“Generally, in the Vinaya, there was a tradition in the Sangha for people to be normally appointed by some kind of vote, or consensus. However, there was no vote for the first ‘inheritor of the teachings’. Buddha personally appointed the ‘inheritor’ as Mahākāśyapa.”
“In terms of the meaning of ‘inheritor’ of the teachings, according to Je Tāranātha’s History of Buddhism in India, it means the people who are able to hold and sustain the whole teachings, and someone who is able to perform activities similar to Buddha…So, being an inheritor of the teachings was not easy. It is not just a lineage teacher, the inheritor also had to have these special, superior features and characteristics.”
“Śāriputra and Maudgalyāyana were at a very high level, and superior disciples of Buddha. However, when they were guiding the Sangha, did they do this in the form of Buddha’s disciples, or like they were the actual leader of the Sangha? They did not do it like they were leaders. Basically, they took it as a given that they were still disciples of the Buddha, and were serving the Buddha by guiding and administering the Sangha.”
“For Buddhists, when an authentic and qualified teacher, or a spiritual friend passes away there is actually a very profound meaning to it. Their ‘deaths’ are not like ordinary people’s deaths…For example, the way in which Buddha passed away is considered an example of his full, perfect awakening and realisation.” –excerpts from 17th Karmapa teaching (Day 7)
Introduction/Summary
In Day 7 of the Summer teaching, the 17th Karmapa continued on the theme of the development of Early Buddhism after the Buddha’s parinirvāṇa and how the person he appointed to inherit (lead and preserve) the teachings was Mahākāśyapa (Pali: Mahākassapa) who then passed that ‘inheritance’ onto another of Buddha’s main disciples, Ānanda.
The 17th Karmapa first stated that he would not repeat the extensive teachings he had already given on Mahākāśyapa and Ānanda’s lives and important events in the previous year. [For example, the story about how Buddha exchanged his old ragged robes for Mahākāśyapa’s expensive new ones and [how Mahākāśyapa came to enter a ‘celibate’ marriage with an extremely beautiful woman, Bhadda-Kapilani, who also became a monastic when he did].
The first part of the teaching was an introduction to what are termed the ‘Inheritors’ of the teachings and who they were according to various traditions and texts in Early Buddhism. Here the Tibetan word, the 17th Karmapa uses is ( གཏད་རབས་ te- rab) which his interpreter translates as ‘elder’. I have changed that to ‘inheritor’ as the word ‘Elder’ suggest it is more about age, rather than realisations. One of Buddha’s main students, Mahākāśyapa was personally appointed as the first inheritor by the Buddha himself after his parinirvāṇa.
The second half of the teaching was about the parinirvāṇa of Mahākāśyapa. Sharing what seems to be his stunning new artwork portrait of Mahākāśyapa, the 17th Karmapa recounted the story of how Mahākāśyapa went to see Ānanda and the Magadha King Ajātaśatru before he passed away to inform them of his plans. First it is said, Mahākāśyapa went to see Ananda to tell him that he was going to pass away and would make offerings to all the Buddha’s relics before he did. Second, he went to inform the King Ajātaśatru who was asleep but his attendant refused to wake him up because he was said to be cruel and angry, so he was unable to meet and inform him.
The Karmapa then explained the remarkable and ‘other-worldly’ features of Mahākāśyapa’s ‘intentional’ parinirvana on top of a difficult to reach isolated mountain in India called Kukkuṭapādagiri (or Gurupādagiri). Once there Mahākāśyapa makes the vow with his adhiṣṭhāna ‘controlling power’ that his body, with his robe (saṃghāṭī) and stock, will be preserved until the time of Buddha Maitreya, and then enters parinirvāṇa. [According to the tradition, Buddha had instructed Mahākāśyapa to wait for Maitreya’s appearance into the world to transmit the robe of Gautama Buddha to him. Therefore Mahākāśyapa should live inside a mountain in a ‘cavern of meditation’ where the future Buddha will find him and then be revealed to the people]. Knowing that the King will want to see him, otherwise he will die from ‘vomiting blood’, Mahākāśyapa mentally decides that the ‘three peaks’ chamber he is sitting within will remain closed after he passes, opening only when the King visit to see him there. The Karmapa also described the miraculous events that happened when Mahākāśyapa passed away and how the three rocks opened when the King and Ānanda went to see Mahākāśyapa’s remains there.
It was also interesting to hear the 17th Karmapa recall his own pilgrimage visit to this mountain, and how difficult it was to walk up there. In his case, he also had police officers and bodyguards accompanying him due to the presence of many armed bandits in that area.
To illustrate this account of Mahākāśyapa’s final days and passing away, I have also included some recent photos of these sites in India taken and published by Indian explorer and researcher, Deepak Anand (whom I interviewed in June 2024 for the Dakini Conversations podcast here). Deepak not only visited and documented the place where Mahākāśyapa is said to have exchanged his expensive new robes for Buddha’s old tatty ones, but also the mountain where he is said to have passed away and where there is now a stupa [1].
In any case, like the story of how Mahākāśyapa attained Arhatship shortly after offering to exchange his expensive robes with Buddha’s old, ragged ones (said to be the only time Buddha did that), the story of Mahākāśyapa’s parinirvāṇa is a moving one indeed. The fact that now, in the 21st Century an Indian explorer went to such great efforts, to trace his remains and final footsteps (according to the writings of the Chinese monk and pilgrim Xuanzang) shows the importance of Mahākāśyapa’s example as a living and inspiring one to all Buddhists even today.
