Ānanda

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Ānanda (Skt.).
1. A chief disciple and first cousin of the Buddha. Though not an intellectual, Ānanda could explain the 60,000 words of the Buddha and was known as the Dhammabhaṇḍāgārika, ‘treasurer of the Teachings’.

2. Initially a qualitative attribute of Brahmā, it became, especially in Vedānta, the consciousness that is free from all entanglements in samādhi. It is usually found in association with sat and cit, hence in the fused form, Satchidānanda, Being, Consciousness, Bliss. A saṃnyāsin in the Śankara tradition is given the word ānanda as part of his name—e.g. Vivekānanda.