One of the Buddha's principal disciples and his attendant. Unlike most of the other followers of the
Buddha Ananda did not become an arhat until after the Buddha had died. All the arhats were
gathering after the death of the Buddha to gather together the Buddha's teachings and discuss the
dharma so Ananda stayed up all night in order to reach nirvana so he could join in the council of
arhats. The tradition is that when a sutra/sutta starts "Thus I have heard" it is Ananda relating the
story.