As the 17th Karmapa explained in this teaching, when a great teacher or master passes away it is not an ordinary event, but another way of showing their extraordinary awakening and level of realisation. Like Buddha, Mahākāśyapa clearly showed that according to the textual accounts.
Thus it was notable too that the 17th Karmapa concluded the teaching with an announcement that on the 19th August 2024, three events would happen: his father’s cremation, the ritual for the recent passing away of Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche and the commemoration of Kagyu forefather, Dagpo Gampopa (see video clip of Tibetan, with English captions here).
As I was writing up the final part of the 17th Karmapa’s teaching about Mahākāśyapa’s parinirvāṇa, I was filled with a deep sense of emotion and awe at how amazing and powerful such great people were. The restaurant I was sitting working, started playing a song ‘He Was Beautiful’, (a song my father, a talented self-taught musician, also used to play on the guitar many times when I was a child). The perfect, moving song at that moment to describe the ‘fathers of the teachings’ Buddha, Mahākāśyapa and for me, the 17th Karmapa. It reminded me also of my first meeting the 17th Karmapa in India in 2005, and that life-changing moment from one of pointless materialism and hedonism in London, to a life filled with rich and deep experiences based on Dharma study and practice.
Below is a lightly edited transcript of the Day 7 teachings, with slides used by the 17th Karmapa, as well as photos from Deepak Anand’s amazing website. For two short video clips from the teaching (Tibetan with English subtitles), see here and here.
Music? He was Beautiful by Cleo Laine.
Written and compiled by Adele Tomlin, 15th August 2024.
Origins of Secret Mantra teachings (Day 7) by 17th Karmapa: transcript
Three Main Issues Facing the Buddhist community after Buddha’s parinirvana
The 17th Karmapa picked up from Day 6, in which he had outlined the geographical and political situation and development of the teachings during and after Buddha’s parinirvana, to describe the issues facing the Buddhist community in terms of preserving and collating the teachings.
“There were three main issues/challenges facing the Buddhist community:
- Many of the Buddhist teachings were not included during the First Council there were many left over, so it was important to add them all. Also, during the First Council there were some senior Arhats who were unable to attend the First Council and participate. So the teachings had become scattered and there was a danger they would be lost, they had to be gathered properly.
2. Second, some of Buddha’s great disciples had studied and researched the Buddhist teachings in depth. For example, Śāriputra is said to have taught the Dharma to the same level as Buddha did. He was extremely learned and is even praised by the Buddha. Normally, we say Buddha ‘turned the wheel of Dharma’, when ordinary people teach it, we call them teachings. However, they also used to call it ‘turning the wheel of Dharma’ when Śāriputra taught, as it was at a very high level, like the Buddha. That is perhaps why it was also called it ‘turning the wheel of Dharma’. So, there were a few great disciples of the Buddha, like Śāriputra who had studied the teachings profoundly. So not only the Buddha’s teachings needed to be compiled, but also the teachings of his great Arhat disciples also needed to be compiled and collected in a single collection.
3. Third, a few monastics when they taught the Dharma made some mistakes, several times. As some of these were extremely serious mistakes, it was required that the entire Sangha to convene again and re-examine the Buddhist teachings to see if they were correct or not.
There were these difficulties, or three important issues that had to be faced. “
[The 17th Karmapa repeated that he had already given quite a detailed introduction the previous day on the situation of the sangha after Buddha’s parinirvana, in terms of their historical situation and environment they were in. For example, the sixteen great countries, or kingdoms of India. Also, about the habits, personalities and character of people in those communities and the disagreements in those communities.]
“However, the Buddhist sangha of that period had the form of a unified and single community. Of course, internally there were some disagreements and disputes but they had not yet split into different schools. So society regarded them as one community, not as two. So how was the lineage passed from Buddha to Mahakashyapa to Ananda?”
The Buddhist leaders of the teachings: Śāriputra and Maudgalyāyana
“Then it comes to the question of the ‘inheritors’ of the teachings during the time of early Buddhism, and what sort of a connection there was between them and that period of Early Buddhism. I will give an introduction about that.
During the Buddha Shakyamuni’s lifetime, before he passed into parinirvana, the teacher, the completely perfect Buddha, was himself the undisputed and universally accepted leader of the Sangha, and lord of the teachings.
During the latter part of the Buddha’s life, when he was getting old, he didn’t really guide the society as directly as he had before, as he was no longer able to do that. So, at that point, the main people guiding the community, were Śāriputra and Maudgalyāyana. In terms of their qualities and renown, there is no need to speak about them. They were at a very high level and superior disciples of Buddha. However, when they were guiding the Sangha, did they do this in the form of Buddha’s students, or disciples, or like the actual leader of the Sangha? They did not do it like they were the leaders. Basically, they took is as a given that they were still disciples of the Buddha, and they are serving the Buddha by guiding and administering the Sangha.”
Devadatta and the ‘schism of the wheel’: splitting the sangha by wanting to be the leader
“At this point there was someone who kind of forces his way into the sangha called Devadatta. We often talk about him like he is a demon, but he was not actually a demon with horns on his head, in terms of gods and demons, more that he commited some very bad actions.
