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Entry: Mahakashyapa (Venerable)

Chinese char:

Explanation:

The eldest of the Buddha's great disciples, who was foremost in ascetic practices, and first patriarch of the Meditation (Chan) School.

"Maha means great, many and victorious. The Sanskrit word

kasyapa means 'great turtle clan', because Mahakasyapa's ancestors saw the pattern on the back of a giant turtle and used it to cultivate the Way. Kasyapa also means 'light drinking clan', because his body shone with light which was so bright it seemed to drink up all other light.

"Why did his body shine? Seven Buddhas ago, in the time of the Buddha Vipasyin, there was a poor woman who decided to repair a ruined temple. The roof of the temple had been blown off and the images inside were exposed to the wind and rain. The woman went everywhere and asked for help, and when she had collected enough money she commissioned a goldsmith to regild the images. By the time he was finished, the goldsmith fell in love with her and said, 'You have attained great merit from this work, but we should share it. You may supply the gold and I will furnish the labor, free.' And so the temple was rebuilt and the images regilded. The goldsmith asked the woman to marry him, and in every life for ninety-one kalpas, they were husband and wife and their bodies shone with purple and golden light.

"Mahakashyapa was born in Magadha in India. When he was twenty, his father and mother wanted him to marry, but he said, 'The woman I marry must shine with golden light. Unless you find such a woman, I won't marry.' Eventually they found one, and they were married. As a result of their good karma their bodies shone with golden light, and they cultivated together and investigated the doctrines of the Way. When Mahakashyapa left home to become a Bhikshu, his wife became a Bhikshuni called Purple and Golden Light.

"Mahakashyapa's personal name was Pippala, because his parents prayed to the spirit of a pippala tree to grant them a son.

"As the first patriarch, Mahakashyapa holds an important position in Buddhism. When Shakyamuni Buddha spoke the Dharma, the Great Brahma Heaven King presented him with a golden lotus and Shakyamuni Buddha held up the flower before the assembly. At that time hundreds of thousands of gods and men were present, but no one responded except Mahakashyapa, who simply smiled. The Buddha said, 'I have the Right Dharma-Eye Treasury, the wondrous mind of Nirvana, the reality beyond appearance. The Dharma-door of mind to mind transmission has been entrusted to Kashyapa.' Thus Mahakashyapa received the transmission of Dharma and became the first Buddhist patriarch.

"The Venerable Mahakashyapa is still present in the world. When he left home under the Buddha, he was already one hundred sixty years old. At the time Shakyamuni Buddha had spoken Dharma for forty-nine years in over three hundred Dharma assemblies, Kashyapa was already over two hundred years old. After Shakyamuni Buddha entered Nirvana, Kashyapa went to Southwestern China, to Chicken Foot Mountain in Yunnan Province. It has been over three thousand years since the Buddha's nirvana, but Mahakashyapa is still sitting in samadhi in Chicken Foot Mountain waiting for Maitreya Buddha to appear in the world. At that time he will give Maitreya the bowl which the Four Heavenly Kings gave Shakyamuni Buddha and which Shakyamuni Buddha gave him, and his work in the world will be finished.

"When cultivators travel to Chicken Foot Mountain to worship the Patriarch Kashyapa, on the mountain there are always three kinds of light: Buddha-light, golden light, and silver light. Those with sincere hearts can hear a big bell ringing inside the mountain. It rings by itself, and although you can't see it, you can hear it for several hundred miles. It is an inconceivable experience." (AS 75-76)

In the Shurangama Sutra, Mahakashyapa explained the method he used to become enlightened:

I contemplated that the world's six sense-objects change and decay; they are but empty stillness. Based on this, I cultivated cessation. Now my body and mind can pass through hundreds of thousands of kalpas as though they were a finger-snap.

Based on the emptiness of dharmas, I became an Arhat. The World-Honored one says that I am foremost in dhuta practices. Wonderful Dharma brought me awakening and understanding, and I extinguished all outflows. The Buddha asks about perfect penetration. As I have been certified to it, dharmas are the superior means. (SS V 42-43)

Also in the Shurangama Sutra, the Buddha commented on Mahakashyapa's enlightened mind:

There is also Mahakashyapa in this assembly, dwelling in the samadhi of extinction, having obtained the stillness of a Sound-Hearer. He has long since extinguished the mind-organ, and yet he has a perfectly clear knowledge which is not due to the mental process of thinking. (SS IV 198)

In the Dharma Flower Sutra the Buddha bestowed upon Mahakashyapa the prediction of future Buddhahood:

My disciple, Mahakashyapa, in a future age will serve and behold three hundred billion Buddhas, World-Honored Ones, making offerings, paying reverence, venerating and praising them; he will broadly proclaim the limitless Great Dharma of all the Buddhas.

In his final body he will become a Buddha by the name of Light Brightness Thus Come One, One Worthy of Offerings, One of Proper and Universal Knowledge, One Perfect in Clarity and Practice, Well Gone One, Unsurpassed One Who Understands the World, Hero Who Subdues and Tames, Teacher of Gods and Humans, Buddha, World-Honored One.

His country will be called Light Virtue and his aeon will be called Great Adornment.

His lifespan as a Buddha will last for twelve minor aeons.

The proper Dharma will dwell there for twenty minor aeons. The Dharma Resemblance Age will also dwell there for twenty minor aeons.

His realm will be adorned and free of any filth or evil, tiles or stones, thorns or brambles, excrement or other impurities. The land will be flat, without high or low places, gullies or hills. The land will be made of lapis lazuli, and set about with rows of jewelled trees. The roads will be bordered with golden ropes. Precious flowers will be scattered about, purifying it entirely. The Bodhisattvas in that land will number in the limitless thousands of millions, the assembly of Sound-hearers will likewise be uncountable. No deeds of Mara will be done there, and although Mara and his subjects will exist there, they will all protect the Buddhadharma. (DFS VI 1104-1109)

In the Mahaparinirvana-sutra the Buddha stated:

Kashyapa will be a great source of reliance for you. Just as the Thus Come One is the place of reliance for living beings, so too will Mahakashyapa be the place of reliance for you. It is the way when a great king who rules many territories goes on a tour of inspection, he entrusts all affairs of state to a great minister. The Thus Come One, in the same way, has completely entrusted all his proper Dharma to Mahakashyapa. (NS, Ch 3)

Pinyin: mo he jya she

Sanskrit: mahakasyapa

Pali: mahakassapa

Alternative:

See Also: Chan School

BTTS Ref: AS 75-80; DFS V 869-872; DFS VI 1105-1116; EDR I 220; SS IV 198, 202; SS V 39-43; VBS #165, Jan. 1984, p. 1

Last Updated: 1/4/2002 11:19:38 PM EST

Updated by: 209.179.136.79

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