise (the guarantee of the apsaras) made.”
The Buddha said, “Nanda! At the moment when you’ve attained the holy Arhatship, I’m free from the restriction of the guarantee readily.”  

Without Janapadakalyani, Nanda would not have the motivation to carry out moksha 解脫(liberation from rebirth).