Devadatta was a relative, a half brother of the Buddha and was actually very close to the Buddha. So, he tried to takeover Śāriputra’s place and to administer and guide the Sangha. He did many things to try to achieve that sort of a status. When he told the Buddha what he wanted to do, then the Buddha reprimanded him severely. Because he was criticized so much in the middle of such a large group of people by Buddha, Devadatta got extremely angry and extremely jealous of him.
Devadatta then established a separate sangha and this created a schism in the sangha. Among the five heinous actions, one of them is causing a schism of the sangha. That means taking a sangha that had been unified and one, and making it into two groups. This is what we call the ‘schism of the wheel’.
In any case, Devadatta started a separate sangha and he tried to lead it. So he was challenging the Buddha’s position as the leader. He even said the Buddha is getting old and going senile, and that he would take full responsibility for it. He made up many things and criticized the Buddha and also tried to kill the Buddha, by making an elephant crazy at him, throwing large rocks on him and so on. He tried to kill him on a few occasions.
However, was he actually able to budge the Buddha from his position as being the king and leader of Dharma? He was unable to do so and could not become the actual leader, the ultimate leader of the sangha. In brief, the Buddha was the founder of Buddhism and the teacher of the Dharma and also the highest supreme leader, the unrivaled teacher. This was basically undisputed and universally accepted among his disciples during the Buddha’s lifetime. There is really no one other than the Buddha who could have this position.”
Mahākāśyapa, the first ‘human’ inheritor of the Early Buddhist sangha after Buddha’s parinirvana
The 17th Karmapa then explained that Mahākāśyapa became the leader/inheritor of the Early Buddhists, after the Buddha’s parinirivana:
” Generally, there was a tradition in the sangha where people were normally appointed by some kind of vote or consensus However, there was no vote for the ‘inheritor of the teachings’, Buddha (before he passed away) personally appointed the ‘inheritor’ as Mahākāśyapa.
In the scriptures, it says that Buddha bestowed the teachings to both humans and gods because gods had longer lives and humans had short ones. So it might be difficult for them to preserve the teachings for a long time. However, the gods also were distracted by wanting pleasure and enjoyments too. So Buddha entrusted the teachings to both humans and gods. The people he entrusted the teachings to in the god realm were the four Kings of the four directions, and in the human realm it was Mahākāśyapa. So, Mahākāśyapa is considered to be the first inheritor of the teachings.
Then, before Mahākāśyapa passed away, he appointed Ānanda as the second ‘inheritor’. Ānanda is known as the second ‘inheritor’ of the teachings. However, when we speak about the ‘inheritor’ of the teachings, sometimes we say the ‘inheritor’ the teacher, some say the ‘inheritor’ of the teachings. There are two versions in the Tibetan, either ”inheritor the teacher’ or the ‘inheritor of the teachings’. In any case, if you say the ‘inheritor of the teaching, there are many different explanations and opinions.”
The 17th Karmapa then showed a list of the ‘inheritors’ of the teachings according to two main textual sources:
“According to the Sri Lankan history, the Mahāvaṃsa, and the Theravada Vinaya commentary called Samantapasadika, as I mentioned before, in the Pāli Vinaya they have the aggregates, so this is a commentary on the chapters of discipline.
It lists five inheritors: Upali, Dasaka, Sonaka, Siggava and Mogalliputta Tissa. These were recognized as the five inheritors of the teachings. This is primarily the Vinaya lineage because Upali was the greatest in terms of the Vinayas. [The Karmapa then read the list of names on the slide.]
“In Chinese translations, there is a text translated during the Northern way Dynasty, by Kivakara who was a Sangha member in the Northern parts of China, the text was called The Liberation Stories of the Inheritors. This text says that starting from Mahākāśyapa there were over 21 inheritors of the teachings from Mahākāśyapa through to Gelong Senge. The last of the 21 inheritors is called Gelong Senge.
The reason why the transmission of the inheritors stopped there is that there was an enemy the teachings. A northern Indian king of Bhaktria who developed a strong aversion for Buddhism and destroyed the sangha, and also killed the last inheritor of the teachings, Gelong Senge . So, the ‘inheritance’ lineage of the teachings was broken.
However, modern scholars have doubts about the 21 inheritors lineage taught in that text is correct. There are three main reasons for that doubt:
- The first reason is that for the first 100 years, plus a few decades after the Buddha’s parinirvana, the Sangha was unified and had not split or scattered, and was still unified. So, at that time, the inheritors of the teachings were recognized as the leaders of the teachings as a whole. So, before the split into the schools, it is reasonable for there to been a single worthy leader of the teachings. After the schism, it was difficult for there to be a single, respected leader, and that is why it split into different schools. That is the way it is described by modern scholars.
- The second reason is that the Lives of the Inheritors translated into Chinese, lists the inheritors to include Aśvaghoṣa, before Nagārjuna. However, researchers said that it was not acceptable to include Nagārjuna and other Mahayana masters as the inheritors of the teachings for all the different lineages.
- The third reason they also give is that the Chinese translation of the Lives of Inheritors gives one of them as Nyimagungpa, but they said it’s not proper to list him because even though he was an important figure in spreading the Dharma to Northwestern India, and was also one of the important founders of the sangha, we should not consider him an inheritor of the teachings.
These are the doubts about the inheritors of the teachings listed in the Chinese translation of that text.
