Piṇḍola Bhāradvāja

Pindola Bharadvaja (Piṇḍola Bhāradvāja) is an Arhat in Buddhism. According to the earliest Indian Buddhist sutras, Pindola Bharadvaja was one of four Arhats asked by the Buddha to remain in the world (Chinese: 住世) to propagate Buddhist law (dharma).

Along with Ananda, Pindola preached to the women of Udena's palace at Kosambi on two occasions.

In later centuries, the number of Arhats increases from four to Sixteen Arhats, then later on to 18.

Chinese Buddhism In Chinese community, Pindola is usually called Bīntóulú , who is regarded as the "First in Blessings" (福田第一) disciple of Sakyamuni Buddha. His image is sometimes placed in a prominent position during any gatherings of monastics who share a vegetarian feast.

Tibetan Buddhism Pindola Bharadvaja (Skt. Piṇḍolabhāradvāja; Tib. པིཎྜོ་ལ་བྷཱ་ར་དྭཱ་ཛཿ བྷ་ར་དྷྭ་ཛ་བསོད་སྙོམས་ལེན་, Bharadodza Sönyom Le; Wyl. bha ra dhwa dza bsod snyoms len) — one of the Sixteen Arhats.

Born into a family of royal chaplains, he found no meaning in this life. Seeing the gifts and favours that were bestowed on the Buddha's disciples he had decided to become a monk. At first he was very greedy, and went about with a large alms bowl, however, following the Buddha's personal advice he conquered his greed and lived strictly on whatever he received and soon became an arhat. He constantly showed his gratitude to the Buddha by obeying his words and working only for the benefit of others.

Pindola Bharadvaja lives in a mountain cave on the eastern continent (Purvavideha) with 1,000 arhats. He carries a scripture in his right hand and an alms bowl in his left which he uses to aid those in the lower realms, conferring wisdom and granting wishes, protecting from misfortune

Korea Dokseong or Nabanjonja in Korean Buddhism is thought to be Pindola Bharadvaja although some view it as Tan'gun. The deity is depicted having white hair, long eyebrows, and a smile. It is often enshrined in dokseonggak or samseonggak with Sansin and Chilseongsin (Big Dipper) in Korean Buddhist temples.

India Piṇḍola, belonging to the Brahmin Bhāradvāja gotra, is said to have been from Pūrva Videha. In the Bhāradvājasutta of the Samyutta Nikāya (in the Theravādin suttapitaka), he is described as residing at the famous Ghositārāma, and preaching to King Udena (Udayana) of Kauśambī.

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