Who was the last person to get enlightenment from Gautam Buddha?
U.P. P.C.S. (Pre) 2013
A. Anand
B. Sariputta
C. Mogglan
D. Subhadda
Answer: Subhadda
Option d is the correct answer.
Subhadda was a wandering ascetic who met the Buddha shortly before his death. He was impressed by the Buddha's teachings and asked to be admitted to the order of monks. The Buddha agreed, and Subhadda became the last person to be enlightened by the Buddha.
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Who was Subhadda?
Once, there was a wandering monk named Subhadda near Kusinagar. He heard that Buddha was going to pass away soon, and he wanted to meet him. Subhadda had a question he couldn't answer himself, so he thought Buddha could help clear his doubts. Subhadda decided to visit the sala tree grove where Buddha was. He asked Venerable Ananda if he could see Buddha. Ananda, however, was concerned about Buddha's tiredness and told Subhadda not to disturb him. Subhadda asked the same question two more times, and each time, Ananda gave the same reply. However, Buddha overheard part of their conversation and called Ananda over. He told Ananda to let Subhadda come, saying that Subhadda's questions were genuine and that he would understand the answers.
So, Subhadda got permission to approach Buddha. After greeting him, Subhadda mentioned that there were many other teachers with different teachings. Buddha replied that Subhadda shouldn't worry about those teachings and explained that only where the Noble Eightfold Path exists can one find those who have reached different levels of spiritual understanding. Buddha said that his teaching contains the Noble Eightfold Path and that only there can one find people at different levels of understanding. He explained that his teaching leads to genuine spiritual attainment. Subhadda then requested to become a monk, and Buddha agreed. This made Subhadda the last disciple of Buddha, similar to how Kondanna was the first disciple 45 years earlier in the deer park at Benares.