History of Buddhism in India by Je Tāranātha
“The History of Buddhism in India by Je Tāranātha is a very important Dharma text. It says that people in Kashmir considered Madhyāntika (Nyima Gungpa) to be an inheritor of the teaching because the person who was most important spreading the Dharma there was Madhyāntika . The reason why they said he should be considered an inheritor is that Madhyāntika sustained the teachings in central India for a long time. During that time, Shānavāsa (or Shānavāsin)［商那和修, ཤ་ནའི་གོས་ཅན།) only had a few students. Then after Shānavāsa passed into parinirvana, Madhyāntika spread the teachings in central India and he was called the eighth inheritor of the teachings.
Others say that Madhyāntika is the person who spread Buddhism to Kashmir and was also prophesied by the Buddha and because he was prophesied, then Ānanda also appointed him. However, the person appointed by Ānanda as the inheritor was Shānavāsa. So there were probably seven inheritors, not eight.
This is probably a question from ancient times, since Madhyāntika was so important in Kashmir and the people of Kashmir considered him to be one of the inheritors of the teachings. When speaking about the inheritors in the different regions. Each different school had people who in their own historical tradition they considered important and significant. So it is likely that they began to count them as inheritors of the teachings .”
Blue Annals by Golo Zhonu Pel
“In addition, in the Blue Annals by Golo Zhonu Pel, the commentary on the Travels to Lanka Sutra lists the first seven inheritors up through Dhitika as in the Finer Points of Discipline text.
After that, it lists another 19 inheritors beginning with Vibhagala. We need to investigate this commentary on the Travels to Lanka Sutra and the one in the Chinese Sutra, which says 21 inheritors.
Yet the commentary on the Travels to Lanka, cited by Golo Zhonu, says there are 19 inheritors. I haven’t had a chance to investigate this.
In any case, these days in the Tengyur there are two commentaries on the Travels to Lanka, but this one does not appear in those. So it is probably a commentary on that Sutra, which is not included in the Tengyur.”
The term ‘inheritors’(tenpai te-rab)
The 17th Karmapa said he would explain more about the inheritors later, but:
“In terms of the meaning of ‘inheritor’ of the teachings, according to Je Tāranātha’s History of Buddhism in India, it means the people who are able to hold and sustain the whole teachings, and someone who is able to have activity similar to Buddha. So the inheritors of the teachings didn’t only have the authority as the leader, they also had to protect, preserve and spread the Dharma teachings as a whole, so they could be transmitted to the lineage.
So being an inheritor of the teachings was not easy. It is not just a lineage teacher, the inheritor of the teachings also had their own particular and superior features, their own nature, their own characteristics. They had to be superior in these ways. The inheritors of the teachings had a very strong influence on the development and spread of early Indian Buddhism. So inheritors of the teachings were really a crucial aspect of Buddhism.
The importance of the parinirvana of great masters, and the first ‘inheritors’ Mahākāśyapa and Ānanda
The 17th Karmapa then spoke about the first two of the inheritors of the teaching Mahākāśyapa and Ānanda, not about their lives (as he had done that in the previous year) but gave an introduction to the history leading up to their parinirvana and afterwards.
“Giving an introduction to their parinirvana, will help understand the situation in society during the time. So we can understand the society, and the importance of Mahākāśyapa and Ānanda. Also, what sort of a status these two held, and the influence they had on the Sangha.
The reason why it is important to introduce Mahākāśyapa’s parinirvana, is if we think about it according to Japanese scholar, Takayoshi Namikawa, his opinion is that for Buddhists, when a teacher, or a spiritual friend is passing away there’s an actually very profound meaning to that. Their deaths are not like ordinary people’s deaths. When spiritual masters pass away there is a really important meaning to it. When we think about the events around a person’s passing away, we can see how significant that person who passed away was to the Buddhists. How much service they did to the teachings, and how much faith people had them. For example, the Buddha’s parinirvana was considered the ultimate realisation. We speak about there being Arhats with remainder, and those with no remainder of the five aggregates. The Buddha’s passing away was recognized as being the ultimate realization, another manifestation of Buddhahood/awakening.
For example, how do we know this? If we think about the name of the Pāli text in the Tripitaka, the Sutra of the Perfect Great Parinirvana, just by reading the title, we can understand that the Buddha’s passing away was a demonstration of his ultimate achievement, the unexcelled state of realization.
Moreover, when we speak about the Buddha’s parinirvana, another thing that is included within that is the manner in which the Buddha passed away. Then, after he passed away, how he left relics and his remains behind and how many relics arose. Also, how people made offerings to those relics. So this also is all contained within discussion of the Buddha’s parinirvana.
So if we investigate it, then we can understand better how highly people considered the Buddha, how much faith and confidence they had in him. Similarly, when the Buddha’s great disciples such as Mahākāśyapa and Ananda passed into parinirvana, it shows how much influence they had on Buddhist teachings and what status and consideration they had in the sangha.”
[For a short video clip of this part of the teaching (Tibetan with English subtitles), see here.]
The 17th Karmapa said that he would only speak about Mahākāśyapa ’s passing away that day.
