Among all the Buddha's disciples, Maudgalyayana was considered to have attained the highest supernatural powers. He belonged to the Brahman caste, and he came from Kolita Village near Rajagrha in the kingdom of Magadha. He was originally a pupil of Sanjaya, the leader of another religious group, and it was there that he met Sariputra. The two slowly became dissatisfied with Sanjaya's teachings, and they made an agreement that if either of them found a better religious teacher, he would tell the other and both of them would go to study with the new teacher. Sariputra became the Buddha's disciple first and then told his friend to join him. After Maudgalyayana began following the Buddha, he attained the arhathood in just seven days.

The day before he became the Buddha's follower, Maudgalyayana ran into a pratyeka-buddha in the city. This person's graceful behavior really impressed him, so he invited him to his house as a guest of honor. However, the pratyeka-buddha was not an eloquent speaker, so he demonstrated his understanding by displaying his extrordinary powers, appearing and disappearing here and there. By doing so, he hoped to make a deep impression on Maudgalyayana. Maudgalyayana was indeed impressed and vowed to have such supernatural powers in his life. Later on, he indeed achieved his aim of cultivating great supernatural powers.