"Great Disciples of the Buddha is a unique book - a collection of biographical profiles of some twenty-four extraordinary men and women whom the Buddha himself named his most outstanding disciples. The stories of their lives presented here, based on the Pali Canon and its commentaries, offer a comprehensive record of the most ancient traditions concerning the Buddha's own direct Dharma heirs." "In these engaging tales, told with an eye to the details of ordinary human concerns, you will meet a fascinating and diverse array of people - thinkers and seekers, princes and queens, merchants and housewives, even a serial killer - whose lives were transformed by their encounter with the Buddha. This is not a book merely to be read once and then laid aside, but a work to return to again and again for a vivid picture of the life of discipleship under the Awakened One."--BOOK JACKET.