BREAK
Mahākāśyapa’s parinirvana: three main topics
In the second half of the Day 7 teaching, the 17th Karmapa explained that there are three main parts about the history of Mahākāśyapa ’s passing, and a summary:
“Three main points leading up to Mahākāśyapa’s parinirvāṇa (see slide):
1) Mahākāśyapa’s offerings to all Buddha’s relics before passing away
2) Mahākāśyapa ‘s parinirvāṇa on Kukkuṭapādagiri Mountain before meeting King Ajātaśatru
3) Ānanda and King Ajātaśatru pay respect to Mahākāśyapa’s remains on the mountain
1) Mahākāśyapa’s Offerings to all Buddha’s relics before passing away
The 17th Karmapa explained there were two main accounts/texts in the Tibetan and Chinese Buddhist traditions that describe how Mahākāśyapa made offerings to all the relics of Buddha before he passed away:
Tibetan Vinaya text
“The first is before Mahākāśyapa’s parinirvāṇa, how he made offerings to all the Buddha’s relics. The source for this is the chapters on the finer points of discipline of the Mulavastavarda tradition in Tibetan and also in Chinese. The Tibetan was translated by Yeshe De, and the Chinese was translated by Master Paramatha (I-Ching).
This says that one day, Mahākāśyapa went to see Ānanda before he passed away, and told Ānanda that just as Buddha had asked him to uphold the teachings, he was asking Ānanda to uphold the teaching after he passed.
Mahākāśyapa explained to Ānanda that in Rajgir, a boy will be born to a merchant and he will be covered with hempen fabric and called Shanavasin. He will make offerings for five years to members of the sangha. After that he will go forth, and in the future he’s the one who should inherit the teachings.
Then, Mahākāśyapa explained that because Buddha was such an amazing spiritual friend, with infinite qualities to him, he wanted to make offerings to all the Buddha’s relics and remains before he passed away and he went to all the places where they were situated.
As he was old, it was difficult for him to go, so he went by miraculous powers the great stupas of the four sacred sites. This is not clear in the Tibetan translation of the finer points of discipline, but it is very clear in the Chinese. It says that he went to the Buddha’s birthplace, the place of his Awakening, the place of his turning the wheel of Dharma, the place of his passing, and made offerings at all of four of them.
There were also other stupas that had relics of the Buddha. In the Tibetan Vinaya texts, it says the eight stupas. In the Chinese, it says the other stupas with relics, it doesn’t say the eight. In any case, he went and made offerings to the relics of the Buddha. After he had made offerings to all of the relics of the Buddha that were kept in the human lands. He wasn’t satisfied with that. So he also went to the land where there was a tooth of the Buddha in the land of the Nāgas he went there to make offerings to it.
After that, he levitated up into the sky and went to the heaven of the thirty-three to see the Buddhist tooth. When Mahākāśyapa arrived in the heaven of the thirty-three, all the gods saw him come and were very happy about this. They asked him why he had come and to let them know what he wants them to do.
He told them that this was his chance to make a final offering and so there must have been some tooth of the Buddha and some other relics in the land of the Gods and Heaven of thirty-three. When the Lord of the Gods, Shakra and all the other gods heard him say the word ‘final offering’, then they got a little bit unhappy and nervous, they kind of got wondered why did she say ‘final one’. Tthey weren’t sure what they should do and didn’t have anything to say.
So they took one of the Buddha’s teeth and put it in Mahākāśyapa’s hand. He looked at it without blinking. Normally we blink but he did not even blink, he just looked very carefully with it and then he placed it on the top of his head and made offerings of mandarava flowers. These are the flowers of the heavens, as well sandalwood powder and so forth.
Then he taught the Dharma concisely. Finally, on the summit of Mount Meru where the Heavens of the thirty-three is located, he disappeared from there and went to Rajgir.
This is the account of how Mahākāśyapa made offerings to the relics of the Buddha according to the account in the finer points of discipline.
Chinese tradition: the Sutra of King Ashoka
In Chinese there is also Sutra of the King Asoka. This was translated by ? of the western Jin Dynasty, I’m not sure. Drupon Khenpo Rinpoche has translated it into Tibetan. In any case, what it says in the Sutra for the King Asoka is basically the same as in the finer points discipline about how before he wanted to pass away he wanted to make offerings. He says:
“The Buddha bhagavan is my spiritual friend and Guru. I need to repay his kindness and show my gratitude and need to fulfill whatever wishes the Buddha had, and there’s no better way to repay his kindness than that. By my chaste conduct I have benefited many beings through the Dharma and also for the sake of future beings. I’ve also made sure that the stream of Dharma has not been broken. Also there are some people who I expelled from the sangha who had no conscience or propriety, and then for those who have conscience and propriety, I’ve helped them remain in happiness. I’ve done everything that I can to repay his kindness. Now, I am also old and kind of decrepit and not so attractive so I also am weary and will pass into Nirvana.”
Then Mahākāśyapa entrusted the teachings to Ānanda. This way of thinking of Mahākāśyapa is not in the Tibetan Vinaya text on the finer points of discipline.
After thinking this, Mahākāśyapa said to Ānanda: ” the Buddha entrusted me the treasury of Dharma and so now I wish to pass into Nirvana, so I will entrust the teachings to you, and you should protect them well.”
Then the subsequent parts of the description are the same as before. However, it is a little bit different from the finer points of discipline, which just mentions the tooth and and some other relics, but it does not specify them.”
- Mahākāśyapa ‘s parinirvana on Kukkuṭapādagiri Mountain before meeting King Ajātaśatru
The second point is Mahākāśyapa’s going to meet the King Ajātaśatru and then passing into parinirvana.
Mahākāśyapa had decided to pass away and wanted to give a message to the King Ajātaśatru, so went to his palace in Rajgir. He said to the palace guard to inform the King he was there. The guard went but the King was asleep. It is in India, so very hot and after lunch we often sleep for an hour, so maybe the King had eaten and fall asleep. So Mahākāśyapa told him to go and wake the King up but the guard refused because the King is really cruel and very easily angered, and that he would be punished if he went to wake him up and so did not want to do it. But he said whenever the King wakes up, please inform him that Mahākāśyapa came there and is going to pass away.
Passing Away on a Kukkuṭapādagiri Mountain
So, Mahākāśyapa left and travelled to the Kukkuṭapādagiri Mountain which is south of Rajgir. These days we call it in Tibetan Riwo Chakhang. There are three big peak rocks at the summit, and Mahākāśyapa spread some hay in the middle of the three peaks and Mahākāśyapa was wearing the ragged robes that Buddha had given to him. He thought to himself: “I am going to bless these robes, so that my body remains until Buddha Maitreya arrives, and the body stays without deteriorating. Then in the future, when Buddha Maitreya comes, at that time Maitreya will show my body to his disciples so that they feel weariness of the world.” So with this great intention he entered the three peaks, which were joined in a kind of receptacle and he was in the middle.
Then Mahākāśyapa thought that as the King did not see him and that “when he hears that I’ve passed he’s definitely going to come here and when he comes, then the King will become too depressed and vomit hot blood and die.” So in any case, he made it so that if the King came then the three peak rocks would open, but otherwise they would stay closed like that.
So he stayed within this rock receptacle on the mountain to pass away. It is not like us when you get very sick and and have to pass away. It is different, first he intentionally entered meditation, gave up and relinquished his life and passed away. “
Showing Miracles of Fire and Water
At that time of his parinirvana, many different things happened. In the Chinese translation, it says that the earth shook in six different ways, like earthquakes, and stars with long tails of smoke fell and started fires in all directions. Gods beat drums in the sky and so forth. There are all these different signs that occurred.
There is a custom of Buddhas showing miracles before passing away. So then Mahākāśyapa levitated into the sky and showed many various miracles. Sometimes, he poured water from his body and sometimes appearances of fire from his body sometimes like there are the appearances of sheets of rain falling from great clouds.
After displaying such great miracles, his body came down into the rock chamber and he lay down on his right side and placed one leg on top of the other, the same as the posture of the Buddha when he passed away lying down and entered parinirvana in the expanse of Nirvana without remainder. In brief, he passed away then and there were so many different signs.
The reaction of the Gods
Shakra and Brahma and the other gods also saw that the Earth was quaking and thought about why there were earthquakes today. they then realised that venerable Mahākāśyapa had passed away. Then Shakra and Brahma and the many hundreds and thousands of gods tossed Lotus and white lotus flowers as well as sandalwood. They sprinkled flowers and powder over his body. When they arrived it must have been open and not yet closed yet is it was going to close, so they sprinkled it all the flowers and tossed all the powders and so forth and then they left. When they left then the three peaks closed. now when we ordinary people go, you can’t see anything. At that time, because the Gods were bereft of Mahākāśyapa, they really grieved terribly in their minds and said things like: “It hasn’t been a very long time since the Buddha passed away, and now Mahākāśyapa has also passed away. Likewise, the Kings who live in the cave of the Banyan tree, and know all their names and all their qualities. It says quite a lot about this. Also that the realm of the kingdom of Magadha has been become emptied, like there’s nothing left there. Likewise, there’s no longer a protector lovingly benefiting those who are hungry and desperate and defenseless. So all people now no longer have any field of Merit, where they can accumulate Merit. So now two Bhagavans have passed into nirvana, now the mount peak of the true Dharma has fallen. it is like the ship of true Dharma has been rocked and the Dharma has been scattered, and now the light of true Dharma has gone out, and the teacher who benefited everyone has disappeared. Everything has changed.”
They said these things and lamented and wailed and prostrated and then disappeared and went back to their own places.”
The different account in the Sutra of King Ashoka
The Sutra is a little bit different, it says that after Mahākāśyapa had entrusted the teachings to Ānanda, he started to wonder when is Mahākāśyapa going to pass away and thought “I’m not going to see him again”. So, every day he would follow Mahākāśyapa, and never leave his side.
One day, Mahākāśyapa told Ānanda to go off to Rajgir alone for alms. Mahākāśyapa was also going to Rajgir but he didn’t let Ānanda stay with him, and sent him off separately. Otherwise Ānanda is always following Mahākāśyapa and this probably would have interfered with his passing away. In any case, Ānanda put on his robes in the morning and went to Rajgir for alms. Mahākāśyapa himself also went into Rajgir for alms.
And here it is different than in the finer points on discipline. It says that Mahākāśyapa remembered that the King had said in the past to inform him when Mahākāśyapa passes into Nirvana. So, Mahākāśyapa thought: “As I’m going to pass away today, I need to go to see King.” This is the reason why he went to see King.
Then, finally after Mahākāśyapa passed into Nirvana and the gods is also a little bit different. The reason why it said the gods who lived in the cave the Banyan tree. The way I think about this is that Mahākāśyapa was born in a big Brahman family. His parents were unable to have a child and so they went to there was a particular Banyan tree and they believed that there was a God who dwelt there and made offerings to him they always went to make offerings to the to the God and then eventually they were they’re hoping to have a son.
Then later Mahākāśyapa was born so when it says the Gods of the Cave of the Banyan tree, this is probably referring to the gods of the Banyan tree that his parents had prayed to before Mahākāśyapa was born.
- Ananda and King pay respect to Mahākāśyapa’s remains
Afterwards, the King and Ānanda went to see Mahākāśyapa’s remains on the mountain. In the Tibetan Vinaya finer points of discipline is that King had been sleeping and the guard did not wake him up. He actually a bad dream that the line of the uncles of his maternal lineage was going to be broken.
The Chinese translation is a little bit different and says that he dreamt that there the pillars and one of the beams in his house would break. It was a very scary dream and he immediately woke up. When he awoke, the gatekeeper told him that Mahākāśyapa had come to see him and told him he will pass into parinirvana. As soon as the King was informed, he fainted on the floor unconscious. His attendant sprinkled him with water and revived him. He then immediately went off to the Bamboo Grove in Rajgir where there are many bamboos to see Ānanda. He prostrated his entire body at Ānanda’s feet and wept that today he heard Mahākāśyapa is going to pass into Nirvana. He really grieved about it. So Ānanda immediately took the King to the mountain where he had passed away.
I have been to this mountain, I think a few of you also have been, it’s really difficult to go up. They’ve made a few staircases but it’s a bit of a climb it’s not that easy. Also, the road to go there is not all that good and they say that there used to be a lot of Bandits and thieves on this. When I go there, police and bodyguards accompany me, and when I went there they had sent extra police because there are a lot of bandits in that region. But going up there is extremely difficult.
So they went to the mountain. When we went looked and just see there’s a mountain but we cannot see Mahākāśyapa’s body because it’s within the chamber inside the in the top of the mountain. So when the King went there and M had that idea so if he’s not able to see it then he’s going to vomit blood and die, so as soon as he arrived, then great Yakshas opened up the mountain. Inside was M’s body and he saw that all the gods had offered the wonderful flowers and Sandalwood powder and his remains were covered with them When he saw this he immediately raised his arms and he prostrated like a tree that’s been cut down from its base. After that, he immediately thought that they had to do the cremation and he started to prepare wood for it. At that point, Ānanda asked the King what he was doing and the king replied that he was going to cremate the remains, as there is this tradition of cremating everyone’s remains in India.
Ānanda told him that Mahākāśyapa’s remains have been blessed to remain until Maitreya’s teachings appeared without deteriorating or decomposing. In the future the Buddha Maitreya will come to this place surrounded by 690 million disciples and at that point Maitreya will will hold this body and say to his disciples this is Mahākāśyapa the disciple of the Buddha Shakyamuni who became the greatest of having the fewest desires, and keeping the 12 qualities of training. Likewise he was the one who first compiled the true Dharma of the Buddha Shakyamuni. Mahākāśyapa is the one who arranged this.
At that time, there’s the discussion that Maitreya will be a very large, like these people are very large bodies much taller than people. So for that reason, the people will look at someone that small but people that time were really tiny and they’ll think but certainly the Buddha Shakyamuni must have been much different than everyone else. He must have been large and when they think that then Maitreya will take the outer robe from the body and hold it up and say this is the the outer robe of the Buddha Shakyamuni and hold it up and they’ll just be so amazed by seeing that the Buddha was not that big. They will be so surprised that the 690 million fully ordained monastics will promise to practice the qualities of trainings. Because they practice, then they will in the future, attain the state of Arhatship. This is the reason why Mahākāśyapa blessed his body to remain without decomposing. Even if we tried to burn it, it wouldn’t burn, so we must not burn it. However, we can build a stupa on top of it.
So the King complied with Ānanda’s request. Then, as soon as the King had gone outside, the mountain chamber immediately closed back up as before. So Mahākāśyapa’s body was no longer visible. Following that, the King built a stupa on top of the mountain and made offerings there.
So now we’ve built a new stupa there. Then King prostrated to venerable Ānanda’s feet and said: “when the Buddha passed away, I didn’t see him, when Mahākāśyapa passed away, I didn’t see him so when you pass into parinirvana please make sure that I can see you.” Then Ananda promised that he would do so. That was account in the finer points of discipline in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. The Sutra of the King Asoka is essentially the same.
Summary/Conclusion: Maitreya’s coming and showing the remains of Mahākāśyapa
“Among the texts of the northern Buddhist tradition, which are primarily Chinese translations, meaning Chinese Buddhism. So within the northern Buddhist scriptures there are descriptions of the story of the Mahākāśyapa, the life story of King Ashoka, the Sutra compiling the Buddha’s Deeds. Likewise, also in Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya on the finer points of discipline, and in the Great Commentary on the 100,000 Lines of Prajñāpāramitā by Nagārjuna.
However, there is probably not much of a description of Mahākāśyapa in the Pāli scriptures. The reason for this is, Japanese scholar Takiyoshe Namikawa and what he says is that in his opinion the account of Mahākāśyapa’s Nirvana was not considered as important as the story of Ānanda’s. Therefore it is not mentioned in the Pāli treatises and commentaries. That is his hypothesis. In any case, all the quotes were basically based on the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya points of discipline and the life of King Ashoka.
In the content of the description in those two, it is slightly different than the accounts in the Sutra compiling the Buddha’s Deeds, Great Commentary on the 100,000 Lines of Prajñāpāramitā, and the Great Tang of the Western religions that is Tang Xuanzang’s records of his travels, it is a little bit different in there.
What it says in the Great Commentary on the 100,000 Lines of Prajñāpāramitā, to give an example, now this is a text we don’t have in Tibetan. This Great Commentary on the 100,000 Lines of Prajñāpāramitā is what we call the ‘bum’ 100,000. We have the 12 volume Prajñāpāramitā and this is the commentary on this. It said that the author is Nagārjuna. This is only in Chinese, it’s not in Tibetan, it’s probably not in any other language than Chinese. What it says is that the Buddha Maitreya will lead a large trail to Vulture Peak mountain. Maitreya will open up the peak of the mountain with his toes. When he opens the mountain with his toes, inside is Mahākāśyapa’s body. This is actually kind of scary to think about it. The regent Maitreya will open it up and then the remains will get up carrying these things, and come out and say:
“Shakyamuni appeared in a time when humans could live to 100 years. At that time this Mahākāśyapa was the greatest in having few desires, being content and remaining within the qualities. He achieved the six clairvoyances and three awarenesses. He was always compassionate toward sentient beings and brought them benefit and happiness.”
So when Mahākāśyapa passed into parinirvāṇa by the power of miracles, he made his body remains last until the future. He did this by the power of his miracles even though his body is really tiny compared to the future time when beings will have huge bodies. So Maitreya will say:
“Look at that, he was able to such great benefit with a body like this right? So you people with huge bodies were born in a really good time and the Buddha Shakyamuni appeared in a time of conflict. The time of Maitreya is supposed to be a good time, so why aren’t you accomplishing benefit for yourselves?”
Then at that time, Maitreya will teach the true Dharma and liberate innumerable sentient beings from the extreme of suffering.
Now the reason why this is cited in the Commentary in the 100,000 line Prajñāpāramitā is because it is primarily teaching that the Bodhisattva Maitreya will also teach Dharma, and this Dharma will also be the Transcendent Prajñāpāramitā. So it is showing that Prajñāpāramitā was taught by the Buddhas of the past, present and future. So, everyone should have faith in the Prajñāpāramitā and should celebrate Prajñāpāramitā.
The General Commentary on the 100,000 Lines of Prajñāpāramitā does not say anything about the actual parinirvāṇa, but it does say that the remains will be there and they will have not deteriorated. The point that is different is in the Great Commentary it says that Mahākāśyapa’s remains are at Vulture Peak Mountain, but all the other accounts say they are at the Kukkuṭapādagiri Mountain.
The Vulture Peak mountain is a place where Buddha taught the Dharma many times. In particular, this the place where he taught the Prajñāpāramitā sutras. It is also the place where Devadatta cast a stone at Buddha from the top, and almost killed him. So the place where he almost killed the Buddha was in the region of Vulture Peak mountain. So I think that it’s most likely and more appropriate to consider Kukkuṭapādagiri is the location of the remains of Mahākāśyapa.
To summarize, the person to whom the Buddha Shakyamuni entrusted the teachings was Mahākāśyapa and when he knew he was going to pass away soon he entrusted the teachings to Ānanda. Then Mahākāśyapa went alone to the Kukkuṭapādagiri mountain and blessed his body and robes so they remain without deteriorating until the time of Maitreya. Mahākāśyapa entered samadhi and passed away. In the future, when Maitreya comes to the world he will show Mahākāśyapa’s remains to all beings, saying: “This is a great disciple of the Buddha Shakyamuni, this is Mahākāśyapa.” Due to Maitreya showing them this, they will develop diligence and weariness with samsara, and be benefited in this way and will be able to attain the noble result. This is what it said. Finally, they will build a stupa on the top of the mountain. When Xuanzang went there, he said there was a stupa on the top of the mountain. Afterwards, the ability to identify the mountain and to determine it as the place of Mahākāśyapa’s parinirvāṇa is due to the writings of Xuanzang.”
Endnotes
[1] Deepak Anand also wrote a fascinating account of tracing Mahākāśyapa’s final footsteps, see here. Anand also writes that the eyewitness accounts of Faxian and Xuanzang who paid pilgrimage to Kukkuṭapādagiri have documented the tradition of the place at the time of their visit. According to Faxian, the entire body of Mahākāśyapa is preserved in a ‘receptacle’ in a deep chasm in Gurupāda (Beal 1869:132) probably alluding to some sarcophagus. According to Xuanzang, Mahākāśyapa ‘stands holding Buddha’s robe’ inside the Kukkuṭapādagiri mountain. See: https://nalanda-insatiableinoffering.blogspot.com/2024/01/curious-case-of-mahakassapa-skeleton-at.html
Sources:
Day 7 online teaching, Origins of Secret Mantra by 17th Karmapa
Anand, Deepak, Curious Case of Mahākassapa Skeleton at Gurpā (January 2024)
Memorialising the Last Footsteps of Illustrious Mahākassapa
Maha Kassapa and the Buddha- The Exchange of Robes (December 2010)